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The Middle Colonies, consisting of the present-day states of [[New York]], [[New Jersey]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Delaware]], were characterized by a large degree of diversity—religious, political, economic, and ethnic. Many Dutch and Protestant Irish immigrants settled in these areas, as well as in [[Long Island]] and [[Connecticut]]. The Germans, called "[[Pennsylvania Dutch]]," were included in this emigration.
== '''Southern Colonies''' ==
== '''Southern Colonies''' ==
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| [[Georgia]] || 1732 || [[James Oglethorpe]], brought [[English]] debtors to protect [[Georgia]] from the [[Spanish]] || Indigo, tobacco || Governor appointed by king || Protestant
| [[Georgia]] || 1732 || [[James Oglethorpe]], brought [[English]] debtors to protect [[Georgia]] from the [[Spanish]] || Indigo, tobacco || Governor appointed by king || Protestant
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==Lower South==
The colonial South included the plantation colonies of the Chesapeake region (Virginia and Maryland) and the lower South (Carolina, which eventually split into North and South Carolina, and Georgia).
===Carolinas===
The first attempted English settlement south of Virginia was the Province of Carolina. It was a private venture, financed by a group of English businessmen calling themselves the "Lords Proprietors," who obtained a [[Royal Charter]] to the Carolinas in 1663, hoping that a new colony in the south would become profitable like that of Jamestown. Carolina was not settled until 1670, and even then the first attempt failed because there was no incentive for emigration to the south. However, eventually the Lords combined their remaining capital and financed a settlement mission to the area led by [[John West]]. The expedition located fertile and defensible ground at what was to become [[Charleston]] (originally Charles Town for [[Charles II of England]]), thus beginning the English colonization of the mainland. The original settlers in South Carolina established a lucrative trade in provisions, deerskins and Indian captives with the Caribbean islands. They came mainly from the English colony of [[Barbados]] and brought African slaves with them. Barbados, as a wealthy [[sugarcane]] plantation island, was one of the early English colonies to large numbers of Africans in plantation style agriculture. The cultivation of [[rice]] was introduced during the 1690s via Africans from the rice-growing regions of [[West Africa]]. North Carolina remained a frontier through the early colonial period.
At first, South Carolina was politically divided. Its ethnic makeup included the original settlers, a group of rich, slave-owning English settlers from the island of Barbados; and [[Huguenots]], a French-speaking community of Protestants. Nearly continuous frontier warfare during the era of [[King William's War]] and [[Queen Anne's War]] drove economic and political wedges between merchants and planters. The disaster of the [[Yamasee War]], in 1715, set off a decade of political turmoil. By 1729, the proprietary government had collapsed, and the Proprietors sold both colonies back to the British crown.
===Georgia===
[[Image:SavannahColony.JPG|thumb|250px|Savannah, Georgia Colony, Early 1700's]]
[[James Oglethorpe]], an 18th century British [[Member of Parliament]], established [[Georgia Colony]] as a common solution to two problems. At that time, tension between Spain and Great Britain was high, and the British feared that Spanish Florida was threatening the British Carolinas. Oglethorpe decided to establish a colony in the contested border region of Georgia and populate it with debtors who would otherwise have been imprisoned according to standard British practice. This plan would both rid Great Britain of its undesirable elements and provide her with a base from which to attack Florida. The first colonists arrived in 1733.
Georgia was established on strict moralistic principles. Slavery was forbidden, as was alcohol and other forms of supposed immorality. However, the reality of the colony was far from ideal. The colonists were unhappy about the puritanical lifestyle and complained that their colony could not compete economically with the Carolina rice plantations. Georgia initially failed to prosper, but eventually the restrictions were lifted, slavery was allowed, and it became as prosperous as the Carolinas.