Role of Geography in settling the Colonies Sample Essay Question
“The geographic conditions of the three major areas of English settlement in America—New England, the midAtlantic region, and the South—were the primary factors in determining the differences in the colonial way of
life in these three areas.” Evaluate this statement.
Geography is an important factor in the lives of all people. However, to say that geography accounts for the
differences in the colonial way of life in the three areas of English settlement—New England, the mid-Atlantic, and
the South—is an exaggeration. The relations with the mother country, the different reasons for settlement, and
especially the different types of settlers had a major impact on the colonial way of life.
The majority of settlers in New England came there for religious reasons—the Pilgrims to separate from the
Church of England and the Puritans to purify the church. Later settlements such as those founded by Roger Williams
and Anne Hutchinson were established essentially for religious reasons. This fact colored the colonists’ outlook on
life and led to such events as the great preaching of Cotton Mather in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Salem
witch trials. The emphasis upon religion and the Bible required that people could read and led to public-supported
schools and the founding of Harvard College. The Puritan view of life held that work was essential and success Godgiven. Therefore, the New Englanders were driven to seek employment and use their abundant resource—lumber—
and experience with the sea to become sailors and merchants in the triangular trade. New Englanders sold rum in
Africa, brought slaves to the West Indies, and imported sugar or molasses to New England for the production of rum.
English mercantilist policies attempted to control this trade. Arguments developed that affected colonial life. Of
course, geography provided the harbors and the lumber for ships involved in the triangular trade and for the British
navy, but it was their religion that was most important in setting the lifestyle of New Englanders.
Virginia’s plantation-based lifestyle was representative of the South. One might consider that soil and climate
determined it. That is partly true, but what was crucial in Virginia was the London Company’s motivation in founding
the colony—to make a profit. Until tobacco was discovered and a market was found in England, Virginians struggled.
Once a money-making product was found—it could as easily have been gold, which would have greatly changed the
lifestyle—Virginia’s future was determined. Slaves, large farms or plantations, a close connection with England—
sons were sent there for education and plantation homes such as Westover were built on Georgian models—all
developed as a result of economic motivation and the finding of a cash product. Geography may have determined the
product, but the type of people and their contacts with England helped determine the lifestyle.
Pennsylvania, in the mid-Atlantic region, was founded at a time of economic prosperity, which allowed the colony
to grow rapidly. William Penn, a Quaker, was an idealist who believed in religious toleration. This attracted numerous
Germans to the colony. Many became small farmers in the rich valleys—a geographic factor—but it was Philadelphia
that typified the colony. Here, merchants flourished in the well- planned port city. The Quakers believed in equality
and provided good hospitals and charity for the poor, setting an example followed later by the United States. Because
of his religious convictions, Penn set very liberal laws for the colony, and a group of elected officials helped the
proprietor run the colony. Thus it was the attitudes of the settlers and of Penn himself, more than the geographic
conditions, which determined the colonial way of life in Pennsylvania.
The colonial way of life differed in the three areas of settlement. The types of people who settled and their reasons
for colonizing—religious or economic— played a key role in determining these differences. Of course geography—
climate, ports, soil, and available crops—affected what people could do, but it was the people themselves who made
the difference. The settlers not the geography determined the colonial way of life.