The History of the Americans

This is an encore presentation of our special Columbus Day episode, which originally dropped on October 12, 2021. It remains one of the most popular episodes of the History of the Americans. Last ye...

We are back in Virginia. Opechancanough’s attack of March 22, 1622, the day the sky fell, has knocked the English back on their heels, but not out of Virginia. In this episode, the English react, bot...

This episode snips off some loose ends. We examine Squanto’s ambiguous and controversial legacy, and look at a few interesting Pilgrim stories through the summer of 1623 that did not fit well into th...

By fall 1622, the new settlers sent by Thomas Weston – except those who were sick and remained in the care of the Pilgrims — left to settle in Wessagussett, twenty-two miles to the north of Plymouth a...

After some English killed one of Opechancanough’s most celebrated warriors, Nemattanew, in the belief that he had killed an English trader, the great chief Opechancanough reassured Sir George Yeardley...

Opechancanough, successor to paramount chief Powhatan, deserves to be remembered as one of the great indigenous leaders in American history, on the same rank as Massasoit, King Philip, Pontiac, Logan ...

It is the fall of 1621. After the show of force at Nemasket, the cementing of relations with Massasoit, and the three day feast we now regard as “the first Thanksgiving,” the Pilgrims confront enemie...

In the spring of 1621, the Pilgrims have met Samoset and Tisquantum, and were learning from Squanto to feed themselves. This they would be able to do within one growing season, something the settlers ...

“Welcome, Englishmen!” The Pilgrims had had been building houses and establishing defenses for Plymouth for three months before Samoset, an Abenaki sagamore representing the Wampanoag chief Massasoit,...

It is November 11, 1620. The Mayflower has anchored in the harbor at today’s Provincetown, Massachusetts. The passengers and crew of the Mayflower had been stuffed into the small ship for at least t...