When was colonial america

Augustine in what is now known as Florida. In the early days of the colonial period, the settlers did not know how to live in the wilderness, and they faced many hardships. In Massachusetts, for example, the Plymouth settlers, spent most of their first winter —21 on board the Mayflower. The following winter, the Pilgrims lived on land but in wigwams and sailcloth tents.

Many were sick and all were hungry. Nearly one-quarter of them died before a ship from England brought fresh supplies. You can learn more about life at Plymouth by visiting The First Thanksgiving. In time, the colonists learned how to live in the wilderness — through trial and error and the help of some of the more friendly Native American tribes.

By the s, small cities and towns were well established. The colonists slowly developed their own customs and lifestyles. Eventually they began to feel that this new land was now their true home. Life in colonial America centered around the family. Most people worked, played, learned, and worshiped at home. A large family was necessary in colonial days to get all the work done.

The father was considered the head of the household. He made all of the decisions concerning their families and earned money through farming and jobs outside the home. Women worked in the home, raising the children, preparing the meals, sewing clothes, preserving food for the winter, scrubbing laundry, fetching water, and stoking fires. Most children in early colonial times never saw the inside of a schoolhouse.

Instead, colonial children usually learned about the adult world by doing things the way their parents did. The economic and social structures in New England and the middle colonies differed from those of the southern settlements. New England has generally thin, stony soil and long winters, making it difficult to make a living from farming.

Turning to other pursuits, the New Englanders harnessed water power and established grain mills and sawmills. With the bulk of the early settlers living in villages and towns around the harbors, many New Englanders carried on some kind of trade or business.

The sea became a source of great wealth. Society in the middle colonies was more varied and cosmopolitan than in New England. By the end of the 18th century, 30, people lived in Philadelphia, representing many languages, creeds and trades.

Though the Quakers dominated in Philadelphia, elsewhere in Pennsylvania others were well represented. Germans became the colony's most skillful farmers. Important, too, were cottage industries such as weaving, shoemaking, cabinetmaking and other crafts.

The Scots and Irish tended to settle in the back country, where they cleared land and lived by hunting and subsistence farming. The southern settlements were predominantly rural. The Pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock, December European nations came to the Americas to increase their wealth and broaden their influence over world affairs.

The Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore the New World and the first to settle in what is now the United States. Land Ho! A River from Canada to Asia? Lawrence River". Fighting For Freedom "Stono's Rebellion".