Fact 1: After the discovery of the North American, England made no attempt to settle it for nearly 80 years; and even then the colonies planted by Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh were failures.

Fact 2: Successful settlement in North America by the English began under the London Company in 1607

Fact 3: In 1609 the London Company obtained a grant of land in America extending 400 miles along the Atlantic, but in 1624 its charter was annulled, and in 1632 the King granted the proprietary colony of Maryland out of Virginia

Fact 4: New Netherland: In 1609 Henry Hudson, who was employed by the Dutch, discovered the Delaware and Hudson rivers and the Dutch, ignoring the claims of the English established colonies on these rivers. New Netherland became New York and its settlement was led by Peter Stuyvesant and Peter Minuit

Fact 5: New Sweden: A Swedish company began to colonize the Delaware Bay and River coast of Virginia

Fact 6: New England: The first colony established by the Plymouth Company in 1607, on the coast of Maine was a failure

Fact 7: New England: In 1613 Captain John Smith explored the New England coast and mapped it but did not succeed in establishing any colonies.

Fact 8: New England - Plymouth Colony: The permanent settlement of New England began with the arrival of a body of English Separatists, called Puritans, in the Mayflower in 1620. These Pilgrims to America founded the colony of Plymouth. The Plymouth settlement is not included as one of the 13 colonies as it was de-established in 1691.

Fact 9: New England - Massachusetts Colony: More Puritans arrived in the New World and established towns along the coast to the north of Plymouth. They obtained a charter of government and a massive strip of land, and founded the colony of Massachusetts Bay. The Massachusetts Colony was founded in 1630 by John Winthrop.

Fact 10: New England - Rhode Island Colony: Religious disputes with fellow Puritans drove Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson out of Massachusetts, and led to the founding of Rhode Island in 1636.

Fact 11: New England - Connecticut Colony: Further church disputes led to an emigration from Massachusetts to the nearby valley, where a small confederacy of towns was created and called Connecticut. The Connecticut Colony was founded in 1636 by Thomas Hooker and other colonists, at Hartford.

Fact 12: New England - New Hampshire Colony: Some English colonists went to Long Island Sound and there founded 4 towns. The New Hampshire Colony was founded in 1638 by Captain John Mason and John Wheelwright and other colonists.

Fact 13: New England: New Haven was eventually joined to Connecticut
Plymouth and Maine was eventually joined to Massachusetts
New Hampshire was made a royal colony
The four New England colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were fully established

Fact 14: Middle Colonies - New York Colony: In 1664 the English seized New Netherland giving it to the Duke of York who established the province of New York. The New York Colony was founded in 1626 by the Duke of York and other colonists on Manhattan Island.

Fact 15: Middle Colonies - New Jersey Colony: In 1664 the Dutch lost New Amsterdam to the British which was re-named as New York, after the Duke of York. The Duke of York gave New Jersey to two of his friends, and sold the three counties on the Delaware to William Penn.

Fact 16: Middle Colonies - Pennsylvania Colony: The King of England granted the Quaker William Penn 45,000 square miles of land that was named Pennsylvania

Fact 17: Middle Colonies - Delaware Colony: The Colony was first founded in 1638 by Peter Minuit and New Sweden Company.

Fact 18: The four Middle Colonies were established as Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York

Fact 19: Southern Colonies - The Carolinas: The Carolinas were first chartered as one proprietary colony, but were sold back to the King and finally separated in 1729. The combined South Carolina Colony and the North Carolina Colony was founded in 1653 by the Virginia colonists. - refer to Lords Proprietors and the Charter of Carolina.

Fact 20: Southern Colonies - Georgia Colony: Georgia, the last of the 13 English colonies, was granted to James Oglethorpe and others as a refuge for poor debtors in 1732

Fact 21: Southern Colonies - Virginia Colony: The Virginia Colony was founded in 1607 by John Smith and other colonists including John Rolfe backed by the London Company, at Jamestown.

Fact 22: Southern Colonies - Maryland Colony: The Colony was founded in 1633 by George Calvert, Lord Baltimore and other colonists, at Baltimore.

Fact 23: The five Southern Colonies were established as Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia