Virginia
Founder: John Smith
Founding Year: 1607
Reason for Founding: Trade and profits
North Carolina
Founder: Group of proprietors
Founding Year: 1653
Reason for Founding: Trade and profits
Life in the Southern Colonies |
Life in the Southern Colonies
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The people of the south lived on large farms, or plantations. Plantations are very different from the small New England farms. On the plantation stood the planter's home, a kitchen, a dairy, a smokehouse, shops for brick makers and carpenters, stables, barns, cabins, and often a school. The plantation was like a small village. |
Plantations were often separated by hundred of miles. Because people in the south lived so far apart, they were divided into counties, and they had county government. Each county had a courthouse where the rich planters would meet to decide on various matters. The plantations also had many workers who lived on the land. |
Some had indentured servants from England who promised to work the land for a certain number of years in exchange for money and a place to live on the plantation. Others had slaves who cost more, but would live and work on the plantation forever. The Southern Colonies had the largest slave population. |
Some settlers could not afford to buy slaves or live near the coast. The area farther inland was much more dangerous. Life on the frontier was very different from life on the coast. The frontier was home to bears and other wild animals. Many settlers made a living by hunting and trapping the animals. Some made a living from the pine trees they used to build ships. Also, the settlers on the frontier banned together to build forts to protect themselves from the Indians. In times of peace the fort served as a trading post. In times of war the fort served as protection. |
Georgia
Founder: James Oglethorpe
Founding Year: 1733
Reason for Founding: Debtor colony, and buffer for Spanish colonies
South Carolina
Founder: Group of proprietors
Founding Year: 1670
Reason for Founding: Trade and profits