American Colonies

Penn's Treaty with the Indians
by Benjamin West
(Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts)

Colony	Founded	Region	Founder	Religion	Government	Original Purpose	Economics	Note
Roanoke	1585	Southern	Sir Walter Raleigh			Establish English colony in New World		Colonists disappeared without a trace.
Virginia	1607	Southern	John Smith	Anglican	Royal	Trade and profits	Tobacco	Founded as joint-stock company. House of Burgesses (1619). Only 60 of 1st 900 colonists survived.
Plymouth	1620	New England	William Bradford	Puritan	Corporate	Religious freedom for Separatists	Mixed farmiing	Mayflower Compact. Led by William Bradford
New York	1626	Middle	Peter Minuit	None	Proprietary, then royal	Trade and profits	Mixed farming, furs	Set up as Dutch colony, taken over by English in 1664
Massachusetts Bay	1630	New England	John Winthrop	Puritan	Corporate	Religious freedom for Puritans	Mixed farming, fishing, shipbuilding	Led by John Winthrop. 18,000 settlers by 1642
New Hampshire	1630	New England	John Mason	Puritan	Corporate, then royal	Escape for those constricted by religious and economic rules	Mixed farming	Puritan harshness led these settlers north and inland.
Maryland	1634	Middle	George Calvert	None (Anglican after 1692)	Proprietary	Religious freedom for Catholics	Tobacco	Founded by George Calvert. Slow growing (only 600 by 1650. Maryland Toleration Act (1649)
Connecticut	1636	New England	Thomas Hooker	Puritan	Corporate	Religious and economic freedom	Mixed farming	Leaders of Massachusetts asked Hooker and followers to leave.
Rhode Island	1636	New England	Roger Williams	None	Corporate	Religious freedom	Mixed farming	Williams set up most tolerant colony
Delaware	1638	Middle	Peter Minuit	None	Proprietary	Trade and profits.		Established by Sweden; taken by Dutch, then English.
North Carolina	1653	Southern	Group of proprietors	Anglican	Proprietary	Trade and profits	Rice	Joint business venture
New Jersey	1660	Middle	Lord Berkeley	None	Proprietary	Trade and profits	Mixed farming	Established by Sweden; taken by English in 1664
South Carolina	1670	Southern	Group of proprietors	Anglican	Proprietary	Trade and profits	Rice	Rice major crop.
Pennsylvania	1682	Middle	William Penn	None	Proprietary	Religious freedom for Quakers; trade and profits	Wheat, mixed farming	Originally Quaker, this colony became home to many European immigrants
Georgia	1733	Southern	James Oglethorpe	Anglican	Royal	Debtor colony.	Rice	Buffer for Spanish colonies Originally outlawed slavery and restricted size of land grants to 500 acres.

Based on several sources, including The American Journey by Goldfield

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