The group known as the Thirteen Colonies contained 13 British colonies before American independence.
These colonies occupied much of Britain's Atlantic seaboard in North America. They were commonly grouped as four New England colonies, four Middle Colonies, and five Southern Colonies. The list included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The colonies were separately administered and did not begin as one unified country. Their governments, economies, religious cultures, and settlement histories varied considerably. Georgia, founded in 1732, was the last of the thirteen colonies to be established. During the crisis with Britain, cooperation increased through bodies such as the Continental Congress. The colonies declared independence in 1776 and became the foundation of the United States recognized by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.