King George II

• Early Savannah, GeorgiaJupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  Georgia was named for King George II of England. The area was settled in Savannah in 1733 and it was formed twenty-five years after the twelfth British colony, Pennsylvania. Georgia began under the control of a board of trustees, but they were disbanded in 1751 and the colony returned to the control of George II. During this time, a special day celebrating the formation of the colony had begun. Georgia Day is still celebrated every October 29th in Savannah.
  
  

A Colony Unlike The Others

• Laborers during the Revolutionary WarPhotos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Georgia was founded by a Board of Trustees, which ran the colony from England. No other colony was established or run in this manner. There was no governor or governing body in the colony. Georgia was the only colony that banned slavery, along with lawyers, rum and Catholics. Though most of Georgia was established for religious freedom, because of its proximity to Florida, which was controlled by the Catholic Spaniards, Britain was wary of allowing Catholics into their territory.
  
  

James Oglethorpe's Debtors

• Loading bales of cotton on the Georgia coastPhotos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  James Oglethorpe wanted a colony as a refuge for debtors who packed London's prisons. That was the plan, but they were not among the first settlers. Soon the colony became a buffer to protect Southern states from Spanish intruders from Florida. British troops were commanded by Oglethorpe, who kept the Spanish out of Georgia. Oglethorpe was the only colony planner to live until after the Revolutionary War.
  
  

Shortest Time as a Colony

• Georgia is both rural and urban.Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  There is some depute among history scholars as to whether Georgia supported the King or the Colonies during the first part of the Revolution. Georgia was a colony with the shortest life span and the smallest population and was the least developed. It was mostly on the periphery during the Revolutionary War.