An Empire DividedThere were 26not 13British colonies in America in 1776. Of these, the six colonies in the CaribbeanJamaica, Barbados, the Leeward Islands, Grenada and Tobago, St. Vincent; and Dominicawere among the wealthiest. These island colonies were closely related to the mainland by social ties and tightly connected by trade. In a period when most British colonists in North America lived less than 200 miles inland and the major cities were all situated along the