The Southern Colonies were comprised of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Origination:
Virginia
Virginia was the first place on the Noth American mainland that the British colonized. The first attempt at colonizing was at Roanoke Island, but the settlers fled when they heard that the Spanish were planning to attack. Antother group came to Roanoke as well, but when ships returned to bring them supplies the colonists had mysteriously vanished. John White, a man who returned to Roanoke, wrote, “…we found the houses taken downe, and the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisado of great trees, with cortynes and flankers very Fort-like, and one of the chiefe trees or postes at the right side of the entrance had the barke taken off, and 5. foote from the ground in fayre Capitall letters was grauen CROATOAN without any crosse or signe of distresse…” Then next settlement was at a place called Jamestown, also in Virginia. The king had granted a charter to the Virginia Company, who sent a group of settlers. Jamestown nearly failed, too. There was not enough food and crops would not grow. On top of this some of the wealthier colonists thought that they were above doing farm work and refused to help. However, when Captain John Smith gained control of the settlement, he made everyone work and threatened those who wouldn't with banishment. As the settlement at Virginia grew, more and more settlers came until it was a thriving colony.
Maryland
Cecilius Calvert established Maryland to be a place where English Catholics could worship freely, because they weren't in England. It was a proprietary colony, which means that the king granted a certain individual or small group, namely Cecilius Calvert, almost unlimited power in the colony.
The Carolinas
The first attempts to settle the Carolinas, which were originally one large tract of land known as Carolana, were unsuccessful. In1629, Sir Robert Heath got a patent from the king to settle the land, but his attempts at finding settlers failed. He gave his patent to Lord Maltravers, but he failed, too. After the civil war in England was over, the king granted a new charter for eight men, the Lords Proprietors, but settlers were more interested in already successful colonies. Eventually, though, under the leadership of Anthony Ashley Cooper, people began to settle in the Carolinas. Their government was not a democracy. The Lords Proprietors held the highest authority, and in their absence a governor controlled the colony. Under the governor were nobility- landgraves and caciques. Gradually Carolina grew. In 1712, the colony was split into North and South Carolina.
Georgia
James Oglethorpe was granted the land of Georgia by the king in 1732. It was originally a penal colony. It was also meant to provide a buffer between Spanish Florida and the English colonies. There were several conflicts with the Spanish but in the end Georgia prevailed.
Economy:
The land of the Southern Colonies was well-fertilized and extremely good for farming. Colonists mainly grew tobacco in Virginia and Maryland; they grew rice and indigo in South Carolina. North Carolinians had lots of naval stores like tar and turpentine, but they lacked a good port.
Many of these crops were exported to other colonies and sometimes overseas to Europe in exchange for manufactured goods. Because these crops earned lots of money for their planters, they were called cash crops.
Tobacco was a major cash crop in Virginia:
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