13 Colonies Characteristics

By the 1730’s, 13 English colonies were established along the Eastern seaboard of America. The 13 colonies were established over a span of 125 years. Later, they came together to form The United States of America. These regions were positioned in different places and that caused the regions to have different economies, different industries, and different geography. After the creation of the 13 colonies, these colonies were divided into three regions which were New England, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. Amongst the three regions, there were many differences. The three major differences amongst the three different regions were based upon the government, geography, and economy
Each region had different ways of governing each colony.

Geography was mostly important for agriculture which was the main way of earning a living in colonial times. Geography varied among the three regions. In the New England Colonies, the climate was the coldest climate amongst the three colonial regions, New England had long, harsh winters and short summers. In New England, the land was flat close to the coastline and hilly on the other regions. The soil in the New England Colonies was rocky, which made farming difficult. A positive side of the having cold weather was that diseases wouldn’t spread easily. Even though the New England Colonies didn’t have a good land, they still had a big forest that was an advantage for them. In the Middle colonies, the weather they experienced was considered a good climate. In the Middle colonies, they had hot, longer summers and cold winters. There were good coastal harbors for shipping and land was ideal for agriculture. “These colonies were known as the “breadbasket” because of the large amounts of barley, wheat, and oats that were grown there” (“13 Colonies Regions”). Climate was balanced in the middle region of the colonial times. The Southern Colonies climate was usually warm and moist which was good for agriculture. However, the hot climate also caused diseases such as Malaria and Yellow Fever. Since the weather was warm and moist, it made it easy and good to grow crops because the weather would make the soil fertile. The regions of

Many of the economies were based upon the Geography of the region. The land of the New England Colonies was shaped by glaciers. At a point of the Ice Age ice cut through the mountains. With this the glaciers pushed the rocks and soil to the south leaving only a thin layer of rocky dirt. Since the soil was rocky and bad, New England Colonies were not very good for farming. Therefore, colonists used other natural resources to make a living. They made money from shipbuilding, whaling, fishing and blacksmith. Since they weren’t good at farming, colonists would take advantage of what they had, and used it to best of their abilities to make sure they survived. Oceanic resources and forests were the advantages. They would cut down trees and use the wood for shipbuilding. With shipbuilding colonists of New England used it for fishing and for selling their ships to make some profit. At first New England Colonies made money from ship building but a while later the region developed mills and factories. The main economy activity in the Middle Colonies was farming. The major economy source was bread. The Middle Colonies had good farmlands and a great climate for the land. Since the climate was acceptable in the Middle Colonies, the agriculture was a lot easier to produce. Their environment was ideal for farmlands. The coastal lowland and bays provided harbors which also made a way of earning a living in the Middle Colonies