TheNew England Colonies ofBritish America includedConnecticut Colony, theColony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,Massachusetts Bay Colony,Plymouth Colony, and theProvince of New Hampshire, as well as a few smaller short-lived colonies. The New England colonies were part of theThirteen Colonies and eventually became five of the six states inNew England, with Plymouth Colony absorbed into Massachusetts andMaine separating from it.^[1]

New England Colonies
1620–1776
Map of the New England Colonies in 1755
Historical era	British colonization of the Americas Puritan migration to New England American Revolution
• Popham Colony	1607
• Council for New England founded	1620 the New England Colonies were established 1620
• Landing of theMayflower	1620
• Founding ofBoston	1630
• Providence Plantations	1636
• New England Confederation formed	1643
• Dominion of New England	1686-1689
• British troops leave Boston	1776
• Reorganized as part of theUnited Colonies	1776

In 1616,Captain John Smith authoredA Description of New England, which first applied the term "New England"^[2] to the coastal lands fromLong Island Sound in the south toNewfoundland in the north.^[3]

England, France, and the Netherlands made several attempts to colonize New England early in the 17th century, and those nations were often in contention over lands in the New World. French noblemanPierre Dugua Sieur de Monts established a settlement onSaint Croix Island, Maine in June 1604 under the authority of the King of France. Nearly half the settlers perished due to the harsh winter andscurvy, and the survivors moved north out of New England toPort-Royal of Nova Scotia (see symbol "R" on map to the right) in the spring of 1605.^[4]

King James I of England recognized the need for a permanent settlement in New England, and he granted competing royal charters to thePlymouth Company and theLondon Company. The Plymouth Company ships arrived at the bay of theKennebec River (then called the Sagadahoc River) in August 1607 where they established a settlement named Sagadahoc Colony, better known asPopham Colony (see symbol "Po" on map to right) to honor financial backer SirJohn Popham. The colonists faced a harsh winter, the loss of supplies following a storehouse fire, and mixed relations with the local Indian tribes.

Colony leader CaptainGeorge Popham died, and decided to return to England to take up an inheritance left by an older brother— at which point, all of the colonists decided to return to England. It was around August 1608 when they left on the shipMary and John and on a new ship built by the colony namedVirginia of Sagadahoc. The 30-tonVirginia was the first sea-going ship ever built in North America.^[5]

Conflict over land rights continued through the early 17th century, with the French constructingFort Pentagouet near Castine, Maine in 1613. The fort protected a trading post and a fishing station and was the first longer-term settlement in New England. It changed hands multiple times throughout the 17th century among the English, French, and Dutch colonists.^[6]

In 1614, Dutch explorerAdriaen Block traveled along the coast of Long Island Sound and then up theConnecticut River as far asHartford, Connecticut. By 1623, theDutch West India Company regularly traded for furs there, and they eventually fortified it for protection from thePequot Indians and named the site "House of Hope" (also identified as "Fort Hoop," "Good Hope," and "Hope").^[7]

A group of Puritans commonly calledthe Pilgrims arrived on theMayflower from England and the Netherlands to establishPlymouth Colony in Massachusetts, the second successful English colony in America followingJamestown, Virginia. About half of the 102 passengers on theMayflower died that first winter, mostly because of diseases contracted on the voyage followed by a harsh winter.^[8] In 1621, an Indian namedSquanto taught the colonists how to grow corn and where to catch eels and fish. His assistance was invaluable and helped them to survive the early years of colonization. The Pilgrims lived on the same site where Squanto'sPatuxet tribe had established a village before they were wiped out from diseases.^[9]

The Plymouth settlement faced great hardships and earned few profits, but it enjoyed a positive reputation in England and may have sown the seeds for further immigration.Edward Winslow andWilliam Bradford published an account of their experiences calledMourt's Relation (1622).^[10] This book was only a small glimpse of the hardships and dangers encountered by the Pilgrims, but it encouraged other Puritans to immigrate during theGreat Migration between 1620 and 1640.

The Puritans in England first sent smaller groups in the mid-1620s to establish colonies, buildings, and food supplies, learning from the Pilgrims' harsh experiences of winter in the Plymouth Colony. In 1623, thePlymouth Council for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) established a small fishing village atCape Ann under the supervision of theDorchester Company. The first group of Puritans moved to a new town at nearbyNaumkeag after the Dorchester Company dropped support, and fresh financial support was found by Rev. John White. Other settlements were started in nearby areas; however, the overall Puritan population remained small through the 1620s.^[11]

A larger group of Puritans arrived in 1630, leaving England because they desired to worship in a manner that differed from the Church of England. Their views were in accord with those of the Pilgrims who arrived on theMayflower, except that theMayflower Pilgrims felt that they needed to separate themselves from the Church of England, whereas the later Puritans were content to remain under the umbrella of the Church. The separate colonies were governed independently of one another until 1691, when Plymouth Colony was absorbed into theMassachusetts Bay Colony to form theProvince of Massachusetts Bay.

The Puritans also established the American public school system for the express purpose of ensuring that future generations would be able to read the Bible for themselves, which was a central tenet of Puritan worship.^[12] However, dissenters of the Puritan laws were often banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.John Wheelwright left with his followers to establish a colony in New Hampshire and then went on to Maine.

It was the dead of winter in January 1636 whenRoger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of theological differences. One source of contention was his view that government and religion should be separate; he also believed that the colonies should purchase land at fair prices from theWampanoag andNarragansett tribes. Massachusetts officials intended to forcibly deport him back to England, but he escaped and walked through deep snow fromSalem, Massachusetts toRaynham, Massachusetts, a distance of 55 miles. The Indian tribes helped him to survive and sold him land for a new colony which he namedProvidence Plantations in recognition of the intervention of Divine Providence in establishing the new colony. It was unique in its day in expressly providing for religious freedom and separation of church from state. Other dissenters established two settlements on Rhode Island (now calledAquidneck Island) and another settlement inWarwick; these four settlements eventually united to form theColony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.^[13]

Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts in 1636 with 100 followers and founded a settlement just north of the DutchFort Hoop which grew intoConnecticut Colony. The community was first named Newtown then renamedHartford to honor the English town ofHertford. One of the reasons why Hooker left Massachusetts Bay was that only members of the church could vote and participate in the government, which he believed should include any adult male owning property. He obtained a royal charter and establishedFundamental Orders, considered to be one of the first constitutions in America. Other colonies later merged into the royal charter for the Connecticut Colony, includingNew Haven Colony andSaybrook Colony.

The earliest colonies in New England were usually fishing villages or farming communities on the more fertile land along the rivers. The rocky soil in the New England Colonies was not as fertile as the Middle or Southern Colonies, but the land provided rich resources, including lumber that was highly valued. Lumber was also a resource that could be exported back to England, where there was a shortage of wood. In addition, the hunting of wildlife provided furs to be traded and food for the table.

The New England Colonies were located along the Atlantic coast where there was an abundance of marketable sea life. Excellent harbors and some inland waterways offered protection for ships and were also valuable for freshwater fishing. By the end of the 17th century, New England colonists had created an Atlantic trade network that connected them to the English homeland as well as to theSlave Coast of West Africa, plantations in the West Indies, and the Iberian Peninsula. Colonists relied upon British and European imports for glass, linens, hardware, machinery, and other items for the household.

TheSouthern Colonies could produce tobacco, rice, and indigo in exchange for imports, whereas New England's colonies could not offer much to England beyond fish, furs, and lumber. Inflation was a major issue in the economy. During the 18th century, shipbuilding drew upon the abundant lumber and revived the economy, often under the direction of the British Crown.^[14]

In 1652, theMassachusetts General Court authorized Boston silversmithJohn Hull to producelocal coinage in shilling, sixpence, and threepence denominations to address a coin shortage in the colony.^[15] The colony's economy had been entirely dependent on barter and foreign currency, including English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and counterfeit coins.^[16] In 1661, after therestoration of the monarchy, the English government considered the Boston mint to be treasonous.^[17] However, the colony ignored the English demands to cease operations until at least 1682, when Hull's contract expired as mint master, and the colony did not move to renew his contract or appoint a new mint master.^[18] The coinage was a contributing factor to the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684.^[19]

American Indians who were captured during various conflicts in New England, such as thePequot War (1636–1638) andKing Philip's War (1675–1678), were sometimes sold into slavery.^[20] Utilizing captured prisoners of war as a source of forced labor was common in Europe; during theWars of the Three Kingdoms, prisoners of war were frequentlyindentured and transported to plantations inBarbados andJamaica.^[21]

Plymouth Colony rangerBenjamin Church spoke out against the practice of enslaving Indians in the summer of 1675, describing the practice as "an action so hateful... that [I] opposed it to the loss of the goodwill and respect of some that before were good friends." However, Church was not opposed toblack slavery, owning black slaves like many of his fellow colonists.^[22] During King Philip's War, some captured Indians were enslaved and transported aboard New England merchant ships to theWest Indies, where they were sold to European planters. Various colonial councils decreed that "no male captive above the age of fourteen years should reside in the colony."^[23] Margret Ellen Newell estimates that hundreds of Indians were enslaved during the colonial conflicts,^[24] while Nathaniel Philbrick estimates that at least 1,000 New England Indians were sold into slavery during King Philip's War, with more than half coming from Plymouth.^[25]

In the New England Colonies, the first settlements ofPilgrims and the otherPuritans who came later taught their children how to read and write in order that they might read and study the Bible for themselves. Depending upon social and financial status, education was taught by the parents home-schooling their children, public grammar schools, and private governesses, which included subjects from reading and writing to Latin and Greek and more.

• Middle Colonies
• Southern Colonies
• Chesapeake Colonies
• Thirteen Colonies
• History of Massachusetts
• Historical outline of Massachusetts
• British Colonial America
• New England
• History of New England
• Dominion of New England
• New England Confederation

• Barth, Jonathan Edward (2014). "'A Peculiar Stampe of Our Owne': The Massachusetts Mint and the Battle over Sovereignty, 1652-1691".The New England Quarterly.87 (3):490–525.doi:10.1162/TNEQ_a_00396.hdl:2286/R.I.26592.JSTOR 43285101.S2CID 57571000.
• Bisceglia, Michael (12 February 2008)."John Smith: The man who named New England".Sea Coast Online. RetrievedApril 28, 2013.
• Gipson, Lawrence.The British Empire Before the American Revolution (15 volumes) (1936-1970). Knopf.
• Collections of the New York Historical Society. New York: H. Ludwig. 1841.
• Smith, John (1616). Royster, Paul (ed.)."A Description of New England (1616): An Online Electronic Text Edition".Electronic Texts in American Studies (Paper 4).