The Connecticut colony was one of the original 13 colonies located on the Atlantic coast of North America. Establishing a new colony was never easy, and the founding of the Connecticut colony began in 1636 when the Dutch established the first trading post in the Connecticut River Valley, now known as Hartford. The move to the valley was part of a general move out of the Massachusetts colony, and Pequot Indian settlements west of the Connecticut River were an important consideration. The Puritan experiment went ahead, creating new colonies similar to Massachusetts Bay. Thomas Hooker and other settlers founded the Connecticut colony in 1636 in Hartford.
John Winthrop the Younger of New London played an important role in consolidating separate settlements into a single colony on the Connecticut River. From 1703 to 1875, Connecticut had two capitals; General Assembly sessions met alternately in Hartford and New Haven. The name of the colony of Connecticut is derived from a native indigenous phrase meaning “river whose water is driven by tides or winds”. In 1637, under the leadership of John Davenport, a second colony formed in the Connecticut River Valley, which revolved around the harbor of New Haven. William Leete of Guilford served as governor of the New Haven colony before its merger into Connecticut, and was also governor of Connecticut after Winthrop's death in 1637. The Colonial Connecticut article provides important information and interesting facts about Colonial Connecticut, including its history, date of establishment, geography, jobs, system of government, religion, commerce and economy.
The economy was based on wood products, fur trade, maple syrup, copper, livestock products, horses, rum, whiskey and beer. Industries and commerce in the New England colonies included fish, whale products, transportation, shipbuilding and more. The first settlement of Europeans in colonial Connecticut was made in 1633 by Dutch settlers on the site of present-day Hartford. Colonial Connecticut's economy was based on manufacturing and industries such as shipbuilding and the manufacture and export of rum.