Southern Colonies
By: Ryan Govert, Erin Brzezinski, Emily Warren, Jeremy Erwin
Virgina
Before the arrival of the Europeans, Chief Powhatan ruled over the untamed land. He fathered one of Virginia's more famous historical figures, Pocahontas. The first permanent English settlement in America, at Jamestown in 1607, set the stage for the taming of the wilderness. The founder of Virgina is John Smith in 1607, and the purpose was for trade and profit.
Maryland
George Calvert was the founder in 1634, and the purpose was religious freedom for Catholics. The charter that Lord Baltimore received from King Charles I of England specified a name for the new colony. It was to be called Maryland to honor King Charles' wife Queen Henrietta Maria (Queen Mary).
North Carolina
North and South Carolina were one colony until 1729. Carolina was named to honor Charles IX of France and then Charles I and Charles II of England. Carolina is rooted in Latin and comes from the word Caroliinus. This word is derived from the name Carolus, translated as "Charles." Was founded by a group of proprietors in 1653, for trade and profits.
South Carolina
South Carolina's thriving cultural center of Charleston, and the luxurious coastal island resorts. Raging against British taxation, South Carolina sent delegates to the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. Like North Carolina, South Carolina was founded by a group of proprietors for trade and profits, but it was in 1670.
Georgia
Georgia has become the commercial leader of the region. The state now ranks first in the production of peanuts, pecans, lima beans and pimiento peppers. Savannah has been called "this nation's most beautiful city" and Atlanta has become the leading transportation center of the southeast. In the Royal Charter (June 20, 1732), granted by King George II for the colony of Georgia, a board of Trustees was established to fulfill this goal. As it happened, however, this plan was never fully realized. When the ship Anne sailed for the new colony on November 16, 1732, not one of the 114 colonists aboard had been released from debtors' prison to make the voyage. By early February, 1733, a small group of settlers was headed up the Savannah River. They landed at Yamacra Bluff on February 12th and Oglethorpe began the process of laying out lots for Savannah, Georgia. General James Oglethorpe's colony was the only U.S. colony founded as a refuge for the "poor and deserving". February 12, 1998 marked 265 years since Oglethorpe and his shipload of settlers founded Georgia in 1733, for Debtor colony, buffer for Spanish colonies restrictions on blacks, size of plantations kept colonies small.
Churches
The Southern colonists had a mixture of religions including Baptists and Anglicans.