13 colonies quiz

Question 1

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 01.

Accepted Answer

New Hampshire. The highlighted modern state is New Hampshire (NH). New Hampshire lies between Vermont and Maine, north of Massachusetts. It widens toward the south and has a short Atlantic coast. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 2

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 02.

Accepted Answer

Massachusetts. The highlighted modern state is Massachusetts (MA). Massachusetts lies south of Vermont and New Hampshire. Cape Cod curves outward from its southeastern coast, providing a useful recognition cue. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 3

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 03.

Accepted Answer

Rhode Island. The highlighted modern state is Rhode Island (RI). Rhode Island lies east of Connecticut and south of Massachusetts. It is small enough that the enlarged outline is especially helpful. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 4

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 04.

Accepted Answer

Connecticut. The highlighted modern state is Connecticut (CT). Connecticut lies below Massachusetts, with New York to the west and Rhode Island to the east. Its southern edge faces Long Island Sound. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 5

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 05.

Accepted Answer

New York. The highlighted modern state is New York (NY). New York reaches from the Great Lakes toward the Atlantic. Long Island extends east from its southeastern corner, and New England lies to its east. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 6

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 06.

Accepted Answer

New Jersey. The highlighted modern state is New Jersey (NJ). New Jersey is east of Pennsylvania and south of New York. Its Atlantic coastline and narrow middle give it a different outline from Delaware to the southwest. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 7

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 07.

Accepted Answer

Pennsylvania. The highlighted modern state is Pennsylvania (PA). Pennsylvania lies below New York and west of New Jersey. A small northwestern projection reaches Lake Erie. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 8

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 08.

Accepted Answer

Delaware. The highlighted modern state is Delaware (DE). Delaware is the small state east of Maryland and south of Pennsylvania. Its curved northern boundary helps distinguish it from the longer New Jersey across the Delaware River. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 9

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 09.

Accepted Answer

Maryland. The highlighted modern state is Maryland (MD). Maryland wraps around the northern Chesapeake Bay and narrows sharply in the west. Delaware lies to its east and Pennsylvania to its north. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 10

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 10.

Accepted Answer

Virginia. The highlighted modern state is Virginia (VA). Virginia stretches from the Appalachians to the Atlantic, south of Maryland and West Virginia. Its eastern portion surrounds the southern Chesapeake Bay. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 11

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 11.

Accepted Answer

North Carolina. The highlighted modern state is North Carolina (NC). North Carolina stretches east to west below Virginia. Its western mountains contrast with the long Atlantic coast on its eastern side. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 12

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 12.

Accepted Answer

South Carolina. The highlighted modern state is South Carolina (SC). South Carolina lies below North Carolina and east of Georgia. Its roughly triangular outline widens along the Atlantic coast. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 13

Which original colony shares its name with the modern state highlighted on map 13.

Accepted Answer

Georgia. The highlighted modern state is Georgia (GA). Georgia is directly north of Florida, between Alabama and the Atlantic coast. Its eastern neighbor along much of that side is South Carolina. These are modern state boundaries, not the colony’s historical extent.

Question 14

Which ocean bordered the thirteen colonies on the east?

Accepted Answer

Atlantic Ocean. The colonies lay along the Atlantic coast of North America. Their inland claims varied, so the modern state outlines in this quiz are only location aids.

Question 15

Which settlement in Virginia was founded in 1607?

Accepted Answer

Jamestown. Jamestown was founded in Virginia in 1607, thirteen years before Plymouth. The Virginia Company organized the venture with commercial aims.

Question 16

Which company organized the Jamestown venture?

Accepted Answer

Virginia Company. The Virginia Company of London financed Jamestown as a commercial venture. Plymouth’s settlers had different religious and community motives.

Question 17

Which ship carried the Pilgrims to New England in 1620?

Accepted Answer

Mayflower. The Mayflower arrived in 1620 with the settlers associated with Plymouth. Jamestown’s earlier expedition used the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery.

Question 18

In which present-day state was Plymouth Colony established?

Accepted Answer

Massachusetts. Plymouth was established in present-day Massachusetts in 1620. It began as a separate colony and was later incorporated into Massachusetts.

Question 19

What agreement did male Mayflower passengers sign in 1620 to organize their government?

Accepted Answer

Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact was an agreement to form a civil body politic and enact laws for the colony.

Question 20

Which colony was founded last among the original thirteen?

Accepted Answer

Georgia. The colony of Georgia was established in 1733, after the other twelve. Its southern position also made it a buffer between British and Spanish colonial territory.

Question 21

Who is closely associated with founding Georgia in 1733?

Accepted Answer

James Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe led the settlers who established Savannah in 1733. William Penn is associated with Pennsylvania, while Roger Williams is associated with Providence.

Question 22

Which city was established as the first settlement of the British Georgia colony in 1733?

Accepted Answer

Savannah. Savannah was the initial settlement of the British Georgia colony in 1733. Calling it Georgia’s first settlement without that qualification would ignore earlier Indigenous and European settlements.

Question 23

Which founder is closely associated with Pennsylvania?

Accepted Answer

William Penn. Penn received Pennsylvania’s charter in 1681 and arrived the next year. Philadelphia became the planned principal city of his colony.

Question 24

William Penn belonged to which religious community?

Accepted Answer

Quakers. Penn belonged to the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. His colonial plans attracted Quakers and other settlers seeking religious freedom.

Question 25

Which city did William Penn establish as Pennsylvania’s principal city?

Accepted Answer

Philadelphia. Philadelphia was laid out under Penn in 1682 with a street grid. Harrisburg is the state capital today, but was not Penn’s principal colonial city.

Question 26

Who founded Providence in 1636?

Accepted Answer

Roger Williams. Williams founded Providence in 1636 after his banishment from Massachusetts Bay. Providence later became part of the colony of Rhode Island.

Question 27

Were the lands occupied by the thirteen colonies already home to Indigenous peoples?

Accepted Answer

Yes, to many distinct Indigenous nations. The colonies were established on Indigenous homelands. Colonization involved trade, alliances, conflict, displacement, and dispossession of many different nations.

Question 28

Which colony was associated with the Calvert family and Lord Baltimore?

Accepted Answer

Maryland. Maryland was a proprietary colony associated with the Calverts, whose title was Lord Baltimore. The title should not be confused with the later city of Baltimore.

Question 29

Which English colony centered on the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam after the takeover of 1664?

Accepted Answer

New York. New Netherland included territory beyond today’s New York state. Its English takeover in 1664 brought the name New York to the central colony and city.

Question 30

What was New York City called under Dutch rule?

Accepted Answer

New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam was the Dutch settlement on Manhattan. The name changed to New York in 1664 when the English took control.

Question 31

Which river became a major trade route through colonial New York?

Accepted Answer

Hudson River. The Hudson offered a route inland from New York’s harbor. Its location helps explain the importance of trade in the Dutch and later English colony.

Question 32

Which colonial region included Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire?

Accepted Answer

New England. These four colonies form the conventional New England grouping. Maine belonged to Massachusetts, and Vermont was not a separate member of the original thirteen.

Question 33

Which set lists only Middle Colonies?

Accepted Answer

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware. The Middle Colonies lay between New England and the Southern Colonies. Their four names are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Question 34

Which colony was the northernmost of the thirteen when counting Massachusetts’s then-territory of Maine?

Accepted Answer

Massachusetts. Maine was part of Massachusetts until statehood in 1820, making colonial Massachusetts extend farthest north.

Question 35

Which colony was farthest south?

Accepted Answer

Georgia. Georgia was the southernmost of the thirteen. Florida lay farther south, but was not one of the thirteen colonies that declared independence in 1776.

Question 36

Which present-day state was NOT one of the original thirteen colonies?

Accepted Answer

Vermont. Vermont was not a separate member of the thirteen colonies and became the fourteenth state in 1791.

Question 37

Which crop became especially important to Virginia’s colonial economy?

Accepted Answer

Tobacco. Tobacco became Virginia’s major export crop. Its labor demands helped drive the growth of plantation agriculture and coercive labor systems.

Question 38

Which labor system forced millions of Africans and their descendants to work in the colonies and later United States?

Accepted Answer

Chattel slavery. Enslaved people were treated as property under chattel slavery; their forced labor was central to many colonial economies.

Question 39

Which colonial region was especially associated with shipbuilding and Atlantic fishing?

Accepted Answer

New England. New England’s harbors and forests supported maritime work, including shipbuilding and fishing. Farming also existed, but these activities distinguished the region’s economy.

Question 40

Which colonies were often associated with growing grain such as wheat?

Accepted Answer

Middle Colonies. The Middle Colonies produced grain such as wheat. Their breadbasket nickname describes a regional economic pattern, not a claim that other colonies grew no grain.

Question 41

Which colony hosted the first representative legislative assembly in English North America in 1619?

Accepted Answer

Virginia. Virginia’s assembly met in Jamestown in 1619. It represented a limited colonial electorate, not universal political participation for everyone living there.

Question 42

Which river gave the Jamestown settlement access to the Chesapeake Bay?

Accepted Answer

James River. Jamestown stood beside the James River, which leads into Chesapeake Bay. Its location offered a water route to the Atlantic trading network.

Question 43

Which city hosted the Second Continental Congress when it adopted the Declaration of Independence?

Accepted Answer

Philadelphia. Congress adopted the Declaration in Philadelphia in 1776. The Constitution was debated there later, in 1787, during a different convention.

Question 44

In which year did the thirteen colonies adopt the Declaration of Independence?

Accepted Answer

1776. Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776. Adoption, signing, and winning the Revolutionary War were separate steps with different dates.

Question 45

Which king ruled Great Britain when the colonies declared independence?

Accepted Answer

George III. George III reigned during the American Revolution. The Declaration directs many of its grievances at the British king, although Parliament also shaped colonial policy.

Question 46

What was the main political objection captured by “no taxation without representation”?

Accepted Answer

Parliament taxed colonists who elected no members to it. The slogan challenged Parliament’s taxation of colonists without their own elected representation in Parliament.

Question 47

Which 1773 protest involved destroying tea in Boston Harbor?

Accepted Answer

Boston Tea Party. Protesters destroyed tea in Boston Harbor in December 1773. The protest preceded the Declaration of Independence by more than two years.

Question 48

Which colony contained Boston?

Accepted Answer

Massachusetts. Boston was in Massachusetts, one of the New England colonies. Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration was adopted, was in Pennsylvania.

Question 49

Which English settlement disappeared before the thirteen colonies took shape, becoming known as the Lost Colony?

Accepted Answer

Roanoke. The fate of the late-sixteenth-century Roanoke settlers remains uncertain. Roanoke preceded the enduring colonies.

Question 50

Which colony became the first state to ratify the US Constitution in 1787?

Accepted Answer

Delaware. Delaware ratified the Constitution on December 7, 1787. First State refers to that ratification order, not to which colony was founded earliest.

Target	Recall cue
New Hampshire	New Hampshire is grouped with the New England Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Massachusetts	Massachusetts is grouped with the New England Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Rhode Island	Rhode Island is grouped with the New England Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Connecticut	Connecticut is grouped with the New England Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
New York	New York is grouped with the Middle Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
New Jersey	New Jersey is grouped with the Middle Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania is grouped with the Middle Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Delaware	Delaware is grouped with the Middle Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Maryland	Maryland is grouped with the Southern Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Virginia	Virginia is grouped with the Southern Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
North Carolina	North Carolina is grouped with the Southern Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
South Carolina	South Carolina is grouped with the Southern Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.
Georgia	Georgia is grouped with the Southern Colonies. This outline represents the modern state, not its colonial-era borders.

Colony	Study region	Map question
New Hampshire	New England	1
Massachusetts	New England	2
Rhode Island	New England	3
Connecticut	New England	4
New York	Middle	5
New Jersey	Middle	6
Pennsylvania	Middle	7
Delaware	Middle	8
Maryland	Southern	9
Virginia	Southern	10
North Carolina	Southern	11
South Carolina	Southern	12
Georgia	Southern	13

Locate, name and group the thirteen colonies

Thirteen colony names: blank practice sheet

Thirteen colony names: answer key

Choose a focused round

A little more about this quiz

All 13 colonies and their map-question numbers

Check what you remember

Read modern outlines as a learning aid

Recall all 13 colonies with the 4 + 4 + 5 check

Attach a place and date to a settlement

Use regions without treating them as identical communities

Keep independence and constitutional ratification on separate dates

What do the “original 13 colonies” mean here?

Put it into practice

13 colonies quiz: the full question sheet