How profitable were the Thirteen Colonies?

Compared to the other colonies Great Britain had, the American colonies were a horrible investment. The American colonies didn't have any factories as it would take a British man named Samuel Slater in the late 1700's to bring plans over. read more

The Thirteen Colonies had very similar political, constitutional, and legal systems and were dominated by Protestant English-speakers. They were part of Britain's possessions in the New World, which also included colonies in Canada and the Caribbean, as well as East and West Florida. read more

The sugar colonies were Britain's most valuable colonies. By the end of the eighteenth century, four million pounds came into Britain from its West Indian plantations, compared with one million from the rest of the world. read more

If you look entirely at metropolitan state revenues, few colonies were very profitable, and those that were did not generally remain so. If you expand it outwards to include private concessionaires, trading companies, shipping lines, and so forth, the picture changes and they look far, far more profitable. read more