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In 1607 English settlers founded Jamestown, Virginia—the first permanent English settlement in North America. -
The Dutch founded New Netherland in 1624. -
Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. -
In 1630 another group of Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. -
A group of Roman Catholics founded Maryland in 1634. -
The Carolina region had become an English colony in 1663. -
In 1681 an English Quaker leader, William Penn, set up the colony of Pennsylvania -
In 1729 Carolina was split into North and South Carolina. -
Georgia—the last of the original 13 colonies—was settled in 1733. -
In 1776 the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.