Colonial Region Activity
Lindsay Abram hour 1
Early American Colony Regions
New England colonies
Middle colonies
Southern colonies
Welcome to Jamestown
The Virginia company, a group of London entrepreneurs, were granted a Charter from King James I, to establish an English settlement in North America to find gold, and seek a water route to the Orient.
On May 14, 1607, the Virginia Company explorers landed on Jamestown Island to establish a colony along the James River.
Tobacco was grown in Jamestown and sold to foreigners, which gave the gentlemen most of their money.
New York City
Originaly called New Netherlands, was named in honor of the Duke of York.
On September 13th 1609, a ship called the Crescent came to anchor within Sandy Hook (New Jersey), roughly seventeen miles from the present city of New York.
In November, Henry Hudson, the commander of the ship, went back to England, and forwarded to his Dutch employers his discoveries; but the English monarch, James I, forbid his return to Holland, so the Dutch, by virtue of his having sailed under their patronage, should lay claim to the country.
In 1614, the Dutch constructed a fort on the southern part of the island, which was the beginning of New Amsterdam, afterward called New York.
In 1615, a settlement was begun near the present site of Albany, named Fort Orange. The country received the name New Netherlands.
As the Dutch rule declined, the English stepped in. Since the territory was passed into the hands of the English, New Amsterdam was changed to New York, and Fort Orange received the name of Albany. The British took some of the remaining territory.
In 1688, New York and New Jersey were added to the jurisdiction of New England.
Plymouth
Plymouth was initially settled for religious freedom.
Plymouth differed from Jamestown settlements in that the colonists included entire family units. Their intent was to not return to England, and to just start a new life in Plymouth.
The Georgia Colony
In the 1730s, England founded the last of its colonies in North America.
The choice of Georgia was motivated by the idea of creating a defensive buffer for South Carolina, an increasingly important colony with many potential enemies close by.
Pennsylvania
In 1682, William Penn received land from his grandfather. Penn wanted freedom of religion and protection from persecution for himself and others who might want the same thing. He had not been able to find this, so he started his own colony. He called it Pennsylvania.
North and South Carolina
The northern half of the British colony of Carolina consisted of frontiersmen from Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The southern parts were populated by wealthy English planters who set up large slave plantations.
The Province of South Carolina was separated from the Province of North Carolina in 1729.
James River
The James River is a river in Virginia. It is 348 miles long, extending to 444 miles. It is the 12th longest river in the United States that remains entirely within a single state. The James River was considered as a route for transportation of goods from the Ohio Valley. The James River and Kanawha Canal was built to provide a navigable portion of the Kanawha River. For the most mountainous section between the two points, the James River and Kanawha turnpike was built to provide a link for wagons.
Hudson River
Early maps and sailing journals say that the area was viewed as inhospitable, with wild animals, poisonous snakes, mountains and thick forests too dense to travel in. The river was seen as treacherous, especially in the stretch known as the Hudson Highlands. This area begins about 50 miles north of New York City and extends for about 15 miles. The hills rise up more than 1,000 feet and fierce currents and strong winds made sailing extremely difficult and dangerous. Areas of the river here were named World's End and Devil's Horse Race by the Dutch sailors.