NEW ENGLAND

New England in the northeast has generally thin, stony soil, with little level land, and long winters, making it difficult to make a living from farming. The New Englanders learned to use waterpower to run grain mills and sawmills. The land was full of forests giving the colonists lots of timber for shipbuilding. New England had many harbors. The harbors allowed them to trade, and the sea became a source of great wealth. In Massachusetts, the codfish industry alone quickly brought them much wealth.

Most of the early settlers lived in villages and towns around the harbors. Many New Englanders learned a trade or business. New England had lots of pastures and wood lots to provide the townspeople with what they needed. People lived together in a village, with a school, a church, and a town hall. The people would meet at the town hall to hold discussions. The Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to expand its commerce. From the middle of the 17th century onward it grew prosperous, and Boston became one of America's greatest ports.

The Northeastern forsests provided the colonists with oak timber for ships' hulls, tall pines for spars and masts, and pitch for the seams of ship. The colonists built their own ships and sailed them to ports all over the world. They started trading which would grow and be an important part of their lives! By the end of the colonial period, one-third of all vessels under the British flag were built in New England. Fish, ship's stores and woodenware swelled the exports.

New England shippers soon discovered, too, that rum and slaves were profitable commodities. One of the most enterprising -- if unsavory -- trading practices of the time was the so-called "triangular trade." Merchants and shippers would purchase slaves off the coast of Africa for New England rum, then sell the slaves in the West Indies where they would buy molasses to bring home for sale to the local rum producers