Land Shapes Work

How geography decided colonial jobs in each region.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 45

The land and weather of each region decided the work people did. This is a products map: it shows what each region made.
New England had rocky, thin soil and long, cold winters, so big farms were hard. But it had thick forests and good harbors. People fished, cut lumber, and built ships.
The Mid-Atlantic had rich soil and a milder climate. Farmers grew so much wheat that these were called the breadbasket colonies. Ships carried flour from ports like New York and Philadelphia.
The South had a long, warm growing season and flat land. Big farms grew cash crops, crops grown to sell: tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, and rice and indigo, a plant for blue dye, in South Carolina and Georgia.
The Appalachian Mountains, to the west, made travel inland hard, so most colonists stayed near the coast and its rivers.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS3G3.c — Explain how the physical geography of the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies helped determine economic activities.
MGS.7 — Map and Globe Skill 7: use a map to explain impact of geography on historical and current events (developing in Grade 3)