Vocabulary: 13 English Colonies

Vocabulary terms, key historical figures, and definitions concerning the settlement and development of the English colonies in North America.

Colony

A settlement ruled by another country.

Immigrants

People who move to a new country or region to settle.

Apprentice

A person who learns a trade from a skilled worker over a set period.

Sir Walter Raleigh

An English explorer and courtier who helped support early English attempts to establish colonies in North America.

Roanoke Colony

First attempted English colony North America - "Lost Colony".

John White

Governor of Roanoke; returned to find the colony deserted.

London Company

A joint-stock company that funded the founding of Jamestown.

Colony of Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in America (1607).

John Smith

A leader who helped Jamestown survive with strict discipline.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Powhatan chief; helped foster peace between Native Americans and Jamestown settlers.

John Rolfe

Introduced tobacco as a cash crop in Virginia, married Pocahontas.

Indentured Servants

People who worked without pay for a set time in exchange for passage to America.

Cash crops

Crops grown mainly to sell for money, rather than to feed the people who grow them.

Indigo

A plant used to make a valuable blue dye, grown as a cash crop in some Southern colonies.

Planter

A person who owned or managed a large farm, owned at least 20 slaves.

Plantation

A large farm or estate where crops are grown, often using the labor of many workers. Historically, plantations often relied on enslaved people's forced labor.

Mason-Dixon Line

A boundary surveyed in the 1760s between Pennsylvania and Maryland, later associated with the division between the North and South.

George Calvert (Lord Baltimore)

Founded Maryland as a refuge for Catholics.

Cecilius Calvert

Son of George Calvert; carried out the founding of Maryland.

Colony of Maryland

A Southern colony founded for religious freedom for Catholics.