The Pilgrims and Their Struggle for Freedom

In 1620, a group of English Puritans who had sailed from Delfshaven, near Rotterdam, Netherlands, founded the first permanent settlement by Europeans in New England--Plymouth Colony--in what is now southeastern Massachusetts. What prompted these deeply religious people to risk such a long and arduous voyage across the treacherous Atlantic Ocean in the tiny ship Mayflower? What were they doing in the Netherlands in the first place? Why did they leave there?

The Religious Situation in England

Escape to Holland

The Mayflower Sails!

Founding the Colony

The Pilgrims and the Indians

Later Developments

The Pilgrims Legacy

Awake! November 22, 1996

For more information on the Thanksgiving holiday, including text of official documents from the Mayflower Compact on, see: http://www.night.net/Thanksgiving/first.html-ssi

Moonchild's home page   Four

Holiday main page next page

e-mail

http://www.moonchild.ch/Holidays/Pilgrims.html