Fact 1 – Geography: The geography of the Southern Colonies featured
fertile soil, hilly coastal plains, forests, long rivers and swamp areas
. Fact 2 – Natural Resources: Fish, forests (timber) and good agricultural land, farming was important.
What were the geographic features of the Southern Colonies?
The southern colonies were made up of
mostly coastal plains and piedmont areas
. The soil was good for farming and the climate was warm, including hot summers and mild winters. The growing season here was longer than any other region. The southern colonies' economy was based on agriculture (farming).
What were the 3 Colonial geographic regions?
The colonies developed into three distinct regions:
New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies
. Each region developed a different economy and society. Cold winters, short growing season, and a rugged landscape.
What features were common to all the Southern Colonies?
All England's Southern colonies had many similarities as well as differences. They all relied on
slaves and indentured servants to plant crops
, and these staple crops allowed all of the colonies to prosper economically. In each colony, the population was mostly English, and white males owned land. Women had no rights.
They were
the gentry, the middle class, and the poor
. The highest class was the gentry.
What was the culture like in the southern colonies?
Historically
a Protestant Christian culture
, the South in the colonial years possessed a higher degree of religious diversity than one would generally believe. The cotton empires of the 19th century were imperceptible at the time, as the cotton gin was unknown, so tobacco remained the dominant crop.
What was good about the southern colonies?
The Southern Colonies concentrated
on agriculture and developed
the plantations exporting tobacco, cotton, corn, vegetables, grain, fruit and livestock. The Southern Colonies had the largest slave population who worked on the Slave Plantations. Plantations grew cotton, tobacco, indigo (a purple dye), and other crops.
Which colonial region is best to live in?
The best colony to live in would have been
Rhode Island
, officially called Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Founded by Roger Williams, a dissenter who fled Puritans in Massachusetts, Rhode Island granted its inhabitants freedom of religion.
How were the colonies similar and different?
The colonies were
alike in that they all had close ties to England
. They were mainly inhabited by English-speaking people. Aside from some of Maryland, they were largely Protestant. They had their own forms of self-government, but they owed their allegiance to Parliament and the King.
What differences existed between the colonies?
The Southern Colonies were
established as economic ventures and were seeking natural resources to provide material wealth
to the mother country and themselves. In contrast, the early New England colonists were primarily religious reformers and separatists. … Another difference is clearly noted in the human resources.
Why was slavery so important to the Southern Colonies?
The Origins of American Slavery
Most of those enslaved in the North did not live in large communities, as they did in the mid-Atlantic colonies and the South. Those Southern economies depended
upon people enslaved at plantations to provide labor and keep the massive tobacco and rice farms running
.
How were the North and South Colonies different?
The
Northern Colonies were mostly mountains with a colder climate
and a thin layer of soil only for subsistence farming. The Southern Colonies were mostly plains with warmer climate and rich fertile soil suitable for cash crop farming. … The Southern Colonies were settled mainly for economic gain(commercial gain).
What was bad about the Southern Colonies?
English American Southerners would not enjoy the generally good health of their New England counterparts.
Outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever
kept life expectancies lower. Since the northern colonies attracted religious dissenters, they tended to migrate in families.
They worked as professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, or merchants who owned stores. Most of the population in Colonial America belong to the group called
middle class
, which came right after the gentry. Although the middle class freemen owned land and property, they were not as wealthy as gentry.
The Southern elite consisted of
wealthy planters in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina
. In terms of the white population of Virginia and Maryland in the mid-18th century, the top five percent were estimated to be planters who possessed growing wealth and increasing political power and social prestige.
What was the political life like in the southern colonies?
3 Political Structure
The southern colonies were
largely governed by a governor sent from England
. The governor was advised by a colonial legislature that was largely composed of and dominated by the planter class.
