The journey of the first English settlers to North America was a very difficult and challenging time. The settlers did not have many resources available during the trip and this helped the development of numerous diseases that nearly wiped out pilgrims to their destination, North America.
Explanation:
The so-called pilgrims fathers were the first Protestant Englishmen to emigrate to North America and found the first colonies there, which a posteriori gave rise to the United States of America. These immigrants shared the Puritan faith (resulting from Calvinism that developed in England) and, like English Catholics, were persecuted in the seventeenth century by the Anglican absolutist monarchy. These persecutions eventually drove them out of British rule. The ship used for the pilgrims' voyage was called Mayflower. In all, the ship carried about 102 passengers and 25 crew.
The Mayflower set sail from England on September 6, 1620 and sailed eighty days across the Atlantic Ocean until it landed in Cape Cod Bay, which is in the present state of Massachusetts. The ship remained moored in this bay for another two months, waiting for winter to pass. During this time, due to lack of resources and poor hygiene conditions in an inhospitable environment, many diseases affected the passengers. Of the 102 on board, 53 survived. Their leaders were John Robinson, William Brewster and William Bradfort.
It was also on board the ship that the immigrants drafted the so-called Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 men. This document outlined rules to follow when they were finally on land, settled in the colony. As winter passed, the Mayflower survivors landed in the region known today as Plymouth and founded a city, which still exists today. The following year, during the winter, immigrants already settled as settlers decided to celebrate their survival and arrival in the “new world”. This commemoration began what is now known as Thanksgiving, which is celebrated every Wednesday Thursday of November, as historian Leandro Karnal states:
