【美国精神】第64期

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Explanation:

  Once Europeans arrived to North America, they began to fill up the land very quickly. Many Europeans moved to the land that would later become the United States. European countries like Britain, France, and Spain created colonies¹ (or areas of land that belong to a country but are far away). Britain had 13 colonies, and those colonies later became the original 13 states of the United States.

  The 13 colonies can be divided into four groups: the Southern Colonies, the Chesapeake Bay Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and New England. The Southern Colonies were Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. These colonies had very good weather for farming and were mostly used for growing cotton and tobacco (or a plant that is smoked in cigarettes). There was a lot of work to do on the plantations² (or large farms), so the Southern Colonies had many slaves (or people who were owned as property and forced to work without being paid).

  A little further north were the Chesapeake Bay Colonies of Maryland and Virginia. A bay is a large area of water that is mostly surrounded by land. The city of Jamestown in Virginia is famous for being the first permanent English settlement (or a place where people begin living) in America. It was founded (or created) in 1607. Many of the people who lived there died from hunger, cold, and attacks by the Native Americans, but Jamestown survived (or continued to exist), and today people can visit Jamestown to learn about its history.

  The Middle Colonies, which used to be called New Netherlands, were Delaware, New Jersey³, New York, and Pennsylvania. The people living in these colonies had many different religions and had a lot of tolerance⁴, which meant that they had the ability to live with other people who were very different from themselves. This was very different from the situation in Europe.

  The last four colonies, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, made up New England. We still call the northeastern part of the United States “New England.” These were some of the first colonies that wanted independence from Britain. They were also the first colonies to make their own coins (or money made from small, round, flat pieces of metal).

 

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