Council for New England

Council for New England
Company typeJoint-stock company, Land grant, Colonial Company, Proprietary colony
Founded1620; 404 years ago (1620)
Defunct1635; 389 years ago (1635)
FateCharter revoked in 1635
HeadquartersWestminster
Area served
New England
Key people
Ferdinand Gorges
The "sea to sea" grant of Plymouth Council for New England is shown in green. The location of the Plymouth Colony settlement is demarcated as "Pl". "Q" and "R" refer to Quebec and Port Royal, which were contemporaneous French settlements.

The Council for New England was a 17th-century English joint stock company to which James I of England awarded a royal charter, with the purpose of expanding his realm over parts of North America by establishing colonial settlements.[1]

The Council was established in November of 1620, and was disbanded (although with no apparent changes in land titles) in 1635. It provided for the establishment of the Plymouth Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the New Haven Colony, and the Province of Maine.

Sir Ferdinand Gorges was a major promoter of English colonization of New England, and was a key figure in establishment and operations of the Council.

  1. ^ Thorpe, Francis Newton (18 December 1998). "The Charter of New England : 1620". avalon.law.yale.edu. Yale University. Retrieved 16 June 2023.