Urbanization In Early America

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In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands propelled large colonization plans in eastern North America. Early American "cities" were virtually nonexistent at this time. In 1775 over two million people resided in the thirteen American colonies, about 500,000 of them lived in Virginia, the biggest and most populated colony. Many of these people were farmers or planters who dwelled and labored on small farms of less than two hundred acres. A small number of Virginians were rich planters or merchants, and only about two percent of the population lived in Virginia’s few small towns or cities like York, Norfolk, Richmond, Williamsburg, or Fredericksburg. About 200,000 of the people residing in Virginia were African Americans …show more content…
By this time five percent of Americans lived in urban areas (places with more than 2,500 people) which were mostly small villages. At the end of the colonial period, Philadelphia was the largest city, holding a population of about 30,000—second only to London, England. By the 1800's industrialization had produced a notable growth in American cities, 35 percent of Americans now lived in urban areas mostly in the Northern half of the United States. Members of the rich, poor, and middle class were all represented in these emerging cities. Urbanization produced three different types of cities; commercial centers, mill towns, and transportation hubs. These new urban environments provided many changes, they were a source of hope, conflict, and adjustment especially to new immigrants. Cities arose as sources of diversity and pluralism. Economic and social forces that changed city dynamics included industrialization, transportation, and population growth. During industrialization periods cities were centers of industrial growth, they also concentrated capital, workers, and consumers. Most cities had a

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