welcome to kids academy hello let's get started on the lesson there are 50 states in the united states of america if you look at the american flag you will see 50 stars one for each state but many years ago there were only 13 stars these stars represented the original 13 american colonies [Music] new hampshire massachusetts bay rhode island connecticut new york pennsylvania new jersey delaware maryland virginia north carolina south carolina and georgia back in the early 1600s english settlers came to america seeking independence from british rulers they founded virginia the first american colony in 1607 settlers from many different nations such as sweden and france continued to form colonies for many years the 13th colony georgia was founded in 1732 american colonies were divided into three regions the new england colonies the middle colonies and the southern colonies each region had a different way of life [Music] the new england colonies were good for fishing and fur trading but there was very little farmland [Music] the middle colonies were better for growing crops and raising farm animals [Music] people in the southern colonies made money from cash crops such as rice and cotton crops were grown for the purpose of selling after the revolutionary war colonies started to become states this would give them independence from great britain to start a new government [Music] let's review before there were 50 states there were only 13 colonies in america colonies were founded by settlers in the 1600s and 1700s [Music] american colonies were divided into three regions new england middle and southern [Music] each region had a different way of life [Music] the 13 colonies became states after the revolutionary war gaining independence from great britain thank you for watching goodbye subscribe to our channel to stay updated on new videos find links to our apps in the comments below