1. Chapter 4 Lesson 1
Colonial Economy

2. Colonial Economies
BIG IDEA: The unique resources and conditions that existed in each colony helped shape colonial economies and way of thinking. Essential Question: How did the economic activity of the three regions reflect their geography and climate?

3. Making a Living in the Colonies
Geography played an important role in the colonies’ economic development.
Colonists learned to adapt to the climate and terrain of the region where they lived.

4. Agriculture
Life in colonial America was based largely on agriculture. Most colonists farmed or ran businesses related to farming.
Example: milling flour

5. Commercial New England
Farming was difficult in New England due to geography
Soil was rocky and they had long winters
Made growing things difficult
Only subsistence farming- (farming enough to eat and not extra to sell)
If they can’t make money farming, due to their geography, what might they do instead? Make a prediction.

6. Commercial New England
Instead of farming, New Englanders tended to manufacture and sell things.
Blacksmiths
Shoe makers
Furniture makers
Gunsmiths
Fishing
Shipbuilders (New England rich in forests)
Ships important for port cities like Boston (TRADE)

7. Summary: New England
New England did not have good weather or geography for farming therefore they MANUFACTURED AND TRADED.

8. The Middle Colonies Middle Colonies depended mostly on FARMING
Region enjoyed fertile soil
Mild climate
In NY and PA
Large farms of wheat and other cash crops
(crops easily sold to others)
Farmers sent cash crops to NY and Philadelphia (port cities) to ship

9. The Middle Colonies Middle Colonies farmed but also had industry
Carpentry, flour making, lumber mills, mines, ironworks, etc
Attracted Scotch-Irish, German, Dutch, and Swedish settlers.
Became successful farmers
Gave Middle Colonies “Cultural Diversity” not found in New England

10. Summary: Middle Colonies
Middle Colonies had a balanced climate and geography, therefore they BOTH FARMED AND MANUFACTURED.

11. Life in the Southern Colonies
Had rich soil and a warm climate good for farming.
Southern farmers could plant large farms
Harvested tobacco and rice (cash crops)
Little industry developed in the south
DEPENDED ON SLAVERY TO HARVEST CROPS
Plantation owners (very large farms with lots of slaves) controlled the economic and political life of the region.

12. Summary: Southern Colonies
It was warm and mild in the south, therefore, they FARMED.
Since they FARMED, they needed SLAVES to run these farms.

13. Tobacco and Rice Virginia and Maryland
Main cash crop in MD and VA was tobacco
Depended on slave labor
Georgia and South Carolina
Main cash crop in GA and SC was rice
Became even more popular than tobacco
Very well selling crop

14. Necessity “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
How did geography and climate make it necessary for each region to adopt the practices of farming/manufacturing?
New England
Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies

15. The Growth of Slavery
By the time Europeans were sailing to the Americas, slavery was widely practiced in West Africa
West African kingdoms enslaved those they defeated in war.
Slave traders from Arab lands bought some of these enslaved people.
Others were forced to work in mines or farm fields.

18. The Growth of Slavery
Colonists who began farming had a need for slaves
They purchased them from slave traders who got their slaves from West Africa
Slavery became a part of the success of the colonial economy

19. Middle Passage
Triangular Trade- Was the second leg of a trade route which made a triangle between Africa, America and Europe

20. Middle Passage
The Middle Passage refers to the trip slaves took across the Atlantic to arrive in the English colonies.
Slaves were chained together for more than a month
Prisoners could hardly sit or stand, received little food or water
Those who died or became sick were thrown overboard

21. Life of the Slave
Some enslaved Africans did housework but most worked on the farms
Suffered great cruelty by plantation owners
Owners of plantations hired bosses to keep slaves working hard

22. Life of the Slave
Many colonies had slave codes- rules governing the behavior and punishment of enslaved people.
Some made it illegal to teach slaves to read or write
Famalies often torn apart when sold into slavery

23. Critics of Slavery Puritans in MA refused to hold slaves
How might their geography and economic practices have allowed this?
Quakers and Mennonites in PA condemned slavery.