British America

British America
1607-1783
Flag from 1707
Anthem: God save the King
British colonies in North America in 1775, including those taken from France in the French and Indian War. British colonies in North America in 1775, including those taken from France in the French and Indian War.
Status	British Province
Capital	Administered from London, England
Common languages	English
Religion	Anglicanism
Government	Constitutional monarchy
• 1607-1625	King James I
• 1760-1783	King George III
History
• Virginia Colony	1607
• New England	1620
• Rupert's Land	1670
• Treaty of Utrecht	1713
• Treaty of Paris	1763
• Treaty of Paris	1783
Currency	Pound sterling
Preceded by Succeeded by New Netherland New France Spanish Florida British North America United States Spanish Florida

For American people of British descent, see British American.

British America consisted of the English and later British Empire in continental North America in the 17th century and 18th century. Formally, the British Colonies in North America were known as "British America" and the "British West Indies" until 1783, when Britain recognized the United States of America as a sovereign nation. After that, "British North America" (or, simply, "Canada") were used to describe the remainder of Britain's continental North American possessions. (The term "British North America" was first used informally in 1783, but it was uncommon before the Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839), called the Durham Report.)

At the start of the American Revolution in 1775, the British Empire included twenty colonies north and east of New Spain (Present day areas of Mexico and the Western United States). East Florida and West Florida were ceded to Spain in the Treaty of Paris (1783) which ended the American Revolution, and then ceded by Spain to the United States in 1819. All but one of the remaining colonies of British North America joined together from 1867 to 1873 forming Canada. Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949.

List of colonies in 1775

The Thirteen Colonies that formed the original United States of America:

New England Colonies

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

Middle Colonies

• Province of New York
• Province of New Jersey
• Province of Pennsylvania
• Delaware Colony

Southern Colonies

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

• Province of Maryland
• Colony and Dominion of Virginia
• Province of North Carolina
• Province of South Carolina
• Province of Georgia

Remaining colonies that became a part of British North America after American independence was recognized by Great Britain in 1783:

• Province of Nova Scotia
• Colony of Newfoundland (Labrador attached to Newfoundland in 1763)
• Province of Quebec
• Island of St. John
• Rupert's Land

Other British Loyalist colonies (1763-1783) that eventually became part of the United States of America, which were ceded by Britain to Spain in 1783:

• Province of East Florida
• Province of West Florida

In addition, the Crown held as direct territory/crown property the mostly unsettled (by white colonists):

• Indian Reserve, which compromised in the United States all of the future Northwest Territory, states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and most of Alabama and Mississippi, and in Canada, the northern shores of the Great Lakes and the northern part of present-day Quebec already not included in Rupert's Land.

See also

• British colonisation of the Americas
• British Empire
• British North America Acts
• British North America
• British overseas territories
• British West Indies