3-22 The Pilgrims

In 1607, three ships left England to claim new land in America.  The ships landed in the New World and the first English settlement was named Jamestown.  Living in the new land was difficult.  Many people starved, got sick, and died.  Those who survived learned how to farm the land and began building the Jamestown colony.

Back in England, a group of people were not happy with the king.  They  decided to set sail and make a new life for themselves in the New World.  In September of 1620, these people, called the pilgrims, sailed to the New World on a ship called the Mayflower.  The journey was difficult.  The pilgrims hoped to reach Jamestown, but they ended up north of Jamestown.  Before they got off the ship, the pilgrims wrote the Mayflower Compact, which was a set of laws for the new colony.  The pilgrims then named the new colony New Plymouth.  The pilgrims worked hard clearing land to eventually build their new settlement.  Winter arrived and most of the pilgrims spent the winter living on the Mayflower.  It was a long, hard winter and half of the pilgrims died.  In the spring, the pilgrims who survived the winter began the hard work of building New Plymouth.

The land in the New World was different from England.  A local Indian tribe helped the Pilgrims.  It was Squanto and the Wampanoag Indians that helped the pilgrims survive in the new land.  The Native Americans taught the pilgrims how to farm, fish, and find food in the New World.  In the fall of 1621, the pilgrims and the Wampanoags celebrated the fall food harvest with a feast we call the first Thanksgiving.

Use the information above to complete the following statements.

1.  The first English settlement in the New World was named .

2.  The ship the pilgrims sailed on was called the .

3.  The Mayflower pilgrims sailed to America in what year?

  1608

  1620

  1621

  1720

4.  The Mayflower Compact was a set of for the new colony.

5.  The new colony was named New .

6.  It was a long, hard winter and half of the died.

7.  and the Wampanoag Indians helped the pilgrims survive in the new land.

8.  The Americans taught the pilgrims to , fish, and find food.

9.  In the fall of 1621, the pilgrims and the Wampanoags celebrated the first .