How Agriculture Was not the Complete and Total Basis for American Economies in the North and South during the 17th Century

The English colonies in the New World were not started for the purpose of being long-term settlements. In 1606, King James I of England granted the Virginia Company of London, a joint-stock company, a charter for settling in the area of present-day Virginia (The American Pageant, p. 28). The purpose was to gain a quick profit, but instead it hatched the beginning of a major colonization experiment. Beginning in Jamestown, colonization spread north up to present-day Maine, and south down to present-day Georgia. As the colonies developed, they were put into two categories; northern and southern. Topography, climate, and the various motivations for colonizing had a large influence on the economies of the two parts of English America. Although some may believe that agriculture was the economy of all of the English colonies, the effects of topography, climate, and motivations for colonization separated the economies of the northern and southern colonies.…