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Differences Between New England Settlers And Chesapeake Settlers

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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. When the Mayflower sailed over to the New World, on the boats were Puritans that were looking for a change in the way that their religion was practiced where the Chesapeake settlers came over for gold. Alongside the Puritans were the Separatists who …show more content…

The gold was never found and the passage through America was given up in hopes of staying alive. Because the Chesapeake settlers were too interested in gold, they did not settle down and get ready for the harsh winters to come; leaving them unprotected to the fierce winter. The New England settlers were settles and ready, but they did loose a few men to the bitter cold, however not as many as the Chesapeake settlers did. The economy of the two regions also greatly differed because of the terrain that they landed on. Because the land in the south was much more fertile than in the north, the southern colonies thrived in rice and tobacco, profiting greatly. In New England the settlers could not grow anything in the rocky terrain and were forced into fishing, building, and farming. However, not much farming went on because of the infertile soil. In the Chesapeake slaves were also a main part of their economy. The slave trade made them very wealthy because of their closeness to the West Indies. They would be shipped many slaves and then use them to harvest their crops and plant their land. Soon, the slaves outnumbered white settlers by about four to one. When the English sailed over to the New World, there were only a handful of them, that is, until slavery was introduced. While New England was almost all white English settlers Chesapeake was made up of mostly African American slaves. In New England, the need for slaves was not very high because of the

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