The Middle Colonies were the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the thirteen original colonies because of the influence of their Polish, English, Dutch, French and German origins. This influence included tolerance in religion, and resulted in New Netherland's success as the commercial center of the eastern North American colonies. This was evident by the fact that they had more agriculture than the New England colonies. In comparison to the New England and Mid-Atlantic colonies, the Middle Colonies shared similar economic success, had a deeper sense of their culture, and shared similar issues with neighboring groups of people.
The Middle Colonies were also known as the "bread basket" of the thirteen colonies because of their large grain export. It was also the mid-Atlantic colonies that expanded into other areas of commerce before the other colonies at the time. African Americans both slave and free, made up more than 15 percent of the population of the lower Hudson River.There were many brick buildings in the Middle Colony due to the amount of clay along the riverbanks. Originally, clothing in the Middle Colonies for the most part resembled the Dutch form of dress from the south.
Quakers wore neat and simple clothing as their religion taught them. Many clothes were homemade on the frontier. Flax produced linen and deerskin was used to make breeches, shirts, jackets, and moccasins. Forest products were used to make dyes. Yellow came from butternut tree bark; red came from the roots of the madder herb; blue was extracted from the flowers of indigo plants to obtain the Indigo dye; brown came from the hulls of black walnuts.
English settlers started arriving in the colonies in 1607. Two different companies would finance the expeditions for the colonist. The Virginia Company and Massachusetts Bay Company would both set up colonies in the new world. They shared their similarities and differences while setting up the colonies. They would struggle the first year, have problems with the Indians, create a system of laws to rule by and were established to help the mother country, England.
Both companies would start out differently. They had different reasons to go there, took different people, and had different economic organizations, religions and education. When the settlers arrived to America they were seeing new land and things they had never seen before. So when the colonist funded by the Virginia Company and Massachusetts Bay came they both struggles the first year.Typhoid fever and Malaria were some of the diseases killing the colonist.
In Jamestown only 38 of the original 104 would survive the first year. The Massachusetts Bay Co. in Plymouth had 200 of their settlers die the first year. Both colonies would have their problems and get help from the Indians. The Northern colonies built ships and traded to make their money.
Although, they had their similarities there were also some differences they had. Also, they came with different people. They believed in hard work and shipped food and lumber to the other colonies.A group of Pilgrims who thought their children were growing up Dutch instead of English, got a charter from the Massachusetts Bay Company and set sail for Virginia, but got blown off course and landed in Plymouth, looking for Religious freedom.
The colony of Virginia grew tobacco as their main cash crop and had indentured servants to help grow it. The Puritans in Plymouth came with their whole families in groups of 6-10 people.In the end most of the money would go to England. In the 1620's religious turmoil had erupted in England. The Puritans would establish the Mayflower Compact in 1620 and went by majority rule.
In Massachusetts the Puritans tried to avoid slavery to keep from contaminating their religion. Just like the neighboring New England and Mid-Atlantic colonies, the Middle colonies faced its own fair share of challenges in route to reaching some level of prosperity.
