Colonial Regions of North America Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary terms and definitions focusing on the differences in geography, economy, and society among the three original colonial regions of North America.

New England Colonies

The region consisting of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

New England Geography

Characterized by a cold climate, harsh winters, a short growing season, rocky soil, dense forests, and many rivers and natural harbors.

Puritans

A religious group that moved to Massachusetts Bay in $1630$ to practice their religion more fully, famously described by John Winthrop as a “city upon a hill.”

Roger Williams

An individual banished from Massachusetts who helped establish Rhode Island, a colony known for greater religious freedom and fair purchase of Indigenous land.

New England Economy

A diverse economy consisting of fishing, whaling, shipbuilding, lumber, and trade due to poor conditions for large-scale farming.

Mid-Atlantic Colonies

The region consisting of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

“The Breadbasket of the Colonies”

A nickname for the Mid-Atlantic region because its fertile soil and moderate climate allowed for high production of wheat and other grains.

William Penn

A Quaker who received Pennsylvania from the English king in $1681$ and encouraged people from diverse backgrounds to settle there.

New Netherland

A Dutch commercial colony with its main settlement on Manhattan Island (New Amsterdam) that was taken over by England in $1664$ and renamed New York.

Southern Colonies

The region consisting of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Cash Crop

A crop grown mainly to sell for profit rather than for personal consumption, such as tobacco, rice, and indigo.

Joint-stock company

A business venture, like the Virginia Company, where investors buy stock and provide money to establish a colony in exchange for a share of profits.

Jamestown

The settlement established in Virginia in $1607$ that eventually became successful through the cultivation of tobacco.

Proprietary colony

A colony such as Carolina where the land was given to specific noblemen, known as proprietors, by the British monarch.

Georgia

A colony founded in $1732$ that served as a buffer between South Carolina and Spanish Florida and originally outlawed slavery until $1751$.

Indentured servants

Laborers who worked for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to North America.

The Fall Line

A geographic boundary where rivers change elevation between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, separating smaller family farms from larger commercial plantations.

New England Indigenous Nations

Native nations including the Wampanoag, Pequot, Narragansett, and Mohegan who interacted with colonists through trade, diplomacy, and conflicts like the Pequot War.