The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony
The Pilgrims signed a self-government pact on board
In November 1620 the Mayflower brought 102 passengers, among them English Puritan Separatists, to the shores of New England. While still aboard, the men signed the Mayflower Compact on self-government. Half the colonists died in the first winter; the Wampanoag helped the rest survive. Their shared harvest feast of 1621 is traditionally seen as the first Thanksgiving.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 17th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1598 Edict of Nantes — 22 years earlier
- 1600 East India Company founded — 20 years earlier
- 1610 Galileo's telescopic discoveries — 10 years earlier
- 1618–1648 Thirty Years' War — 2 years earlier
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1598–1613 Time of Troubles — 22 years earlier
- 1612 Minin and Pozharsky liberate Moscow — 8 years earlier
- 1613 Election of Michael Romanov as Tsar — 7 years earlier
Africa
- 1624–1663 Nzinga becomes Queen of Ndongo — 4 years later
Asia
- 1600 Battle of Sekigahara — 20 years earlier
- 1632–1653 Building of the Taj Mahal — 12 years later
- 1644 Fall of the Ming, rise of the Qing — 24 years later
Alive at the time
- Galileo Galilei (aged 56)
- René Descartes (aged 24)
- Rembrandt (aged 14)
- James I (aged 54)
- Johannes Kepler (aged 49)
- Abbas the Great (aged 49)
- Nur Jahan (aged 43)
- Ferdinand II (aged 42)
- Tokugawa Hidetada (aged 41)
- Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba (aged 37)