"Through A Babson Lens"

Pre 1606-1826

Indigenous America and European Explration before 1623
    Le Beauport
    The Archaeological Record
    The Pandemic and Tarrantine War
    
Settlement
    The Dorchester Company
    Incorporation
    The Blynman Canal
    King Phillips War
    Witch Hysteria

Indigenous America and European Exploration before 1623

While there is some historic evidence of short lived Norse exploration and settlement in North America about a thousand years ago, in general, the historic period begins with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. 

The term "discovery" in reference to Columbus is of course oxymoronic, in that indigenous people came to occupy the Americas 14,000 years before the arrival of Columbus. Even the term "prehistoric" in the western hemisphere is inaccurate because of the development of writing by the indigenous Olmec and  Mayan cultures in Central America.

Reagardless, in North America the Indegenous people created complex and vibrant cultures that ultimately suffered from the more advanced weapondry and naval power of the exploring and colony establishing Europeans.

During the Sixteenth Century American colonization and settlement was primarily Spanish. The discovery of gold and the abilty to convert the indigenous to Catholicism drove the expansion of power of the Spanish empire.

As the century ended other European nations seeking to rival the Spanish and to build their own wealth, increased  exploration and began colonizaion in  North America. The French established a trading post at Tadoussac in 1599  and a fort at Port Royal in 1605. After an earlier failure at Roanoke, the British esatblished a North American presence at Jamestown in 1607.

Contemporary Gloucester Notables

Fitz Henry Lane

Wikipedia Page

John J. Babson

Page of Note

Thomas Dalton

Wikipedia Page

Thomazine Younger

Page of Note