Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from
1620 to 1691. The first settlement was at New Plymouth, a location
previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement,
which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town of
Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most
of the southeastern portion of the modern state of Massachusetts.
Founded by a group including separatists who later came to be known as
the Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony was, along with Jamestown, Virginia, one
of the earliest colonies to be founded by the English in North America
and the first sizable permanent English settlement in the New England
region. Aided by Squanto, a Native American, the colony was able to
establish a treaty with Chief Massasoit which helped to ensure the
colony's success. The colony played a central role in King Philip's
War, one of the earliest and bloodiest of the Indian Wars. Ultimately,
the colony was annexed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. Many of
the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of
American mythology, including the North American tradition known as
Thanksgiving and the monument known as Plymouth Rock.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
San Marino, the world's oldest constitutional republic, adopted its
written constitution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_San_Marino>
1856:
Officials of the Chinese Qing Dynasty arrested and imprisoned twelve
people aboard the Hong Kong-registered ship Arrow for suspected piracy
and smuggling, sparking the Second Opium War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War>
1871:
The Great Chicago Fire broke out in Chicago, destroying 17,500
buildings and leaving 90,000 people homeless within two days.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1871_Great_Chicago_Fire>
1918:
World War I: After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during the
Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, United States
Sergeant Alvin C. York led the seven remaining men on an attack against
a German machine gun nest, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132
others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York>
1932:
The Indian Air Force was founded as an auxiliary air force of the
Indian Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Air_Force>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
newfangled (adj):
Contemptibly modern, unfamiliar, or different
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/newfangled>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The year of jubilee has come;
Gather the gifts of Earth with equal hand;
Henceforth ye too may
share the birthright soil,
The corn, the wine, and all the harvest-home.
--Edmund Clarence Stedman
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Clarence_Stedman>
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