Strafford Bay Colony (Settlers of the New World Map Game)

The Strafford Bay Colony (1620 - Present) is an English settlement on the east coast of North America established in the seventeenth century, situated around Strafford Bay, which is situated north of the Colony of Flaadland and south of the London Company's colony of Blackwall.

Nunsee War
In 1659 the Nunsee War broke out between the colonies of Strafford Bay and the native Nunsee, a large tribe controlling the land directly west and southwest of Strafford Bay, as far south as the borders of Flaadland. The first phase of the war was contained to only a few skirmishes and raids, with full war not breaking out until 1662. Conflict first arose as a byproduct of John Radcliffe's expedition to the south, which was initially unrelated to the native tribes of the region.

During the turbulent period in the lead up to Thomas Wentworth's removal from the governorship in 1654, Radcliffe, a former explorer with military experience, had been appointed to one of the highest positions in the colonial military, tasked with defending the colony from the encroaching Parliamentarians. Guildford Slingsby had been tasked with defending the entrance into the bay and the eastern section of the colony, which eventually gave rise to Fort Providence and the settlement of Providence Island, while Radcliffe was tasked with the defense of the western half of the colony, including Weymouth. Nonetheless Wentworth would be deposed in 1654 and replaced by William Berkeley, however, both military commanders managed to preserve their commands.

Radcliffe managed to persuade the new governor to allow him to lead a military expedition to the southwest under the guise of pacifying the nearby native tribes. Eager to get rid of the Royalist-leaning military commander, Berkeley approved the expedition, and Radcliffe departed with a large band of mostly Royalist volunteers. In reality Radcliffe secretly also planned to patrol for Flaadlanders, as the Flaadland colony had perpetrated a raid against Strafford Bay earlier that same year, under the command of Neill Tery. As such Radcliffe planned to de facto extend the borders of the colony further south, as a deterrent and a reprisal against Flaadland, and secure this territory with a number of outposts in the region.

No further raids ever came to Strafford Bay, however. Flaadland proved satisfied with the colony after their change in leadership under Berkeley, and Tery would travel to the Borealian colonies instead, where he eventually became a notorious pirate against Nauset Bay and other settlements. Instead Radcliffe's marches south from Radcliffe Inlet only gained the animosity of the native Nunsee tribe, a powerful group that had previously cooperated with the English colonists.

In 1662 full scale war began and Radcliffe switched his tactics to a war of defense, hoping to stop the natives before they could threaten major towns in the colony. Francis Bennett, Radcliffe's Parliamentarian counterpart in the colonial military, would be sent at the head of the reinforcements, forcing the two political rivals to work together. Over the course of the next decade the colonists would wage war against the Nunsee and slowly secure the areas southwest of Weymouth and south of Radcliffe. Additionally in 1671 Governor Clerence of Flaadland dispatched a force under the command of Archibald Neivy to aid the Strafforders, entering Flaadland into the war.

Now fighting a war on two fronts the Nunsee finally capitulated by the end of 1671. Later that year the Treaty of Fort Stuart was signed, at one of Radcliffe's main forts in the south. The treaty guaranteed that the area between Weymouth and Radcliffe Inlet would be completely ceded to the Strafford Bay Colonists. The area between Radcliffe Inlet and Flaadland would be split between the two colonies, although natives were allowed to coexist in this territory as long as they accepted English sovereignty. The area west of both colonies meanwhile became recognized Nunsee territory.

Settlements

 * Strafford Peninsula - The area surrounded on the west by the Strafford Bay, on the north by the Congaratan River, and on the south by the Providence River.
 * Trenton (1621)
 * Weymouth (1622)
 * Mariapolis (1624)
 * Essex (1629)

Proprietary Colony (1620 - 1654)
The Strafford Bay Colony originally was chartered as a proprietary colony under the leadership of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. Although he nominally was the governor of the colony from 1620 to 1641, he never visited the colony during this time, and did not govern in person until after his exile to the colony began. In 1620 the colony was left instead to Wentworth's brother, George Wentworth, who was the first true governor of the colony. George Wentworth would serve as governor for the majority of 1620 to 1641, but on several occasions left the colony in the hands of a deputy.


 * Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1620 - 1641, absentee)
 * George Wentworth (1620 - 1633)
 * Sir Christopher Wandesford, 1st Baronet (1633 - 1635)
 * Henry Pendelton (1635 - 1637)
 * George Wentwoth (1637 - 1639)
 * Sir Thomas Roe (1639 - 1640)
 * George Wentwoth (1640 - 1641)
 * Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1641 - 1654, in person)
 * George Wentwoth (1645 - 1646)
 * Samuel Pepys (1651 - 1652)

Crown Colony (1654 - 1662)
During Thomas Wentworth's term as governor the English Civil War raged in Britain. Wentworth, a former adviser and friend of Charles I, was outspokenly in favor of the Royalist cause, and Strafford Bay became a haven for similarly minded Englishmen. This led to a tense period following Charles I's death, in which Parliament regarded Strafford Bay at times as a rebellious colony. This was not resolved until 1654, when Wentworth was removed by a Parliamentarian force sent to replace him, turning Strafford Bay into a crown colony.


 * John Berkeley (1654 - 1658)
 * Robert Clymer (1658 - 1662)

Proprietary Colony (1662 - Present)
After the restoration of Charles II to the English throne, the king rewarded the Royalists of Strafford Bay by restoring the colony to the Wentworths. Thomas Wentworth, now in his seventies, decided against governing personally once more. Although the colony would continue to be the property of the Wentworth family, Thomas Wentworth began a tradition in 1662 of having the colonial assembly in Trenton elect a governor, who then would have to be approved by Wentworth.


 * Thomas Moryson (1662 - 1664)
 * Samuel Pepys (1664 - 1665
 * Leonard Stone (1665 - 1668)
 * John Joseph (1668 - 1672)
 * Thomas Lawrence (1672 - 1675)
 * Edmund Fendall (1675 - 1680)
 * John Joseph (1677 - 1678)
 * William Harmon (1679)
 * William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (1681 - 1690)
 * Edward Stanley (1684 - 1686)
 * George Cooper (1688)
 * Thomas Barton (1688 - 1689)
 * Michael Warren (1690 - Present)