The Popham Colony — The First English Colony in New England

The Plymouth Company played a major role in the Popham Colony. The members financed the second expedition to North America, which was led by George Popham, nephew of Sir John Popham, and Admiral Raleigh Gilbert. The company had a charter to exploit the northern part of the region, while the southern part was assigned to the London Company. The Plymouth Company’s objective was to establish a colony at a latitude of about 43 degrees north. The failure of the Popham Colony led to the demise of the Plymouth Company. However, the company was revived by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others in 1620 as the Plymouth Council for New England.

Popham Colony was established as a commercial venture to take advantage of the resources of the New World and to find a northern route to the Pacific Ocean — also known as the “Northwest Passage.” The Plymouth Company, one of the two English joint-stock companies that had been granted a charter by King James I, hoped to profit from the fur trade, timber, and fish in the area around present-day Maine and also hoped to find gold and other precious metals.

The Popham Colony was also referred to as “Sagadahoc” because it was located on the Sagadahoc River — now known as the Kennebec River — in Maine, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The term Sagahadoc is derived from the Native American language and means “the mouth of big river.” It was used by early European explorers to refer to the region and eventually became associated with the Popham Colony due to its location on the river.

The key figures involved in the establishment of the Popham Colony were Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, military governor of Plymouth, and George Popham, Sir John Popham’s nephew, who was appointed as the first president of the colony.

Sir Ferdinando Gorges was involved in the establishment of Popham Colony as one of its financial backers. He was also a member of the Plymouth Company, which had been granted a royal charter by James I to establish colonies in the region of North America between the 38th and 45th parallels. As a governor of Plymouth, Gorges had been involved in the promotion of previous explorations of North America, and he saw the colony at Popham as an opportunity to further expand English interests in the New World. Along with Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, Gorges helped finance the expedition to Popham Colony and was one of the leading figures behind its establishment. Despite the failure of the colony, Gorges remained committed to the idea of English settlement in North America and continued to support further expeditions to the region.

The Zuniga Dispatch from London contained two maps documenting British efforts aimed at planting colonies uncomfortably close to the Spanish domains in the New World. The first was a general sketch of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, where the British colony of Jamestown was underway. The other was a detailed plan of Fort St George, drawn by John Hunt, at what has become known as the Popham Colony on the Kennebec River of Maine. Although the maps were initially sent to Spain in an attempt to protect Spanish interests in North America from encroachment by the British, they eventually ended up in the royal archives in Simancas, where they remained hidden for nearly 300 years. When Hunt’s map was found, it identified the location of Popham Colony, allowing archaeologists to explore the site.