<P> Conflict over land rights continued through the early 17th century, with the French constructing Fort Pentagouet near Castine, Maine in 1613 . The fort protected a trading post and a fishing station and was the first longer - term settlement in New England . It changed hands multiple times throughout the 17th century among the English, French, and Dutch colonists . </P> <P> In 1614, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block traveled along the coast of Long Island Sound and then up the Connecticut River to Hartford, Connecticut . By 1623, the Dutch West India Company regularly traded for furs there, and they eventually fortified it for protection from the Pequot Indians and named the site "House of Hope" (also identified as "Fort Hoop," "Good Hope," and "Hope"). </P> <P> A group of Puritans known as the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower from England and the Netherlands to establish Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, the second successful English colony in North America following Jamestown, Virginia . About half of the one hundred - plus passengers on the Mayflower died that first winter, mostly because of diseases contracted on the voyage followed by a harsh winter . In 1621, an American Indian named Squanto taught the colonists how to grow corn and where to catch eels and fish . His assistance was invaluable and helped them to survive the early years of the colonization . The Pilgrims lived on the same site where Squanto's Patuxet tribe had established a village before they were wiped out from diseases . </P> <P> The Plymouth settlement faced great hardships and earned few profits, but it enjoyed a positive reputation in England and may have sown the seeds for further immigration . Edward Winslow and William Bradford published an account of their experiences called Mourt's Relation (1622). This book was only a small glimpse of the hardships and dangers encountered by the Pilgrims, but it encouraged other Puritans to immigrate during the Great Migration . </P>

Where did most new england colonists come from