The New England Colonies of British America included the colonies of Connecticut, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Massachusetts, and Province of New Hampshire. They were part of the Thirteen Colonies, along with the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies. These were early colonies of what would later be the states inNew England.[1] Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, was the author of "A Description of New England" published in 1616, first applying the term "New England"[2] to coastal lands of North America from the Long Island Sound to Newfoundland.[3]
The Middle Colonies comprised the middle region of the Thirteen Colonies of the British Empire in North America. Much of the area was part of the New Netherland until the British exerted control over the region. The French captured much of the area in its war with the Dutch around 1664, and the majority of the conquered land became the Province of New York. The Duke of York and the King of England would later grant others ownership of the land which would become the Province of New Jersey and the Province of Pennsylvania. The Delaware Colony later separated from Pennsylvania.