Survival

Plymouth Colony had a trying first year. After, several failed attempts to leave Europe, the group of religious separatists finally departed for the New World in 1620. Granted a charter to settle within the Virginia Colony, the group sailed west. After a relatively successful voyage with only one death, the colonists came ashore accidentally off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Believing they couldn't safely make it to Virginia the group decided to search the coast for a suitable site for their new colony. The situation began to worsen as flu and pneumonia began to affect the colonists forced to remain on the Mayflower as a scouting party searched for land and potential Indian hostiles. As the situation became desperate for all the colonists because of disease and lack of adequate food stuffs, the search party came upon a fortuitous discovery, a Indian stash of corn buried in the sand. This blessing of a find allowed the colonists, many of whom remained on the small ship for the winter, to sustain themselves throughout the winter.

During the first winter in the newly established Plymouth Colony half the colonists died. The colonists who survived were resolute and determined to make a new life for themselves in the colony. Though determined, the colonists would not have survived if it were not for the assistance of the local Wapanoag Indians, and the famous Squanto. Squanto helped the colonists with their corn harvests and advised on fertilizing and planting techniques. After the colonists became somewhat settled in their new environment, they were in danger of being unable to maintain a permanent settlement. If it was not for John Winthrop and the "Great Migration" of Puritans to the area to form the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 the tiny Plymouth Colony and its colonists may not have survived.

References

Deetz, James, and Patricia E. S. Deetz. 2000. The times of their lives : Life, love, and death in plymouth colony. New York: W.H. Freeman.

Santella, Andrew, and Inc NetLibrary. 2001. The plymouth colony [electronic resource]. Minneapolis, Minn.: Compass Point Books.

The Wampanoag Indians

The area of eastern Massachusetts near Plymouth was the traditional land of the Wampanoag Indians. The Wampanoag are a sub group of what is referred to as the Algonquin Indians. Algonquin is a language of which each tribe speaks a slightly different dialect. The New England Algonquins were the Abenaki, Massachuset, Mohegan, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Passamaquoddy, Pennacook, Penobscot, Pequot And the Wampanoag Indians, the Wampanoag being the focus of this post.

The Wampanoag were a society reliant on agriculture and use of the lands resources. Though they formed settlements, the Wampanoag would travel with the seasons to winter and summer hunting grounds. This practice allowed the Wampanoag to take advantage of the land while avoiding some of the harsh conditions. Wampanoag women had the responsibility of providing 80% of the tribes food through farming and gathering fruits, berries and shellfish. Wampanoag agriculture was based on the "three sisters", squash, corn and beans. These three foods were revered as godly and played an important role in Wampanoag diets and culture. The Wampanoag lived in Wetu's which were domed huts much like Wigwams.

The Wampanoag, like all Algonquin Indians, believed in a Great Spirit called Manitou. This Great Spirit, and lesser gods throughout nature, would not have been completely foreign to Puritans and other Europeans who had experience and knowledge of Pagan cultures of Northern Europe and the British isles, but they might have looked down on this practice.

Another cultural practice that Europeans might have looked down upon was the Wampanoag practice of polygamy especially by Wampanoag leaders such as Massasoit, who had many wives, as did most Indian chiefs.

While communication and acculturation was slow in the early periods of contact between the Wampanoag and the colonist at Plymouth, this was not the first contact that Indians in this area had with Europeans. Coastal Indians had been trading and coming into contact with European fisherman and explores for several decades. It wasn't until the arrival of Squanto, the famous Indian statesman, interpreter and former English and Spanish slave, that the process of acculturation was accelerated and the barriers of communication began to come down.

Steele, Ian K. 1994. Warpaths : Invasions of north america. New York: Oxford University Press.
Waldman, Carl, and Molly Braun. 1999. Encyclopedia of native american tribes. New York: Facts on File

The Founding of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies

Plymouth Colony

Though Nordic explorers and fisherman had been sailing the waters off Massachusetts for half a century, it was not until 1620 that Europeans successfully founded the first colony. Puritans unhappy with the state of the Church of England, approached the King for a charter to start a colony in the New World. The King granted the Plymouth Company a charter in 1606, but due to unforeseen circumstances in travel and transportation the company dissolved and was reformed in 1620 and granted a new charter under the Council for New England. The charter granted the Pilgrims the right to form a colony in Virginia. In 1620 the Mayflower, unable to make it to Virginia came ashore at present day Cape Cod and declared the area Plymouth, in reference to the city in England from which they left.





Before embarking for shore the adult men of the Mayflower drew up and signed the Mayflower Compact, which created the first American settlement and established a set of basic laws and principles for their new settlement. These basic principles would serve as a foundation for government in the colony for a decade and would be the used as a template for the laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.



During the first winter over half of the colonists died of scurvy and exposure to the harsh New England winter. This did not discourage the colonists who survived the harsh conditions, not one of the survivors returned to England. These hardy colonists had come to the New World under providence from the King and God.


The living conditions did not improve after the first winter. The Pilgrims had to form alliances with the Massasoit Indians, and it was with the Wampanoags that the Pilgrims had "Thanksgiving", which gave rise to the current holiday.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Granted a charter in 1628 under the New England Company. In 1629 the New England Company obtained a royal charter as the “Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.” Almost immediately the emphasis changed from trade to religion, as the Puritan stockholders conceived of the colony as a religious and political refuge for their sect. Under the leadership of John Winthrop.

In 1630 John Winthrop led the first large Puritan migration from England. "Governor Winthrop was accompanied to Massachusetts by nearly three hundred families, or fifteen hundred souls many of whom were distinguished for their quality, as well as their intelligence and piety." The colonists sailed for New England in 1630 and established a colony deciding to make their chief settlement at the mouth of the Charles River, "a commanding position on Massachusetts Bay." In 1691 a new charter made Massachusetts a royal colony and extended its jurisdiction over Plymouth and Maine.

Hutchinson, T., Hutchinson, J., Mayo, L. S., & Mayo, L. S. (1936). The history of the colony and province of massachusetts-bay. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Langdon, G. D. (1966). Pilgrim colony; a history of new plymouth, 1620-1691. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Morison, S. E., Alfred A. Knopf, I., & Overly, C. H. (1956). The story of the "old colony" of new plymouth, 1620-1692. illustrated ([1 .] ed.). New York: Knopf.

Santella, A., & NetLibrary, I. (2001). The plymouth colony [electronic resource]. Minneapolis, Minn.: Compass Point Books.