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. Georgia was the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be founded
The colony was formally established in 1732, under the control of a group of British trustees led by James Edward Oglethorpe.
2. Georgia was originally part of the larger Province of Carolina
In 1663, a massive land grant in the American South was given to eight Lords Proprietors by King Charles II. In this territory, they set up the Province of Carolina.
Georgia was later carved out of this much larger tract of land, to be established as a separate colony.
3. Georgia was named after King George II
George II oversaw the creation of Georgia as a possession of the British Empire during his rule from 1727 to 1760.
4. Georgia was designed as a buffer state between Spanish Florida and the rest of the Thirteen Colonies
Fearing an invasion from the south, the British Crown encouraged settlement in Georgia to protect other colonial possessions in British North America.
As a result, the colony was heavily militarized, and served as a launching pad for several pre-emptive attacks against Spanish forces in the 1700s. There was frequent fighting between the two sides in the Province, such as the 1742 Battle of Bloody Marsh, during which the British repelled a Spanish invasion attempt.
5. Catholics, lawyers, and alcohol were banned in the Georgia Colony
Fearing that they would collaborate with the Spanish to undermine the colonial government, Catholics were legally banned from settling in Georgia throughout its colonial history.
Hard alcohol was banned from 1735 to 1742 to discourage disorderly behavior, and lawyers were outlawed from 1733 to 1755 to reduce complexity in the legal system.
6. Georgia banned slavery in 1735, before reinstating it in 1751
This made it one of the only Thirteen Colonies to outlaw slavery during this period.
However, slavery continued to be practiced, even while it was banned.
7. Georgia was taken over by the British Crown in 1752
Struggling with financial difficulties and colonist discontent, the trustees of Georgia handed the colony back over to the British Crown in 1752.
8. The population of Georgia was estimated at 2,021 in 1740, 9,578 in 1760, and 56,071 in 1780
This made it the third-smallest of the Thirteen Colonies by population during the American Revolution, behind Rhode Island and Delaware.
9. Due to the growth of slavery, by 1770, approximately 45% of the population of Georgia was Black
Slaves predominantly worked on plantation farms, growing and harvesting cash crops such as rice and indigo.
10. Georgia was the only one of the Thirteen Colonies that relied on British funding to survive
The British Parliament subsidized Georgia’s existence during its time under trustee control. The colony was not self-sustaining, unlike the remainder of the Thirteen Colonies.
