 Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Separatists initially known as the Brownist Emigration and Anglicans , who came to be known as the Pilgrims . It was one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America , along with Jamestown and other settlements in Virginia , and the first sizable permanent English settlement in the New England region . The colony was able to establish a treaty with Chief Massasoit which helped to ensure its success ; in this , they were aided by Squanto , a Native American of the Patuxet people . It played a central role in King Philip 's War ( 1675 @-@ 1678 ) , one of the earliest of the Indian Wars . Ultimately , the colony was merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other territories in 1691 to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay . 
