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The Mayflower Pilgrims

The Mayflower Pilgrims

Summary

16 SEPTEMBER 1620: 400 YEARS SINCE THE MAYFLOWER SET SAIL

On a blustery day in September 1620 a small ship, the Mayflower, set sail from the English port of Plymouth. Known to history as the Pilgrims, the passengers on board were beginning an adventure to find religious freedom, undeterred by the daunting prospect of establishing a colony in uncharted territory thousands of miles from home. They were successful. At least 10 million US citizens are their descendants.

This short edition is the essential guide to the fascinating story of the Mayflower – a project that changed history on both sides of the Atlantic. It is taken from the longer work, Making Haste from Babylon by renowned historian Nick Bunker.

About the author

Nick Bunker

Nick Bunker is the author of An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, Young Benjamin Franklin: the Birth of Ingenuity and Making Haste from Babylon: the Mayflower Pilgrims and their World. In 2015 An Empire on the Edge won the George Washington Prize in the United States and it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History. In 2010 Making Haste from Babylon was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. A graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, and Columbia University, Bunker lives in Lincolnshire with his wife Susan and their otterhound, Champion Teckelgarth Mercury.
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