ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -To escape religious persecution, they decided to flee England for the Netherlands from 1609 onwards-back in the days, the Dutch republic was seen as a liberal nation where they could live peacefully. The Pilgrims settled in Leiden, where they lived and worked for 12 years.

Detailed explanation-2: -They left the Netherlands, not England, in 1620 because of lack of space for their growing numbers, their belief that the Protestant atmosphere was weakening the belief of their children and the impending end of the peace treaty between the Netherlands and Spain.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Netherlands hosted religious refugees, including Puritans from England (the most famous of the latter were the Pilgrims, who in the early 17th century emigrated to what became the Massachusetts Bay Colony in North America).

Detailed explanation-4: -The Great Puritan Migration in the 1630s: Led by Puritan lawyer, John Winthrop, the company left England in April of 1630 and arrived in New England in June where they settled in what is now modern day Boston and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.