New England Colony Connecticut Founded in 1636 Founded by Thomas Hooker

1. New England ColonyConnecticutFounded in 1636Founded by Thomas Hooker Presented by Lexi Ippolito and Hunter Smith

2. Geographical Characteristics And Climate • The geography was shaped by glaciers. • Most of the land had a rocky, dirty, thin road of dirt. • Forests and rugged mountains made it hard to find good farmland. • Bad climate, such as cold weather most of the year and short growing seasons but warm in the summer. • Rocky and sandy land made it hard to farm.

3. Reason For Settlement • The reason for the settlement of Connecticut was for religious and economic freedom. • Colonists didn’t like the rules of Puritan leaders. • Thomas Hooker wanted to form a new community where all men could vote, even if they weren’t church members.

4. Religious Beliefs • What the people learned in church depended on were they lived. • Colonists had houses of worship. • Their lives were very strict. • Parents thought their children should learn Christianity.

5. Government • The colony of Connecticut had self government. • Colonists had town meetings to vote on laws for the colony.

6. Education • Puritans wanted everybody to read the Bible. • Some parents taught their kids how to read and write at home but New England towns had lots of schools including Harvard college, the first college in the thirteen colonies. • New England colonists worked really hard but they made time for some play. • Sports like horseracing and bowling were popular and common. People also played an early version of baseball which was town ball. • In winter, colonists went to go ice skating or sledding down big hills for fun.

7. Towns And Cities • Two of the major cities in the colony were Hartford and New Haven. • In 1636, when Hooker led about 100 colonists to the Connecticut River, they founded the town of Hartford.

8. Agriculture/Manufacturing • The agriculture in Connecticut was wheat, corn, and fishing. • The oceans off the New England coast were full of fish. • People made their living by catching and selling fish. • The most common fish was cod, which then became New England’s key part of economy. • Merchants sold much of the fish as exports to Europe and the West Indies. • Sailors also used whales from the oceans to make products such as oil for lamps. • Fishing and whaling were mostly what people did for food and occupation because farming was very difficult in New England.

9. Settlements/Homes • In the houses, there were often six or seven kids. • Most of the lights in the houses came from candles and lamps. • Families lived in small wooden houses with few rooms and windows. • Most of the houses just had one room with a huge fireplace. • At night, the families slept on mattresses by the fireplace with the fire going to keep warm. • One table stood in the middle of the room for meals. • Richer families might have a second story or loft in their home where there would be more room for sleeping at night. • A colonial home was more than just a building where a family ate and slept.

10. Other Interesting Facts • The population of Connecticut was 183,900 colonists in 1770. • Boys had to bring in wood for the fireplace, care for the farm animals, gather wild berries and vegetables, help plow fields and plant crops, and help build and repair buildings. • Girls had to weave cloth for clothing, preserve fruit and vegetables, cook the food, make soap and candles, and help with the planting and harvesting in the fields. • New England colonist caught 600,000 pounds of fish in 1641. • Younger kids played things like hide and seek, hop scotch, and tag. • The older kids played things like checkers, backgammon, and dominoes.

11. Other Important People To Know • Olaudah Equiano was enslaved as a boy, survived the Middle Passage. Years later, he described the horrors of the journey in a book. • Thomas Hooker was the founder of the colony Connecticut.