By 1700, English settlements in the thirteen American colonies had established a solid foothold along the Atlantic coast, though their inland penetration remained limited and highly variable by region.

Massachusetts Bay Colony had expanded significantly westward into the Connecticut River valley, with settlements reaching present-day Springfield and extending northward into the Merrimack valley. Connecticut settlements stretched across the colony from the coast to the Connecticut River, while Rhode Island remained concentrated around Narragansett Bay. New Hampshire settlements hugged the Piscataqua River valley and coastal areas.

New York settlements clustered around the Hudson River valley, extending north toward Albany and west along the Mohawk River corridor. The Dutch patroon system had created riverside settlements, while English influence grew following the 1664 conquest. Pennsylvania, founded in 1681, witnessed rapid growth around Philadelphia, with settlements spreading along the Delaware River and into Chester and Bucks counties. New Jersey featured scattered settlements between New York and Philadelphia.

Virginia settlements had expanded up the major tidewater rivers—the James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac—with plantations extending roughly 100 miles inland. Maryland followed similar river-oriented settlement patterns around the Chesapeake Bay. The Carolinas remained sparsely settled, with Charleston serving as the primary South Carolina center and only scattered settlements in North Carolina's Albemarle region.

Most settlements remained within 50-100 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, following river systems that provided transportation and fertile soil. The fall line marked the practical western limit of settlement, where rivers became unnavigable and Native American resistance intensified.

The highest population concentrations existed around Boston, the Connecticut River valley, southeastern Pennsylvania around Philadelphia, and Virginia's tidewater region. Total colonial population approached 275,000, with settlements creating an essentially continuous coastal presence from Maine to South Carolina, though interior regions remained largely wilderness punctuated by isolated trading posts and missions.