Describe the history of the Middle Colonies.

The Middle Colonies - those from the American colonial
period that included most of New Netherlands, colonies such as New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania and Delaware, became well known early on for how great the farmland was,
and how much foodstuffs could be produced there.  This earned the region the nickname
"Breadbasket".  What tobacco and rice were to the Southern cash crop colonies, wheat,
corn and grains were to the Middle Colonies.

While the
Dutch had originally settled in much of the area, the British Empire consolidated
control over these lands by the mid 1660s.  The economy diversified into timber,
shipbuilding, ironworks, and textiles.  The variety of jobs, farmland and opportunities
coupled with some tough times in Europe brought many new immigrants to the region, and
in the thirteen colonies, the Middle Colonies were the most ethnically
diverse.