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The first Europeans to enter the area were the members of the 1614 exepedition of Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, who sailed through Long Island SoundGuilford, Connecticut Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean and various rivers in the United States. It lies between the coast of Connecticut to the north and Long Island to the south. On the extreme western end, it is bounded on the north and up the Connecticut RiverMassachusetts The Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through Western Massachusetts and central Connecticut into Lon to present-day HartfordHartford is the capital of the state of Connecticut, in Hartford County. It is located on the Connecticut River, near the center of the state. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 121,578. It is the second largest city in the state, after, encounting the PequotThe Pequot were a tribe or nation of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut, and spoke a variety of the Algonquian language. The tribe was virtually eliminated in the Pequot War of 1637. Modern remnants surviv people who lived in the area. By the 1620sCenturies: 16th century 17th century 18th century Decades: 1570s 1580s 1590s 1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s 1660s 1670s Years: 1620 1621 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 Events and Trends Permanent Dutch settlement of New York Bay and the Huds, Dutch traders from New AmsterdamThis article is about the settlement in present-day New York City. For alternate usages, see New Amsterdam (disambiguation 20th century on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan recall the Dutch origins of the city. The original 17th century architecture of New established fur tradingThe fur trade was a huge part in the early economic development of North America. European traders and trappers explored the continent and established relationships with local Native American communities in order to obtain the best pelts. Beaver was espec posts along the Connecticut River.
The rival English had simultaneously established the Massachusetts Bay ColonyThe Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called by the name Massachusetts Bay Company for the institution that founded it) was the direct predecessor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and then the state of Massachusetts. The colony was established under. King James I of England granted the Earl of Warwick, president of the Council for New England, the right to settle the area west of Narragansett Bay to the Pacific Ocean. In 1631, the Earl of Warwick conveyed the grant to 15 Puritan lords in England as refuge in North America in case the Puritan Revolution failed. The patentees included William Fiennes , Viscount Saye and Sele, as well as Lord Brooke , and Colonel George Fenwick . In 1635, the patentees commissioned John Withrop, Jr. , son of the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as "Governor of River Colony".
Winthrop arrived in Boston in October 1635 and learned that the Dutch were planning to occupy the mouth of the Connecticut River at a place called Pasbeshauke, meaning "place at the mouth of the river" in the Algonquian language. To counter the Dutch, Winthrop sent a small bark to the mouth of the Connecticut with 20 carpenters and other workmen under the leadership of Lieutenant Edward Gibbons and Sergeant Simon Willard. The expedition landed near the mouth of the river, on the west bank in present-day Old Saybrook, on November 24, 1635 and located the Dutch coat of arms nailed on a tree. They tore down the coat of arms and replaced it with a shield painted with a grinning face. They established a battery of cannon and built a small fort. When the Dutch ship returned several days later, they sighted the cannon and the English ships and withdrew. Winthrop renamed the point "Point Sayebrooke" in honor of Fiennes (Viscount Saye) and Lord Brooke.
The first English settlers arrived in 1636. Clergyman Thomas Hooker led 100 settlers with 130 head of cattle in a trek from Newtown (now Cambridge) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and started their settlement just north of the old Dutch fort at Hartford. In 1637 the three Connecticut River towns ( Hartford, Weathersfield, and Windsor) set up a collective government in order to fight the Pequot War.
In 1638 the towns drew up their Fundamental Orders, setting out the principles, powers, and structure of the government (these were adopted by the Connecticut council on January 14, 1639). The Connecticut Colony received a royal charter in 1662 and became an official crown colony.
The New Haven Colony was a separate entity; it was merged into the Connecticut Colony in January 5, 1665.
See also: History of Connecticut, List of Governors of Connecticut