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1
Commerce in
the Colonies Geography's impact
on Economics
How does where you live affect your
economic well being?
• If you wanted to be a movie star where
would you live? Why?
• If you wanted to be a crab fisherman,
where would you live? Why?
• Where would you live if you wanted to be
a dairy farmer? Why?
• What economic activities dominate
Houston? Why do you think that is?
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2
New England Colonies
Geography • Every colony had
access to the coast
• Short growing season
• Harsh winters/cold climate
• Hard/rocky soil
• Large forests
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Middle Colonies
Geography • Every colony had access to
the coast
• Moderate growing season
• Mild winters/warm summers
• Fertile soil good for farming
• Large forests
• Iron ore mined in the mountains
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Southern Colonies
Geography • Long growing season
• Hot climate
• Flat land & good soil
• Many rivers to transport crops
• Every colony on the coast
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Making Predictions
• With your group . . .
• On a sheet of notebook
paper make predictions
about the economic
activities that develop
each of the colonial
regions based on the
description of that
region’s geography.
New England Colonies
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New England Colonies Merchant economy and Religion
• Economy based on fishing,
shipbuilding, selling timber,
and trade, whaling, fur trade
– Coastal towns like Boston,
New Haven and Newport
developed
• Large Scale Farming was
difficult because of terrain
and climate
• Subsistence Farming was
sustainable
– small farms that grew enough
food to eat, but not to sell for a
large profit.
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Middle Colonies
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Middle Colonies Growth of farms and cities in a climate of tolerance
• Known as “breadbasket
colonies” because their
climate and terrain was
ideal for farming grain
• Mills to process grain
grew up along the
region’s many rivers;
some mining
• Natural Harbors at the
mouths of rivers lead to
growth of port cities that
prospered through trade
– New York City and
Philadelphia
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• Small scale
manufacturing
Candle-making
Textiles
Woodworking/sawyer
Blacksmith
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Southern Colonies
Southern Colonies Plantations and the growth of slavery
• Climate and terrain of
the Southern Colonies
was ideal for growing
cash crops
• Plentiful rivers provided
easy transport of cash
crops for trade
• Plantation crops were
labor intensive
• Tobacco, rice, cotton,
indigo
• Lead to the slave trade
