The Southern Colonies were called the Cavaliers and received land in which region?

• A. Cavaliers, eastern Virginia
• B. Merchants, western Virginia
• C. Planters, central Virginia
• D. Soldiers, southern Virginia

Answer: (A)

The idea tested here is how land was distributed based on social status in early Virginia and where those land grants were located. Cavaliers were English aristocrats who supported King Charles II and were rewarded with large estates in the colony. They settled mainly in eastern Virginia along the Chesapeake Bay in the tidewater region, where coastal plains and ports supported the tobacco plantation economy. That eastern coastal area became the traditional homeland of the Cavaliers’ land grants. The other regions mentioned aren’t tied to the Cavaliers in the same way, and western or central Virginia were frontier areas settled more by other groups.