The 13 English Colonies Chart
Colony
Year
Massachusetts
1620
New
Hampshire
1623
Connecticut
1636
1636
Rhode Island
Reason for Settlement
Leader(s)
Economy
Origin of Name
Escape religious persecution;
establish a Puritan
commonwealth
Some wanted profit from trade
and fishing; other Puritans
wanted to settle their own
colony because they did not
agree with the religious
intolerance of the Mass.
Puritans
Puritans expansion; Establish
another Puritan settlement;
Profit from fur trade
Puritans left Mass. to settle
their own colony because they
did not agree with the religious
intolerance of the Mass.
Puritans (Rhode Island
promoted religious tolerance
instead)
William
Bradford;
John Winthrop
Benning
Wentworth;
John
Wentworth;
John
Wheelwright
Fishing, lumber,
shipbuilding, trade,
whaling
Indian name – “big hill
place”
Trade, fishing
Named for Hampshire in
England
Thomas Hooker
Trade
James, the Duke
of York
Roger Williams
Shipping; raising
livestock, farming
Wheat, milling,
lumber, fur trade,
sugar refining,
shipbuilding, trade
Indian name – “long tidal
river”
Debated by historians –
may have been named for
the island of Rhodes, or
may be the Dutch word for
“Red” (either way, it’s not
an island)
First controlled by the
Dutch and called New
Netherland WAR! 
controlled by England;
Named for York in England
First settled by Swedes and
called New Sweden, later by
the Dutch, even later by the
English; Named after
English Lord De La Warr
First settled by Dutch and
Swedes, later claimed by
the English; Named for the
island of Jersey in England
“Sylvania” refers to
“wooded lands”  “Penn’s
Woods”
New York
1625
Profit from trade; land
available for farming
1638
Profit from trade; land
available for farming
Johan Pritz;
Johan Rising
Trade, farming
Delaware
New Jersey
1664
Profit from trade; land
available for farming
John Berkeley;
George Carteret
Trade, farming
William Penn
Trade, farming
John Smith; John
Rolfe
Tobacco
George Calvert,
Lord Baltimore
Tobacco
William Berkeley
Rice, indigo,
tobacco
Named for King Charles I of
England
James
Oglethorpe
Rice, indigo, trade,
raising livestock
Named for King George II of
England
Pennsylvania
1637
Virginia
1607
Maryland
1632
North and
South Carolina
1663
Georgia
1732
Escape religious persecution in
England; Establish a colony for
Quakers (a colony for religious
tolerance)
Search for gold; English outpost
against Spain; land available for
farming; profit from trade
Escape religious persecution in
England; Establish a Catholic
settlement (a colony for
religious tolerance)
Settled by farmers looking for
land; profit from trade;
strengthen English ties in the
Americas
Buffer to protect the Carolinas
from Spanish-controlled
Florida; Home for debtors
settlement (rather than prison)
Named for Queen Elizabeth
I (known as “the Virgin
Queen” because unmarried
Named for French Queen
Maria, Catholic wife of King
Charles I of England
Name:______________________________________
U.S. History I
The 13 English Colonies Chart
Analyze the chart to answer the following questions:
1. The thirteen English colonies were founded over the course of ______________ years.
2. List three different ways colonies were named.
3. What were the two most common reasons that colonies were founded?
4. What two colonies were founded in order to protect English interests from their rival, Spain?
5. What were the two most common ways people earned a living in the colonies?
6. What two other European nations controlled parts of these lands before the English?
7. The Puritans (Pilgrims) settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts to escape religious persecution in England.
However, once they were established, how did the Puritans’ religious policies cause new colonies to be
formed in New England?
8. Which three colonies promoted religious tolerance?
9. Why do you think there are no female leaders of colonies listed on this chart?
10. How did geography influence the way the different regions (New England, Middle, and Southern colonies)
developed?