Chesapeake and New England Colonies Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Chesapeake and New England Colonies - Term Paper Example Chesapeake and New England Colonies Early lifestyles of native Chesapeake inhabitants were affected by both geography and climate while social structure was imbalanced, especially that they had a shorter life expectancy. When Chesapeake became a British colony, there was no difference in terms of population growth. If it did, then it would be a lower life expectancy rate than those who were native settlers. The immigrants' life span was lowered to five years compared to that of the immigrants settling in Northern colonies. This is attributed to the immigrants' lack of immunity of the place's diseases such as malaria (Foner 16). Family life is well instilled in the early Chesapeake community. Children are trained to handle the family at an early age because parents die young. It is said that when a child turns 5, there is a 50 percent chance of losing a parent, or both parents (J. Volo and D. Volo). They were taught how to deal with familial responsibility such as taking care of their brothers and sisters and doing hous ehold chores. Their strong attachment to nature also influenced the natives’ belief system. As expected, they believe in supernatural and complex gods of nature. They attribute the weather, their harvest, and other natural events in general as the gods' reaction to their doings (Mountford). For example, if there is a storm, they would assume that the gods are not pleased with what they are doing. Another region in the colonial America is the New England colonies. While Chesapeake’s settlers had been living in the place ages before the formation of New England Colonies, the latter has a greater number of populations probably because they constitute more land area than the other or active economic ventures of the place. New England colonies include Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Islands, and Connecticut. New England colonies were more improved compared to the Chesapeake region. They make use of land and aquatic agriculture and sell its products to ot her people. In the farming area however, they are not as blessed as Chesapeake of having fertile soil. Farmers are able to plant only one kind of crop because the climate is cold and the soil freezes at certain points of the year. When this time of the year comes, they would shift their means of living to fishing. Being near the Atlantic is advantageous for the people's sustenance because of abundant fish supply. Women are even part of the active economic cycle as merchants, selling home made goods such as soaps, candles and garments (â€Å"The New England†). The religious activities of the people in the New England Colonies are very formal and institutionalized. Unlike in Chesapeake, religious institutions such as the Quaker, Puritan, Baptist, Anglican, Jewish, Catholic, and Congregationalist were beginning to grow, influencing much of the social norms in that society (â€Å"Life in the 13 Colonies†). Like the Chesapeake family life, families in colonial New England a re tight-knit and interdependent to each other. Parents follow a traditional child-rearing strategy, which was to give corporal punishment for children who disobey. Children are also expected to have "unquestioned obedience" to their parents (Wright n.pag.). The Chesapeake community and the New England colonies are different in various ways especially in religion, population, and economy. With the description of their