102. The twelve English colonies in America; General Oglethorpe makes a settlement in Georgia.--We have seen[2] that the first real colony or settlement made in America by the English was in Virginia in 1607. By the beginning of 1733, or in about a hundred and twenty-five years, eleven more had been made, or twelve in all. They stretched along the seacoast, from the farthest coast of Maine to the northern boundary of Florida, which was then owned by the Spaniards.[3] The two colonies farthest south were North Carolina and South Carolina. In 1733 James Oglethorpe, a brave English soldier, who afterward became General Oglethorpe, came over here to make a new settlement. This new one, which made just thirteen[4] in all, was called Georgia in honor of King George the Second, who gave a piece of land for it, on the seacoast, below South Carolina. [Illustration: Map of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.] [Footnote 1: Oglethorpe (O'gel-thorp).] [Footnote 2: See paragraph 37.] [Footnote 3: Because the Spaniards had settled it in 1565; see paragraph 30.] [Footnote 4: These thirteen colonies or settlements were: First, the four New England colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode island; Maine was then part of Massachusetts, and Vermont was claimed by both New Hampshire and New York). Secondly, four middle colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, with Delaware). Thirdly, five southern colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia).] 103. What it was that led General Oglethorpe to make this new settlement.--General Oglethorpe had a friend in England who was cast into prison for debt. There the unfortunate man was so cruelly treated that he fell sick and died, leaving his family in great distress. The General felt the death of his friend so much that he set to work to find out how other poor debtors lived in the London prisons. He soon saw that great numbers of them suffered terribly. The prisons were crowded and filthy. The men shut up in them were ragged and dirty; some of them were fastened with heavy chains, and a good many actually died of starvation. General Oglethorpe could not bear to see strong men killed off in this manner. He thought that if the best of them--those who were honest and willing to work--could have the chance given them of earning their living, that they would soon do as well as any men. It was to help them that he persuaded the king to give the land of Georgia. 104. Building the city of Savannah; what the people of Charleston, South Carolina, did; a busy settlement; the alligators.--General Oglethorpe took over thirty-five families to America in 1733. They settled on a high bank of the Savannah[5] River, about twenty miles from the sea. The general laid out a town with broad, straight, handsome streets, and with many small squares or parks. He called the settlement Savannah from the Indian name of the river on which it stands.