Megan Moran

13 colonies quiz

Travel back to the days before independence with this 13 colonies quiz. From the first settlements and the people who founded them to colonial farms, trades and the road to revolution, these thirteen colonies quiz questions will test the whole family.

A free quiz from Megan Moran, author of The Great American Quiz Book.

Paper-cut illustration of an early American colonial village with a white church steeple
Pick an answer to start20 to go

  1. Question 1 of 20PlymouthEasy

    Before going ashore in 1620, the Pilgrims signed an agreement to set up their own self-government. What is it called?

  2. Question 2 of 20FoundersEasy

    Which Quaker leader received a royal charter in 1681 to found the colony of Pennsylvania?

  3. Question 3 of 20JamestownMedium

    Which of these ships did NOT carry the settlers who founded Jamestown in 1607?

  4. Question 4 of 20Road to independenceEasy

    In December 1773, protesters dumped tea belonging to the East India Company into the harbor of which city?

  5. Question 5 of 20FoundersMedium

    Who founded Providence, the first settlement of Rhode Island, in 1636 after being banished from Massachusetts Bay?

  6. Question 6 of 20FoundersHard

    Which English soldier and reformer led the founding of Georgia in 1732-33, hoping to give Britain's "worthy poor" a fresh start?

  7. Question 7 of 20FoundersMedium

    Which colony, whose first settlers arrived in 1634, was founded by the Calvert family as a haven for English Catholics?

  8. Question 8 of 20RegionsEasy

    Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire made up which colonial region?

  9. Question 9 of 20Regions and economiesMedium

    Which colonial region earned the nickname "the breadbasket" thanks to its fertile soil and big grain harvests?

  10. Question 10 of 20Regions and economiesHard

    Starting in 1739, teenager Eliza Lucas (later Pinckney) experimented until she made which plant-based dye a major cash crop in South Carolina?

  11. Question 11 of 20Road to independenceMedium

    Which 1765 British law taxed printed paper in the colonies, including newspapers, legal documents and playing cards?

  12. Question 12 of 20Road to independenceEasy

    The first battles of the American Revolutionary War were fought on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and which other Massachusetts town?

  13. Question 13 of 20JamestownMedium

    Virginia's elected assembly, often called the first representative legislature in the Americas, first met at Jamestown in 1619. By what name is it best known?

  14. Question 14 of 20Early settlementsHard

    Fort Christina, built in 1638 in what is now Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement of which European country in North America?

  15. Question 15 of 20FoundersMedium

    Which Puritan leader brought a fleet of settlers to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and served many terms as its governor?

  16. Question 16 of 20JamestownEasy

    Pocahontas, who married Jamestown colonist John Rolfe, was the daughter of which leader?

  17. Question 17 of 20Road to independenceMedium

    In 1774, delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies gathered for the First Continental Congress in which city?

  18. Question 18 of 20FoundersHard

    The Fundamental Orders of 1639, often called one of the first written constitutions in the colonies, were adopted by which colony?

  19. Question 19 of 20Regions and economiesMedium

    Thanks to its thick forests and busy harbors, colonial New England became especially known for which industry?

  20. Question 20 of 20Colonial lifeHard

    Roughly how many people lived in the 13 colonies on the eve of the American Revolution in 1775?

Answer all 20 to see your score.

Want more? The Great American Quiz Book has over 800 questions like these, ready for your next quiz night.

Get the book on Amazon
Show all the answers, with the facts behind them
  1. Before going ashore in 1620, the Pilgrims signed an agreement to set up their own self-government. What is it called? Mayflower CompactForty-one of the ship's 101 passengers signed it while anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor, at the northern tip of Cape Cod.
  2. Which Quaker leader received a royal charter in 1681 to found the colony of Pennsylvania? William PennKing Charles II granted the land partly to settle a £16,000 debt owed to Penn's father, and the name means Penn's Woods.
  3. Which of these ships did NOT carry the settlers who founded Jamestown in 1607? Half MoonThe Half Moon was Henry Hudson's ship on his 1609 voyage up the river now named after him. Replicas of Jamestown's three ships sit at Jamestown Settlement.
  4. In December 1773, protesters dumped tea belonging to the East India Company into the harbor of which city? BostonSome of the protesters disguised themselves as Mohawk warriors, and more than 340 chests were emptied from three ships.
  5. Who founded Providence, the first settlement of Rhode Island, in 1636 after being banished from Massachusetts Bay? Roger WilliamsConvinced that divine providence had led his group to the spot, he chose the settlement's name. Massachusetts had convicted him of sedition and heresy.
  6. Which English soldier and reformer led the founding of Georgia in 1732-33, hoping to give Britain's "worthy poor" a fresh start? James OglethorpeHe laid out Savannah in 1733 as a grid of wards, each built around a central public square.
  7. Which colony, whose first settlers arrived in 1634, was founded by the Calvert family as a haven for English Catholics? MarylandIt was named in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, the devoutly Catholic wife of King Charles I.
  8. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire made up which colonial region? New England ColoniesMaine was never a separate colony. It was part of Massachusetts until it became a state of its own in 1820.
  9. Which colonial region earned the nickname "the breadbasket" thanks to its fertile soil and big grain harvests? Middle ColoniesThis region's four colonies, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, grew so much grain that it became a major export.
  10. Starting in 1739, teenager Eliza Lucas (later Pinckney) experimented until she made which plant-based dye a major cash crop in South Carolina? IndigoIt became the colony's second most valuable crop after rice, with exports soaring from 5,000 pounds in 1745-46 to 130,000 pounds by 1748.
  11. Which 1765 British law taxed printed paper in the colonies, including newspapers, legal documents and playing cards? Stamp ActDelegates from nine colonies met in New York City that October to protest it, and Parliament repealed the tax the following year.
  12. The first battles of the American Revolutionary War were fought on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and which other Massachusetts town? ConcordPaul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott rode out the night before to raise the alarm. A British patrol captured Revere, and only Prescott reached the town.
  13. Virginia's elected assembly, often called the first representative legislature in the Americas, first met at Jamestown in 1619. By what name is it best known? House of BurgessesIts first meeting, on July 30, 1619, was held in the settlement's new timber church on Jamestown Island.
  14. Fort Christina, built in 1638 in what is now Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement of which European country in North America? SwedenThe settlers arrived aboard the ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip, led by Peter Minuit, and the fort became the main base of their colony.
  15. Which Puritan leader brought a fleet of settlers to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and served many terms as its governor? John WinthropHe sailed on the Arbella, one of 11 ships that carried about 700 migrants across the Atlantic that year.
  16. Pocahontas, who married Jamestown colonist John Rolfe, was the daughter of which leader? PowhatanShe traveled to England with Rolfe in 1616 and died there the following year at Gravesend, Kent, where she is buried.
  17. In 1774, delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies gathered for the First Continental Congress in which city? PhiladelphiaThe delegates met at Carpenters' Hall from September to October 1774. Georgia was the only colony that did not send anyone.
  18. The Fundamental Orders of 1639, often called one of the first written constitutions in the colonies, were adopted by which colony? ConnecticutDrawn up by the river towns of Windsor, Wethersfield and Hartford, the document gave the future state its nickname, the Constitution State.
  19. Thanks to its thick forests and busy harbors, colonial New England became especially known for which industry? ShipbuildingCheap, plentiful timber made colonial ships so affordable that by 1775 at least a third of Britain's merchant fleet was estimated to be American-built.
  20. Roughly how many people lived in the 13 colonies on the eve of the American Revolution in 1775? About 2.5 millionEstimates put the figure at about 2.1 million just five years earlier, in 1770, a sign of how quickly the colonies were growing.
Paper-cut illustration of a parchment scroll with a wax seal, a quill pen, a candle and a balance scale

Constitution and amendments quiz

20 questionsMixed
Paper-cut illustration of an American landscape with a covered bridge, red barn and soaring eagle

US history quiz

20 questionsMixed
Paper-cut illustration of an antique desk with a quill pen, books and red, white and blue bunting

US presidents quiz

20 questionsMixed
Paper-cut illustration of a sunrise over hills with a road leading forward, books, a graduation cap and a microphone

Black history quiz

20 questionsMixed

History

20 questionsMixed
Paper-cut illustration of a vintage map, compass, binoculars and poppies with propeller planes above

World War II quiz

20 questionsMixed