ABSTRACT
Within the Atlantic world each colony’s development largely depended upon four basic factors: environment, labor, access to Atlantic world markets, and the cultures of all the inhabitants. The physical environment provided the realm of possibility—food for sustenance, resources for housing and clothing, and items that could be extracted, cultivated, or traded in the region or exported elsewhere. Labor—the skills and physical capacity to develop and process an environment’s resources—could make the difference between colonists following a subsistence lifestyle or one where surpluses could be traded in the Atlantic economy. Labor could be accrued in several ways. In New England, for instance, large numbers of subsistence households relied on family labor, perhaps with an additional servant or two. In New England, most families produced modest surpluses, which they exchanged with their neighbors, or sold to merchants, who sent some of the commodities to other regions. Without substantial mineral resources that sold easily in world markets, such as silver or gold, and incapable of producing tropical crops, the New England economy could not afford to import large numbers of unfree laborers, nor participate in the Atlantic economy as a major exporter. Without creating the large surpluses that the plantation regions generated, there were relatively few extremely wealthy individuals. New England’s economy was more middle class than the Chesapeake region, for instance, with fewer rich and poor. Another important factor that shaped New England lives and economy was the relatively healthy environment and plenty of food. This prompted dramatic population increase despite a great decline in migration to the region. The population explosion led to geographic expansion, as colonists moved north and west. This expansion and growth was not without its problems. It led to conflicts with Indians, vast ecological alterations with long-term consequences, and numerous challenges to Puritan values.
