The Pilgrims were English [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Puritan]] [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Separatist|Separatists]] who had fled to the Netherlands around 1607 to avoid being persecuted and prosecuted for their resistance to the [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Church of England]]. For about ten years the congregation was stable and successful, but by 1617 many of the original leaders were aging and younger members were beginning to drift away from their families to find work. The Pilgrims also felt the influence of their surroundings was in danger of making their children more Dutch than English. The Pilgrims leased the ship *Mayflower* and 102 people sailed in the fall of 1620, arriving at [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Cape Cod]] in early November. Before landing, the Pilgrims wrote and adopted the [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Notes to Fill/Mayflower Compact]], in which they promised cooperation among the settlers "for the general good of the Colony unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." They explored the region for over a month before deciding at the end of December to settle at [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Patuxet]], a [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Wampanoag]] village that had been abandoned about three years earlier when all its people had died of a pandemic (probably smallpox). Between December and the following March, more than half of the Pilgrims died of starvation and disease. Of the 47 survivors, only six or seven were well enough to care for the others. [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/William Bradford]] became governor of the colony when its original leader died. The survivors made a peace treaty with the Wampanoag sachem, [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Massasoit]], and were defended by [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Squanto]], who had lived in Patuxet before being kidnapped into [[Slavery|slavery]] several years earlier. ![[Dan's History Web/US 1/US1 Media/agdm_29361_full.jpg]] *Map of Patuxet drawn by [[Dan's History Web/US 1/Topic Index/Samuel de Champlain|Champlain]] in 1605, before its residents were wiped out by disease.* For more info: https://plimoth.org/for-students/homework-help/who-were-the-pilgrims