Compare the geography, economy, and society of the New England, Middle, and Southern colonial regions.
By the mid-1700s, England had established thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast, and historians group them into three regions. New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire) had rocky soil and a short growing season, so its economy grew around fishing, shipbuilding, small farms, and trade rather than large farms; many towns were built around a shared Puritan religious community. The Middle colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) had fertile soil well suited to growing wheat and other grains, earning the region the nickname "the breadbasket," and drew a genuinely diverse population, including Dutch, German, Swedish, and English settlers, along with Quakers who settled Pennsylvania under William Penn's policy of religious tolerance.
The Southern colonies (Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia) had a warm climate and a long growing season, ideal for large plantations growing cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo. These plantations increasingly relied on forced labor, a topic this unit will look at honestly in a few weeks, and the Southern colonies had fewer towns and a more spread-out population than New England or the Middle colonies. Though all thirteen colonies were English, this regional pattern -- shaped directly by climate and soil -- meant daily life, work, and even town layout looked strikingly different depending on where a colonist happened to live.
Mastery looks like: They can name at least one colony and one defining economic activity for each of the three colonial regions.
Common stumbles: Assuming all thirteen colonies had the same economy and society; mixing up which region grew cash crops versus grain versus relying on fishing and trade.