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Middle Colonies Essay

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The Middle colonies consisted of four of the thirteen colonies founded by the English in America. In 1609, Henry Hudson, a Dutch explorer, traveled in the Middle colonies by going on a journey into the Hudson River and Delaware Bay. In 1621, he colonized what was then New Netherland, with New Amsterdam as the capitol. The Duke of York, was given New Netherland from his brother King Charles II, and renamed the land after himself naming it New York, and the capitol was then named New York City. Being that New York was so large, New Jersey became another Middle colony, founded by the Duke of York’s friends, Sir George Carteret and Sir John Berkeley. Pennsylvania and Delaware were the next colonies to be added to the Middle colony region by William …show more content…

New York was first settled by the Dutch and Pennsylvania was founded on the basis of religious tolerance, which are some of the main factors to why the Middle colonies were so diverse. With the New England colonies being settled by Puritans, it wasn't a very accepting region for other religions. The Southern colonies was also mainly a plantation economy which did not attract very many immigrants. In the 1700’s population in the Middle colonies flourished with immigrants from places such as Germany, Ireland, and Scotland. In 1770, about 85,000 German immigrants came to the Middle colonies. Most of the immigrants were made up of Germans because of the War going on in Germany at the time, and they wanted to escape the harsh life there in America. Scots-Irish were also major settlers mainly consisting of farm laborers or tenant farmers. Although the trip over was miserable because of seasickness, bad sanitation, and starvation, immigrants were still able to escape their lives in Europe and were welcomed in the Middle colonies unlike in the other colonial regions. The colonies were also diverse because of the different religions and culture that the immigrants brought. Not only did immigrants come to America for a better life, but they came with their beliefs and spread them among other settlers, making the Middle colonies a more accepting, region. Even though the Middle colonies were

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