English settlers arrived in the 1730s, led by James Oglethorpe. The name “Georgia”, after George II of Great Britain, dates from the creation of this colony.

Between 1735 and 1750 Georgia was unique among Britain’s American colonies, as it was the only one to attempt to prohibit Black slavery as a matter of public policy. The decision to ban slavery was made by the founders of Georgia, the Trustees.

Exploration and Georgia Colonization

Early Archaic. The Early Archaic Period in Georgia and elsewhere in the eastern United States was approximately 10,000 to 8,000 years ago. At that time most of Georgia was covered with oak-hickory hardwood forests. Large Pleistocene animals such as bison, horses, mastodons, mammoths, and camels had become extinct.

Georgia, was the 13th and last colony to be established. He believed that the colony would be a better place to send poor people, many of whom were in debtor’s prisons. Founding a new colony to the south of South Carolina also served the strategic purposes of England, creating a barrier against the Spanish in Florida.

Birthplace of the cotton gin (1793) Georgia figures significantly in the history of American slavery because of Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin in 1793. The gin was first demonstrated to an audience on Revolutionary War hero General Nathanael Greene’s plantation, near Savannah.