Thirteen colonies formed the original United States after declaring independence from Britain.
The colonies stretched along the Atlantic coast and were commonly grouped as New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. They included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The number thirteen appears in several founding symbols and documents. The first U.S. flag design adopted in 1777 had thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, while the Declaration of Independence referred to the thirteen United States. The colonies were separately governed but developed shared political institutions during the crisis with Britain.
Georgia completed the traditional group of thirteen colonies in 1732. They became independent states through the Revolutionary era, although the United States later expanded far beyond the original Atlantic seaboard.