The process of forming a new civilization out of an abundant “New World” involved often violent encounters among European, African, and Indian cultures. The vast majority of early European settlers came from the British Isles in four mass migrations over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The vast majority of early European settlers came from the British Isles in four mass migrations over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The colonies differ in several aspects such as religiosity, agriculture, labor, and so other fields.
Agriculture diversified: tobacco was the staple produce in Virginia, and rice and naval stores were the staples in the Carolinas. Family farms and a mixed economy characterized the middle and New England colonies, while plantation agriculture based on slavery became established in the South. By 1790, German, Scots-Irish, Welsh, and Irish immigrants had settled in the middle colonies, along with members of religious groups such as Quakers, Jews, Huguenots, and Mennonites.
