Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called the Massachusetts Bay Company, for the institution that founded it) was an English settlement on the coast of North America in the 1600s, centered around the present-day city of Boston, which is now in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 United States.

Previous nearby settlements

Given the overlapping land patents that various colonial groups obtained from English kings and companies, and later consolidation of territory into the Thirteen Colonies, several pre-existing groups would later become directly involved in the history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Related Topics:
Land patent - Thirteen Colonies

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Virginia Company of Plymouth was granted land from the 38th parallel to the 45th as part of the Virginia Charter in 1606. The only settlement,

Related Topics:
Virginia Company of Plymouth - Virginia Charter - 1606

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

the Popham Colony (at the mouth of the Kennebec River in present-day Maine) was abandoned 1608. Land south of the 41st parallel (south of about Long Island Sound) was awarded to the sister Virginia Company of London, which had previously held joint claim to this territory.

Related Topics:
Popham Colony - Kennebec River - Maine - 1608 - Long Island Sound - Virginia Company of London

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1620, the territory of defunct "Plymouth Company" was reorganized under the Plymouth Council for New England. King James I granted a charter for all the lands in America between 40° North and 48° N, "throughout the Maine Land from Sea to Sea." This included everything from the middle of present-day New Jersey in the south to present-day New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the north.

Related Topics:
1620 - Plymouth Council for New England - King James I - New Jersey - New Brunswick - Nova Scotia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later in 1620, a group of Puritan separatist settlers now referred to as the Pilgrims (who sailed from England on the Mayflower) independently founded the Plymouth Colony on land owned by the Plymouth Council. The first settlement of the colony is now the site of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Related Topics:
1620 - Puritan - Pilgrims - England - Mayflower - Plymouth Colony - Plymouth, Massachusetts

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The writing of the Mayflower Compact and the founding of the Plymouth Colony are taught in the United States as seminal events in the history of the nation. But it was the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its successors in the Boston area which would come to dominate the New England region in population and economic strength. And it was Massachusetts Bay that would give its name to the Province of Massachusetts when it absorbed Plymouth and other neighboring colonies in 1691-2.

Related Topics:
Mayflower Compact - Plymouth Colony - Province of Massachusetts

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Province of Maine was granted a royal patent in 1622, which included the coast from the Merrimac River (which is slightly south of the current Massachusetts-New Hampshire border) to the Kennebec River (in the middle of the coast of present-day Maine).

Related Topics:
Province of Maine - 1622 - Merrimac River - Kennebec River

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~