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13 Colonies Lesson
Learn about the 13 Colonies - written resources and a non-visual digital map included!
The 13 British Colonies joined together to form the original United States. A colony, is a group of people who leave their native country to form in a new land a settlement while still under control of the parent nation.
13 Colony Map Activity
Use the non-visual digital 13 Colonies Map to learn where the colonies were originally settled and the spatial relationships between the colonies. Note: The map’s data points have been placed approximately where the original colonies were settled and may not be entirely accurate. Each data point includes the name of the colonly, the date that the colony was established and the name of the current city at that location.
- Explore the map and look for patterns.
- What do these colonies all have in common?
- Why are the colonies located on the East Coast?
- Why are all the colonies located close to a major river?
- Is there a pattern for the order in which the colony locations were established?
- What colony was established the same year as Delaware?
- What was the last colony to be established?
- How many years between when the first colony was established and the last colony?
- Approximately how far away (as the crow flies) is Delaware Colony from Georgia Colony?
- What else can you derive, if anything, from the map?
- Hint: What “shape” are the data points? And why? (roughly in a line along the east coast)
Additional Map Resources
- John’s O&M Lesson 1: Non-Visual Digital Maps for Elementary Student post (explains how to introduce non-visual digital maps to students; first in a series of O&M concepts)
- SAS Graphics Accelerator Summary Page (list and links to all the non-visual digital maps posts)
Additional 13 Colony Resources
- 13 Colonies Table (Word document)
- 13 Colonies Facts (Word Document)
Teacher Note: Other information can be included in the data points, such as which of the three regions each colony belongs to, economics and trade, religion, etc. Do you want to customize this map to align with the things that your student’s class is studying? Use the current 13 Colonies Map as your base; edit the data points to add or delete information about each colony. See Editing a Non-Visual Digital Map from the Map Library post for details.
Attached File(s)
https://www.perkins.org/sites/elearning.perkinsdev1.org/files/13%20Colony%20Facts.docx https://www.perkins.org/sites/elearning.perkinsdev1.org/files/13%20ColoniesTable.docx
By Diane Brauner
