Editing Thirteen Colonies (section)

==17th century==
{{see also|Colonial history of the United States|British colonization of the Americas|Timeline of Colonial America}}
[[File:Wpdms king james grants.png|right|thumb|The 1606 grants by [[James I of England|James I]] to the London and Plymouth companies. The overlapping area (in yellow) was granted to both companies on the stipulation that neither found a settlement within {{convert|100|mi|km}} of each other. The location of early settlements is shown, including Jamestown (J), Quebec (Q), Popham (Po), Port Royal (R), and St. Augustine (SA).]]

===Southern colonies===
The first British colony was [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], established on May 14, 1607, near [[Chesapeake Bay]]. The business venture was financed and coordinated by the [[London Virginia Company]], a joint-stock company looking for gold. Its first years were extremely difficult, with very high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local Indians, and little gold. The colony survived and flourished by turning to tobacco as a cash crop.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2002}}<ref name="heinemann">{{Cite book |last1=Heinemann |first1=Ronald L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQGFjKy_5OsC |title=Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607–2007 |last2=Kolp |first2=John G. |last3=Parent |first3=Anthony S. Jr. |last4=Shade |first4=William G. |date=2008 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0-8139-3048-0 |location=Charlottesville, Virginia |oclc=825768138 |access-date=2022-05-03}}</ref>

In 1632, [[Charles I (England)|King Charles I]] granted the charter for the [[Province of Maryland]] to [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore]]. Calvert's father had been a prominent Catholic official who encouraged Catholic immigration to the English colonies. The charter offered no guidelines on religion.<ref name="sparky">{{Cite book |last=Sparks |first=Jared |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RBsNAAAAIAAJ |title=The Library of American Biography: George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore |publisher=Charles C. Little and James Brown |year=1846 |publication-place=Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RBsNAAAAIAAJ/page/n30 16]– |quote=Leonard Calvert.}}</ref>

The [[Province of Carolina]] was the second attempted English settlement south of Virginia, the first being the failed attempt at [[Roanoke Colony|Roanoke]]. It was a private venture, financed by a group of English [[Lords Proprietors]] who obtained a [[Royal Charter]] to the Carolinas in 1663, hoping that a new colony in the south would become profitable like Jamestown. Carolina was not settled until 1670, and even then the first attempt failed because there was no incentive for emigration to that area. Eventually, however, the Lords combined their remaining capital and financed a settlement mission to the area led by Sir [[John Colleton]]. The expedition located fertile and defensible ground at [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], originally Charles Town for [[Charles II of England]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weir |first=Robert M. |title=Colonial South Carolina: A History |date=1983}}</ref>

===Middle colonies===
[[File:Nieuw Nederland.png|thumb|New Netherland with 17th-century Dutch claims in areas that later became English colonies shown in red and yellow. Present U.S. states are shown in gray. Four British colonies, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, are referred to as the middle colonies.]]
Beginning in 1609, Dutch traders established fur trading posts on the [[Hudson River]], [[Delaware River]], and [[Connecticut River]], seeking to protect their interests in the fur trade. The [[Dutch West India Company]] established permanent settlements on the Hudson River, creating the Dutch colony of [[New Netherland]].<ref>Firth Haring Fabend, ''New Netherland in a nutshell: a concise history of the Dutch colony in North America.'' (2012)</ref>

In 1626, [[Peter Minuit]] purchased the island of [[Manhattan]] from the [[Lenape]] Indians and established the outpost of [[New Amsterdam]]. Relatively few Dutch settled in New Netherland, but the colony came to dominate the regional fur trade. It also served as the base for extensive trade with the English colonies, and many products from New England and Virginia were carried to Europe on Dutch ships. The Dutch also engaged in the burgeoning [[Atlantic slave trade]], bringing some enslaved Africans to the English colonies in North America, although many more were sent to [[Barbados]] and Brazil. The West India Company desired to grow New Netherland as it became commercially successful, yet the colony failed to attract the same level of settlement as the English colonies did. Many of those who did immigrate to the colony were English, German, [[Walloons|Walloon]], or [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardim]].<ref>Jaap Jacobs, ''The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America'' (2nd ed. Cornell U.P. 2009).</ref>

In 1638, Sweden established the colony of [[New Sweden]] in the [[Delaware Valley]]. The operation was led by former members of the Dutch West India Company, including Peter Minuit. New Sweden established extensive trading contacts with English colonies to the south and shipped much of the tobacco produced in Virginia. The colony was conquered by the Dutch in 1655, while Sweden was engaged in the [[Second Northern War]].<ref>C.A. Weslager, ''New Sweden on the Delaware 1638–1655'' (1988)</ref>

Beginning in the 1650s, the English and Dutch engaged in a [[Anglo-Dutch Wars|series of wars]], and the English sought to conquer New Netherland. [[Richard Nicolls]] captured the lightly defended New Amsterdam in 1664, and his subordinates quickly captured the remainder of New Netherland. The 1667 [[Treaty of Breda (1667)|Treaty of Breda]] ended the [[Second Anglo-Dutch War]] and confirmed English control of the region. The Dutch briefly regained control of parts of New Netherland in the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]] but surrendered claim to the territory in the 1674 [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster]], ending the Dutch colonial presence in America.<ref>Henry L. "Schoolcraft, The Capture of New Amsterdam." ''The English Historical Review'' 22#88 (1907): 674–693. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/550138 online]</ref>

The British renamed the colony of New Amsterdam to "York City" or "New York". Large numbers of Dutch remained in the colony, dominating the rural areas between Manhattan and Albany, while people from New England started moving in as well as immigrants from Germany. New York City attracted a large polyglot population, including a large black slave population.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kammen |first=Michael G. |title=Colonial New York: A History |date=1974}}</ref> In 1674, the proprietary colonies of [[East Jersey]] and [[West Jersey]] were created from lands formerly part of New York.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pomfret |first=John E. |title=Colonial New Jersey: A History |date=1973}}</ref>

Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 as a proprietary colony of Quaker [[William Penn]]. The main population elements included the Quaker population based in Philadelphia, a Scotch-Irish population on the Western frontier, and numerous German colonies in between.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Illick |first=Joseph E. |title=Colonial Pennsylvania: a history |date=1976}}</ref> Philadelphia became the largest city in the colonies with its central location, excellent port, and a population of about 30,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weigley |first=Russell Frank |url=https://archive.org/details/philadelphia300y00weig |title=Philadelphia: A 300 Year History |year=1982 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=0393016102 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

===New England===
The [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] were a small group of [[Puritans|Puritan]] separatists who felt that they needed to distance themselves physically from the Church of England, which they perceived as corrupted. They initially moved to the Netherlands, but eventually sailed to America in 1620 on the ''[[Mayflower]]''. Upon their arrival, they drew up the [[Mayflower Compact]], by which they bound themselves together as a united community, thus establishing the small [[Plymouth Colony]]. [[William Bradford (governor)|William Bradford]] was their main leader. After its founding, other settlers traveled from England to join the colony.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Philbrick |first=Nathaniel |title=Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War Paperback |date=2007}}</ref>

More Puritans immigrated in 1629 and established the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] with 400 settlers. They sought to reform the [[Church of England]] by creating a new, ideologically pure church in the New World. By 1640, [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640)|20,000 had arrived]]; many died soon after arrival, but the others found a healthy climate and an ample food supply. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies together spawned other Puritan colonies in New England, including the [[New Haven Colony|New Haven]], [[Saybrook Colony|Saybrook]], and [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]] colonies. During the 17th century, the New Haven and Saybrook colonies were absorbed by Connecticut.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bremer |first=Francis J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKly1zeyTncC |title=The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to Edwards|date=1995 |publisher=University Press of New England |isbn=978-1-61168-086-7 |edition=Rev. |location=Hanover, New Hampshire |oclc=44954462 |access-date=2022-05-03}}</ref>

[[Roger Williams]] established Providence Plantations in 1636 on land provided by [[Narragansett people|Narragansett]] sachem [[Canonicus]]. Williams was a Puritan who preached religious tolerance, [[separation of church and state]], and a complete break with the Church of England. He was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over theological disagreements; he founded the settlement based on an egalitarian constitution, providing for majority rule "in civil things" and "liberty of conscience" in religious matters.<ref name="Barbara Taylor">{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Barbara |date=December 1998 |title=Salmon and Steelhead Runs and Related Events of the Sandy River Basin&nbsp;– A Historical Perspective |url=http://www.portlandgeneral.com/community_environment/initiatives/protecting_fish/sandy_river/docs/sandy_river_history_full.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427184240/https://www.portlandgeneral.com/community_environment/initiatives/protecting_fish/sandy_river/docs/sandy_river_history_full.pdf |archive-date=April 27, 2015 |access-date=December 18, 2010 |publisher=Portland General Electric }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Labaree |first=Benjamin Woods |title=Colonial Massachusetts: a history |date=1979}}</ref>

In 1637, a second group including [[Anne Hutchinson]] established a second settlement on [[Aquidneck Island|Rhode Island]], today called Aquidneck. [[Samuel Gorton]] and others established a settlement near Providence Plantations which they called Shawomet. However, Massachusetts Bay attempted to seize the land and put it under their own authority, so Gorton travelled to London to gain a charter from the King. [[Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick]] assisted him in gaining the charter, so he changed the name of the settlement to Warwick. Roger Williams secured a Royal Charter from the King in 1663 which united all four settlements into the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]].

Other colonists settled to the north, mingling with adventurers and profit-oriented settlers to establish more religiously diverse colonies in [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]] and [[Province of Maine|Maine]]. Massachusetts absorbed these small settlements when it made significant land claims in the 1640s and 1650s, but New Hampshire was eventually given a separate charter in 1679. Maine remained a part of Massachusetts until achieving statehood in 1820.

In 1685, King [[James II of England]] closed the legislatures and consolidated the New England colonies into the [[Dominion of New England]], putting the region under the control of Governor [[Edmund Andros]]. In 1688, the colonies of New York, West Jersey, and East Jersey were added to the dominion. Andros was overthrown and the dominion was closed in 1689, after the [[Glorious Revolution]] deposed King James II; the former colonies were re-established.<ref name="HallLederKammen2012">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ei_qCQAAQBAJ&pg=PR3 |title=The Glorious Revolution in America: Documents on the Colonial Crisis of 1689 |date=2012 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=978-0-8078-3866-2 |editor-last=Michael G. Hall |pages=3–4, 39 |editor-last2=Lawrence H. Leder |editor-last3=Michael Kammen}}</ref> According to Guy Miller, the Rebellion of 1689 was the "climax of the 60-year-old struggle between the government in England and the Puritans of Massachusetts over the question of who was to rule the Bay colony."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Guy Howard |year=1968 |title=Rebellion in Zion: The Overthrow of the Dominion of New England |journal=The Historian |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=439–459 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.1968.tb00328.x |jstor=24441216}}</ref>