USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Before ever setting foot in North America, the Pilgrims spent several years living in Holland. Led by William Brewster and John Robinson, the group initially fled to Amsterdam in 1608 to escape religious persecution for holding clandestine services that were not sanctioned by the Church of England.

Detailed explanation-2: -On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower sails from Plymouth, England, bound for the Americas with 102 passengers. The ship was headed for Virginia, where the colonists-half religious dissenters and half entrepreneurs-had been authorized to settle by the British crown.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who traveled to North America on the Mayflower and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymouth, Devon.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Pilgrims settled in Leiden, where they lived and worked for 12 years. They built land near the spectacular Pieterskerk church and built houses in what is today known as Engelse poort (English Alley).

Detailed explanation-5: -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.