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The Southern Colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The Southern Colonies were dominated by a desire to make money in the new American marketplace, which led to the development of large plantations and an agriculturally-focused society. Much of the labor on the farms and plantations was done by slaves brought over from Africa.

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Life was very different in the rural southern colonies of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

The weather in the south provided a long growing season, which allowed crops like rice, cotton, and tobacco to flourish. The south also exported indigo (a blue dye made from native plants). To produce enough rice or cotton or tobacco to make a profit took a great deal of land and labor.

In the south, huge plantations developed, owned and governed by one family. Each plantation was nearly self-sufficient. They produced or made just about everything they needed on the plantation. Planters could easily transport their crops because there were many waterways that allowed ocean going vessels to tie up at a dock. The south did not have a need for big cities, only for port towns (a place with a deep water dock). Charleston, South Carolina was the major port.

For labor, the plantation owners first used indentured servants, people who had exchanged passage to the New World for a great deal of work when they arrived. Once the indentured servants worked off their debt, they were paid for their labor. In time, they could save up enough money to buy their own land, perhaps not a plantation, but land enough to support their families.

By the end of the 1600s, the labor pool of indentured servants began to dry up. Plantation owners were in need of another cheap source of labor. They began to use slaves as the labor force of the south.

The economic and social structure of the rural southern colonies rested on great plantations and smaller farms.

The plantation owners built huge mansions and tried to follow the culture, or what they believed to be the culture, of the aristocrats back in England.

The smaller farm owners were independent of the great plantations and were very outspoken about the rights of free men. Many smaller farm owners found their way into politics.

The third social structure was composed of the people who lived and worked in the port towns.

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The 13 Colonies for Kids - Southern Colonies

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Life was very different in the rural southern colonies of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The weather in the south provided a long growing season, which allowed crops like rice, cotton, and tobacco to flourish. The south also exported indigo (a blue dye made from native plants).

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Colonies - Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia

Climate/Geography - The Southern Colonies enjoyed warm climate with hot summers and mild winters. Geography ranged from coastal plains in the east to piedmont farther inland. The westernmost regions were mountainous. The soil was perfect for farming and the growing season was longer than in any other region. Hot summers, however, propagated diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

Religion - Most people in the Southern Colonies were Anglican (Baptist or Presbyterian), though most of the original settlers from the Maryland colony were Catholic, as Lord Baltimore founded it as a refuge for English Catholics. Religion did not have the same impact on communities as in the New England colonies or the Mid-Atlantic colonies because people lived on plantations that were often distant and spread out from one another.

Economy - The Southern economy was almost entirely based on farming. Rice, indigo, tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton were cash crops. Crops were grown on large plantations where slaves and indentured servants worked the land. In fact, Charleston, South Carolina became one of the centers of the American slave trade in the 1700's.

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Colonies - Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia Climate/Geography - The Southern Colonies enjoyed warm climate with hot summers and mild winters. Geography ranged from coastal plains in the east to piedmont farther inland. The westernmost regions were mountainous. The soil was perfect for farming and the growing season was longer than in any other region.

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Map of DeSoto's 1539-43 exploration through the Southeast

Virginia was the first successful southern colony. While Puritan zeal was fueling New England's mercantile development, and Penn's Quaker experiment was turning the middle colonies into America's bread basket, the South was turning to cash crops. Geography and motive rendered the development of these colonies distinct from those that lay to the North.

Immediately to Virginia's north was Maryland. Begun as a Catholic experiment, the colony's economy would soon come to mirror that of Virginia, as tobacco became the most important crop. To the south lay the Carolinas, created after the English Civil War had been concluded. In the Deep South was Georgia, the last of the original thirteen colonies. Challenges from Spain and France led the king to desire a buffer zone between the cash crops of the Carolinas and foreign enemies. Georgia, a colony of debtors, would fulfill that need.

The Southern colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.

English American Southerners would not enjoy the generally good health of their New England counterparts. Outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever kept life expectancies lower. Since the northern colonies attracted religious dissenters, they tended to migrate in families. Such family connections were less prevalent in the South.

The economy of growing cash crops would require a labor force that would be unknown north of Maryland. Slaves and indentured servants, although present in the North, were much more important to the South. They were the backbone of the Southern economy.

Settlers in the Southern colonies came to America to seek economic prosperity they could not find in Old England. The English countryside provided a grand existence of stately manors and high living. But rural England was full, and by law those great estates could only be passed on to the eldest son. America provided more space to realize a lifestyle the new arrivals could never dream to achieve in their native land.

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Map of DeSoto's 1539-43 exploration through the Southeast Virginia was the first successful southern colony. While Puritan zeal was fueling New England's mercantile development, and Penn's Quaker experiment was turning the middle colonies into America's bread basket, the South was turning to cash crops.

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Newsela | Southern Plantation Owners Used "King Cotton" to Justify Slavery

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The founders of the United States believed slavery would eventually fade away. But when the cotton gin was invented, Southern plantation owners grew more reliant than ever on slavery.

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Newsela | Early British Colonies in America

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The original 13 British colonies that started America.

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A high-level overview of slavery in the British colonies.

After enslaved Native American laborers began to die due to exposure to disease, European powers began purchasing enslaved Africans, who became their primary labor source. Britain sent their first slave ships to the British West Indies to work on tobacco plantations and then later sugarcane plantations.

Core historical themes

Spread of slavery: In the English colonies, the first use of enslaved labor started in the British West Indies. The majority of enslaved Africans were sent to sugar plantations in the British West Indies, even after the first ship of enslaved Africans landed in Virginia in 1619. By 1776, 20% of the colonial population was African American. There is a common misconception that slavery was limited to the Chesapeake and Southern colonies, as well as the British West Indies. Slavery did exist in the New England and Middle colonies, just at a smaller scale. In New England, enslaved Africans accounted for about 2-3% of the population before the American Revolution.

Labor systems: The first labor system in the British colonies was indentured servitude, in which servants worked for landowners in exchange for passage to America. But because indentured servants only worked for a short period of time and sometimes fought over access to land after their terms ended, plantation owners switched to using enslaved Africans as their primary source of labor. Enslaved Africans became vital to the cultivation of tobacco and soon made up nearly 50% of the population in the Chesapeake and Southern colonies.

Methods of resistance: Enslaved Africans resisted slavery in both covert and overt ways. Examples of covert forms of resistance include work slow-downs and breaking tools. Examples of overt forms of resistance include running away or organizing rebellions. One of the most successful rebellions in the American colonies was the Stono Rebellion in 1739, which resulted in the deaths of more than 40 white colonists and more than 40 Africans.

Review questions

How did the introduction of slavery affect the demographic makeup of the English colonies?

What are three ways in which enslaved Africans resisted the conditions of slavery?

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Lesson summary: Slavery in the British colonies (article) | Khan Academy

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Slavery in the British colonies (article) | Khan Academy

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Every English colony practiced slavery, building an empire-wide system of white racial dominance and African oppression.

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Chesapeake and Southern colonies (article) | Khan Academy

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Summary of the key terms, events, and concepts of the early Chesapeake and Southern colonies

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The West Indies and the Southern colonies (video) | Khan Academy

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Plantation agriculture, and slave labor, united the British colonies in the West Indies and the southern part of the eastern seaboard. In this video, Kim discusses the sugar islands of the Caribbean and how their reliance on enslaved Africans for labor defined plantation society throughout the Briti…

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