<P> In Massachusetts their economy was heavily based on small industries with people working as porters, tanners, shopkeepers and metalworkers . They had merchants which carried raw materials such as furs, timber, and the tar and pitch needed for shipbuilding . Trade went on directly between the English colonists and the European Caribbean islands . </P> <P> The New England Colonies were located near the ocean where there was an abundance of whales, fish, and other marketable sea life . Excellent harbors and some inland waterways offered protection for ships and were also valuable for fresh water fishing . By the end of the 17th century, New England colonists had created an Atlantic trade network that connected them to the English homeland as well as the West African slave coast, the Caribbean's plantation islands, and the Iberian Peninsula . Colonists relied upon British and European imports for glass, linens, hardware, machinery, and other items for the colonial household . </P> <P> The Southern Colonies could produce tobacco, rice, and indigo in exchange for imports, whereas New England's colonies could not offer much to England beyond fish, furs, and lumber . Inflation was a major issue in the economy . During the 18th century, shipbuilding drew upon the abundant lumber and revived the economy, often under the direction of the British Crown . </P> <P> Enslavement of enemies defeated in war was a common practice in European nations at this time . This was a policy that had been going on for decades in Ireland, particularly since the time of Elizabeth I and during the mid-17th century Cromwell wars in Britain and Ireland, where large numbers of Irish, Welsh, and Scots prisoners of war were sent as slaves to plantations in the West Indies, especially to Barbados and Jamaica . </P>

When was the first new england colony founded