Plymouth Colony

The Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 until 1691. The colony was founded by a separatist Puritan sect, who obtained a land patent from the London Virginia Company in 1620 before that company was dissolved. They founded the colony in a location the company did not have rights to and later reached an agreement with the Plymouth Council for New England which had been granted a charter for the land in 1620.

Related Topics:
English - North America - 1620 - 1691 - Puritan - London Virginia Company - Plymouth Council for New England

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The first governing document of the colony was the Mayflower Compact, drafted and ratified by the first group of colonists aboard their ship, the Mayflower, as it lay off-shore. On December 21, 1620, 102 Pilgrims from the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock on the western shore of Cape Cod Bay in southeastern Massachusetts. Many believe that the Pilgrims under took preliminary surveys elsewhere before landing and settling near Plymouth Rock.

Related Topics:
Mayflower Compact - Mayflower - December 21 - 1620 - Pilgrims - Plymouth Rock - Cape Cod Bay - Massachusetts

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The first settlement of the colony was New Plymouth, later Plymouth, Massachusetts. By the end of that winter almost half of the settlers were dead, including their leader John Carver. Thus began one of the best-intended, historically renowned, and yet strangely ill-fated colonial ventures in America. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony got its new charter in 1691, Plymouth ended its history as a seperate colony.

Related Topics:
Plymouth, Massachusetts - John Carver - Massachusetts Bay Colony - 1691

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William Bradford became governor in 1621 on the death of Carver, served for eleven consecutive years, and was elected to various other terms until his death in 1657. The patent of Plymouth Colony was surrendered by Bradford to The Freemen in 1640, minus a small reserve of three tracts of land. On March 22, 1621, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony signed a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.

Related Topics:
William Bradford - 1657 - The Freemen - March 22 - Massasoit - Wampanoag

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The colony contained roughly what is now Bristol County, Plymouth County, and Barnstable County, Massachusetts.

Related Topics:
Bristol County - Plymouth County - Barnstable County, Massachusetts

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Plymouth was the second permanent English settlement in the Americas, the first being Jamestown, Virginia. Early abandoned settlements include the Popham Colony (present-day Maine), the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island (present-day Virginia), and Cuper's Cove and Bristol's Hope in present-day Newfoundland.

Related Topics:
Jamestown, Virginia - Popham Colony - Maine - Roanoke Island - Virginia - Cuper's Cove - Bristol's Hope - Newfoundland

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