Question: Was USA a British colony?

British America






British America comprised the British Empire's colonial territories in North America, Bermuda, Central America, the Caribbean, and Guyana from 1607 to 1783. The American colonies were formally known as British America and the British West Indies before 1776, when the Thirteen Colonies declared their independence in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and formed the United States of America.[1] After that, the term British North America was used to describe the remainder of Britain's continental North American possessions. That term was first used informally in 1783 by the end of the American Revolution, but it was uncommon before the Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839), called the Durham Report.
British America gained large amounts of new territory following the Treaty of Paris (1763) which ended the French and Indian War in America, and ended British involvement in the Seven Years' War in Europe. At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775, the British Empire included 20 colonies north and east of New Spain, including areas of Mexico and the Western United States. East and West Florida were ceded to the Kingdom of Spain in the Treaty of Paris (1783) which ended the American Revolution, and then ceded by Spain to the United States in 1819 after treaty negotiations to settle the old southwest border with Spanish Florida (eastern Louisiana, southern Alabama, Mississippi, and western Georgia). The remaining continental colonies of British North America to the northeast formed the Dominion of Canada by uniting provinces between 1867 and 1873. The Dominion of Newfoundland to the east joined Canada in 1949.
History


A number of English colonies were established in North America between 1606 and 1670 by individuals and companies whose investors expected to reap rewards from their speculation. They were granted commercial charters by King James I, King Charles I, Parliament, and King Charles II.  The first permanent settlement was founded in 1607 on the James River at Jamestown, Virginia upstream from Chesapeake Bay by the London Company. This was followed in 1620 when the Pilgrims established the Plymouth settlement in New England. English Catholics settled the Province of Maryland in 1634, with Cecilus Calvert, second Lord Baltimore.
In London beginning in 1660, all colonies were governed through a state department known as the Southern Department, and a committee of the Privy Council called the Board of Trade and Plantations.  In 1768, a specific state department was created for America, but it was disbanded in 1782 when the Home Office took responsibility.[2]
North American colonies in 1775
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies formed the original states of the United States:
New England Colonies
Province of Massachusetts Bay
Province of New Hampshire
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations[3][4]
Connecticut Colony

Middle Colonies
Province of New York
Province of New Jersey
Province of Pennsylvania
Delaware Colony
Southern Colonies
Province of Maryland
Colony of Virginia
Province of North Carolina
Province of South Carolina
Province of Georgia
Former French colonies and the Floridas
Several British colonies and territories were ruled by Britain from 1763 after the Seven Years' War, but were ceded to Spain (the Floridas) or the United States (the Indian Reserve and Southwestern Quebec).  Others became part of Canada.
Territories that became part of the United States of America:
Province of East Florida
Province of West Florida
Indian Reserve
Province of Quebec (southwest of the Great Lakes)
British colonies and territories that became part of Canada:
Province of Quebec (northeast of the Great Lakes)
Province of Nova Scotia
Island of St. John
Colony of Newfoundland
Rupert's Land
Colonies in the Caribbean, near-Atlantic, and South America in 1783
Divisions of the British Leeward Islands
Saint Christopher (de facto capital)
Antigua
Barbuda
British Virgin Islands
Montserrat
Nevis
Anguilla
Island of Jamaica and its dependencies
Island of Jamaica
Settlement of Belize in British Honduras
Mosquito Coast
Bay Islands
Cayman Islands
Other possessions in the British West Indies
Colony of the Bahamas
Colony of Bermuda
Island of Barbados
Island of Grenada
Island of St. Vincent (detached from Grenada in 1776)
Island of Tobago (detached from Grenada in 1768)
Island of Dominica (detached from Grenada in 1770)
See also

British colonization of the Americas
British North America Acts
British overseas territories
Colonial history of the United States
Evolution of the British Empire
Former colonies and territories in Canada
Citations