Great Migration of the Puritans

Timeline

1. 1630Massachusetts Bay · New EnglandBetween April and November 1630, John Winthrop led the "Winthrop Fleet" of 11 ships and about 700 Puritans across the Atlantic to Massachusetts Bay. Winthrop delivered aboard ship the famous sermon "A Model of Christian Charity," likening the New England colony to a "city upon a hill," setting the religious and spiritual tone of the Great Migration.
2. 1631–1640New England colonies · New EnglandThe years 1631 to 1640 were the peak of the Great Migration, with thousands of English Puritans arriving in New England each year and founding towns such as Boston and Salem in Massachusetts Bay and surrounding areas. The influx of immigrants drove the establishment of a divinity school (Harvard College, 1636) and the drafting of the Fundamental Orders (1639); the colonial population grew rapidly from several thousand to over twenty thousand, forming a fairly systematic Puritan social order.
3. 1642England · British IslesWith the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 (between King Charles I and Parliament), Puritans gained greater political space at home, the incentive to move to New England greatly diminished, and the Great Migration essentially ended. By then New England had some 20,000 English settlers, with several self-governing colonial communities firmly established, and Puritan cultural influence continuing to this day.