The Plymouth Colony (1620-1691) was the first English settlement in the region of modern-day New England in the United States, settled by the religious Separatists known as the “pilgrims” who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower in 1620, fleeing religious persecution, to establish a settlement where they could worship freely in the New World.
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Timeline
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1620 - 1621Half of the pilgrims die during the winter of 1620-1621 from disease, exposure, and malnutrition.
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11 Nov 1620The Mayflower lands in the region of modern-day Massachusetts, North America, bringing the pilgrims to the New World.
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11 Nov 1620The Mayflower Compact is signed by the pilgrims establishing democratic government of the Plymouth Colony.
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1621 - 1622The pilgrims establish the Plymouth Colony with the help of Native Americans who teach them how to survive and flourish.
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1622Captain Myles Standish disrupts relations with the Native Americans by executing two for no reason; trade relationships fall off.
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1628 - 1630Establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony led by Puritans seeking to evangelize the native population of North America.
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1675 - 1678King Philip's War in which thousands are killed as the Native Americans try to defend their land and way of life from increasing European colonization of the Americas.
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c. 1678 - c. 1691Native Americans are sold into slavery or moved onto reservations as more European colonists arrive in North America.
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1691Plymouth Colony is absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the latter's new charter.
