Catan Geographies - Pennsylvania - New Jersey

In order to settle the Penn-Jersey region, you need the game pieces and cards from The Settlers of Catan game. You also need additional markers for iron commodities and victory point tokens; you can use Catan chits from the Seafarers expansion, coins, or whatever else is handy. The standard Settlers of Catan rules apply to this scenario, with certain exceptions.

Pennsylvania (The “Keystone State”)

Originally dubbed “L’arcadia” (wooded coast) by the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, regions of Pennsylvania were claimed by the British, Dutch and French at various points in its rich history. Its transition into modern statehood began on March 4, 1681, when William Penn was given the largest land grant ever by King Charles II of England as payment for a £16,000 debt owed to William’s father. Penn founded a colony here as a place of religious freedom for Quakers and named it “Sylvania,” the Latin word for woods. Under Penn’s governorship, the region prospered and Philadelphia grew into a major colonial port.

New Jersey (The “Garden State“)

Originally colonized in the 1630s by the Dutch New Netherlands colony in the north and Swedish New Sweden Colony in the south, the British seized control of the region in 1664. King Charles II granted it as a colony to two supporters from the Channel Islands, who called it New Jersey.