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THIRTEEN COLONIES

In 1775, the British claimed authority over the red and pink areas on this map and Spain ruled the orange. The red area is the area of the 13 colonies after the Proclamation of 1763. (Map produced by U.S. Dept. of Interior)
In 1775, the British claimed authority over the red and pink areas on this map and Spain ruled the orange. The red area is the area of the 13 colonies after the Proclamation of 1763. (Map produced by U.S. Dept. of Interior)

The Thirteen Colonies were British Empire colonies in North America founded between 1607, with the settlement of Virginia, and 1732, with the settlement of Georgia. Although Britain held additional colonies in North America and the West Indies, the colonies referred to as the "thirteen" are those that called themselves the "United Colonies," set up the Continental Congress, rebelled against Great Britain in 1775, and formally proclaimed their independence as the United States of America on July 4, 1776.

Contents

[edit] The Colonies

Contemporaneous documents tended to list the colonies of British North America (of which there were 20 at the time of the rebellion) in geographical order, roughly from north to south. The thirteen colonies were listed as follows (the division into three regions is largely a later construct of historians, though New England was always considered to be a distinct region):

[edit] Other divisions prior to 1730

North American colonies 1763-76
North American colonies 1763-76
  • Dominion of New England - Created by King James II with the consolidation of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey into a single "super colony" in 1685. The experiment was discontined with the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, and the nine former colonies re-established their separate identies in 1689.
  • Maine - Settled in 1622. (An earlier attempt to settle the Popham Colony on Sagadahoc Island, Maine in 1607 was abandoned after only one year.) Massachusetts Bay colony encroached into Maine during the English Civil War, but, with the Restoration, autonomy was returned to Maine in 1664. Maine was officially merged into Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.
  • Plymouth Colony - Settled in 1620 by the Pilgrims. Plymouth was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.
  • New Haven - Settled in late 1637. New Haven was absorbed by Connecticut Colony with the issuance of the Connecticut Charter in 1662.
  • East Jersey - New Jersey was divided into two separate colonies in 1674. The Jerseys were reunited in 1702.
  • West Jersey - New Jersey was divided into two separate colonies in 1674. The Jerseys were reunited in 1702.
  • Province of Carolina - Founded in 1663. Carolina colony was divided into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1712. (Both colonies became royal colonies in 1729.)

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The present State of Vermont was disputed between the colonies of New York and New Hampshire. From 1777 to 1791, it existed as the de facto independent Vermont Republic.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Adams, James Truslow. The Founding of New England. (1921). online
  • Charles M. Andrews. The Colonial Period of American History 4 vol (1934-38).
  • Blanco, Richard. The American Revolution: An Encyclopedia 2 vol (1993)
  • Cooke, Jacob Ernest et al., ed. Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies. Scribner's, 1993. 3 vol; 2397 pp.
  • Gipson, Lawrence. The British Empire Before the American Revolution (15 volumes) (1936-1970), Pulitzer Prize; highly detailed discussion of every British colony in the New World
  • Greene, Evarts Boutelle. Provincial America, 1690-1740. 1905. online
  • Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (1985)
  • Miller, John C. Triumph of Freedom, 1775-1783 (1948)
  • Osgood, Herbert L. The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century. 4 vol Columbia University Press, 1904-07. online
  • Taylor, Alan. American Colonies (2001)
  • Vickers, Daniel, ed. A Companion to Colonial America. Blackwell, 2003. 576 pp.

[edit] External links

British Empire & Commonwealth — Former colonies & present overseas territories
The Thirteen Colonies of Colonial America
Connecticut Colony • Delaware Colony • Province of Georgia • Province of Maryland • Province of Massachusetts Bay • Province of New Hampshire • Province of New York • Province of New Jersey • Province of North Carolina • Province of Pennsylvania • Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations • Province of South Carolina • Colony and Dominion of Virginia