Exploration and Settlement | Were The Pilgrims Explorers?
Were the Pilgrims explorers?
The Pilgrims were not explorers. Instead, they were settlers who sought religious freedom and self-government in the New World (the European term for North and South America). Since they had embarked on a religious journey, they called themselves Pilgrims. Nevertheless, they weathered some of the same challenges that confronted even the most experienced explorers in the New World.
The Pilgrims were Separatists, that is, Protestants (members of a non-Catholic Christian faith) who separated from the Church of England (the official church of Great Britain). In 1609 they fled their home in Scrooby, England, settling in Holland. They did not want their children to be assimilated into Dutch culture, so they decided to start their own community in America. In 1620, after a sixty-six-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower, the settlers—only thirty-five of whom were Pilgrims,...
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