Emigrate“To leave one’s own country in order to settle permanently in another”

European Colonization

Three ways:Conquest (Spain)Trade (France)Settlement (England)

Reasons for EmigratingWealth

Adventure

New life

Freedom from:Economic troublesEuropean societyReligious persecution

Reasons for Emigrating

Wealth and AdventureExample: Jamestown in the Virginia Colony104 original settlersAll maleAbout half were “gentlemen”—not used to farm labor

Reasons for EmigratingFreedom from economic troubles

Indentured servants: worked for a master in exchange for free passage to AmericaSupposed to be trained in a skillFreed and given money after contract ended

Reasons for EmigratingReligious Persecution

Puritans (20,000 between 1629 and 1642) settled in New England coloniesQuakers settled in Pennsylvania (created in 1682)Catholics settled in Maryland (created in 1634)

Colonial America

Population increased ten times from 1700 to 1775

Colonists: 250,000 (1700) to 2,500,000 (1775)

Slaves: 28,000 to 500,000

Distinct regionsNew England Colonies

Middle Colonies

Southern Colonies

New England ColoniesGeography

Coastal areas with good harbors

Forests

Poor rocky soil

EconomySmall farms, lumber mills, fishing, shipbuilding, trade

People and societyMost lived on farms

Merchants, artisans, workers, slaves lived in cities

New England Colonies

Middle Colonies

GeographyFertile soil and rivers

EconomyCash crops: oats, potatoes, wheatCities on the coast

People and societyWealthiest people owned large farms, businessesMost famers grew a little extra food

Middle Colonies

Southern Colonies

GeographyWarm climate

Good soil

Wide rivers

EconomyCash crops: Tobacco, rice, indigo

Large plantations

People and SocietyWealthy elite controlled most land

Cash crops needed large amounts of laborslaves

Southern Colonies

Colonial Government

As the colonies grew, the colonists’ views on government changed.

Colonies had to be self-governing

Time Distance