The Pilgrims were a group of early settlers who journeyed to the present day United States from England, settling in the Plymouth Colony. The colony, established in 1620, was the second successful English settlement in the United States of America, the first being the Jamestown Colony, founded in 1607.
The Pilgrims originally fled to the Netherlands from the East Midlands of England to preserve their religion and later made arrangements with English investors to establish a new colony in North America to preserve their culture.
The colonists faced a lengthy series of challenges: bureaucracy, impatient investors, internal conflicts, sabotage, storms, disease, and uncertain relations with the Native Americans.
The Pilgrims Timeline
1619: The Pilgrims obtain a land patent from London Virginia Company, hoping to establish a colony in America where they can practice their own religion.
September 6, 1620: The Mayflower leaves Plymouth Harbor in England, destined for Virgina.
October, 1620: Violent autumn storms damage the ship and blow it off course. John Howland, who will later become one of the colony's assistant governors, pitched overboard at one point but it rescued.
November 9th, 1620: Land is sighted, and the first landing is made at Cape Cod, Massachusetts
November 11th, 1620: the Mayflower Compact is signed by the 41 men, establishing a form of local government in which the colonists agree to abide by majority rule and to cooperate for the general good of the colony.
1621: One of the first treaties between colonists and Native American is signed as the Plymouth Pilgrims enact a peace pact with the Wampanoag Trail, with the aid of Squanto, an English speaking Native American.
November 1621: First Pilgrim Thanksgiving. The actual date is unknown.
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References
Fast Facts
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Fact:
Arrived on the ships the Speedwall and the Mayflower between November 10 and November 20, 1620
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Fact:
Had the first Thanksgiving
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Fact:
The nearby Native Americans, the Wampanoagos Indians, lived in small villages along the coastline of both Massachusetts and Rhode Island
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Fact:
Half of the Pilgrims died during the first winter
