About the author
Edward A. St. Germain created AmericanRevolution.org in 1996. He was an avid historian with a keen interest in the Revolutionary War and American culture and society in the 18th century. On this website, he created and collated a huge collection of articles, images, and other media pertaining to the American Revolution. Edward was also a Vietnam veteran, and his investigative skills led to a career as a private detective in later life.
1. While Virginia was the first of the Thirteen Colonies, most of the South was settled much later
Virginia was first established in 1607, long before the settlers began moving into New England in the 1620s and 1630s.
Maryland was founded in 1634, but it took until 1663 for the Province of Carolina to be established, before Georgia became the last of the Thirteen Colonies in 1732.
2. The Southern Colonies were predominantly settled in order to grow profitable cash crops
Initial settlements in Virginia struggled until the colonists discovered a strain of tobacco that could be grown and exported to the Old World in return for significant profits.
From this point onward, the economy of the Southern Colonies was dominated by rice, indigo, and tobacco plantations, which thrived in the warm climate and fertile soil that the region offered.
However, some areas were settled for non-economic reasons. For example, Maryland was established as a safe haven for Catholics in the Protestant-dominated Thirteen Colonies.
3. By 1770, approximately 41% of the population of the Southern Colonies was Black
The region relied heavily on slave labor to support its cash crop industry, and slaves were imported in large numbers, predominantly from West Africa, throughout the 18th century.
Many others were also born in the Southern Colonies before being enslaved as they reached adolescence.
4. The Southern Colonies were socially and culturally different from New England and the Middle Colonies
The region was extremely vast, with fewer dense communities, and large plantations taking up thousands of acres of land. As a result, fewer people lived close by to churches, and religion played less of a role in the social fabric of many of the Southern Colonies. Education was also less of an emphasis compared to in Puritan-controlled settlements.
With the exception of North Carolina, there were fewer small farms compared to elsewhere in the Thirteen Colonies – instead, wealthy individuals and families tended to own multiple large-scale plantations, and these landowners dominated the region’s politics.
The Southern Colonies also had by far the largest Black population, predominantly made up of slaves, though some were freed former slaves as well. These populations brought with them their own religions, cuisine, music, and other cultural values from the African continent.
Communities also formed around the plantations themselves, where slaves and other workers typically lived in on-site quarters.
5. Charleston was one of the richest cities in the Thirteen Colonies
The area was a thriving port town, exporting southern cash crops to other American colonies and internationally. This supported other ancillary industries such as shipbuilding, warehousing, and even maritime insurance.
6. The Southern Colonies were often faced with the threat of Spanish invasion
Spanish forces led numerous raids on port towns in the Carolinas and Georgia in the late 1730s and 1740s during the War of Jenkins’ Ear between Spain and Great Britain.
As the southernmost of the Southern Colonies, Georgia itself was established predominantly as a buffer state between Spanish possessions in Florida and the rest of the Thirteen Colonies.
7. The Southern Colonies’ waterways acted like modern-day highways
The region’s system of rivers and tributaries was absolutely essential to the Southern Colonies’ economies, allowing plantation owners to transport crops to cities such as Charleston for export.
Settlements and the plantations themselves were generally built next to rivers to allow for easier transportation.
8. The population of the Southern Colonies was estimated at 105,000 in 1700, 265,000 in 1730, 716,000 in 1760, and 1,300,000 in 1780
Apart from the importation of slaves, population growth was driven by economic opportunity in areas such as agriculture and maritime trade.
Many European settlers moved to the Southern Colonies as indentured servants – meaning their passage to the New World was paid for in return for a period of work, usually on a plantation.
9. Tobacco was at times used as cash in the Southern Colonies
The crop’s value was recognized to such an extent that it was used to trade for goods and services, especially in colonial Virginia.
10. Four of the first five U.S. presidents came from the Southern Colonies
These men were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe – all of whom hailed from Virginia.
