Georgia

** Geography ** Georgia is located in south eastern United States. Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina all border the state Georgia. Georgia has many rivers including Flint River, Chattahoochee River, Apalachicola River, and Savannah River. The Blue Ridge Mountain, part of The Appalachian Mountain chain, covered the North West corner of Georgia. It is heavily forested and barely populated. One of Georgia’s main harbors is the Savannah Harbor. The Savannah Harbor is on the Savannah River which is 314 miles long and is the border between Georgia and South Carolina. It was a big place for trade. Since Georgia was in the south it had fertile soil. They were able to grow many things. Their main thing to grow was tobacco since it was a huge profit if you made them. Georgia’s geography helped Georgia develop a lot. The rivers supplied transportation, the mountains supplied resources like wood, the harbor made trade easy with Georgia, and the fertile soil gave them crops and resources to trade with other countries. ** History ** Georgia was made a colony in 1733. Before it was a colony it was inhabited by the Spanish. Hernado de Soto was the first Spanish person who found Georgia. When the Spanish inhabited Georgia they had to fight the Cherokee and the Creek who were Native American tribes. But in 1663 King Charles II ignored Spain’s claiming of Georgia. In 1732 King George II granted James Oglethorpe a charter which had lands of Georgia. Oglethorpe fought the Spanish and beat them and claimed Georgia for England. Georgia was also a very economic colony. It depended on farming and used their gatherings to trade with other countries. Georgia had always been a "melting pot," welcoming the persecuted and prosecuted of Europe including large groups of Puritans, Lutherans, and Quakers. The only groups not welcome in Georgia were Catholics. ** Economics ** The Colonist worked agriculture, forestry, and related fields and agriculture-related. Many colonists were farms or miners. Georgia was a big farming state since it was the biggest state on the east coast. For commerce they traded cotton and tobacco. Georgia was big on growing tobacco. In early Georgia slavery was not permitted in the colony. Instead of slavery they got refuges or people who were in dept to work on farms to either get money or pay back their dept. But it didn’t work out as much as John Oglethorpe planed so then slavery was legalized, and Georgia began to flourish as a supplier of various agricultural goods, and lumber. The slaves work on cotton farms all day any didn’t get paid they only got some where to stay and eat. ** Political ** James Oglethorpe received a royal charter from King George II, for whom the colony was named, in 1732. Georgia was a Constitutional monarchy run by James Oglethorpe. During the American Revolution many battles were found in Georgia. The first battle between Britain and Georgia was The Battle of the Rice Boats. On March 1, 1776the British fleet sailed to Savannah. There were a group of boats containing rice that became the target of the British search for provisions. Georgia's reacted quickly, ordering the local militia to set boats on fire and drive the British away. In 1778 Georgia’s capital Savannah fell to the British. Georgia was the first colony to be captured by the British. In 1779 there was another battle called The Battle of Kettle Creek. It was an ambush the loyalist planned to stop the British from crossing Kettle Creek. They were successful and beat the British in the Battle. On the same day there was an attack on a British camp, The Battle of Brier Creek. The patriots attacked the camp but were defeated by the British. The British tried to advance on the American Army but at The Battle of Savannah the French and Americans held the line at Savannah. The British retreated and Savannah was no longer belonged to the British. Georgia wrote two constitutions which were amended many times. They colonist supported the constitution they wrote.
 * American Revolution**

**Terms** ** The Triangular Trade ** was the trading of Raw Materials, Finished goods, and slaves between the Colonies, Africa, and Europe. Georgia was part of the Triangular Trade by receiving Slaves from Africa and using them to harvest materials from the farms. ** Cash crops ** were a big part of Georgia’s economy. They used slaves from the Triangular trade to plant and harvest the crops. During the 1700’s Great Britain had a policy of **Salutary Neglect**. This helped Georgia because it made it possible for Georgia to run its own economy. With its own economy it was able to grow and flourish.

Georgia was doing very good economic wise. They were informed of **mercantilism** and they were able to export more than they imported. Their main export was tobacco.