The 13 original colonies — Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia — split naturally into three regions, and each region's geography shaped its economy.

The New England colonies (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island) had rocky soil and short growing seasons, so their economies leaned on fishing, shipbuilding, and trade instead of large-scale farming.

The Middle colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware) had richer, more fertile land and became known as the breadbasket of the colonies, exporting grain in large volumes.

The Southern colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia) built plantation economies around cash crops — tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in South Carolina and Georgia.

Delaware was the first of the 13 to ratify the Constitution in December 1787, while Georgia, founded in 1732, was the last of the 13 colonies to be established.

This quiz tests capitals and abbreviations across the founding colonies, a good foundation for understanding how the country's earliest regional divides took shape.

A common point of confusion: Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maine were not among the original 13, even though all four became states within a few decades of independence — at the time, they were separate territories or still part of larger colonies. The 13 stripes on the American flag still commemorate the original colonies today, while the 50 stars represent the current states.

Georgia, the last of the 13 to be founded in 1732, was named after King George II of Great Britain and was originally established as a buffer colony meant to protect the Carolinas from Spanish Florida.