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Economic activity the Colonies Engaged in

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Economic activity the Colonies Engaged in

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The middle colonies had a lot of geographical advances, they had rich soil that would help them with the different crops. Wheat was a big crop that was grown, traded and shipped back to England. Iron products were also largely produced in the middle colonies such as plows, nails and other iron tools.

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The Middle Colonies: The Establishment and Settlement of the 13 original colonies

Map of the Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies shown on this Map are composed of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey.

The Middle Colonies chart provides important information and interesting facts about each of the Middle Colonies including the date the colony was established, the systems of Colonial government, religion, major towns in the Middle Colonies and the names of famous people associated with the founding and establishment each colony. The Middle Colonies chart provides the ability to see at a glance the differences between the regions on a chart.

Information and Facts about the Middle Colonies
The four Middle Colonies of Colonial America consisted of a mix of both northern and southern features and its early settlement was dominated by non-English Europeans, mostly Dutch and German, the English colonists were in the minority. Facts about the Middle Colonies of Colonial America:

Fact 1 - Geography: The geography of the Middle Colonies had a mix of the New England and Southern features but had fertile soil and land that was suited to farming

Fact 2 - Natural Resources: Good farmland, timber, furs and coal. Iron ore was a particularly important natural resource

Fact 3 - Religion: Not dominated by a specific religion which gave way to religious freedom for Quakers, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and others.

Fact 4 - Climate: The Middle Colonies had a mild climate with warm summers and mild winters

Fact 5 - Trade / Exports: The Middle Colonies were the big food producing region that included corn and wheat and livestock including beef and pork. Other industries included the production of iron ore, lumber, textiles, furs and shipbuilding - refer to Colonial Times and Colonial Society.

Middle Colonies - Economic Activity & Trade
There were considerable differences between the New England, Middle and Southern regions. Economic activities and trade were dependant of the environment in which the Colonists lived. The geography and climate impacted the trade and economic activities of Middle Colonies. The Middle Colonies exported agricultural products and natural resources. The Middle colonies are often called the breadbasket colonies because they grew so many crops, especially wheat. The Middle colonies built flour mills where wheat was ground into flour, then shipped to England. A typical farm was 50 to 150 acres consisting of a house, barn, yard and fields. The Middle Colonies were also able to manufacture iron ore products such as plows, tools, kettles, nails and large blocks of iron which they exported to England.
A Reverberatory furnace of 1647 used to melt iron
Middle Colonies Government
All of the systems of government in the Middle Colonies elected their own legislature, they were all democratic, they all had a governor, governor's court, and a court system. Government in the Middle Colonies was mainly Proprietary, but New York started as a Royal Colony. Definitions of both of the government systems are as follows:

Royal Government: The Royal Colonies were ruled directly by the English monarchy

Propriety Government: The King granted land to people in North America, who then formed Proprietary Colonies

For additional facts and information refer to Colonial Government.

The Middle Colonies were not dominated by a single religion which gave way to more liberal attitudes and some religious freedom. There were Quakers, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and others in the Middle regions and colonies. For additional facts an d information about religion refer to Middle Colonies Religion
Pilgrims and Puritans or our comprehensive article on Religion in the Colonies.

Original Names of the Middle Colonies
The original names of the Middle Colonies were the Province of New York, later New York and Vermont, the Province of New Jersey, later New Jersey, the Province of Pennsylvania, later Pennsylvania and the Delaware Colony (before 1776, the Lower Counties on Delaware), later Delaware.
Map of the 13 Colonies Middle Colonies

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Check out this site for facts about the Middle Colonies. The Government, Geography and Religion of the Middle Colonies. Fast facts about the Middle Colonies

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The Middle Colonies were very diverse. The middle colonies contained Native American tribes of Algonkian and Iroquois language groups. The middle colonies served as important distribution centers in the English mercantile system.

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In the Middle Colonies, Africans were enslaved. they valued slaves more than New England did. The slaves were forced to work as blacksmiths, carpenters, on farms, and in the ship building industry.

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Relationship with the Native Americans - Middle Colonies 2nd hour

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~ The Middle Colonies consisted of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

~ New York was founded in 1626 by the Dutch

~ New Jersey was founded December 18, 1664 by Sir George Carteret

~ Pennsylvania was founded March 4, 1682 by William Penn

~ Delaware was founded in 1664 by Peter Minuit

~ Major Cities in New York are New Albany and NYC

~ Major Cities in New Jersey are Trenton and Princeton

~ Major Cities in Pennsylvania are  York, Lancaster, and York

~ Major Cities in Delaware  are Wilmington and Georgetown

~ The Middle Colonies had great farmland and fertile soil

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Key figures and development in the region & Why the colonies were settled

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Key figures and development in the region & Why the colonies were settled

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There were five main colonies in the middle colonies. New York, originally New Netherlands, Delaware,  New Jersey, and Pennsylvania . At first, the people who settled in some parts of the middle colonies were not English. Some of them were Dutch and German. The first colony to be founded in the middle colonies was New Netherlands, this colony at first belonged to the Dutch but was then taken by the British and renamed New York after the Duke of York. In the year  sixteen eighty two the Quakers arrived to  America and settled in Pennsylvania  in order to escape religious persecution.
https://www.landofthebrave.info/middle-colonies.htm

A key person in the development of the middle colonies was William Penn.
William Penn is known for finding the colony of Pennsylvania. William Penn was a Quaker. Though the colony was successful it never became profitable for him and his family. Unlike the people from some of the other British colonies Penn was nice  to the local Native Americans and bought their land rather than taking it by force.

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A history of William Penn, founder of the city of Phiuladelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, and champion of religious freedom

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The dominant religion in the middle colonies were the Quakers. While this may have been the MOST dominant religion, others such as Mennonites, Lutherans, Dutch Calvinists, and Presbyterians.

Facts about the Quakers:
*Separated from the Church of England
*Central to the Quakers' belief is the doctrine of the “Inner Light,” or sense of Christ's direct working in the soul.

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William Penn paid 1200 pounds for the land he purchased from the Delaware Indians.

Americans have often prided themselves on their rich diversity. Nowhere was that diversity more evident in pre-Revolutionary America than in the middle colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. European ethnic groups as manifold as English, Swedes, Dutch, Germans, Scots-Irish and French lived in closer proximity than in any location on continental Europe. The middle colonies contained Native American tribes of Algonkian and Iroquois language groups as well as a sizable percentage of African slaves during the early years. Unlike solidly Puritan New England, the middle colonies presented an assortment of religions. The presence of Quakers, Mennonites, Lutherans, Dutch Calvinists, and Presbyterians made the dominance of one faith next to impossible.

The middle colonies included Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Advantaged by their central location, the middle colonies served as important distribution centers in the English mercantile system. New York and Philadelphia grew at a fantastic rate. These cities gave rise to brilliant thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin, who earned respect on both sides of the Atlantic. In many ways, the middle colonies served as the crossroads of ideas during the colonial period.

In contrast to the South where the cash crop plantation system dominated, and New England whose rocky soil made large-scale agriculture difficult, The middle colonies were fertile. Land was generally acquired more easily than in New England or in the plantation South. Wheat and corn from local farms would feed the American colonies through their colonial infancy and revolutionary adolescence.

The middle colonies represented exactly that - a middle ground between its neighbors to the North and South. Elements of both New England towns and sprawling country estates could be found. Religious dissidents from all regions could settle in the relatively tolerant middle zone. Aspects of New England shipbuilding and lumbering and the large farms of the South could be found. Aptly named, they provided a perfect nucleus for English America.

Philadelphia 1681-1899
1729: The first treatise against slavery published in any part of the world appeared at Philadelphia, and was written by Ralph Sandiford. 1775: The first pianoforte manufactured in the United Stares was made by John Behrent, in Third Street below Brown. Explore this long list of Philadelphia firsts and a timeline of Philadelphia history.

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William Penn paid 1200 pounds for the land he purchased from the Delaware Indians. Americans have often prided themselves on their rich diversity. Nowhere was that diversity more evident in pre-Revolutionary America than in the middle colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.

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The Middle Colonies had a strong relationship with the Iroquois, one of the most powerful groups of Native Americans. They would trade fur and other things with each other.All the Native Americans lived in a longhouse. One longhouse contains 60 people, they were built of mud and wood. The middle colonies and the Indians had friendly trades. They traded furs and crops for useful items.

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View of the Slaves - Middle Colonies 2nd hour