It was established in 1620 and founded by William Bradford. It was settled by families and colonized for religious freedom. They grew food, fish, and sold timber. The climate wasn’t as good for really growing things. The work was done by family members. They also had farms but were smaller due to the Head Right System because it encouraged people to bring lots of people over to get big plantations. They had a self-government with the Mayflower Compact, which they agreed to obey all laws. Also, they had self- governing towns ran by white male church members. In their community, people lived in towns. Their towns had to have a church and often a school. In their town, everyone had to help in some way and by the mid-1600s, the average life expectancy was 60.
Overall, starting a colony was very difficult for many reasons such as, dealing with the environment, facing attacks from the Natives, diseases, and starvation. There were lots of obstacles both colonies had to overcome; once over that hump, both colonies started to