REASONS FOR COLONIZATIONThe 13 Colonies

MAIN REASON FOR COLONIZATION…

Religious freedom Political freedom Economic opportunity (mercantilism) Social mobility A better way of life

WHO COLONIZED THE 13 COLONIES?

French trapper traders British farmers Dutch businessmen Spanish missionaries African Slaves (forced)

BUT THE NATIVE AMERICANS WERE HERE FIRST…

Pocahontas helped John Smith and the European settlers in Virginia

Treaty system and reservation system set aside areas for them to live.

DIVIDING THE 13 COLONIES

Split into 3 regions based on Geography

Economics (money) Culture

The regions were called The New England Colonies The Middle (or Mid-Atlantic) Colonies The Southern Colonies

GEOGRAPHY EFFECTS ECONOMICS…

New England Cause – Long winters, rocky soil, and forests Effects – Subsistence farming, shipbuilding,

fishing Middle Colonies

Cause – Shorter winters, fertile soil, good ports, and natural resources

Effect – Farming (“breadbasket”), trade, large immigrant population

Southern Colonies Cause – Warm Climate and good soil Effects – Plantation system (rice, indigo, cotton,

tobacco) and large slave system

ECONOMICS (MONEY)…

New England Shipbuilding Manufacturing (Factories)

Middle Colonies Food Agriculture Cattle Producing

Southern Colonies Cash-crop Agricultural

cotton, indigo, tobacco, & rice

GEOGRAPHY EFFECTS CULTURE…

New England and Middle Colony access to waterways (ports and rivers) resulted in high population density and larger urban areas

Southern Colonies had an abundant amount of fertile soil that resulted in an agricultural (agrarian) economy, a plantation system, and a low population density

SLAVE TRADE

Transatlantic Slave Trade Started in the British West Indies to provide a

labor force for the sugar plantations The triangular trade developed between the

Colonies, England and West Indies and slaves were traded in the colonies for other goods (including the cash crops slaves would help cultivate)

Spread of Slavery Demand for rice, indigo, tobacco, cotton led to

plantation owners needing more slaves and the slave trade increased

PLANTATION SYSTEM

Plantation System Large amount of land available in the Southern

colonies, rich soil, almost year-round growing season, ideal for plantation crops (tobacco, rice, indigo, cotton), with enough labor they could be grown as cash crops