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In the early 1600s, a few European explorers came to New England. Among them was Captain John Smith, who was famous for helping to found the Jamestown colony in Virginia. Smith landed on a small group of islands off the coast of New Hampshire in 1614. He originally named the largest island after himself—Smith Island—but today we know all of these islands as the Isles of Shoals. When Smith returned to England he wrote a book about what he had seen in New England and told his readers that there were more fish in New England waters than anyone could imagine. He also wrote about how beautiful the land was, how plentiful the trees and animals were, and how perfect it would be to settle there. His book encouraged many people to think about coming to New England.

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The Europeans who visited New England accidently brought with them diseases like small pox and chicken pox. Unfortunately, thousands of the Abenaki caught these diseases and became sick. Since the Abenaki were not used to European diseases, their bodies had no resistance to the infections. More than three-quarters of the Abenaki became sick and died from these diseases, and sometimes diseases wiped out entire villages of Native Americans. 

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The first permanent European settlement in New Hampshire was at Odiorne Point in Rye. A group of English settlers led by a man named David Thomson came to the area mainly to fish. They built stone houses because they planned to stay year-round, even through the winter. Other Englishmen soon joined them and made their own settlements along the coast of New Hampshire and eventually inland. 

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Although other Englishmen came to New Hampshire in the early 1600s, the founder of New Hampshire was a man named Captain John Mason. He named this land after his home county in England, Hampshire. Mason planned to bring his wife and newborn baby with him when he and a group of settlers came to the New World in 1635. They planned to make money from all the fish in the waters off New Hampshire’s coast. They also thought they could trade with the Native Americans for beaver pelts, which were very popular in England. Unfortunately, Mason died unexpectedly before leaving England. For nearly 100 years afterward, his heirs fought to protect their claim to New Hampshire.

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At more than 6,000 feet, Mount Washington is the tallest mountain in New England. The first person to climb it was an Englishman named Darby Field. The Abenaki had warned Field that it was dangerous to go to the top of Mount Washington because of “evil spirits,” but the real danger was the terrible weather conditions so high up. No one knows why Field was so determined to make such a difficult climb, although there were rumors at the time that there were precious gems, like diamonds, high up in the mountains. After Field's climb to the top, no one else seemed interested in Mount Washington until after the American Revolution, more than 100 years later. 

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For most of the 1600s, the leader of the Abenaki in southern New Hampshire was a man named Passaconaway. He was the sachem, or chief, of the Pennacook tribe, which included as many as 12,000 people. Passaconaway was greatly respected by his people, and many believed he had all sorts of mystical powers to summon huge storms and talk to animals like bears. Although no one knows when Passaconaway was born, he was rumored to be over 100 years old when he stepped down as leader to his people. Passaconaway believed the Abenaki should live with the English settlers in peace. In his last speech, he urged his people to work with the English. 

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In the 1600s, European settlers to New Hampshire were from England. In 1719, a new group of settlers came here. They were known as the Scots-Irish. A group of 16 families founded a settlement in Nutfield, which later became the town of Londonderry. Over the next several decades, thousands of Scots-Irish came to New England, and many of them passed through Nutfield as they decided where to live. New Hampshire has a strong tradition of Scots-Irish culture, and many people here are descended from the Scots-Irish. The Scots-Irish in Londonderry also planted the first potatoes in North America. 

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When New Hampshire was first founded, it shared a government with Massachusetts. They both had the same governor, and at one point, there was even talk about making all of New Hampshire a county in Massachusetts! Most people living in New Hampshire did not want to be part of Massachusetts, and they asked King George II of England to keep them separate and give them their own governor. The king agreed and appointed Benning Wentworth the governor of New Hampshire. Wentworth was from an old New Hampshire family, and under his rule, New Hampshire became completely separate from Massachusetts. 

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By the 1760s, many people in New Hampshire—and America—were getting tired of being British colonies and having to pay taxes to the British government. In 1765, the British imposed a new tax called the Stamp Act, which put a tax on books, newspapers, documents, playing cards, and anything made of paper. People all over America protested against the new tax, including in Portsmouth, which was the biggest city in New Hampshire at that time. This protest was an important first step in convincing the people of New Hampshire that they needed to be independent from Great Britain.  

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One of the British laws that the people of New Hampshire did not like involved pine trees! The British government declared that all the big pine trees in New Hampshire belonged to the king, who used them as ships’ masts for the British navy. Many people in New Hampshire ignored the law, but then a group of people in Goffstown and Weare got caught cutting down some big pine trees for their own use. They had to pay a fine for breaking the law. Some of them paid the fine, but the people living in Weare refused to pay it. When the sheriff came to arrest them, they ran him out of town in the middle of the night. This became known as the Pine Tree Riot. It is an example of how the people of New Hampshire were frustrated by being under British rule.

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In December 1774, an American patriot named Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to warn his friends that the British army was going to send more soldiers and supplies to Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth Harbor. The Americans wanted to keep the British army out of New Hampshire, so they captured Fort William and Mary from the few British soldiers who were stationed there. This action was the first conflict between the Americans and the British in what would become known as the American Revolution.