Basic Info:

The last English colony in today’s United States, this colony encompassed all of today’s Georgia, and much of Alabama and Mississippi land. While Spanish conquistadors were the first to step foot in the area in the colony of San Miguel de Gualdape, this English version was much larger and more successful. The colony was named for the new King George, and was set with strict rules, including no land owning and no slaves. 

Purpose: 

The plan for this area was to create a place for the poor and debt-ridden (considered to be criminals) of England to move to. England had been heavily populated, and the lack of jobs and multitude of poor citizens drove much of the numbers for all colonies as indentured servants who later would become free colonists in all of the English colonies. However, not all could make it earlier. The location of this colony was carefully decided so it could be a buffer between South Carolina and the Spanish colonies of Florida and French in Louisiana. 

First Encounters: 

The Georgian leaders knew that the powerful tribes nearby would have already had relations with the other colonies, and decided that peaceful agreements were the best way to stave off Native attacks, so trading began and went well for the beginning of the colony’s life. Georgia’s founder, George Oglethorpe, had a great relationship with the Yamacraw chief Tomochichi, and there were several marriages between the colonists and surrounding tribal members.

Impact:

It only took a few decades for the ban on slavery to end, and slaves later became an integral part of Georgia’s economy. As the original intent was to produce luxury goods in this colony and failed at doing so, it became a large exporter of timber, much of it sent to England to resupply its deforested areas. As the buffer colony, it ensured the weakening of the Spanish presence in the present-day United States by limiting its expansion and conducting raids on Spanish missions. 

Cause: 

This war was the American theater of the Seven Years War between France and Great Britain. A major cause of that war was the rivalry between the two countries, and it spilled into the American colonies. In America, the rivalry mainly was over territorial control. France had been expanding into Ohio, and many conflicts over this territory arose between the two groups. Fighting began two years earlier when George Washington led a surprise attack on the French in Pennsylvania. 

Basic Info:

Many surrounding Indian tribes, all of whom had some sort of relationship with either the English or the French, had participated in this war, allying with the country that made most sense according to their trading agreements. Most tribes, however, were on the side of the French, as they had typically treated the tribes better than the British, and had promised tribes to have their lands restored if they helped France win. Because of the locations of this war, it has been dubbed “the first true world war.”

Impact:

The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Canada went to France, France gave Louisiana to Spain, and Ohio went to Britain. It also opened up colonization westward toward the Mississippi now that the French were gone from the present-day United States, which meant that further Native land was soon to be eroded. This also led to British taxes on the American colonists, which were a major issue for them since the colonies were not equally represented in parliament with the rest of Britain’s citizens, and ultimately the American Revolution.