The Pilgrim Fathers were not quite the first British settlers in America – but they were the first to thrive.
The Pilgrim Fathers were not quite the first British settlers in America - but they were the first to thrive.
An initial settlement in Roanoke (now in North Carolina) had failed by 1587 and another at Jamestown, Virginia, had been struggling for survival since 1607.
The 102 men, women and children who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 at the site of modern-day Provincetown, Massachusetts, were the first to set up a colony in New England. And it is estimated that one million Americans can count these pilgrims as their ancestors.
The pilgrims’ story began in the village of Scrooby, North Nottinghamshire, in 1606.
Dissidents there decided to break away from the Church of England because they felt it still had too many Catholic traits.
The group believed in religious and moral purity and became known as Puritans.
Disagreeing with the Church amounted to treason at the time because the Church and the King (James I) were deemed to be one.
And the Puritans were so badly persecuted they fled to Holland.
They spent 11 years there but finally began to believe their traditions were being eroded by the Dutch — and Holland was under threat of war with Spain.
The Puritans decided to start their own colony in the New World.
Their mission was backed by London investors who stood to get a “cut” of New World produce for seven years.
The group sailed from Holland in a ship called the Speedwell and arrived in England to rendezvous with the hired ship Mayflower.
Both ships were due to make the voyage, but the Speedwell proved unseaworthy and eventually all 102 colonists set out from Plymouth in the 180-ton Mayflower. Of those, 35 were Puritans.
The rest were hired by the investors to look after their interests.
The Atlantic voyage was hit by fierce storms. Conditions on the Mayflower were appalling and it was a miracle only two died.
The original intention was to land in Virginia, but the ship was blown off course and first sighted land 500 miles north-east, at present-day Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
On November 21 it dropped anchor off what is now Provincetown.
The colonists lived on the Mayflower for a month before scouting parties reported they had found a suitable site for the colony.
On December 16 they anchored there and named the place Plymouth after the port from which they had set sail.
The Pilgrims began building the settlement on December 26.
They set up their own government and wrote the first constitution, the Mayflower Compact.
A harsh winter followed and almost half of the colonists died.
While their homes were being built, their only shelter was on the Mayflower.
The colonists persevered and by March had been befriended by Indians who advised them which crops to plant and where.
Better weather led to an improvement in their health, too, and by April they were ready to let the Mayflower return to England.
The Pilgrims’ Plymouth settlement survived and has now grown into a thriving coastal resort with a 46,000 population. It is a mecca for tourists — many visiting the now-restored homes of the first colonists.