G u i d e
t o
G e o g r a p h y
C h a l l e n g e
The Thirteen Colonies
Lake
Champlain
ron
Hu
ke
La
e
Lak
O nta
rio
N
II
SS
65°W
Boston
Albany
U
Connecticut
40°N
Rhode
Island
New
York
OO
E
r ie
MM
ke
AA
NN
Hudson River
New
York
TT
La
Massachusetts
New
Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Delaware Bay
Delaware
Virginia
AT L ANTIC
OCEAN
Chesapeake Bay
CC
HH
II A
A N
N
Maryland
New
Jersey
North Carolina
A
P
PP
AA
LL
AA
35°N
N
South
Carolina
EE
W
W
S
Georgia
Charleston
30°N
70°W
0
80°W
USI_LG_U02_01
The Thirteen Colonies
© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute
Third Proof
TCI19 71
75°W
100
200 miles
200
miles
0
100
200 kilometers
200
kilometers
Albers
Conic
Equal-Area
Projection
Albers Conic
Equal-Area
Projection
Toward Independence 1
G u i d e
t o
G e o g r a p h y
C h a l l e n g e
Geography Skills
Score 1 point for each correct answer. Use the
map on the previous page to check shading
and labeling.
1. Each of the four cities is a port and is located
on or close to the Atlantic Ocean.
2. The population density in most of this region
was between 2 and 15 people per square mile.
3. The most heavily populated colonial region
included Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.
4. The New England Colonies had the fewest
Loyalists.
5. The goal of independence would have been
strongest in New England because that is
where the fewest Loyalists lived.
6. Possible answer: The first British army could
have come south from Canada along the
Hudson River, while the second British army
in New York City could have come north up
the Hudson River, meeting up somewhere in between.
these colonies were not heavily settled, so there
would be fewer people to conquer.
Using Scores to Inform Instruction
Geography Skills A score of 4 out of 6 or better
indicates that students have acquired sufficient
geographic information to proceed with the unit.
Critical Thinking A score of 6 out of 9 or better
indicates that students are beginning to
understand the relationships between physical
geography and the different ways in which
people live.
Modifying Instruction
ELL or Learners with Special Education Needs Consider focusing on map-reading questions
or limiting the number of “Critical Thinking”
questions.
Students with Weak Map or Critical Thinking Skills
Assign appropriate pages from the Social Studies
Skills Toolkit in the back of the Lesson Masters.
Critical Thinking
Questions may have more than one correct
answer. Score 1 to 3 points for each reasonable
answer, depending on the strength of students’
geographic reasoning. Possible answers are
given here.
7. Areas near the coast were generally more
densely settled than areas farther inland.
One possible reason is that coastal areas were
settled first and the colonies gradually spread inland.
8. This was the most heavily populated area of the
colonies, containing three of the colonies’ four
largest cities. Controlling this region would
have given either side control of a large part of
the colonies’ total population.
9. Loyalists were strong in these colonies.
The British might have expected that these
Loyalists would help them in the war. Also, © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute
Toward Independence 2