Introduction
Colonial America refers to the history of the United States or the history of the territory that would become the United States from the start of European settlement to the time of independence from Europe. Specifically, it means the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain which declared themselves independent in 1776 (Adams, 1921).
The late 16th century saw Spanish, British, French, Swedes, and Dutch colonizing eastern North America (Adams, 1921). Many early attempts such as the Lost Colony of Roanoke failed. However, successful colonists came to the New World from a variety of different social and religious groups who settled in different locations on the seaboard soon established. This paper shall try to classify the immigrants during the colonial period of America.
Many other groups, however, were mentioned in many detailed and more accurate history books providing that there had been a variety of peoples as well as other earlier inhabitants in the New World most importantly, the Native Americans which are today called Indian Americans (Tanaki, 1998). While these groups could have been equally important for the classification, due to restraint, were no longer discussed in this paper.
Discussion
The different groups that came to America during the period include the Dutch of New Netherland, the Swedes and Finns of New Sweden, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Puritans of New England, the English settlers of Jamestown, and the “worthy poor” of Georgia. Each was said to have come to the new continent for various reasons and created colonies with distinct social, religious, political, and economic structures (Andrews, 1932).
The New Netherland has its beginning in 1624 when the Dutch East India Company delivered the first colonists from southern Netherlandic or Walloon ancestry on Noten Eylant (now Governors Island) in New Netherland. This group came from the Walloon communities in Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Leiden and comprised thirty families. They planted the concept of toleration as a legal right in North America and they had to attract, through attitude and by example, the natives and non-believers to God’s word (Jaap, 2005).
The Swedes and Finns of New Sweden embarked from the port of Gothenburg in late 1637 and anchored at a rocky point on the Minquas Kill that is known today as Swedes’ Landing. They built a fort on the present site of the city of Wilmington named Fort Christina after Queen Christina of Sweden. In the following years, the Swedes and Finns, along with Forest Finns from Central Sweden settled in the area and constituted an invasion of New Netherland, since the river and the land in question had previously been explored and claimed for that colony.
The Quakers or the Religious Society of Friends was founded in England in the 17th century as a Christian denomination by people unsatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity. Likewise, England’s reasons for colonization were practical considerations, such as commercial enterprise, over-population, and the desire for freedom of religion (Andrews, 1932).
New England was composed of English Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution in Europe and settled in the area in 1620, in the colony of Plymouth. The area, however, was inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Native Americans including the Abenaki, the Penobscot, and the Wampanoag. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Western Abenakis inhabited New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as parts of Québec and western Maine (Andrews, 1932).
Jamestown is commonly regarded as the first permanent English settlement through the competitive effort by two proprietary arms of the Virginia Company. Jamestown was a prime choice due to its favorable strategic defensive position against other European forces which might approach by water.
One of the Southern colonies in British North America is Georgia which was first granted to James Oglethorpe on April 21, 1732, by George II. Oglethorpe made strict laws and envisioned the province as a location for the resettlement of English debtors and “the worthy poor” (Kennetch, 1976).
Conclusion
There are many groups considered as classification of colonizers during that certain period of America. These were classified according to their area of occupation, as well as origin as discussed above. For origin, there are the New Netherland, Swedes and Finns, and New England. As for groups affiliated with distinct characteristics, there are the Quakers and the poor of Georgia.
Reference
Adams, James Truslow (1921). The Founding of New England. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.
Andrews, Charles M. (1932). The Colonial Background of the American Revolution.
Coleman, Kenneth (1976). Colonial Georgia: A History. Scribner.
Jaap Jacobs (2005). New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America. Brill.
Tanaki, Ronald (1998). A Larger Memory: A History of our Diversity, With Voices. Back Bay.