The Proprietary Colonies, perhaps most recognized as the United States’ original 13 colonies and forever represented in the U.S. ‘stars and strips’ flag as the red and white horizontal stripes.
The first English settlement in the new world was in Virginia ,with the first permanent settlement made in 1607, directed by London merchants, who sent a colony of five ships to settle on Roanoke Island and later into Chesapeake Bay. They sailed north on the Powhatan River and formed the Jamestown settlement. After many difficulties, the settlement prospered, and finally, in 1619, the first representative Assembly in Virginia was held at Jamestown. This assembly formed the foundation of what would become the State of Virginia.
In 1609 Henry Hudson arrived and began a settlement on Manhattan Island, while working for the Dutch East India Company. Dutch traders soon settled there, and at Albany, about 150 miles up the Hudson River. The Holland government gave exclusive rights to Amsterdam merchants to trade with the Native Americans on the Hudson, and the area was named New Netherland. The Dutch West India Company was created in 1621, with unrestricted oversight of New Netherland. The company purchased Manhattan Island from the Native Americans for only $24 worth of trinkets. In 1623, Holland sent 30 families which started a settlement there. The colony later formed the State of New York.
In 1620 English Puritans, calling themselves “Pilgrims”, fled from Holland to escape persecution, crossed the Atlantic and landed on the shores of Massachusetts. They claimed an area as their colony a settlement and named it New Plymouth. Others were soon to follow, and the foundations of the State of Massachusetts were laid. It is interesting to note that while the Pilgrims are often viewed as the first settlers, they were preceded by the St. Augustine and Jamestown settlements.
In 1622 the Plymouth Company granted to Mason and Gorges a section of land between the Merrimac...