Economic Activities in the 13 Colonies
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- Some countries, besides England, that were in the British Empire
were Wales, Scotland, and parts of Ireland.
- Manufacturing: making things by hand or by machine.
- Europeans defined natural
resources as things made by nature that humans know how to use.
Agriculture in the 13 Colonies
- Most people earned a living before and during the colonial
time by farming
Manufacturing in the 13 Colonies
- Commercial manufacturing is a way to make goods and supplies
to sell to others.
- A master craftsman:
a person who was skilled at making special products like wagons
- An apprentice was a young person who learned a special skill from
a master craftsman.
- Men got most of the manufacturing jobs because those were the
customs and traditions of colonial society.
- Besides professional skills, the master craftsman was supposed
to teach the apprentice reading, writing, and math.
in the 13 Colonies
- Traders: people who get wealth by buying items from a group of
people at a low price and selling those things to other people at
- Imports: trade goods that are brought into a colony or
- Exports: trade goods that are sent to another colony or
Multiple perspectives on imports and exports.
- Britain bought ships from the 13 Colonies for imports because
things were made in the 13 Colonies and sent to Britain.
- The Colonies exported ships, which means they were made in the
Imports and a shortage of master craftsmen.
- The colonists imported items from Britain even though the same
items were manufactured
in the colonies. The skilled craftspeople could not make those products
- Credit: means being able to buy something now with a promise
to pay later.
- The problem that credit caused the colonists: many were always
Trade and the development of colonial towns and cities
- A break-in-transport is the geographic
location where goods and supplies
were loaded and unloaded.
- A break-in-transport came first and then a town or village would
- The first colonial towns started along riverbanks or the ocean
coast because the first European settlers traveled by water to the
shores and products were imported and exported from the towns along
Water for transportation.
- It was easier to transport goods by water than by roads for the
first colonists because products were heavy or bulky
and could be transported faster, with more ease, and at a lower
cost by boats.
Economic Activities in the New England Colonies
Agriculture of the
New England Colonies
- A subsistence farmer hardly raised enough food to feed their families.
- Many New England farmers, in order to make enough money to support
their families during the non-growing season: had to find jobs in
fishing, logging or trapping for fur.
- Agriculture in the New England Colonies: poor soil, mountains,
cold winters, and a short growing season.
- Cash crops: crops or animals raised to make money.
Manufacturing in the New England Colonies
- Naval products: All the things needed to build and sail a ship.
- England encouraged the New England shipbuilding industry: England's
forests were used up.
- The second important industry in New England: the alcoholic drink
The Environment and Manufacturing
- The New Englanders accommodated
to their environment by finding other ways to make a living.
Trade in the New England Colonies
- The New England trade was known as a triangular trade. The trading
ships followed ocean routes that formed a triangle on the world
- For the New England colonies, manufactured products were exports
because they were made there and shipped out.
Economic Activities in the Middle Colonies
Agriculture in the Middle Colonies
- The environmental factors that allowed farmers from the Middle Colonies
to grow cash crops were
flat land that had rich soil and a longer growing season. Agriculture
in the Middle Colonies included corn, vegetables, grain, fruit and
Manufacturing in the Middle Colonies
- Manufacturing in the Middle Colonies included iron ore
products like tools, kettles, nails and plows and huge blocks of
iron to export to Britain.
Trade in the Middle Colonies
- Trade in the Middle Colonies included exported agricultural products and
natural resources, imported European manufactured goods, but never
developed triangular trade routes.