Exploration and Settlement

The coast of Massachusetts was first explored in 1602 by the English navigator Bartholomew Gos-nold. In 1620 the Pilgrims founded the first permanent colony in New England at Plymouth. During the next decade several small fishing settlements grew up along the Massachusetts coast. A few settlers started a trading post at Salem in 1626. In 1628 they were joined by John Endecott, representing a group of English Puritans.

In England the Puritan group formed a company and secured a royal charter for a Massachusetts Bay Colony. (