People that immigrated from Europe crated the 13 colonies of America, but they were divided into three regions called New England Colonies, Middle Colonies and Southern Colonies. Those colonies all had different culture because of the geography, economy and the purpose of the settlers. The first colony to be created was the southern business colony of Jamestown in Virginia in 1607, and after that one succeeded many more came and more people came to live in them.
http://www.history.com/topics/thirteen-colonies
The New England Colonies were located in the north, the people that came to live in them were looking for religious freedom and better economic opportunities, they were called Puritans.Their economy was based on shipbuilding, fishing and lumbering. New England has rocky soil so the farming was very small. The Middle Colonies were located in the mid-Atlantic coast from New York to Dekaware. People were coming looking for jobs and a better life, their economy was base on shipbuilding, small farms, trading and the growth of cities. They were a society that had tolerant people, middle-class, multi-cultural Europeans and Pennsylvania Quakers. The main reason for coming to the Southern Colonies was because of economic opportunity and business investment. The economy was based on the growth of cash crops farmed on plantations by indentured servants and then African slaves. Tobacco was a major cash crop in Virginia.
As the colonies plantations grew more workers were needed. This is how Africans were introduced to America as slaves through the Middle Passage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and beyond to work on the plantations. Because they were slaves they did not get any payment for their work. The trade of slaves became huge, but their living conditions were very basic and uncomfortable. Later on the colonies would fight for their freedom from England. Colonies would gain their independence on July 4, 1776. The struggle for independence for slaves would take much longer.
