1605. Voyage of George Weymouth (who had made a trip to Labrador in 1593) to the North American coast in about 41° 30′ N. Over a hundred years had elapsed since the discovery of America, and thus far South America and Central America had alone been the scene of active and successful colonization. In North America, a few scattered Spanish settlements in the south and one French colony in the north were the only representatives of European civilization. The next few years witnessed a mighty change. England, which for all her voyages had not a foot of land in America, entered on a course of settlement and conquest which ultimately gave her the fairest portion of the New World.

English, Dutch, and Swedish Colonies in North America (1606-1638).

A. English Colonies.

1606. April 10. The patent of Sir Walter Raleigh becoming void by his attainder for treason, James I. issued a patent dividing Virginia into two parts: 1. The First Colony, embracing the country from 34° N. to 38° N. with the right to settle as far as 41° N. if they were the first to found their colony: this southern colony was granted to a number of gentlemen, residing principally in London (Richard Hakluyt), and known as the London Company. 2. The Second Colony, embracing the country between 41° N. and 45° N. with the right of settling as far as 38° N. if they were the first to establish their colony; this northern colony was granted to gentlemen residing chiefly in Bristol, Plymouth, etc., and hence known as the Plymouth Company. Each company was to become owner of the land for fifty miles on each side of the first settlement, and one hundred miles inland. The nearest settlements of the two colonies should be one hundred miles apart. The government of each colony was vested in a council resident in England and nominated by the king; the local government was intrusted to a council resident in America also nominated by the king, and to conform to his regulations. Imports from England free of duty for seven years; freedom of trade with other nations, the duties for twenty-seven years to go to the colonies. Right of coinage and of self-defense. Establishment of a Council of Virginia in England for the superintendence of both colonies.

Colony of South Virginia.

1607, May 13. Foundation of Jamestown in the southern colony by a band of one hundred colonists sent out under Christopher Newport. It included Bartholomew Gosnold and John Smith. Dissension in the council. Explorations by John Smith who was captured by the Indians, and presented to the chief, Powhatan, but in the end released (story of the rescue of Smith by Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan1). In 1607 1 This story has been relegated to the realm of fable, on the insufficient ground that no mention of it appears in Smith's first account of his captivity.

Smith explored the Chesapeake. During the first years the colony suffered severely from extremes of heat and cold, as well as from dissensions and bad provision by the company. Laborers were scarce, the colonists being either gentlemen or criminals. 1609. Second charter of the company of South Virginia, increase of privileges and of members. Lord Delaware (Thomas West) appointed governor for life. Smith returned to England. 1610. The distress in the colony was so great (The Starving Time) that it was on the point of abandonment when Lord Delaware arrived with supplies.

1611. Delaware returning to England, Sir Thomas Gates was sent out as deputy governor.

1612. Third charter of the company of South Virginia. Inclusion of the Bermudas within their possessions.

1613. The French having established the colony of St. Saviour at Mount Desert on the coast of Maine, the governor of South Virginia sent Samuel Argal to dispossess them. Argal destroyed St. Saviour and razed Port Royal. On his return he received the submission of the Dutch settlement at Hudson's River (?).

1614. Sir Thomas Dale deputy governor of South Virginia. 1615. Land, which had hitherto been held of the company by farmers as tenants-at-will, was now made private property; fifty acres being now granted to every colonist and his heirs.

1617. Samuel Argal succeeded Sir George Yeardley as deputy governor of South Virginia; reduced state of the colony. In the 1618. following year Lord Delaware sailed with supplies and colonists for Virginia, but died on the voyage. Rigorous government of Argal. At this time there were 600 persons and 300 cattle in the colony; the only exports were tobacco and sassafras, and the London company was indebted £5,000.

1619. First General Assembly in South Virginia convoked (June 19) by Sir George Yeardley, governor general, consisting of the burgesses of the colony, representing eleven corporations or plantations. The burgesses sat with the council and governor.

Introduction of negro slaves (20) into Virginia by a Dutch vessel.

1620. The colony, numbering 1000 persons, received an accession of 1200 new settlers. Introduction of women who were sold as wives to the colonists for from 100 to 150 pounds of tobacco. Free trade with the colony established.

1621. Sir Francis Wyatt, governor, brought over a new constitution for the colony, whereby its government was vested in a governor, a council of state, and a general assembly, to which two burgesses were to be chosen by every town, hundred, and plantation. The governor had the veto power, and every enactment of the colonial legislature required the ratification of the company in England to become binding. All ordinances of the company were without effect unless accepted by the assembly.

1622. March 22. Massacre of 347 colonists by the Indians. 1624. Commission of inquiry into the affairs of Virginia appointed by the crown. In spite of the answer of the general assembly wherein the rights of the people were defined, the court of king's bench in England, before which the cause was tried, decided against the company. The charter was annulled. The company had sent out more than 9000 persons to the colony, of whom not more than 2000 now remained. Sir Francis Wyatt was appointed governor, with a council of eleven members appointed by the king. This plan of government was continued by Charles I., who announced that the colony should immediately depend upon the crown, which should appoint the governor and council and issue patents and legal processes. Commercial restrictions.

1630. Grant of Carolana (the region south of the Virginia colony between 31° N. and 36° N., from the Atlantic to New Mexico) to Sir Robert Heath, being the first instance of a proprietary grant by the crown. No settlement seems to have been made, on which account the grant was subsequently declared void, and a part of the territory granted out under the name of Carolina, a proceeding which resulted in much ill-feeling.

1632.

Grant of Maryland (the region between the Potomac and the latitude of Philadelphia) to Cecil Calvert, lord Baltimore, son of Sir George Calvert, to whom the grant was originally made, but who died before putting it to use. The grant was met by a protest from Virginia which was of no avail. In 1634, the first colony reached Maryland; being about two hundred persons. Gift of fifty acres of land to each emigrant as private property. The Calverts being Roman Catholics, no mention of religious establishment appeared in the charter beyond the recognition of Christianity as established by English common law.

The proprietary, or grantee holding directly of the crown, was subject to no corporation or company, appointed the deputy governor and the executive officers, regulated the legislation, and received the taxes. The general assembly of the colonists possessed an advisatory power, and the right of expressing non-approval.

1636. Grant of New Albion (including New Jersey) from the viceroy of Ireland to Sir Edward Plowden. This New Albion, which was not settled, must not be confounded with the tract of like name discovered by Drake on the western coast of America (p. 289).

The Plymouth Company.

Immediately upon the receipt of the charter the company had dispatched two explorers to the region of their grant (Challons, Hanam), and in

1607, George Popham and Raleigh Gilbert led 120 colonists to the

northern colony. They built Fort St. George on Parker's "Island" (peninsula), at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine (Aug. 11). The death of George Popham and of Sir John Popham in England (1608) so disheartened the colonists that they returned to England. No further attempts at settlement being made for some time, the French (who had also a claim to these regions (see 1604) planted several colonies within the territory of the Plymouth Company.

1614. Exploration of the coast of the northern colony by John Smith from Penobscot to Cape Cod. On his return he wrote an account of his voyage and published a map of the district explored, to which the name of New England was given. Trouble with the Indians, springing from the action of Thomas Hunt, who carried off twenty-seven natives to the West Indies for slaves, discouraged settlement.

After the frustration of an attempt at colonization by Smith in 1515 through adverse circumstances, the company itself made no more attempts at settlements, and the colonies that grew up in its territories were founded by companies or individuals under its charter but independent of its action. One of the most important settlements, indeed, was made without any authority from the company. In 1620 the company was reorganized as the Council of Plymouth for New England with territory from Philadelphia to Chaleur Bay (40° N. to 480 N.)

1620. Settlement of Plymouth in New England by English separatists from Holland.

This religious sect, a sort of left wing of the larger body of Puritans, had left England in 1607-8 on account of the intolerance with which they were treated, and settled at Leyden in Holland (1609) to the number of 1000 or more, under their minister, John Robinson. After several attempts to secure a patent from the London company (South Virginia), and a promise of toleration from the king, they succeeded in the former endeavor in 1619, but not in the latter. Procuring two ships (Speedwell, Mayflower), a part of the congregation, and some others, set sail Aug. 5, from Southampton (having left Leyden in July) for the vicinity of Hudson's River. Twice driven back by stress of weather the Pilgrims (a name applied much earlier to the whole body in Holland) finally left Plymouth in the Mayflower, Sept. 6. On Nov. 9 they sighted Cape Cod, but instead of running southward they were induced by fear of shoal water, by the late season, and perhaps by the cunning of the shipmaster, to anchor at the Cape. On Nov. 11, the company signed a contract of government (they being beyond the limits of the London Company), and elected John Carver governor. For some weeks they explored the coast, landing at various places. (Birth of Peregrine White, the first European child born in New England). Toward the close of December they fixed on the site of Plymouth, and landing, began the erection of a house and portioned out land among the settlers (nineteen families, 102 individuals).1

The date is disputed; that of the landing of the whole body can hardly be

1621. Intercourse of the colonists (Capt. Miles Standish) with the Indians (Samoset, Massasoit, chief of the Indians in that vicinity). Upon the death of Carver, William Bradford was elected governor. Arrival of a new charter from the Plymouth Company, but made out in the name of some London merchants, with whom the Pilgrims had had connection when in Holland. Over fifty of the original settlers died this year. Trouble with the Indians 1621-23.

Meantime the territory of the Plymouth Company was being parceled out among various adventurers by often conflicting grants. In 1621 Sir William Alexander obtained a patent for the whole of Acadia, under the name of Nova Scotia, from the crown of Scotland (confirmed, 1625). The region from Salem River to the Merrimac was granted to John Mason and called Mariana. In 1622 Sir Fernando Gorges and John Mason obtained a grant of all lands between the Merrimac and the Kennebec, which region was called at first Laconia, afterwards, Maine. In 1622 settlements were made on the site of the present Dover (Cochecho) and Portsmouth. In 1624 a few Puritans from England settled at Cape Ann; the colony afterwards removed to Naumkeag (Roger Conant, 1626). In 1625 Captain Wollaston settled at Mount Wollaston, near Boston.

1623. The Plymouth Company sent out Francis West as "Admiral of New England," Robert Gorges as "Governor-General," and William Morrell as "Superintendent of Churches" but nothing came of this assertion of authority.

In 1629 the

1627. The colony at Plymouth succeeded in buying off the London merchants in whose name their charter had been issued. Growth of the colony; friendly intercourse with the Dutch. 1628. The Plymouth Company issued a grant of the land between three miles south of the Charles River, and three miles north of the Merrimac, reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to a company which sent out John Endicott with a body of colonists who joined the others at Naumkeag. name of the colony was changed to Salem. The colony at Plymouth obtained a grant of Kennebec. Suppression of the settlement at Wollaston ("Merry Mount ") by Endicott. Morton, who after Wollaston's departure had ruled the colony and sold firearms (?) to the Indians, was seized by Standish from Plymouth and sent to England. 1629. Establishment of the company of Massachu

setts Bay ("The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England") by a charter issued directly by the crown to the company, enlarged by new associates, which had settled Salem. The company was permitted to elect a governor, deputy governor, and eighteen assistants yearly, and to make laws not repugnant to those of England. The first governor of the company was Matthew Cradock. ascertained; the landing of the first exploring party seems to have taken place on Dec. 11, O.S., or Dec. 21 (22), N.S. (confusion here also). See Gay, "When did the Pilgrim Fathers land at Plymouth?"— Atlantic Monthly, November, 1881, p. 612.