Massachusetts was first colonized by principally English Europeans in the early 17th century, and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Prior to English colonization of the area, it was inhabited by a variety of mainly Algonquian language indigenous tribes. The first permanent English settlement in New England was established in 1620 (after Jamestown, Virginia in 1607) with the founding of Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower. It was never large. A large-scale Puritan migration began in 1630 with the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and spawned the settlement of other New England colonies. Friction with the natives grew with the population, erupting in King Philip's War in the 1670s. Puritanism was the established religion and wa