Historical Map, 1733 A map of The British Empire in America with The French and Spanish settlements Adjacent thereto, Vintage Wall Art

By the time this map illustrating the extent of the British Empire was produced in 1733, colonial merchants and planters had developed new staple economies throughout the eastern seaboard. Forest products from Maine and New Hampshire, fish from New England, tobacco from the Chesapeake region, and rice from South Carolina transformed the colonies, creating self-sustaining economies that gradually became less reliant on trans-Atlantic trade with England. Permanent settlements were established in these regions, and with them a new economic, political and social structure. As these colonies began to trade more with each other, accurate charts of the North American coast became increasingly important.