The Southern Colonies

Three of the first thirteen colonies were the Southern Colonies. These were North and South Carolina and Georgia.

North and South Carolina were originally one colony, and colonists from America and England flocked to its warm climate with hopes of growing sugar cane and exporting products like wine and olive oil. However, they were foiled in these plans and eventually stuck to growing rice. Many African slaves experienced in rice-growing arrived in the Carolinas and were used to grow rice.

These colonies also had an abundance of lumber and vast forests of pine trees, which were used to make tar and resin. Moreover, they produced some of the best shipbuilding materials in the world and a dye called indigo, which was extracted from native plants.

Georgia was founded by a group of London philanthropists who wanted to provide a refuge for debtors instead of the classic debtors' prison. James Oglethorpe, the colony's leader had a military background, which was helpful because the colony was also used as a buffer against the Spanish in Florida.

The colony wasn't successful in its main purpose, (a glorified debtor's prison) because the laws in the colony were strict, but the settlers found ways around them anyway. In 1752, the philanthropists abandoned the colony, and it became a Crown Colony (a colony controlled by the English government).