The Chesapeake and New England were some of the first areas to be colonized by the English in America. The Chesapeake is what we now know as Maryland and Virginia, named so in reference to the Chesapeake Bay. New England, now divided into four states, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, was named in homage to the mother country England, as a promise to be a “New” England where the Puritan settlers could worship as they pleased.[1] Though the two bear many similar characteristics—they were both English colonies, facing the obstacle of the Native Americans, attempting to settle and create new societies—there are many more differences which set the colonies apart, economically, socially, and geographically. For example, …show more content…
Physically, it can be characterized as cold, with bad soil; definitely not ideal for commercial agriculture. However, due to the cold, there is a lessened risk for diseases like malaria and yellow fever which could wipe out whole societies.[1] This limited the economy agriculturally speaking, but led New Englanders to pursue other means of business, including lumber, fishing, fur trade, shipping, and much more.[2] The Chesapeake, located near the ocean, just barely brushing the deep South, can be physical characterized by its rocky, hilly land, with moderate temperatures and close access to Atlantic trade routes. Beyond the shore, there are steep hills and mountains, sprinkling off from the Appalachian Mountain Range. My great grandparents owned half of a mountain in eastern Virginia, where they farmed chickens. As children, my cousins and I used to go out and help remove rocks from the vegetable garden. We could be out there for eight hours and still not dispose of all the rocks in the small 12 by 12 foot patch of land. This rocky environment left very little opportunity for cash crops such as cotton, corn, wheat, and soy beans, but was perfect for tobacco, a much heartier crop which requires less nutrients from the soil to thrive. This secured tobacco as the number one cash crop of the Chesapeake and led to the development of large farms and plantations where the crop could be grown and distributed …show more content…
There are already people there, the Native Americans, who upon being met with violence and hostility, responded to defend their land. This immediately set the Chesapeake colony up for disaster. In New England, the Puritans were also met with resistance and fear towards their arrival. When you try to displace an entire people, that group is likely to respond in a way that is oppositional to their own displacement, and that’s just what they did. However, Attitudes towards the Native Americans was very different between the Chesapeake and New England. Nathaniel Bacon, a Virginia farmer and self declared Governor of the people, despised the Native Americans for limiting his opportunity to own more land. He saw them as an obstacle that threatened his quality of life and thus had to be destroyed.[1/3] This characterized the vast opinion of the Natives in Chesapeake society. In New England however, Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman concerned with keeping God appeased, feared that the Natives would test Puritan faith, and lead to the fall of Puritan society. Like Bacon, she wanted them gone, but found moral issue with the slaughter of so many people. Not one to step out of line, she along with many of the Puritans lived in fear, praying for the Native Americans to disappear. In the Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson: about the sovereignty and goodness of
The differences in the two regions are not only seen in their religion, but can also be found in their economies. The economy of New England was far more inferior to that of the Chesapeake economy. This was because the New England society was family-oriented and primarily owned only small family farms just large enough to feed their families. Their economy was mainly based on small farming and fishing. This shows that New England was not focusing on economic growth and expansion. The Chesapeake Bay, on the other hand, had a vast economy. The population of Chesapeake Bay outnumbered New England's population nearly three to one. Their economy was mainly based on the tobacco and slave trading industries. These businesses contributed greatly to the Chesapeake Bay's economic and colonial expansion. This explains why people who came to the New World looking to make money chose to go to Chesapeake Bay rather than the New England area.
While both the people of the New England region and of the Chesapeake region descended from the same English origin, by 1700 both regions had traveled in two diverse directions. Since both of these groups were beset with issues that were unique to their regions and due to their exposure to different circumstances, each was forced to rethink and reconstruct their societies. As a result, the differences in the motivation, geography, and government in the New England and Chesapeake regions caused great divergence in the development of each.
By the 1700s the two regions, New England and Chesapeake varied greatly in spite of being from the same mother country, England. Physical and cultural differences separated these two regions distinctively. While religion moulded the daily life in New England, Money and tobacco farming dominated the Chesapeake.
The New England colonies were formed by Protestants who were escaping England. They ‘planned’ their society. When they came over they brought entire families, not just random people. The Chesapeake region colonies were formed by whoever signed up. The reasons that resulted in the differences between the New England and the Chesapeake colonies were political, social, and economic.
New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin, but by the 1700’s they were two distinct societies. They differed politically, economically, and socially, and these differences stemmed from when people first arrived in the colonies to how the colonies grew over time.
Although the Chesapeake and New England colonies were the earliest English colonies to flourish in the New World, they were both extremely different in the ways that they developed. Similarities between the colonies can be found, but the colonies were mostly different. The colonies differed most in religion, society, culture, economy, and their relationships with the American Indians of the region. The reasons for such differences can be understood by realizing that the colonies were settled by incredibly different people who possessed different cultures, religious beliefs, and motivations for settling in their respective colonies in the first place. The Chesapeake and New England colonies had similarities and differences in their development, including how each colony affected nearby American Indians. Their differences and similarities can be understood by analyzing each colony’s geography, economy, religions, and cultures.
Some of the most populous colonies were the ones situated in the Chesapeake and New England areas. Although these colonies were both settled by the English and had other key similarities, there were also many differences between them. The New England and Chesapeake colonies both had an aristocracy that governed over them, and had frequent issues concerning the Native Americans that previously inhabited the lands. However, their political and economic systems were considerably different. Chesapeake had an oligarchy whose main export was tobacco, while New England had a theocracy whose exports included timber, fur, and fish. Therefore, although the colonies had similarities their differences outweighed the resemblances.
Thesis Statement: When talking about New England and the Chesapeake region, you have to consider the differences in motives and geography. Consider economic situations (reasons for settling where they did, reasons why they came to New England in the first place). One has to think about the family development and demographics, as well as the government structure.
In the early seventeenth century, the English began to establish colonies in the New World. The colonies in New England consisted of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. While, the colonies making up the Chesapeake region were Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Given that the New England and Chesapeake region were both largely settled by those of English origin, by the 1700 they had evolved into two distinct societies because of the contrast in their geographical locations, their political structure, and their social hierarchy.
During the late 16th century and into the 17th century, two colonies emerged from England in the New World. The two colonies were called the Chesapeake and New England colonies. Even though the two areas were formed and governed by the English, the colonies had similarities as well as differences. Differences in geography, religion, politics, economic, and nationalities, were responsible for molding the colonies. These differences came from one major factor: the very reason the English settlers came to the New World. The Chesapeake colonies were primarily created by companies interested in profiting from the natural resources of the New World such as gold or silver to bring back to England. The New England colonies were primarily created
When comparing and contrasting the Chesapeake and New England colonies you find that there are many differences and a few similarities. These differences and similarities revolve around the colonies geography, economic characteristics, religious characteristics, and why they were founded. These differences developed in the colonies based off where they are, how they were ran, and how wealthy they were. The development of these colonies also affected the American Indians in a few different ways. Let start by comparing major difference of the geography between Chesapeake and New England colonies. New England colonies had cold weather and poor dry soil which made for a short growing season. This made it harder to grow food so most families just had a small farm for personal gain, there weren’t plantations. The New England colonies also had natural harbors and a lot of the land was covered in forests. In contrast to the New England colonies the Chesapeake colonies has hot humid weather, with long growing seasons, and excellent soil that was great for plantation and along with rivers that flowed throughout the colonies. Now let’s take a look at the differences in the economical characteristics between the colonies. In New England because of their geographical conditions they couldn’t grow crops in large plantation to make profits so they had to rely on other means to make income. Since the land was covered in forests they use the timber to expand the shipbuilding industries. They
From the mid seventeenth century to the late eighteenth century, the English colonies in the Chesapeake Bay area and in Barbados experienced a fluctuating level of prosperity, the wealthy inevitably dominating the economic scene. These colonies, while ultimately different in their methods of success, possessed the same goal of continuous prosperity and their existence allowed England to ascend to the rank of world power.
Why did the New England and Chesapeake colonies differ so much? Although both these colonies where inhabited by people of English origin the similarities ended there. Such factors as motive of settlement, the settlers themselves and even geography of settlement all shaped these colonies into two very distinctive societies.
When the English settled into the New World, they were split up into two sections, the Chesapeake region and the New England region. Although the English settled both, the two regions were severely different from each other when they were brought about. The New England and Chesapeake colonies differed in three ways: their reason for venturing over, economy, and population. These major differences were what shaped our nation today and what will continue shaping our nation in the future.
The Chesapeake and New England colonies, although clearly quite different, do boast some similarities. The two colonies were founded in the early 17th century and started off with a demographic that primarily consisted of young white European men. The differences between the colonies are easier to pinpoint. The New England colony, which is located in the North, has long winters and short growing seasons. This is contrary to the Chesapeake colony which is more to the South than the New England colony. The Chesapeake colony was known for its fertile land, long growing season, and large swaths of land that were perfect or farming. These geographical differences directly impacted the economies as these two distinct colonies developed. The New England colonies focused on fishing, shipbuilding, and growing a distinct class of