Identity

What were the chief similarities and differences among the development of English, Spanish, Dutch, and French colonies in America?

Work, Exchange,

and Technology

How did distinct economic systems, most notably a slavery system based on African labor, develop in British North America? What was their effect on emerging cultural and regional differences?

Peopling

Why did various colonists go to the New World? How did the increasing integration of the Atlantic world affect the movement of peoples between its different regions?

Politics and

Power

In what ways did the British government seek to exert control over its American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries?

America in the

World

How did the competition between European empires around the world affect relations among the various peoples in North America?

Environment

and Geography

How and why did the English North American colonies develop into distinct regions?

Ideas, Beliefs,

And Cultures

How did the expansion of cultural contact that took place with permanent colonization alter conditions in North America and affect intellectual and religious life, the growth of trade, and the shape of political institutions?