English Empire - The Americas - List of English Possessions in North America

List of English Possessions in North America

• St John's, Newfoundland, chartered in 1583 by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was seasonally settled ca. 1520 and had settlers who remained all year round by 1620.
• Roanoke Colony, in present-day North Carolina, was first founded in 1586 but was abandoned the next year. In 1587 a second attempt was made at establishing a settlement, but the colonists disappeared, leading to the name of the 'Lost Colony'. One of those lost was Virginia Dare.
• At Cuttyhunk, one of the Elizabeth Islands (named after Queen Elizabeth I) of present-day Massachusetts, a small fort and trading post was established by Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, but the island was abandoned after only one month.
• The Virginia Company was chartered in 1606, and in 1624 its concessions became the royal colony of Virginia
  • Jamestown, Virginia, was founded by the Virginia Company of London in 1607.
  • Bermuda, also known as the Somers Isles, lying in the North Atlantic, were accidentally settled by the London Virginia Company in 1609, due to the wrecking of the company's ship Sea Venture; in 1615 its administration passed to the Somers Isles Company, which was formed by the same shareholders.
  • Henricus, also called Henricopolis, Henrico Town and Henrico, was founded by the London Virginia Company in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy Jamestown, but it was largely destroyed in the Indian massacre of 1622.
  • Popham Colony: on 13 August 1607, the Virginia Company of Plymouth settled the Popham Colony along the Kennebec River in present-day Maine. The company had a licence to establish settlements between the 38th parallel (the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay) and the 45th parallel (near the current US border with Canada). However, Popham was abandoned after about a year, and the Company then became inactive.

• The Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol began to settle Newfoundland
  • Cuper's Cove, founded in 1610, was abandoned in the 1620s
  • Bristol's Hope, founded in 1618, was abandoned in the 1630s
• London and Bristol Company (Newfoundland)
  • Cambriol, founded in 1617. In 1616 Sir William Vaughan (1575–1641) bought from the Newfoundland Company all that land on the Avalon Peninsula located south of a line drawn from Caplin Bay (now Calvert) to Placentia Bay. The colony had been abandoned by 1637.
  • Renews, founded in 1615, abandoned in 1619
• Plymouth Council for New England
  • Plymouth Colony, founded 1620, merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691
• Ferryland, Newfoundland granted to George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore in 1620, first settlers in August 1621
• Province of Maine, granted 1622, sold to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1677
• South Falkland, Newfoundland, founded 1623 by Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland
• Province of New Hampshire, later New Hampshire settled in 1623, see also New Hampshire Grants
• Cape Ann was an unsuccessful fishing colony settled in 1624 by the Dorchester Company.
• Salem Colony, settled in 1628, merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony the next year
• Massachusetts Bay Colony, later part of Massachusetts, founded in 1629
• New Scotland, in present Nova Scotia, 1629–1632
• Connecticut Colony, later part of Connecticut, founded in 1633
• Province of Maryland, later Maryland, founded in 1634
• Province of New Albion, chartered in 1634, but had failed by 1649-50.
• Saybrook Colony, founded in 1635, merged with Connecticut in 1644
• Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, first settled in 1636
• New Haven Colony, founded 1638, merged with Connecticut in 1665
• Gardiners Island, founded 1639, now part of East Hampton, New York
• The New England Confederation, formally the 'United Colonies of New England', was a short-lived military alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, established in 1643, aiming to unite the Puritan colonies against the Native Americans. Its charter provided for the return of fugitive criminals and indentured servants.
• Province of New York, captured from the Dutch in 1664
• Province of New Jersey, also captured in 1664
  • Was divided into West Jersey and East Jersey after 1674, each held by its own company of Proprietors.
• Rupert's Land, named in honour of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the cousin of King Charles II. In 1668, Rupert commissioned two ships, the Nonsuch and the Eaglet, to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. The Nonsuch founded Fort Rupert at the mouth of the Rupert River. Prince Rupert became the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, which was established in 1670.
• Province of Pennsylvania, later Pennsylvania, founded in 1681 as an English colony, although first settled by the Dutch and the Swedes
• Delaware Colony, later Delaware, separated from Pennsylvania in 1704
• Province of Carolina, established as a single territory but soon functioning in practice as two separate colonies:
  • North Carolina, first settled at Roanoke in 1586, became a separate British colony in 1710
  • Province of South Carolina, first permanently settled in 1670, became a separate British colony in 1710.
• Province of Georgia, later Georgia; first settled in about 1670.