12 THE COLONIAL PERIOD THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES The second English colony to be established in America was Plymouth in 1620 On December 21 more than 100 colonists landed at Plymouth Rock in what is now Massachusetts The core group among the founders of Plymouth was the Pilgrims They were Puritans Protestants who disagreed with some practices of England’s official church the Church of England Persecuted for their beliefs they fled England in search of religious freedom The Pilgrims are also known as Separatists because they chose to separate from the Church of England Their ship was the Mayflower Before they left the ship the Plymouth settlers adopted the Mayflower Compact the first plan for self-government in the New World In 1620 the first year of settle ment nearly half the settlers died of malnutrition or disease From that time forward however despite
FOUNDING OF THE 13 COLONIES 13 The weary Pilgrims landed on the shores of Plymouth Massachusetts on December 21 1620 after a long and treacherous journey
14 THE COLONIAL PERIOD decreasing support from English inves tors the health and the economic position of the colonists improved They soon secured peace treaties with most of the Indians around them enabling them to devote their time to building a strong stable eco nomic base rather than diverting their efforts toward costly and time-consuming problems of defending the colony from attack Although none of their main economic activi ties farming fishing and trading promised them great wealth they were after only five years in America self-sufficient Another group of Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 Like the Pilgrims they sailed to
FOUNDING OF THE 13 COLONIES 15 The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies are shown on this map of the present-day state of Massachusetts The red arrow charts the course taken by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower
