The Mayflower Pilgrims hurried ashore at Plymouth partly because of beer.

1620

Governor Bradford wrote that supplies were running low, “especially our beer”, and the crew were saving the rest for the voyage home.

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The event

• The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony1620 · Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. 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.

17th century

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