where did the colonists of massachusetts come from
History of Massachusetts The first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, established their settlement at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag.[6] This was the second successful permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. Before heading to the New World, they migrated to Holland to escape the harsh treatment from King James for rejecting England's official church. Although they were allowed some religious liberties in Holland, the liberalism and openness of the Dutch to all styles of life horrified them. They approached the Virginia Company and asked to settle "as a distinct body of themselves" in America. In the fall of 1620, they sailed to North America on the Mayflower, first landing near the tip of Cape Cod (modern-day Provincetown, Massachusetts). Blown north off its course, the Mayflower landed at a site that had been named Plymouth. Since the area was not land that lay within their charter, they created the Mayflower Compact, one of America's first documents of self-governance, prior to landing. The first year was extremely difficult, with inadequate supplies. They also suffered grievously from smallpox and malaria. They were assisted, however, in their time of trouble by the Wampanoag under-chief Massasoit.
History of the Puritans in North America In the early 17th century, thousands of English Puritans settled in North America, mainly in New England. Puritans were generally members of the Church of England who believed that the Church of England was insufficiently reformed, retaining too much of its Roman Catholic doctrinal roots, and who therefore opposed royal ecclesiastical policy under Elizabeth I of England, James I of England, and Charles I of England. Most Puritans were "non-separating Puritans", meaning that they did not advocate setting up separate congregations distinct from the Church of England; a small minority of Puritans were "separating Puritans" who advocated setting up congregations outside the Church. The Pilgrims were a Separatist group, and they established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Non-separating Puritans played leading roles in establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, the Saybrook Colony in 1635, the Connecticut Colony in 1636, and the New Haven Colony in 1638. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was established by settlers expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of their unorthodox religious opinions. Puritans were also active in New Hampshire before it became a crown colony in 1691.