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The first colonies in North America were along the eastern coast. Settlers from Spain,
France, Sweden, Holland, and England claimed land beginning in the 17th century. The
struggle for control of this land would continue for more than a hundred years.

The first permanent settlement in North America was the English colony at Jamestown,
in 1607, in what is now Virginia. John Smith and company had come to stay.
The Pilgrims followed, in 1620, and set up a colony at Plymouth, in what is now
Massachusetts.

Other English colonies sprang up all along the Atlantic coast, from Maine in the north to
Georgia in the south. Swedish and Dutch colonies took shape in and around what is
now New York.

As more and more people arr ived in the New World, more and more disputes arose
over territory. Many wars were fought in the 1600s and 1700s. Soon, the two countries
with the largest presence were England and France.

The two nations fought for control of North America in what America ns call the French
and Indian War (1754-1763). England won the war and got control of Canada, as well
as keeping control of all the English colonies.

By this time, the English colonies numbered 13. They were Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.










Each colony had its own unique characteristics, but historians lump them into groups
based on where they were, why they were founded, and what kinds of industry they
had:










Rhode Island Delaware Maryland
Connecticut Pennsylvania Virginia
Massachusetts New York North Carolina
New Hampshire New Jersey South Carolina
Georgia




By and large, the people who settled in the New England Colonies
wanted to keep their family unit together and practice their own
religion. They were used to doing many things themselves and not
depending on other people for much. Some of these people came

to New England to make money, but they were not the majority.

The people who founded the Middle Colonies were looking to practice their
own religion (Pennsylvania mainly) or to make money. Many of these people
didn't bring their families with them from England and were the perfect workers for the
hard work required in ironworks and shipyards.

The founders of the Southern Colonies were, for the most part, out to make money. They
brought their fam ilies, as did the New England colonists, and they kept their families
together on the plantations. But their main motivation was to make the good money
that was available in the new American market.



The New England Colonies were largely farming a nd
fishing communities. The people made their own clothes
and shoes. They grew much of their own food. Crops like
corn and wheat grew in large numbers, and much was
shipped to England. Foods that didn't grow in America
were shipped from England. Boston was the major New
England port.

The Middle Colonies were part agriculture, part industrial. Wheat and
other grains grew on farms in Pennsylvania and New York. Factories in
Maryland produced iron, and factories in Pennsylvania produced
paper and textiles. Tra de with England was plentiful in these colonies as
well.

The Southern Colonies were almost entirely agricultural. The main

feature was the plantation, a large plot of land that contained a great
many acres of farmland and buildings in which lived the people who owned the land
and the people who worked the land. (A large part of the workforce was African
slaves, who first arrived in 1619.)

Southern plantations grew tobacco, rice, and indigo, which they sold to buyers in
England and elsewhere in America.



The Pilgrims in Massachusetts and the Quakers in Pennsylvania were
examples of people who had left England so they could practice
the religion they chose. Maryland and Rhode Island passed laws of
religious toleration (meaning that people couldn't be harmed just
because their religion was different from other people's).

These American colonists also believed that they had a right to govern themselves.
More and more, they believed that they shouldn't have to pay so much in taxes to
England, especially since they couldn't serve in the English government and have a say
on how high or low those taxes were.
 










 (c. 1595 ² March 21, 1617), later known as Rebecca Rolfe, was
a Virginia Indian chief's daughter notable for having assisted colonial settlers
at Jamestown. She converted to Christianity and married the English settler John Rolfe.
After they traveled to London, she became famous in the last year of her life. She was a
daughter of Wahunsunacawh , better known as Chief or Emperor Powhatan (to
indicate his primacy), who headed a network of tributary tribal nations in the Tidewater
region of Virginia (called O
 by the Powhatan). These tribes made up what
is known as the Powhatan Chiefdom and spoke a language of the Algonquian family.


 Captain John Smith (c. January 1580 ² June 21, 1631) Admiral of New
England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He wasknighted for his services
to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania. He is remembered for his role in
establishing the first p ermanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown,
Virginia, and his brief associati on with the Virginia Indian [1] girl Pocahontas during an
altercation with the Powhatan Confederacy and her father, Chief Powhatan. He was a
leader of the Virginia Colony (based at Jamestown) between September 1608 and
August 1609, and led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake
Bay.

His books and maps may have been as important as his deeds, as they encouraged
more Englishmen and women to follow the trail he had blazed and to colonize the New
World. He gave the name New England to that region, and encouraged people with
the comment, "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and
land...If he have nothing but his hands, he may...by industrie quickly grow rich."
In 1607 the English established a colony at Jamestown, Virginia. But the harsh winters
were more difficult than the settlers had planned and they soon found that their
supplies were becoming dangerously low.

One day, during 1608, Captain John Smith and some of his men were captured by
Native Americans while they were out searching for food. Captain Smith's men were all
killed and he was taken to Chief Powhatan. The mighty Indian Chief ordered that Smith
be killed. At the last moment, the Chief's daughter, 13 year old Pocahontas, pleaded
with her father and saved Captain Smith's life.

A few years later, Pocahontas would once again sav e the lives of many in Jamestown
by warning the settlers of an Indian attack. She made friends with the settlers and was
soon trusted by them.

In 1613, when she was 18 years old, Pocahontas accepted Jesus into her life and
was baptized. She also took the ´Christianµ name of Rebecca to mark the beginning of
her new life.

Soon after her baptism, Pocahontas fell in love and married a Jamestown settler
named John Rolfe. They had a child named Thomas (1615). In 16 16, John, Rebecca
and their son all traveled to England where they were given an audience from the royal
court. As they prepared to return home to Virginia in 1617, Pocahontas became ill and
died. She was buried in England.

Pocahontas will always be rememb ered as the Indian princess who risked her own life
to save Captain John Smith and the settlers of Jamestown. But the really notable
aspect of her short life is that she was the first Native American in the new world to
beconverted and accept Jesus Christ.