In 1606 Pilgrims left England to start their own church in what European Country?

Answer 1

They disagreed with the religious teachings of the Church of England. In fact, the Pilgrims were members of a group of people called Separatists. These people had different beliefs than the rest of the English people. In 1606, they formed their own church in a small village called Scrooby. At this time, the Church of England was the same as the Government of England. In other words, King James I was the head of both the country and the church. Not belonging to the church meant not obeying the king. This was treason. Try to imagine that our new president told us we have to go to his church. If we refused we would go to jail, if we started our own church we could be put to death. This was the religious intolerance that the Separatists were living with.

So the Pilgrims left England, in search of a safe place to practice their religion. They chose to go to Holland but that was not easy either they were arrested for trying to leave, finally they got out in secret and found a home in Leiden.

For 12 years, they worshipped under their pastor, John Robinson. But the Pilgrims were also poor. Many of them were forced to work difficult jobs all day long, for little money. They had found religious peace in Holland, but they were making barely enough money to survive. There children could not speak English but spoke the language of the land Dutch. They did not want to be Dutch.But what to do? They finally decided to sail to North America.

They didn't want to join the Jamestown colony, founded in 1607, because they feared that the English people there would treat them badly because of their religious beliefs. Life in Jamestown was hard many people starved in this colony and were attacked by Native American tribes that saw the English as intruders.

So the Pilgrims settled on the northern part of the Virginia Territory, at the mouth of the Hudson River (near what is now New York). Happily, the Pilgrims found businesspeople who were willing to give them money in exchange for a share of the profits made in America. The Pilgrims bought a small ship called the Speedwell and sailed back to England. They stayed long enough to get more colonists and a larger ship, the Mayflower. They set sail from Southampton on August 5, 1620.