<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> <P> The Puritans in England first sent smaller groups in the mid-1620s to establish colonies, buildings, and food supplies, learning from the Pilgrims' harsh experiences of winter in the Plymouth Colony . In 1623, the Plymouth Council for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) established a small fishing village at Cape Ann under the supervision of the Dorchester Company . The first group of Puritans moved to a new town at nearby Naumkeag after the Dorchester Company dropped support, and fresh financial support was found by Rev. John White . Other settlements were started in nearby areas; however, the overall Puritan population remained small through the 1620s . </P> <P> A larger group of Puritans arrived in 1630, leaving England because they desired to worship in a manner that differed from the Church of England . Their views were in accord with those of the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower, except that the Pilgrims were "separatists" who felt that they needed to separate themselves from the Church of England, whereas the later Puritans were content to remain under the umbrella of the Church of England . The separate colonies were governed independently of one other until 1691, when Plymouth Colony was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay . </P>

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