growth of colonial society

rowth of Colonial Society, 1630 - 1760

Economies of the Colonies Section One

Economy - the ways goods, wealth, and services are created and used

Export - to send goods to another region or country

Frontier - a newly settled or lightly settled area just outside an area of older settlements

Economy of the New England Colonies

                 -Short growing season and rocky soil meant not that many crops

                 -Forests and nearby Atlantic Ocean gave them lumber, fishing, ad shipbuilding.

                 -Boston was a major port, shipping whale oil, animals hides, and lumber to England.

Economy of the Middle Colonies
                  -Rich farmland, warmer climate meant larger farms, growing wheat and rye.
                  -These were the Bread Colonies or Breadbasket Colonies.
                  -Flour was a huge export.
                  -Farm workers were hired by landowners, with slaves occasionally.

Two Economies of the Southern Colonies
Large plantations in the east and small farms in the west
Plantation: a large farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country, on which cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar cane, or similar cash crops are cultivated.
Small farms located further west, on the frontier
The work was done by families and small numbers of hired workers, not by slaves.

Triangular Trade (a less shameful way of describing the business of slavery)
Three separate voyages across the Atlantic Ocean
            -Ships carry run, cloth, iron goods from colonies to West Africa in exchange for slaves.
             -Enslaved Africans and gold are shipped for sale in the West Indies.
              -Slaves, molasses, sugar are sold in the colonies.

The Growth of Towns and Cities  
Barter - to trade a product or service for another product or service
Import - an item brought into a region or country from another region or country.
Common - an open area shared by all the villagers.

Settlements become towns because farmers often traded fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, quilts, baskets, and other things with townspeople.
This kind of trading is called bartering.
England did not allow the colonies to print or coin their own money.
They also did not allow the colonists to bring English money to America.

What could you find in a colonial town?
At least one church
A general store which sold a variety of items, including some imports.
Individual shops (run by barrel makers or shoemakers, for example)
A gristmill (where gain was ground into flour and meal)
A sawmill (where logs were cut into lumber)
A public meetinghouse
A school