Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783. These British colonies in North America rebelled against British rule in 1775, in what is called the American Revolution in the United States and the American War of Independence in other countries. A provisional government was formed which proclaimed their independence, which is now celebrated as having occurred on July 4, 1776, and subsequently became the original thirteen United States of America. The colonies were founded between 1607 (Virginia), and 1733 (Georgia), although Great Britain held several other colonies in North America and the West Indies which did not join the rebellion in 1775.

The Thirteen Colonies gave rise to eighteen present-day states: the original thirteen states (in chronological order of their ratification of the United States Constitution: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island), Vermont (which had been disputed between New Hampshire and New York and which was an independent republic from 1777 to 1791), Kentucky (formerly part of Virginia until 1792), Tennessee (formerly part of North Carolina until 1796), Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts until 1820), and West Virginia (also formerly part of Virginia until 1863).

Much of the additional North American territory outside the Thirteen Colonies was gained by Britain during the Seven Years War. However the Proclamation Line of 1763 barred American settlement.

The colonies

British colonies in North America, circa 1750. 1: Newfoundland; 2: Nova Scotia; 3: The Thirteen Colonies; 4: Bermuda; 5: Bahamas; 6: British Honduras; 7: Jamaica; 8: British Leeward Islands and Barbados

North American colonies 1763-76

In 1775, the British claimed authority over the red and pink areas on this map and Spain ruled the orange. The red area is the area of the thirteen colonies open to settlement after the Proclamation of 1763

Map of current US states that are direct successor states of the original Thirteen Colonies that declared independence from Great Britain in 1776. Indirect successor states (Maine, West Virginia), the District of Columbia and states that acceded to the union after the American Revolutionary War are not included

Contemporaneous documents usually list the thirteen revolutionary colonies of British North America in geographical order, from north to south.

New England Colonies

• Province of New Hampshire, later New Hampshire
• Province of Massachusetts Bay, later Massachusetts and Maine
• Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
• Connecticut Colony, later Connecticut

Middle Colonies

• Province of New York, later New York and Vermont
• Province of New Jersey, later New Jersey
• Province of Pennsylvania, later Pennsylvania
• Delaware Colony (before 1776, the Lower Counties on Delaware), later Delaware

Southern Colonies

(depending on the subject under discussion, Virginia and Maryland may be grouped as the Chesapeake Colonies)

• Province of Maryland, later Maryland
• Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia
• Province of North Carolina, later North Carolina and Tennessee
• Province of South Carolina, later South Carolina
• Province of Georgia, later Georgia

Other divisions prior to 1730

Dominion of New England

Created in 1685 by a decree from King James II that consolidated Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Province of New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey into a single larger colony. The experiment was discontinued with the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, and the nine former colonies re-established their separate identities in 1689.

Province of Maine

Settled in 1622 (An earlier attempt to settle the Popham Colony on Sagadahoc Island, Maine in 1607 was abandoned after only one year). Massachusetts Bay colony encroached into Maine during the English Civil War, but, with the Restoration, autonomy was returned to Maine in 1664. Maine was officially merged into Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.

Plymouth Colony

Settled in 1620 by the Pilgrims. Plymouth was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.

Saybrook Colony

Founded in 1635 and merged with Connecticut Colony in 1644.

New Haven

Settled in late 1637. New Haven was absorbed by Connecticut Colony with the issuance of the Connecticut Charter in 1662, partly as royal punishment by King Charles II for harboring the regicide judges who sentenced King Charles I to death.

East and West Jersey

New Jersey was divided into two separate colonies in 1674. The Jerseys were reunited in 1702.

Province of Carolina

Founded in 1663. Carolina colony was divided into two colonies, North Carolina and South Carolina in 1712. Both colonies became royal colonies in 1729.

Population

(Note: the population figures do not account for the native tribes who originally resided there.)

Year	Population
1625	1,980
1641	50,000
1688	200,000
1702	270,000
1715	434,600
1749	1,046,000
1754	1,485,634
1765	2,240,000
1775	2,418,000

At the time of the Revolutionary War, approximately 85 per cent of the white population was of English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish descent. Persons of German origin represented 8.8 per cent of the white population, and those of Dutch origin represented 3.5 per cent of the colonists. The colonies/states continued to grow at a rapid rate throughout the eight years of war until 1783.

See also

• New England Colonies
• New Netherland
• Middle Colonies
• Southern Colonies
• Chesapeake Colonies
• British America
• British North America
• Colonial America
• Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies
• History of the United States (1776-1789): Independence and the American Revolution
• American Revolution
• History of the United States
• British colonization of the Americas

References

• Cooke, Jacob Ernest et al., ed. Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies. Scribner's, 1993. 3 vol; 2397 pp.
• Gipson, Lawrence. The British Empire Before the American Revolution (15 volumes) (1936-1970), Pulitzer Prize; highly detailed discussion of every British colony in the New World
• Greene, Evarts Boutelle et al., American Population before the Federal Census of 1790, 1993, ISBN 0806313773
• Greene, Evarts Boutelle. Provincial America, 1690-1740. 1905. online
• Osgood, Herbert L. The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century. 4 vol Columbia University Press, 1904-07. online
• Vickers, Daniel, ed. A Companion to Colonial America. Blackwell, 2003. 576 pp.