Settling New Hampshire, 1600–1720
The
17th century was a period of great change for New Hampshire. English
settlers arrived and created communities that relied on gathering the
natural resources around them and shipping them back to Europe. Life for the
Abenaki changed a great deal once the English arrived, as the Abenaki were pushed off their land by the English. Sometimes the Abenaki and the English worked together, and sometimes they fought one another as these two
cultures met and clashed. By the early
18th century, many of the Abenaki had left this area, and New Hampshire had become a
colony of Great Britain, with four big settlements for the English migrants.
As you learn more about the settling of New Hampshire, think about the following questions:
- How were the Abenaki impacted by the arrival of the Europeans?
- What did the explorers find when they first encountered the land?
- Why did the English settle New Hampshire?
- What was life like in the early English settlements?