PLYMOUTH COLONY, in full The Colony of New Plymouth, colony founded in the New World by the Pilgrim Fathers. The foundation of this colony was one of the major events in the early history of the American colonies. In the reign of Elizabeth I, queen of England, one of the sects of Puritans known as Brownists separated from the new Protestant Church of England and after much persecution took refuge in the Netherlands. They finally determined to immigrate to America. A group of London investors financed them in exchange for most of their produce from America during their first six years. Their ship, the Mayflower, taking on many other passengers to fill the boat, sailed from Plymouth, England, for America on Sept. 16, 1620. When they reached the American coast, strong winds drove the Mayflower into Provincetown Harbor, at the end of Cape Cod. They wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, forming the first constitutional American political democracy. After some explor ation they settled on the site of what is now Plymouth, Mass. The Plymouth Colony later united with other New England colonies to form the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
The town of Little Compton, Rhode Island was founded by a band of explorers from Plymouth Colony seeking to expand their settlement along the Massachusetts coastline. The land they chose, some twenty square miles situated on a peninsula sixty miles southwest of present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, was originally named Sakonnet (after the local Sogkonnite tribe of Indians).
In 1682, Sakonnet was incorporated by Plymouth Colony and renamed Little Compton. In January 1746/47, Little Compton became an incorporated town of the state of Rhode Island, pursuant to a royal decree, and shortly thereafter was annexed to Newport County.