On what characteristics is the division of the thirteen colonies into New England, middle, and southern regions based?

The New England Colonies were largely farming and fishing communities. Crops like corn and wheat grew in large numbers, and much was shipped to England.

The Middle Colonies were part agriculture, part industrial. Wheat and other grains grew on farms in Pennsylvania and New York.

The Southern Colonies were almost entirely agricultural. The main feature was the plantation, a large plot of land that contained a great many acres of farmland and buildings in which lived the people who owned the land and the people who worked the land.

Southern plantations grew tobacco, rice, and indigo, which they sold to buyers in England and elsewhere in America.