- First permanent colony at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) founded by the Virginia Company of London in hopes of establishing a profitable venture.
- Colony initially endured hardships, but the arrival of new settlers and supplies in the 1610s helped ensure its success.
- The Puritan Pilgrims founded Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts (1620) to escape religious persecution in England.
- Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1630 by a group of Puritans led by John Winthrop who had been granted a royal charter to establish a colony.
- Pilgrims and Puritans sought to create a "New England" in America based on their religious beliefs.
Economic motivations:
- First settlement at Jamestown was an attempt to establish a profitable economic venture.
- Some colonists were looking to improve their economic situation or to acquire land and the possibility of social advancement
Political motivations
- England saw settlement as way to expand power and influence in the new world.
- The English hoped to establish a presence that would provide them access to the resources of the new world as well as to limit the influence of other European nations in the region.
Social motivations:
- English settlers were also looking to improve their social status and economic conditions in the New World.
- Land ownership offered the colonists the opportunity to escape poverty and become part of the landowning gentry in the colonies.