NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

1 New England's soil was not as fertile as the other regions. This was because glaciers had deposited rocks in prehistoric times. It was often said in New England that each year’s surest crop was rocks. 

2 Farming was a backbreaking task that produced only limited results. Therefore, many colonists turned to the sea to earn a living. New England had many fine harbors, and offshore there were rich fishing grounds. Whale hunting began and grew rapidly until there were hundreds of whaling ships operating out of New England ports. 

3 Commerce, trading in both the import and export business, became an important source of wealth. Fortunes could be made in the Triangle Trade. This involved shipping a cargo of rum from New England to the coast of West Africa. There it was traded for slaves.  The slaves were then transported to the West Indies where they were again traded, this time for molasses. Finally, the molasses was taken back to New England where it was sold and turned into rum. The ship owner was able to make a profit at each stop in the triangle.

4 Manufacturing on a small scale also developed. There were rum distilleries, factories making beaver hats, iron forges, lumber mills, shipyards and naval stores. 

5 Naval stores consisted of such items as tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine that were used by both the British Navy and Merchant Marine. The British Government was anxious for the colonies to manufacture naval stores, and they often paid bounties to encourage increased production.

MIDDLE COLONIES

6 The Middle Colonies were often called the Bread Colonies because of the great quantities of grain they produced. This region had fertile soil and soon began exporting large quantities of grain products. 

7 In addition, vast forests provided the raw materials for ship building and a thriving lumber industry. Later in the colonial period, the manufacturing of iron, glass and pottery began to assume an important place in the economy. 

8 In parts of the Middle Colonies large estates grew up that were similar to the plantations of the South. One important difference was that the Middle Colony estates were worked by labor that was either free or indentured, not by slaves as on the southern plantations.

SOUTHERN COLONIES

9 There were two distinct regions in the Southern Colonies. The first was known as the Tidewater because it was close to water transportation. The chief products of this area were rice, indigo and tobacco. These products were the most profitable when worked on great plantations by African slave labor. 

10 The second area was farther away from the ocean and rivers and was known as the Piedmont area. Here people worked small farms, trapped and hunted. 

11 In most of the Southern Colonies there was tension and hatred between the Piedmont residents and the Tidewater aristocrats. Conflicts between the two groups often broke out as the Piedmont farmers tried to get a voice in running their aristocrat-dominated colonial governments.

FRONTIER

12 All the colonies had a backwoods or frontier region. These regions were inhabited by woodsmen who were not afraid of the loneliness or the threat of hostile American Indians. The great majority of these pioneers were families and their animals. There was usually no need to grow a surplus for there was no way to get it to market. However, some frontiersmen turned their surplus grain into whiskey which was easier to transport to distant markets.