The Mayflower was the famousship that transported the English Separatists, better known as thePilgrims, fromSouthampton,England, toPlymouth,Massachusetts in 1620. For centuries its story has been told as though it was a simple story of simple people, pursuing religious freedom, yet has been distorted by the myth that it was an entirely American event, a myth that detaches it from the global conflicts in which its passengers were caught up. Before it became part of the prehistory of the American Republic, the Mayflower was in reality an episode - and a crucial one - in the creation of the British Empire, and of the new world order that was coming into being in the seventeenth century. Providence Their Guide shows how 'America' was invented by an unexpected alliance of unusual men and women. They were privateering English aristocrats, xenophobic politicians at Westminster and sectarian religious radicals. The Pilgrims believed that God's Providenc
