The Southern Colonies
By Luke Hill
Settling In The South
The southern states is Virginia,MaryLand,North Carolina,South Carolina and Georgia.Maryland colony was built in 1632 by the Calverts,a wealthy Catholic family.The Calverts wanted to build a new colony that would be safe for the others.In 1663 King Charles gave a group of men permission to claim new land south of Virginia.they named the new colony Carolina for King Charles.
the Life In Virginia
Many colonists settled in the atlantic plain. Other colonists settled in the Piedmont region which lies between the Coastal plain and the Appalachian mountains.The southern colonies offered settlers many natural resources. Virginia also had hot summers and mild winters which is good for farming
Cash Crops
Tobacco is the most famous cash crop in the Southern Colonies.The states was Maryland,Virginia,north Carolina.Georgia and South Carolina was to wet to grow tobacco so farmers grow rice.On drier land they grew indigo a blue dye to color clothing.Some farmers tried to grow cotton.However it was hard to gather the seeds by hand.Cash crops was the most important part of the southern economy.
Plantation Economy
The southern colonies was mostly about farming. Plantation farmers depend on slaves.farmers was the richest people in the southern colonies. Not all planters were the same a few planters started as indentured servants. An indentured is a person that works for a amount of time without pay who paid for their trip to to the colonies. Other planters were wealthy settlers who were given a huge piece of land. As planters grew richer the amount of land they owned grew. In fact some plantations looked like small communities. The planters house was like the main building. Many other buildings including workshops was enslaved workers.
Cities
Plantations were built far away from each other and the southern colonies had less cities than the New England and Mid Atlantic colonies. By the mid 1700s some towns along the Atlantic coast has grown bigger. These cities became busy by shipping cash crops.Some of the biggest towns were the county seats. A county seat was the town where the county government was at. Most county seats had a general store, a courthouse, and a jail. The counties were large and included many plantations and smaller farms.