Colonial Regions and Economic Patterns

Supplied materials

• Paper and pencil; drawing or spoken answers are welcome.
• Topic notes: New England maritime activity: shipping and fishing associated with northern coastal colonies. Middle-colony grain production: grain growing associated with colonies such as Pennsylvania. Southern plantation agriculture: large-scale crops supported heavily by enslaved labor in southern colonies. Atlantic network: connections moving goods and people across Atlantic routes.
• Original exercise cards: A card describes Massachusetts fishing and shipping. / A card describes Pennsylvania wheat farming. / A card describes Virginia tobacco plantations. / A card links colonial ports with Europe and the Caribbean. / A card identifies grain exports from middle colonies. / A card describes rice plantations in South Carolina. / A card describes interconnected transatlantic shipping. / A card identifies maritime trade around northern colonial ports.

Learn the idea

Broad patterns in the thirteen British colonies included New England’s maritime commerce, middle colonies’ grain production and southern colonies’ plantation agriculture. These patterns were not uniform. Atlantic trade linked regions, and slavery existed beyond the plantation South. Regional labels cannot erase individual lives or Native homelands.

New England maritime activity: shipping and fishing associated with northern coastal colonies. Middle-colony grain production: grain growing associated with colonies such as Pennsylvania. Southern plantation agriculture: large-scale crops supported heavily by enslaved labor in southern colonies. Atlantic network: connections moving goods and people across Atlantic routes.

Use the named region and activity: northern maritime work, middle-colony grain, southern plantations or Atlantic connections. Read the notes and the word cards. You can write, draw or say your answer.

1. Read the four notes. Find the words New England maritime activity, Middle-colony grain production, Southern plantation agriculture, Atlantic network.
2. Use the named region and activity: northern maritime work, middle-colony grain, southern plantations or Atlantic connections.
3. Read the worked answer. Then try the other cards and explain which words helped you choose.
4. Choose two different examples: one for New England maritime activity and one for Middle-colony grain production. Explain how their clues differ.

Check your reasoning

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Take it further

New card: “A card identifies maritime trade around northern colonial ports.” Match it with a note, then point to or say the words that helped. Check: The card says: “A card identifies maritime trade around northern colonial ports.” That matches New England maritime activity. New England maritime activity is shipping and fishing associated with northern coastal colonies.

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