Colony of Massachusetts Bay
| Massachusetts Bay Colony | ||||||
| Colony of England | ||||||
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| Capital | Salem, Charlestown, Boston | |||||
| History | ||||||
| • | Established | Land grant issued, 1628; Royal charter issued, 1629 | ||||
| • | Revocation of royal charter | 1684 | ||||
| • | Dominion of New England established | 1686 | ||||
| • | Dominion dissolved | 1689 | ||||
| • | Royal charter issued for Province of Massachusetts Bay | 1691 | ||||
| • | Disestablished | Province of Massachusetts Bay governance begins, 1692 | ||||
| Today part of |
 United States
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The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691) was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century in and around the broad opening of Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost predecessor colony of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The lands of the settlement were located in central New England in what is now Massachusetts, with initial settlements situated on two natural harbors and surrounding land, about 15.4 miles (24.8 km) apart—the areas around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston.
The territory nominally administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions of the U.S. states of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Territory claimed but never administered by the colonial government extended as far west as the Pacific Ocean. The earlier Dutch colony of New Netherlands disputed many of these claims, arguing that they held rights to lands beyond Rhode Island up to the western side of Cape Cod and the Plymouth Bay Colony.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the owners of the Massachusetts Bay Company, which included investors in the failed Dorchester Company which had established a short-lived settlement on Cape Ann in 1623. The Massachusetts Bay Colony began in 1628 and was the company's second attempt at colonization. The colony was successful, with about 20,000 people migrating to New England in the 1630s. The population was strongly Puritan, and its governance was dominated by a small group of leaders who were strongly influenced by Puritan religious leaders. Its governors were elected, and the electorate were limited to freemen who had been examined for their religious views and formally admitted to the local church. As a consequence, the colonial leadership exhibited intolerance to other religious views, including Anglican, Quaker, and Baptist theologies.
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