After establishing its independence from Spain, the Dutch Republic enjoyed a period of economic prosperity which prompted settlement ventures in North America. The foundation of New Amsterdam and New Netherland in the 1620s opened a period of Dutch control over the area which would eventually become New York and laid the groundwork for the financial preeminence of modern New York City.

After disputes over trade and territorial control, the English settlers of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut prosecuted a war of annihilation against the Pequot and established a realm of domination in New England by 1640. 

As more and more settlers arrived in Massachusetts, a series of religious and political disputes saw the new settlements of Connecticut and Rhode Island were founded in New England and revolutionary governmental frameworks such as the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and Rhode Island's policy of religious toleration rose with them.

In the midst of persecution at the hands of the Crown and the Church of England, thousands of Puritans embarked for North America and founded a group of settlements in Massachusetts, including the harbor city of Boston.

Following the pattern of their fellow settlers in Virginia, the Pilgrims allied themselves with Indigenous groups and farmed their way to a sustainable settlement. To give thanks for that sustainability and their newfound alliances, they partnered with the Wampanoag to celebrate the First Thanksgiving in the Fall of 1621.

After the Crown began to quell religious dissent, the Scrooby Congregation of Separatists fled England, first to the Netherlands, and finally to North America. There, they established the first permanent settlement in New England and, for seeking a place to practice their faith, became known to us as the Pilgrims.

The Headright System and the beginnings of African slavery cemented the tobacco economy while the House of Burgesses met for the first time. Several years later, though, conflict with the Indians exposed the Company's ineffectiveness, and Virginia became a royal colony.

An introduction to the podcast's narrative, vision, and outline.