Introduction: New England, Puritans, and American History

Abstract

Captain John Smith—intrepid adventurer, swashbuckling soldier, prolific author, and notably the John Smith of Jamestown and Pocahontas fame—gave New England its name in his 1616 book entitled A Description of New England, which described his voyages along the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine two years earlier. Smith could not possibly have imagined that the name would stick for what is now nearly four hundred years; nor could he have foreseen that the word “Puritan” would forever describe New England’s founding years.