Province of Georgia
 |
Georgia Colony, as specified in the 1732 grant |
The
Georgia Colony was one of the
Southern colonies in
British North America. It was the last of the
Thirteen colonies established by
Great Britain in what later became the
United States. In the original grant a narrow strip of it extended to the
Pacific Ocean.
The colony's
corporate charter was granted to
James Oglethorpe on
April 21,
1732, by
King George II, for whom the colony was named. Oglethorpe envisioned the province as a location for the resettlement of English debtors and "the worthy poor". Another motivation for the founding of the colony was as a "
buffer state" or "
garrison province" that would defend the southern part of the British colonies from
Spanish Florida. Oglethorpe imagined a province populated by "sturdy farmers" that could guard the border; because of this, the colony's charter prohibited
slavery.
Oglethorpe, accompanied by the first settlers, arrived on
February 12,
1733, at
Yamacraw Bluff, in what is now
Savannah. The day is still celebrated as
Georgia Day.
The original charter specified the colony as being between the
Savannah and
Altamaha Rivers, up to their
headwaters (the headwaters of the Altamaha are on the
Ocmulgee River), and then extending westward "sea to sea." The area within the charter had previously been part of the original grant of the
Province of Carolina, which was closely linked to Georgia.
The
Privy Council finalized the document on
June 9,
1732, and the council of trustees governed the province, with the aid of annual
subsidies from Parliament, for the next two decades. However, after many difficulties and the departure of Ogelthorpe, the trustees proved unable to manage the
proprietary colony and on
June 23,
1752 the trustees submitted a
deed of reconveyance to the
crown, one year before the expiration of the charter. On
January 7,
1755 Georgia officially ceased to be a
trustee colony and became a
crown colony.
From 1732 until 1758, the minor civil divisions were districts and towns. In 1758 the province of Georgia was divided into eight parishes, plus another four added in 1765; in 1777, the original eight
counties of the
State of Georgia were created.
In practice, settlement in the colony was limited to the near vicinity of the Savannah River. The western area of the colony remained the territory of the
Creek Indian Confederation until after the
American Revolutionary War, when it was ceded to the U.S. in 1805.
*
History of Georgia (U.S. state)*
List of Governors of Georgia*
James Oglethorpe*
*
LOC: Establishing the Georgia Colony 1732-1750*
Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia: Georgia History*
Sir John Percival papers, also called: The Egmont Papers, 1732-1745. University of Georgia Hargrett Library.
*
Diary of Viscount Percival afterwards first Earl of Egmont. University of Georgia Hargrett Library.
