"Speedwell" was re-rigged with larger masts before leaving Holland and setting out to meet "Mayflower" in Southampton, England, around the end of July 1620. The Mayflower was purchased in London. The original captains were Captain Reynolds for "Speedwell" and Captain Christopher Jones for "Mayflower". Other passengers joined the group in Southampton, including William Brewster, who had been in hiding for the better part of a year, and a group of people known to the Leiden congregation as "The Strangers." This group was largely made up of people recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide practical assistance to the colony and additional hands to work for the colony's ventures.
"Mayflower" voyage
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony | "Mayflower" voyage
End of July 1620 1620 They  obtained a land patent from the Plymouth Company in June 1619. 1620
which group of english immigrants first settled in plymouth in 1620
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Puritan Separatists
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when did they start their journey to this place?
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Founded by a group of Separatists and Anglicans, who together later came to be known as the Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony (in Massachusetts) was founded in 1620 by those who sailed aboard the Mayflower. The colony was one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America, and the first sizeable permanent English settlement in what is now the New England region. Soon other colonies were established in New England. A Puritan minister named John Davenport led his flock from exile in the Netherlands back to England and finally to America in the spring of 1637.
Thomas Powell (1641–1722) | Historical background
The "Mayflower" passengers sighted land on November 9, 1620 after enduring miserable conditions for about 65 days, and William Brewster led them in reading Psalm 100 as a prayer of thanksgiving. They confirmed that the area was Cape Cod within the New England territory recommended by Weston. They attempted to sail the ship around the cape towards the Hudson River, also within the New England grant area, but they encountered shoals and difficult currents around Cape Malabar (the old French name for Monomoy Island). They decided to turn around, and the ship was anchored in Provincetown Harbor by November 11/21.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Arrival in America
The Pilgrim settlers realized that they did not have a patent to settle in the region, so they signed the Mayflower Compact prior to disembarking. They explored various parts of Cape Cod and eventually sought a suitable location for a permanent settlement to the westward in Cape Cod Bay. They discovered the sheltered waters of Plymouth Harbor on December 17, and the protected bay led to a site for the new settlement after three days of surveying. The settlers officially disembarked on December 21, 1620. It is traditionally said that the Pilgrims first set foot in America at the site of Plymouth Rock, though no historical evidence can prove this claim.
Plymouth, Massachusetts | Colonial era
Plymouth played a very important role in American colonial history. It was the final landing site of the first voyage of the "Mayflower" and the location of the original settlement of Plymouth Colony. Plymouth was established in December 1620 by English separatist Puritans who had broken away from the Church of England, believing that the Church had not completed the work of the Protestant Reformation. Today, these settlers are much better known as the "Pilgrims", a term coined by William Bradford. The Mayflower first anchored in the harbor of Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 11, 1620. The ship was headed for the mouth of the Hudson River near Manhattan, which was part of the Colony of Virginia at the time, but it did not go beyond Cape Cod.
Plymouth, Massachusetts | Colonial era
The Pilgrims were a small group of Puritan separatists who felt that they needed to distance themselves physically from the Church of England, which they perceived as corrupted. They initially moved to the Netherlands, but eventually sailed to America in 1620 on the "Mayflower". Upon their arrival, they drew up the Mayflower Compact, by which they bound themselves together as a united community, thus establishing the small Plymouth Colony. William Bradford was their main leader. After its founding, other settlers traveled from England to join the colony. More Puritans immigrated in 1629 and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony with 400 settlers.
Thirteen Colonies | New England
They named their settlement "Plimouth" (sometimes spelled "Plimoth") after the major port city in Devon, England from which the "Mayflower" ultimately sailed.
Plymouth, Massachusetts | Colonial era
Continuing westward, the shallop's mast and rudder were broken by storms and the sail was lost. They rowed for safety, encountering the harbor formed by Duxbury and Plymouth barrier beaches and stumbling on land in the darkness. They remained at this spot for two days to recuperate and repair equipment. They named it Clark's Island for a "Mayflower" mate who first set foot on it. They resumed exploration on Monday, December 11/21 when the party crossed over to the mainland and surveyed the area that ultimately became the settlement. The anniversary of this survey is observed in Massachusetts as Forefathers' Day and is traditionally associated with the Plymouth Rock landing tradition.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Settlement
Because of this, they chose to relocate to the New World, with their voyage being financed by English investors. In September 1620, 102 passengers set sail aboard the "Mayflower", eventually settling at Plymouth Colony in November. Of the passengers on the Mayflower, 41 men signed the "Mayflower Compact" aboard ship on November 11, 1620, while anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Signers included Carver, Alden, Standish, Howland, Bradford, Allerton, and Fuller. This story has become a central theme in the United States cultural identity. A number of English colonies were established under a system of proprietary governors, who were appointed under mercantile charters to English joint stock companies to found and run settlements.
English Americans | Early settlement and colonization
A group of Puritans known as the Pilgrims arrived on the "Mayflower" from England and the Netherlands to establish Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, the second successful English colony in North America following Jamestown, Virginia. About half of the one hundred-plus passengers on the "Mayflower" died that first winter, mostly because of diseases contracted on the voyage followed by a harsh winter. In 1621, a Native American named Squanto taught the colonists how to grow corn and where to catch eels and fish. His assistance was invaluable and helped them to survive the early years of the colonization. The Pilgrims lived on the same site where Squanto's Patuxet tribe had established a village before they were wiped out from diseases.
New England Colonies | Establishing the New England Colonies
In 1620 the Pilgrims attempted to sail to the Hudson River from England. However, "Mayflower" reached Cape Cod (now part of Massachusetts) on November 9, 1620, after a voyage of 64 days. For a variety of reasons, primarily a shortage of supplies, "Mayflower" could not proceed to the Hudson River, and the colonists decided to settle near Cape Cod, establishing the Plymouth Colony.
New Amsterdam | Pilgrims' attempt to settle in the Hudson River area
A third expedition along Cape Cod left on December 6; it resulted in a skirmish with Indians known as the "First Encounter" near Eastham, Massachusetts. The colonists decided to look elsewhere, having failed to secure a proper site for their settlement, and fearing that they had angered the Indians by taking their corn and firing upon them. The "Mayflower" left Provincetown Harbor and set sail for Plymouth Harbor. The "Mayflower" dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor on December 16 and spent three days looking for a settlement site. They rejected several sites, including one on Clark's Island and another at the mouth of the Jones River, in favor of the site of a recently abandoned settlement which had been occupied by the Patuxet tribe.
Plymouth Colony | Landings at Provincetown and Plymouth
Another ship called "Mayflower" made a voyage from London to Plymouth Colony in 1629 carrying 35 passengers, many from the Pilgrim congregation in Leiden that organized the first voyage. This was not the same ship that made the original voyage with the first settlers. The 1629 voyage began in May and reached Plymouth in August; this ship also made the crossing from England to America in 1630 (as part of the Winthrop Fleet), 1633, 1634, and 1639. It attempted the trip again in 1641, departing London in October of that year under master John Cole, with 140 passengers bound for Virginia.
Mayflower | Second "Mayflower"
The "Mayflower" anchored at Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620. The Pilgrims did not have a patent to settle this area, and some passengers began to question their right to land, complaining that there was no legal authority to establish a colony. In response to this, a group of colonists drafted and signed the first governing document of the colony, the Mayflower Compact, while still aboard the ship as it lay off-shore. The intent of the compact was to establish a means of governing the colony, though it did little more than confirm that the colony would be governed like any English town.
Plymouth Colony | Landings at Provincetown and Plymouth
In 1620, a group of Puritan separatists, known today as the Pilgrims, made their famous sea voyage on the Mayflower across the Atlantic to settle Plymouth Colony. They were led by governor William Bradford and church elder William Brewster. The Pilgrims were originally a part of the Puritan separatist movement in England. They began to feel the pressures of religious persecution while still in the English village of Scrooby, near East Retford, Nottinghamshire. In 1607, Archbishop Tobias Matthew raided homes and imprisoned several members of the congregation. The congregation therefore left England in 1609 and emigrated to the Netherlands, settling first in Amsterdam and then in Leiden.
History of the Puritans under King James I | The Pilgrims and the Planting of Plymouth Colony, 1620
The Plymouth Colony was established in 1620 by a sect of the English Dissenters which had fled first to the Netherlands following persecution by the English monarchy before ultimately deciding to move to North America by boat. The migration, settlement and interaction with the Native peoples of Massachusetts would be celebrated in the present-day United States as Thanksgiving and a watershed moment for religious liberty in the continent.
Religion and human migration | Plymouth Colony
The Pilgrims were the English settlers who came to North America on the "Mayflower" and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymouth, Devon. Their leadership came from the religious congregations of Brownists, or Separatist Puritans, who had fled religious persecution in England for the tolerance of 17th-century Holland in the Netherlands. They held Puritan Calvinist religious beliefs but, unlike most other Puritans, they maintained that their congregations should separate from the English state church. They eventually determined to establish a new settlement in the New World and arranged with investors to fund them.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Introduction
In September 1623, another ship arrived carrying settlers destined to refound the failed colony at Weymouth, and they stayed temporarily in Plymouth. In March 1624, a ship arrived bearing a few additional settlers and the first cattle. A 1627 division of cattle lists 156 colonists divided into twelve lots of thirteen colonists each. Another ship arrived in August 1629, also named the "Mayflower", with 35 additional members of the Leiden congregation. Ships arrived throughout the period between 1629 and 1630 carrying new settlers, though the exact number is unknown; contemporaneous documents indicate that the colony had almost 300 people by January 1630.
Plymouth Colony | Growth of Plymouth
The Puritans embraced an intensely emotional form of Calvinist Protestantism and sought independence from the Church of England. In 1620, the "Mayflower" transported the Pilgrims across the Atlantic, and the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony in Cape Cod. The Pilgrims endured an extremely hard first winter, with roughly fifty of the one hundred colonists dying. In 1621, Plymouth Colony was able to establish an alliance with the nearby Wampanoag tribe, which helped the Plymouth Colony adopt effective agricultural practices and engaged in the trade of fur and other materials. Farther north, the English also established Newfoundland Colony in 1610, which primarily focused on cod fishing.
British colonization of the Americas | Early colonization, 1607–1630
The expedition sighted Cape Cod on November 9, 1620, and landed at what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts. Two days later, the men signed the "Mayflower" Compact, wherein all agreed to submit themselves to the will of the majority—one of the foundation documents of American democracy. Running short of provisions, they did not proceed to Virginia, but established a settlement at Plymouth Colony (today Plymouth, Massachusetts), although they had expected to settle further south and were ill-equipped for a Massachusetts winter. Half died before spring came. There had been few Native Americans in the area, but in 1621, the settlers were approached by a group, including two, Samoset and Squanto, who spoke some English.
Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar | Background
The Plymouth Colony originated as a land grant issued by the London Virginia Company to a group of English separatist Puritans who had fled to Holland to avoid religious persecution. Their migration to the New World in 1620 aboard the "Mayflower" was funded by the Merchant Adventurers, who sent additional settlers to engage in profit-making activities in the colony. The settlers had intended to establish a colony near the mouth of the Hudson River, within the bounds of the London Virginia Company's territory, but weather conditions on their arrival led them to establish it instead on the shores of Cape Cod Bay at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
List of colonial governors of Massachusetts | Plymouth Colony: 1620–86, 1689–92
Plymouth faced many difficulties during its first winter, the most notable being the risk of starvation and the lack of suitable shelter. The Pilgrims had no way of knowing that the ground would be frozen by the middle of November, making it impossible to do any planting. Nor were they prepared for the snow storms that would make the countryside impassable without snowshoes. And in their haste to leave, they did not think to bring any fishing rods. From the beginning, the assistance they received from the local Native Americans was vital. One colonist's journal reported, "We dug and found some more corn, two or three baskets full, and a bag of beans.
Mayflower | First winter
The Pilgrims had originally hoped to reach America in early October using two ships, but delays and complications meant they could use only one, the "Mayflower". Arriving in November, they had to survive unprepared through a harsh winter. As a result, only half of the original Pilgrims survived the first winter at Plymouth. Without the help of local Indigenous peoples to teach them food gathering and other survival skills, all of the colonists may have perished. The following winter, they celebrated the colony's first fall harvest along with the Indigenous people, which became the first Thanksgiving.
Mayflower | Introduction
They tried briefly to sail south, but strong seas forced them to retreat to Cape Cod to harbor near the hook of Provincetown Harbor. It became apparent that the weather would not permit the passage south, so they decided to settle near Cape Cod. Shortage of supplies (including wood and beer) and the roaring Atlantic made it too dangerous to press on for a Virginia landing. They anchored at the hook on November 11, and the leaders of the colony wrote the Mayflower Compact to ensure a degree of law and order in this place where they had not been granted a patent to settle.
Myles Standish | Voyage to New Plymouth
A second ship arrived in November 1621 named the "Fortune", sent by the Merchant Adventurers one year after the Pilgrims first set foot in New England. It arrived with 37 new settlers for Plymouth. However, the ship had arrived unexpectedly and also without many supplies, so the additional settlers put a strain on the resources of the colony. Among the passengers of the "Fortune" were several of the original Leiden congregation, including William Brewster's son Jonathan, Edward Winslow's brother John, and Philip Delano (the family name was earlier "de la Noye") whose descendants include President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The "Fortune" also carried a letter from the Merchant Adventurers chastising the colony for failure to return goods with the "Mayflower" that had been promised in return for their support.
Plymouth Colony | Growth of Plymouth
The Pilgrims were a small group of Puritan separatists who felt that they needed to physically distance themselves from the Church of England. They initially moved to the Netherlands, then decided to re-establish themselves in America. The initial Pilgrim settlers sailed to North America in 1620 on the "Mayflower". Upon their arrival, they drew up the Mayflower Compact, by which they bound themselves together as a united community, thus establishing the small Plymouth Colony. William Bradford was their main leader. After its founding, other settlers traveled from England to join the colony. The non-separatist Puritans constituted a much larger group than the Pilgrims, and they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 with 400 settlers.
Colonial history of the United States | Puritans
It would remain with the Pilgrims when the "Mayflower" returned to England. On November 15, Captain Myles Standish led a party of 16 men on an exploratory mission, during which they disturbed an Indian grave and located a buried cache of Indian corn. The following week, Susanna White gave birth to son Peregrine White on the "Mayflower". He was the first child born to the Pilgrims in the New World. The shallop was finished on November 27, and a second expedition was undertaken using it, under the direction of "Mayflower" master Christopher Jones. Thirty-four men went, but the expedition was beset by bad weather; the only positive result was that they found an Indian burial ground and corn that had been intended for the dead, taking the corn for future planting.
Plymouth Colony | Landings at Provincetown and Plymouth
The Plymouth Company ships arrived at the mouth of the Kennebec River (then called the Sagadahoc River) in August 1607 where they established a settlement named Sagadahoc Colony, better known as Popham Colony (see symbol "Po" on map to right) to honor financial backer Sir John Popham. The colonists faced a harsh winter, the loss of supplies following a storehouse fire, and mixed relations with the local Native tribes. Colony leader Captain George Popham died, and Raleigh Gilbert decided to return to England to take up an inheritance left by an older brother—at which point, all of the colonists decided to return to England.
New England Colonies | Arriving in America
The first settlers in Massachusetts were the Pilgrims who established Plymouth Colony in 1620 and developed friendly relations with the Wampanoag people. This was the second permanent English colony in America following Jamestown Colony. The Pilgrims had migrated from England to Holland to escape religious persecution for rejecting England's official church. They were allowed religious liberty in Holland, but they gradually became concerned that the next generation would lose their distinct English heritage. They approached the Virginia Company and asked to settle "as a distinct body of themselves" in America. In the fall of 1620, they sailed to America on the "Mayflower", first landing near Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod.
History of Massachusetts | Pilgrims and Puritans: 1620–1629
Two early areas of settlement were Plymouth (c 1620) and Nantasket (c 1621). The Plymouth Colony began with the Mayflower's landing and is a well-known story. The Nantasket settlement followed soon after that of Plymouth. Roger Conant was at these two settlements before going north to Cape Ann.
Old Planters (Massachusetts) | Plymouth
The "Mayflower" departed Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620 with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members in the small, 106 foot-long ship. The seas were not severe during the first month in the Atlantic but, by the second month, the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales, causing it to be badly shaken with water leaks from structural damage. There were many obstacles throughout the trip, including multiple cases of seasickness and the bending and cracking of a main beam of the ship. One death occurred, that of William Button.
Plymouth Colony | "Mayflower" voyage
Explorations resumed on December 6/16. The shallop party headed south along the cape, consisting of seven colonists from Leiden, three from London, and seven crew; they chose to land at the area inhabited by the Nauset people (the area around Brewster, Chatham, Eastham, Harwich, and Orleans) where they saw some people on the shore who fled when they approached. Inland they found more mounds, one containing acorns which they exhumed, and more graves, which they decided not to dig. They remained ashore overnight and heard cries near the encampment. The following morning, they were attacked by Indians who shot at them with arrows.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | First contact
Of Plymouth Plantation is a journal that was written over a period of years by William Bradford, the leader of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. It is regarded as the most authoritative account of the Pilgrims and the early years of the colony which they founded. The journal was written between 1630 and 1651 and describes the story of the Pilgrims from 1608, when they settled in the Dutch Republic on the European mainland through the 1620 "Mayflower" voyage to the New World, until the year 1647. The book ends with a list of "Mayflower" passengers and what happened to them which was written in 1651.
Of Plymouth Plantation | Introduction
On December 21, 1620, the first landing party arrived at the site of Plymouth. Plans to build houses, however, were delayed by bad weather until December 23. As the building progressed, 20 men always remained ashore for security purposes while the rest of the work crews returned each night to the "Mayflower". Women, children, and the infirm remained on board the "Mayflower", and many had not left the ship for six months. The first structure was a common house of wattle and daub, and it took two weeks to complete in the harsh New England winter. In the following weeks, the rest of the settlement slowly took shape.
Plymouth Colony | First winter
The name "New England" was officially sanctioned on November 3, 1620 when the charter of the Plymouth Company was replaced by a royal charter for the Plymouth Council for New England, a joint stock company established to colonize and govern the region. In December 1620, the permanent settlement of Plymouth Colony was established by the Pilgrims, English Puritan separatists who arrived on the "Mayflower". They held a feast of gratitude which became part of the American tradition of Thanksgiving. Plymouth Colony had a small population and size, and it was absorbed into Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
History of New England | Plymouth Colony (1620–1643)
"Speedwell" was re-rigged with larger masts before leaving Holland and setting out to meet "Mayflower" in Southampton, England, around the end of July 1620. The Mayflower was purchased in London. The original captains were Captain Reynolds for "Speedwell" and Captain Christopher Jones for "Mayflower". Other passengers joined the group in Southampton, including William Brewster, who had been in hiding for the better part of a year, and a group of people known to the Leiden congregation as "The Strangers." This group was largely made up of people recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide practical assistance to the colony and additional hands to work for the colony's ventures.
Plymouth Colony | "Mayflower" voyage
After the departure of Massasoit and his men, Squanto remained in Plymouth to teach the Pilgrims how to survive in New England, such as using dead fish to fertilize the soil. For the first few years of colonial life, the fur trade was the dominant source of income beyond subsistence farming, buying furs from Natives and selling to Europeans. Governor Carver suddenly died shortly after the "Mayflower" returned to England. William Bradford was elected to replace him and went on to lead the colony through much of its formative years. As promised by Massasoit, numerous indigenous arrived at Plymouth throughout the middle of 1621 with pledges of peace.
Plymouth Colony | Early relations with the Native Americans
The first Europeans to settle New England were Pilgrims from England, who landed in present-day Massachusetts in 1620. The Pilgrims arrived on the ship "Mayflower" and founded Plymouth Colony so they could practice religion freely. Ten years later, a larger group of Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston to form Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1636, colonists established Connecticut Colony and Providence Plantations. Providence was founded by Roger Williams, who was banished by Massachusetts for his beliefs in freedom of religion, and it was the first colony to guarantee all citizens freedom of worship. Anne Hutchinson, who was also banished by Massachusetts, formed the town of Portsmouth.
Northeastern United States | New England
The colonists retrieved their firearms and shot back, then chased them into the woods but did not find them. There was no more contact with Indians for several months. The local Indians were already familiar with the English, who had intermittently visited the area for fishing and trade before "Mayflower" arrived. In the Cape Cod area, relations were poor following a visit several years earlier by Thomas Hunt. Hunt kidnapped 20 people from Patuxet (the site of Plymouth Colony) and another seven from Nausett, and he attempted to sell them as slaves in Europe. One of the Patuxet abductees was Squanto, who became an ally of the Plymouth Colony.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | First contact
From their first arrival aboard the Mayflower in 1620, until 1629, only about 300 Puritans had survived in New England, scattered in small and isolated settlements. In 1630, their population was increased when the ship "Mary and John" arrived in New England carrying 140 passengers from the English West Country counties of Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. These included Nicholas Upsall, Roger Ludlowe, John Mason, Samuel Maverick, William Phelps, Henry Wolcott and other men who would become prominent in the founding of a new nation. It was the first of the ships later called the Winthrop Fleet to land in Massachusetts.
Nicholas Upsall | Arrival in the colonies
Plymouth /ˈplɪməθ/ (historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Plymouth holds a place of great prominence in American history and is typically the most well known of the Northern Settlements. Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, passengers of the famous ship the Mayflower. Before the arrival of the Mayflower earlier explorations killed between 90 and 95% of the local native inhabitants due to disease. The near disappearance of the tribe from the site not only left their cornfields and other cleared areas for the Pilgrims to take over, but also meant that the Indians were in no condition to disrupt the arrival of the colonists.
Indian commerce with early English colonists and the early United States | Plymouth and Northern Settlers
With personal and business matters agreed upon, the Puritans procured supplies and a small ship. "Speedwell" was to bring some passengers from the Netherlands to England, then on to America where it would be kept for the fishing business, with a crew hired for support services during the first year. The larger ship "Mayflower" was leased for transport and exploration services.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Preparations
In 1620, a group of Separatists known as the Pilgrims settled in New England and established the Plymouth Colony. The Pilgrims originated as a dissenting congregation in Scrooby led by Richard Clyfton, John Robinson and William Brewster. This congregation was subject to persecution with members being imprisoned or having property seized. Fearing greater persecution, the group left England and settled in the Dutch city of Leiden. In 1620, after receiving a patent from the London Company, the Pilgrims left for New England on board the "Mayflower", landing at Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrims are remembered for creating the Mayflower Compact, a social contract based on Puritan political theory and in imitation of the church covenant they had made in Scrooby.
History of the Puritans in North America | Migration to America (1620–1640)
Thorough exploration of the area was delayed for more than two weeks because the shallop or pinnace (a smaller sailing vessel) which they brought had been partially dismantled to fit aboard the "Mayflower" and was further damaged in transit. Small parties, however, waded to the beach to fetch firewood and attend to long-deferred personal hygiene. Exploratory parties were undertaken while awaiting the shallop, led by Myles Standish (an English soldier whom the colonists had met while in Leiden) and Christopher Jones. They encountered an old European-built house and iron kettle, left behind by some ship's crew, and a few recently cultivated fields, showing corn stubble.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | First landings
This caused about 10-12 armed men to search for them, in fear they were captured by Indians. As it happened, Browne and Goodman were eating lunch when their dogs starting chasing a deer and they were soon lost. According to records, "they wandered all that afternoon being wet, and at night it did freeze and snow, they were slenderly appareled and had no weapons but each one sickle." At night they thought they heard "lions" in the forest and climbed a tree for shelter. They stayed by the tree that night in case they had to escape to safety. The next day they finally climbed the highest hill they could find, were able to see their harbor and find their way back to the settlement.
Peter Browne (Mayflower passenger) | In Plymouth Colony
It is possible that Philippe went separately to England rather than aboard "Speedwell". They gathered in England with other Pilgrims and hireling colonizers to stage the onward voyage with the two ships. The "Speedwell" proved unseaworthy and eleven of its passengers were able to join the "Mayflower". It is unknown if the twenty (including Robert Cushman and Phillipe de Lannoy) who could not sail on the "Mayflower" returned to Leiden or remained in England. The "Mayflower" proceeded solo with a combined company of 103, leaving Plymouth on September 6, 1620, arriving Cape Cod Harbor on November 11, 1620. The "Fortune" eventually substituted for the "Speedwell", sailing for Plymouth Colony in early July 1621, arriving on November 9, 1621, with Philippe among its passengers.
Delano family | Migration to America
The Plymouth settlement faced great hardships and earned few profits, but it enjoyed a positive reputation in England and may have sown the seeds for further immigration. Edward Winslow and William Bradford published an account of their experiences called Mourt's Relation (1622). This book was only a small glimpse of the hardships and dangers encountered by the Pilgrims, but it encouraged other Puritans to immigrate during the Great Migration between 1620 and 1640. The Puritans in England first sent smaller groups in the mid-1620s to establish colonies, buildings, and food supplies, learning from the Pilgrims' harsh experiences of winter in the Plymouth Colony.
New England Colonies | Establishing the New England Colonies
New England was initially settled primarily by Puritans fleeing religious persecution. The Pilgrims sailed for Virginia on the Mayflower in 1620, but were knocked off course by a storm and landed at Plymouth, where they agreed to a social contract of rules in the Mayflower Compact. Like Jamestown, Plymouth suffered from disease and starvation, but local Wampanoag Indians taught the colonists how to farm maize. Plymouth was followed by the Puritans and Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. They maintained a charter for self-government separate from England, and elected founder John Winthrop as the governor for most of its early years.
History of the United States | New England
In November 1621 Philip Delano arrived in Plymouth Colony as a single man on the ship "Fortune". While Bangs states that he was 16 years of age when he arrived he was actually closer to 20 though it is speculated he must at this time have been a servant of one of the other passengers, as he was a minor.. Approximately 65 passengers embarked on Mayflower in the middle of July 1620 at either Blackwall or Wapping on the River Thames.[10] The ship then proceeded down the Thames into the English Channel and then on to the south coast of England to anchor at Southampton Water.
Philip Delano | In New England
The booklet Mourt's Relation (full title: A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England) was written primarily by Edward Winslow, although William Bradford appears to have written most of the first section. It was written between November 1620 and November 1621 and describes in detail what happened from the landing of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims on Cape Cod in Provincetown Harbor through their exploring and eventual settling of Plymouth Colony. The book describes their relations with the surrounding Native Americans, up to what is commonly called the first Thanksgiving and the arrival of the ship "Fortune" in November 1621.
Mourt's Relation | Introduction
The "Speedwell" was originally named "Swiftsure". It was built in 1577 at 60 tons and was part of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada. It departed Delfshaven in July 1620 with the Leiden colonists, after a canal ride from Leyden of about seven hours. It reached Southampton, Hampshire, and met with the "Mayflower" and the additional colonists hired by the investors. With final arrangements made, the two vessels set out on August 5 (Old Style)/August 15 (New Style). Soon after, the "Speedwell" crew reported that their ship was taking on water, so both were diverted to Dartmouth, Devon.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Voyage
Mayflower was an English ship that transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, the "Mayflower", with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reached America, dropping anchor near the tip of Cape Cod on , 1620. The Puritans believed that the Church of England was beyond redemption due to its Roman Catholic past, which forced them to pray in private. In 1608, they left England for Holland, where they could worship freely. After remaining there until 1620, a number of the Puritans purchased boats to cross the Atlantic for America, which they considered a "new Promised Land," and where they established Plymouth Colony.
Mayflower | Introduction
On April 10, 1606, King James I of England issued a charter for the Virginia Company, which comprised the London Company and the Plymouth Company. These two privately funded ventures were intended to claim land for England, to conduct trade, and to return a profit. In 1620, the Pilgrims arrived on the "Mayflower" and established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, beginning the history of permanent European colonization in New England. With the arrival of colonists, many Native Americans were kidnapped for enslavement. English sailors— like George Waymouth in 1605 and Harlow in 1611—captured and enslaved Native peoples. Up until 1700, Native American servitude comprised a majority of the nonwhite labor present in New England.
New England | Colonial period
And although English ships bringing new colony settlers did not come out until the "Anne" and "Little James" arrived in the summer of 1623, Plymouth Colony was not entirely isolated. English fishing boats and some ships financed by colonization ventures did call at the colony from time to time. Edward Winslow recorded that in June or July 1622 two ships, the "Charitie" and "Swan", financed by Thomas Weston, came into Plymouth Harbor. The ships carried about fifty or sixty colonists scheduled to settle in areas outside Plymouth. About this time the "Sparrow" and a shallop were also involved in colonization efforts.
Fortune (Plymouth Colony ship) | Other ships visit Plymouth 1622–1624
The "Mayflower" arrived in Plymouth Bay on December 20, 1620. The settlers began building the colony's first house on December 25 (Christmas). Their efforts were slowed, however, when a widespread sickness struck the settlers. The sickness had begun on the ship. On January 11, 1621, Bradford was helping to build houses when he was suddenly struck with great pain in his hipbone and collapsed. He was taken to the "common house" (the only finished house built then) and it was feared that he would not last the night. Bradford recovered, but many of the other settlers were not so fortunate.
William Bradford (governor) | Great sickness
A fully recovered Dermer left Jamestown in May 1620 heading to New England to "accomplish what his last discovery had omitted". He met with the Dutch at Manhattan and warned them that they were trespassers on English claims, afterwards he went on to New England. Extracts from this letter, which appears in New England's Memorial, makes a prescient statement, "...I will first begin with that place whence Squanto, or Tisquantum was taken away, which in Captain's Smith's map is called Plimouth...I would that the first plantation might here be seated, if there come to the number of fifty persons or upwards..." Five months later, in November 1620, the Mayflower will arrive at the tip of Cape Cod, and then six weeks later, deliver 102 Pilgrims, who also possess of a copy of Captain Smith's map, to this very place where they will found the colony of Plimoth Plantation, at the abandoned village of Patuxet.
Thomas Dermer | Dermer's Letter of June 30, 1620
Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of English Puritans who came to be known as the "Pilgrims". The core group (roughly 40% of the adults and 56% of the family groupings) were part of a congregation led by William Bradford. They began to feel the pressures of religious persecution while still in the English village of Scrooby, near East Retford, Nottinghamshire. In 1607, Archbishop Tobias Matthew raided homes and imprisoned several members of the congregation. The congregation left England in 1608 and emigrated to the Netherlands, settling first in Amsterdam and then in Leiden. In Leiden, the congregation gained the freedom to worship as they chose, but Dutch society was unfamiliar to them.
Plymouth Colony | Origin
https://vc.bridgew.edu/bmas/64/ Heath, Dwight B. “A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth: Mourt’s Relation”, A relation or journal of the English Plantation settled at Plymouth in New England, by certain English adventurers both merchants and others. Edited from the original printing of 1622. p. 7.
Wamsutta | References
And after several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. Samuel Fuller and others signed the Mayflower Compact that day.
Samuel Fuller (Pilgrim) | "Mayflower" Voyage
Plymouth was the home port for successful maritime traders, among them Sir John Hawkins, who led England's first foray into the Atlantic slave trade, as well as Sir Francis Drake, Mayor of Plymouth in 1581–2. Crews for the first English failed settlement attempt at Roanoke Colony in North America departed in 1587 under Sir Walter Raleigh's and Drake's leadership; returning bearing maize, tobacco and potatoes. In 1588, according to legend, Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada. In 1620 the Pilgrims set sail for the New World from Plymouth, establishing Plymouth Colony – the second English colony in what is now the United States of America.
Plymouth | Early defence and Renaissance
This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished during the cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter. On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor.
Samuel Fuller (Pilgrim) | "Mayflower" Voyage
After exploring the inner shoreline of Cape Cod, the colonists chose to settle in Plymouth. The site offered a good harbor, several fresh water springs, and a large hill overlooking the harbor (which they would later name Burial Hill) suitable for a fort. A tribe known as the Patuxet (part of the Wampanoag peoples) had settled the site and cleared a large area of land for planting corn. By the time the "Mayflower" arrived, the Patuxet tribe had been wiped out by plagues, likely as a result of contact with English fishermen. During their first winter in Plymouth, most of the settlers fell ill and half died of disease.
John Alden | Establishing Plymouth Colony
The Pilgrims referred to themselves as the "Saints", "First Comers", "Ancient Brethren", or "Ancient Men". They used such terms to indicate their place as God's elect, as they subscribed to the Calvinist belief in predestination. "The First Comers" was a term more loosely used in their day to refer to any of the Mayflower passengers. There were also a number of indentured servants among the colonists. Indentured servants were mostly poor children whose families were receiving church relief and "homeless waifs from the streets of London sent as laborers". In addition to the Pilgrims, the "Mayflower" carried "Strangers", the non-Puritan settlers placed on the "Mayflower" by the Merchant Adventurers who provided various skills needed to establish a colony.
Plymouth Colony | English
On May 31, 1607, about 100 men and boys left England for what is now Maine. Approximately three months later, the group landed on a wooded peninsula where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic Ocean and began building Fort St. George. By the end of the year, due to limited resources, half of the colonists returned to England. Late the next year, the remaining 45 sailed home, and the Plymouth company fell dormant.
Colony of Virginia | Popham colony and Plymouth company
Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was an English colonial venture in America from 1620 to 1691 at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Puritan Separatists initially known as the Brownist Emigration, who came to be known as the Pilgrims. It was the second successful colony to be founded by the English in America after Jamestown in Virginia, and it was the first permanent English settlement in the New England region.
Plymouth Colony | Introduction
A total of 120 passengers finally departed on August 5—90 on the "Mayflower" and 30 on the "Speedwell". Leaving Southampton, the "Speedwell" suffered significant leakage, which required the ships to immediately put in at Dartmouth. The leakage was partly caused by being overmasted and being pressed too much with sail. Repairs were completed, and a further delay ensued as they awaited favorable winds. The two ships finally set sail on August 23; they traveled only two hundred miles beyond Land's End before another major leak in the "Speedwell" forced the expedition to return again to England, this time to the port of Plymouth.
Plymouth Colony | "Mayflower" voyage
During the voyage, the ship was buffeted by strong westerly gales. The caulking of its planks was failing to keep out sea water, and the passengers' berths were not always dry. On the journey there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger. After being blown off course by gales, the "Mayflower" made a landing at Cape Cod. Finding the area near Provincetown occupied by indigenous people, the ship's company decided to continue exploring along the nearby coast. The group arrived in the area near present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts on December 21, 1620. In the space of several months almost half the passengers perished in the cold, harsh New England winter.
William Brewster (Mayflower passenger) | "Mayflower" voyage
Bradford had yet to assume any significant leadership role in the colony by the time that he was 30. The "Mayflower" anchored in Provincetown Harbor and he volunteered to be a member of the exploration parties searching for a place for settlement. In November and December, these parties made three separate ventures from the "Mayflower" on foot and by boat, finally locating Plymouth Harbor in mid-December and selecting that site for settlement. During the first expedition on foot, Bradford got caught in a deer trap made by Indians and hauled nearly upside down. The third exploration departed from the "Mayflower" on December 6, 1620 when a group of men (including Bradford) located Plymouth Bay.
William Bradford (governor) | Anchored and first explorations at Plymouth Colony
Louis," and he made an extensive and detailed map of it and the surrounding lands. He showed the Patuxet village (where the town of Plymouth was later built) as a thriving settlement. However, an epidemic wiped out up to 90 percent of the Indians along the Massachusetts coast in 1617–1619, including the Patuxets, before the arrival of the "Mayflower". The epidemic has traditionally been thought to be smallpox, but a recent analysis has concluded that it may have been a lesser-known disease called leptospirosis. The absence of any serious Indian opposition to the Pilgrims' settlement may have been a pivotal event to their success and to English colonization in America.
Plymouth Colony | Prior exploration and settlements
The miniseries chronicles the real story of the Pilgrims: their harrowing voyage from England to America aboard the "Mayflower" and settling in Plymouth, Massachusetts; vying to survive in the harsh climate; their struggles with the local tribes, and celebrating their first Thanksgiving with the natives, the Pokanoket people, in 1621.
Saints &amp; Strangers | Plot
Of the 120 combined passengers, 102 were chosen to travel on the "Mayflower" with the supplies consolidated. Of these, about half had come by way of Leiden, and about 28 of the adults were members of the congregation. The reduced party finally sailed successfully on September 6 (Old Style)/September 16 (New Style), 1620. Initially the trip went smoothly, but under way they were met with strong winds and storms. One of these caused a main beam to crack, and the possibility was considered of turning back, even though they were more than halfway to their destination. However, they repaired the ship sufficiently to continue using a "great iron screw" brought along by the colonists (probably a jack to be used for either house construction or a cider press).
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Atlantic crossing
The first Plymouth Company ship, "Richard", sailed in August 1606, but the Spanish intercepted and captured it near Florida in November. The next attempt was more successful. The expedition's mission was to find gold, the Northwest Passage, a river passage to China, to fish and hunt beaver for fur and to sell and prove that New World forests could build English ships. About 120 colonists (all men and boys) left Plymouth on May 31, 1607, in two ships. They intended to trade precious metals, spices, furs, and show that the local forests could be used to build English ships. George Popham was president of the colony and captain of "Gift of God".
Popham Colony | Colonists
"Mayflower II" is docked near Plymouth Rock and is also under the care of the museum. Colonial first-person interpreters represent the sailors and officers of the ship circa the 1620s. At some times, the "sailors" go on week-long trips to experience what it was like for the Pilgrims.
Plimoth Plantation | History
Some of the passengers who arrived on the "Anne" were either unprepared for frontier life or undesirable additions to the colony, and they returned to England the next year. According to Gleason Archer, "those who remained were not willing to join the colony under the terms of the agreement with the Merchant Adventurers. They had embarked for America upon an understanding with the Adventurers that they might settle in a community of their own, or at least be free from the bonds by which the Plymouth colonists were enslaved. A letter addressed to the colonists and signed by thirteen of the merchants recited these facts and urged acceptance of the new comers on the specified terms." The new arrivals were allotted land in the area of the Eel River known as Hobs Hole, which became Wellingsley, a mile south of Plymouth Rock.
Plymouth Colony | Growth of Plymouth
The rock was later covered by a solid-fill pier. In 1774, an attempt was made to excavate the rock, but it broke in two. The severed piece was placed in the Town Square at the center of Plymouth. In 1880, the intact half of the rock was excavated from the pier, and the broken piece was reattached to it. Over the years, souvenir hunters have removed chunks from the rock, but the remains are now protected as part of the complex of living museums. These include the "Mayflower II", a recreation of the original ship; Plimoth Plantation, a historical recreation of the original 1620 settlement; and the Wampanoag Homesite, which recreates a 17th-century Indian village.
Plymouth Colony | Plymouth Rock
Samuel Fuller boarded the "Mayflower" with only his servant William Butten, leaving his wife Bridget and his young daughter Bridget behind in Leiden, awaiting until the colony conditions would better suit families. His brother, Edward Fuller was also a passenger and traveled with his wife and a son, also named Samuel. The "Mayflower" departed Plymouth, England on September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship carried 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship's timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill.
Samuel Fuller (Pilgrim) | "Mayflower" Voyage
Richard More and his siblings departed Plymouth, England on the "Mayflower" 6 September 1620 (Old Style), dangerously late in the season. They endured a rough three months at sea in cramped and unsanitary conditions, eventually landing at Cape Cod Hook (Provincetown Harbor) on 11 November 1620 (Old Style). A number of colonists travelled as indentured servants on the "Mayflower". Exactly what explanation was given for the More children's presence is not known, but many homeless waifs from the streets of London were sent to the New World as labourers. The More children were assigned as servants and wards of three adult passengers, as follows:
Richard More (Mayflower passenger) | "Mayflower" voyage
The area did not lie within their charter, so the Pilgrims created the Mayflower Compact before landing, one of America's first documents of self-governance. The first year was extremely difficult, with inadequate supplies and very harsh weather, but Wampanoag sachemMassasoit and his people assisted them. In 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving Day together to thank God for the blessings of good harvest and survival. This Thanksgiving came to represent the peace that existed at that time between the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims, although only about half of the Mayflower company survived the first year. The colony grew slowly over the next ten years, and was estimated to have 300 inhabitants by 1630.
History of Massachusetts | Pilgrims and Puritans: 1620–1629
They established Plymouth Colony in 1620, which became the second successful English settlement in America, following the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The Pilgrims' story became a central theme in the history and culture of the United States.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Introduction
Meanwhile, the Plymouth Colony had settled outside the territory of the London company due to navigational difficulties. The Plymouth Company was reorganized as the Plymouth Council for New England, and given a new royal "sea-to-sea" charter for all North American territory from 40° North (just east between present-day Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey) and 48° N (thus including all of modern-day New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island). The Plymouth Colony was granted land patents between 1621 and 1630 from the Council to legitimize its settlement, though it maintained political independence under the Mayflower Compact. The Plymouth Council for New England made sub grants to various entities before it was surrendered to the crown in 1635 and ceased to operate as a corporate entity.
History of Massachusetts | Founding grants
A group of fur-trappers and traders established Wessagusset Colony near the Plymouth colony in Weymouth in 1622. They abandoned it in 1623, and it was replaced by another small colony led by Robert Gorges. This settlement also failed, and individuals from these colonies returned to England, joined the Plymouth colonists, or established individual outposts elsewhere on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. In 1624, the Dorchester Company established a settlement on Cape Ann. This colony only survived until 1626, although a few settlers remained.
History of Massachusetts | Pilgrims and Puritans: 1620–1629
On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter. On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the shelter of Cape Cod hook, now called Provincetown Harbor, where they anchored on November 11/21.
Edward Winslow | "Mayflower" voyage
Pilgrim separatists landed at Plymouth Rock and formed the Plymouth Colony. Aided by Squanto, a Native American of the Patuxet people, the colony was able to establish a treaty with Chief Massasoit which helped to ensure the colony's success. The colony played a central role in King Philip's War, one of the earliest and bloodiest of the Indian Wars. Ultimately, the colony was annexed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
Territorial evolution of North America prior to 1763 | 1620
Prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims, the location of Plymouth was a village of the Wampanoag tribe called Patuxet. The region was visited twice by European explorers prior to the establishment of Plymouth Colony. In 1605, Samuel de Champlain sailed to Plymouth Harbor, calling it Port St. Louis. Captain John Smith was a leader of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, and he explored parts of Cape Cod Bay and is credited with naming the region "New Plimouth." Two plagues afflicted coastal New England in 1614 and 1617, killing between 90% and 95% of the local Wampanoag inhabitants. The near disappearance of the tribe from the site left their cornfields and cleared areas vacant for the Pilgrims to occupy.
Plymouth, Massachusetts | Pre-colonial era
Furthermore, a group of Strangers founded the nearby settlement of Wessagussett and the Pilgrims were highly strained by their lack of discipline, both emotionally and in terms of resources. They looked at the eventual failure of the Wessagussett settlement as Divine Providence against a sinful people. The residents of Plymouth also used terms to distinguish between the earliest settlers of the colony and those who came later. The first generation of settlers called themselves the "Old Comers" or "Planters", those who arrived before 1627. Later generations of Plymouth residents referred to this group as the "Forefathers".
Plymouth Colony | English
The first successful religious colonization of the New World occurred in 1620 with the establishment of the Plymouth Colony on the shores of Cape Cod Bay. Pastor John White led a short-lived effort to establish a colony at Cape Ann in 1624, also on the Massachusetts coast. In 1628, some of the investors in that effort joined with new investors to acquire a land grant for the territory roughly between the Charles and Merrimack Rivers. It was first styled the New England Company, then renamed the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629 after it acquired a royal charter granting it permission to govern the territory.
John Winthrop | Decision to begin voyage and settlement in the American colonies
They had declined the opportunity to settle south of Cape Cod in New Netherland because of their desire to avoid the Dutch influence. This land patent allowed them to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River. They sought to finance their venture through the Merchant Adventurers, a group of businessmen who principally viewed the colony as a means of making a profit. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts.
Plymouth Colony | Origin
The "Mary and John" stayed until October 6, 1607 when it returned to Plymouth, England, arriving on December 1, 1607. The colonists built an admiral's house, a chapel, a storehouse, a cooperage, and a guardhouse. They also built a 30-ton ship they named "Virginia". The ship "Gift of God" remained at the settlement until December 16 when it too sailed for England, carrying nearly half the colonists with it with the purpose of conserving the outpost's supplies. The Popham Colony, England's first attempt at a New England settlement, didn't prosper. During a harsh winter season, George Popham died on February 5, 1608 and Raleigh Gilbert assumed leadership.
Mary and John | 1607 voyages
He emigrated to New England with other Puritans in the ship "Hector", arriving in Boston on June 26, 1637. His group of colonists had John Davenport as their religious leader, and they wanted to start their own settlement – probably due in part to the commanding persona of John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the time (1637 to 1640, and many other terms). Winthrop was termed "an object of great fear in all the colonies," and caused the Rev. Thomas Hooker and others to go off and form their own colonies as well.
Theophilus Eaton | Emigration to New England
The museum originally consisted of the "Mayflower II" and a "First House" exhibit in Plymouth Center, but was expanded into a large fortified town and a Native American village by 1960.
Plymouth, Massachusetts | Plimoth Plantation
The term was also used for many of the indentured servants. Among the Strangers were Myles Standish, who was the colony's military leader; Christopher Martin, who had been designated by the Merchant Adventurers to act as shipboard governor during the trans-Atlantic trip; and Stephen Hopkins, a veteran of a failed colonial venture that may have inspired Shakespeare's "The Tempest". The group who later became the Leiden Leaders after the merging of ships included John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, and Isaac Allerton. The departure of the "Mayflower" and "Speedwell" was beset by delays. Further disagreements with the Merchant Adventurers held up the departure in Southampton.
Plymouth Colony | "Mayflower" voyage
On November 9, 1620, after about three months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod Hook, where they anchored on November 11. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.
Resolved White | "Mayflower" voyage
On 12 January 1621, while the Pilgrims were building their settlement of Plymouth, Peter Browne, John Goodman and others had entered the forest some distance from the Pilgrim plantation in order to find material for roofing thatch. Sometime around noon, Browne and Goodman wandered further into the forest while the other men stayed behind to make up the thatch into bundles. After these men had done that work, they tried to locate Browne and Goodman in the forest, but they could not be found. These men went to the settlement and informed others that the men could not be located.
Peter Browne (Mayflower passenger) | In Plymouth Colony
In Leiden, the congregation gained the freedom to worship as they chose, but Dutch society was unfamiliar to them. And so they made preparations to settle a new colony in America. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the modern town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of the modern state of Massachusetts. It was one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America, along with Jamestown and other settlements in Virginia, and was the first sizable permanent English settlement in the New England region.
History of the Puritans under King James I | The Pilgrims and the Planting of Plymouth Colony, 1620
Over the next five months of the winter and spring of 1620-1621, Captain Jones, his crew and the "Mayflower" would remain in Plymouth. He had originally planned to return to England as soon as the Pilgrims found a settlement site, but members of his ship's crew were ravaged by the same illnesses that overcame the "Mayflower" passengers, and he had to remain in Plymouth Harbor "till he saw his men began to recover". John Alden also fell ill but was nursed back to health by his eventual wife Priscilla Mullins. Priscilla lost all of her family to the unknown illness, whom she also nursed during that fateful winter.
Christopher Jones (Mayflower captain) | Voyage of the Pilgrim Ship "Mayflower"
The first use of the word "pilgrims" for the "Mayflower" passengers appeared in William Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation". As he finished recounting his group's July 1620 departure from Leiden, he used the imagery of Hebrews 11:13–16 about Old Testament "strangers and pilgrims" who had the opportunity to return to their old country but instead longed for a better, heavenly country. So they lefte [that] goodly & pleasante citie, which had been ther resting place, nere 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on these things; but lift up their eyes to y heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) | Bradford's history
The first settlers of Plymouth Colony (modern Plymouth, Massachusetts), sited their colony at the location of a former Patuxet village, named "Port St. Louis" (Samuel de Champlain, 1605) or "Accomack" (John Smith, 1614). By 1616, the site had been renamed New Plimoth in Smith's "A Description of New England" after a suggestion by Prince Charles of England. When the Pilgrim Settlers decided to make their settlement, the land that had been cleared and cultivated by the prior inhabitants (since dead through disease) was a primary reason for the location. Squanto was instrumental in the survival of the colony of English settlers at Plymouth.
Patuxet | The Pilgrims
Sarah did not travel aboard the "Mayflower"; she arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on July 10, 1623 aboard the "Anne".
Isaac Allerton Jr. | Early life and ancestors
The religious disputes that prompted settlement in America were important topics of early American literature. A journal written by John Winthrop, "The History of New England", discussed the religious foundations of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Edward Winslow also recorded a diary of the first years after the "Mayflower's" arrival. "A modell of Christian Charity" by John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, was a Sermon preached on the "Arbella" (the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet) in 1630. This work outlined the ideal society that he and the other Separatists would build in an attempt to realize a "Puritan utopia". Other religious writers included Increase Mather and William Bradford, author of the journal published as a "History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–47".
American literature | Topics of early prose
In December 1620, a group of Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony just to the south of Massachusetts Bay, seeking to preserve their cultural identity and attain religious freedom. Plymouth's colonists faced great hardships and earned few profits for their investors, who sold their interests to them in 1627. Edward Winslow and William Bradford were two of the colony's leaders and were likely the authors of a work published in England in 1622 called "Mourt's Relation". This book in some ways resembles a promotional tract intended to encourage further immigration. There were other short-lived colonial settlements in 1623 and 1624 at Weymouth, Massachusetts; Thomas Weston's Wessagusset Colony failed, as did an effort by Robert Gorges to establish an overarching colonial structure.
Massachusetts Bay Colony | Plymouth Colony
In 1616, English explorer John Smith named the region "New England". The name was officially sanctioned on November 3, 1620, when the charter of the Virginia Company of Plymouth was replaced by a royal charter for the Plymouth Council for New England, a joint-stock company established to colonize and govern the region. The Pilgrims wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact before leaving the ship, and it became their first governing document. The Massachusetts Bay Colony came to dominate the area and was established by royal charter in 1629 with its major town and port of Boston established in 1630.
New England | Colonial period