Key Events in Colonial Georgia (1732–1776)

Georgia, the last of the 13 original colonies, had a distinctive founding and turbulent colonial era:

1. 1732: Charter granted to James Oglethorpe & Trustees; philanthropic vision: haven for debtors, no slavery, no rum, small land grants.
2. 1733: Savannah founded—planned city on Yamacraw Bluff; Oglethorpe negotiates with Yamacraw chief Tomochichi.
3. 1736: Fort Frederica built on St. Simons Island (southern defense).
4. 1742: Battle of Bloody Marsh—Oglethorpe's forces repel Spanish invasion from Florida; secures Georgia's southern frontier.
5. 1752: Trustees surrender charter; Georgia becomes a Royal Colony. Restrictions on slavery/rum lifted; plantation economy (rice, indigo, later cotton) expands rapidly.
6. 1763: Treaty of Paris extends Georgia's boundary to the St. Marys River.
7. 1775: Revolutionary sentiment grows; Provincial Congress formed; British governor Wright flees 1776.
8. 1776: Georgia signs Declaration of Independence; adopts first state constitution (1777).
9. 1778–79: British capture Savannah; failed Franco-American siege (1779).
10. 1782: British evacuate; Georgia restored to statehood.

Post-war: Cotton gin (1793, Eli Whitney near Savannah) transforms economy; Indian Removal (1830s); Secession (1861).