Southern Colonies

The southern colonies were settled by people from the countries of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

The southern colonies were Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Colony	Settlement	Leader	Date	Reason
Georgia	Savannah	James Oglethrope	1733	Place for people who were not wanted in England. It was protected from Spain and France
North Carolina	Albemarle	Group of businessmen	1653	Trade
South Carolina	Charleston	Group of businessmen	1670	Trade
Virginia	Jamestown	John Smith	1607	Trade
Maryland	St. Mary's	Lord Baltimore	1634	Religious freedom

Maryland was founded in 1634 by a group of Catholics from England. In England, Catholics were being hunted, jailed, and at times killed. So, these Catholics needed someplace where they could practice their religion safely. Their leader was a man called Lord Baltimore. About 300 Catholics settled a city called St. Mary's. Later on the city's name was changed to honor the founder of the colony to Baltimore.

Some years later in 1663, King Charles I of England, gave some land "south of Virginia" some of his friends who were businessmen. They named the area Carolina in honor of their friend, King Charles. The first place settled was Charleston. These men found that there were already many settlers living in the area. Many arguments came about because the businessmen believed they could do what ever they wanted to the area and the settlers believed they should have a say in what was done to the area. So, in 1680 Carolina was divided into two parts-North and South Carolina.

Georgia was the last colony to be organized of the original 13 colonies. James Oglethorpe was given land by the king of England. The king wanted a place where he could send people he did not want or like. So, Georgia became that colony. Georgia's job was to protect the other colonies from the French and Spanish. Many people were brought to Georgia who had been in jail or owed money they could not pay. Savannah was the first settlement. The name Georgia came from the name of King George of England.

The Southern Colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) had huge plantations which grew cotton, tobacco, turpentine, indigo (a purple dye), and other crops. The people who were sent there from English jails worked for very little money. Many Africans were brought to these colonies and brought by big plantations to work in the fields.