CHAMPLAIN VISITS PLYMOUTH HARBOR

Prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims, the location of Plymouth was a village of the Wampanoag tribe called Patuxet.muel 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.[10] The near disappearance of the tribe from the site left their cornfields and cleared areas vacant for the Pilgrims to occupy.

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Epidemic

THE PILGRIMS

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.

Pilgrims and Puritans

THE PILGRIMS OBTAIN A LAND PATENT

The congregation obtained a land patent from the Plymouth Company in June 1619. 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. 

Using the financing secured from the Merchant Adventurers, the Colonists bought provisions and obtained passage on the Mayflower and the Speedwell. In July of 1620 the Pilgrims and strangers leave the Netherlands.

THE VOYAGE OF THE MAYFLOWER

September, 6 1620 - November 9th 1620.102 passengers, 30 crew. Landfall near Cape Cod. Prevented from sailing further South they look for a place to settle in Cape Cod Bay.

The Mayflower

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

Unsure if the had the right to settle, 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. This social contract was written and signed by 41 Puritan men. It was modeled on the church covenants that Congregationalists used to form new congregations. It made clear that the colony should be governed by "just and equal laws," and those who signed it promised to keep those laws.

Mayflower Compact

PLYMOUTH ROCK

December 6th, 1620 colonists choose Plymouth location to build settlement

Pilgrims Landing

ROUGH BEGINNING

During the winter, the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly from lack of shelter, diseases such as scurvy, and general conditions on board ship. Many of the men were too infirm to work; 45 out of 102 pilgrims died and were buried on Cole's Hill.


First Winter

MILES STANDISH

Standish appointed commanding officer after several encounters with local Indians grow tense.

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NEGOTIATIONS WITH NATIVES

Samoset, 
Squanto, 
Massasoit

A TREATY OF PEACE

Samoset returned to Plymouth on March 22 with a delegation from Massasoit that included Squanto; Massasoit joined them shortly after, and he and Governor Carver established a formal treaty of peace after exchanging gifts. This treaty ensured that each people would not bring harm to the other, that Massasoit would send his allies to make peaceful negotiations with Plymouth, and that they would come to each other's aid in a time of war

More at the Library of Congress

FIRST THANKSGIVING

In November 1621, the surviving pilgrims celebrated the harvest feast which was known from the 1800s as "The First Thanksgiving". The feast was probably held in early October 1621 and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims, along with Massasoit and 90 of his men. Three contemporaneous accounts of the event survive:On Plimouth Plantation

THE COLONY GROWS

More ships more settlers arrive 1621-1623. Colony continues to grow, peace maintained with Massosit for 40 years until Massoits death in 1661.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the owners of the Massachusetts Bay Company, which included investors in the failed Dorchester Company which had established a short-lived settlement on Cape Ann in 1623. The colony began in 1628 in Salem and was the company's second attempt at colonization. It was successful, with about 20,000 people migrating to New England in the 1630s. The population was strongly Puritan, and its governance was dominated by a small group of leaders strongly influenced by Puritan teachings.

Boston settled in 1630William Wood Map