Massachusetts Bay Colony
English possession in North America between 1628 and 1684 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement in the 17th century on the east coast of North America founded by Puritans. The colony was later called New England and what is now the cities of Salem and Boston. The Bay Colony also included what is now known as the States of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.[1]: 58
John Winthrop, the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, continued to work on the colony, and improve it any possible way. He knew that the Church of England was bad, so he decided to improve it at the New World; either colonizing the natives or getting rid of them.
There were two companies who brought settlers in the New World.[1]: 47–48 The first company was the Dorchester Company but was a failure. The second company was in 1628 and called the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This was successful and brought approximately 20,000 people to the Colony.[1]: 33, 47–48
At first the colonists had a good friendship with the Native Americans but as more Europeans moved to these areas there were problems over land borders. The Native Americans also had many different customs. These differences led first to the Pequot War (1636–1638), and then to King Philip's War (1675–1676). After these wars, the Native Americans became peaceful and others moved to different places.
The colony was doing well and made money trading with England. They also traded with the West Indies. In 1686 there was a civil war in England. King James II wanted to have total control over the colonies. After the war, the colonies remained the same until 1692. Then Sir William Phips arrived and Massachusetts Bay and the Plymouth Colony were combined. The colonists helped in the running of the government and how it would spend its money.