马萨诸塞州小档案：
人口：约600万
面积：约21，385平方公里，排名第45位
州府：波士顿Boston
马萨诸塞州，是美国独立时13州之一。本州州名来自印第安语，其意义是“大丘陵区”Large Hill－Place。
1620年，英国始向本州殖民。1788年2月6日成为美国旧13州中之第6州。本州别名，叫做“海湾之州”Bay State或“老殖民地”Old Colony State。以“五月花”May flower为州花。本州箴言：“我们用刀剑争取和平，我们所要的，是在自由之下的和平。”By the Sword We seek Peace，But Peace Only Under Liberty。
波士顿Boston滨马萨诸塞湾，它是本州州府。这是新英格兰区内第一大都市兼第一大商港。电子工业极盛。市内最新而又最高的建筑物只有60层。市内及附近大专院校共有52所之多。附近大飞机场，叫做罗干国际机场Logan International airport。
本州特征有三：第一，多学府。本州人口虽只有500多万，大专学校却有一百数十所。其中有两所，世界著名。一为哈佛大学Harvard University；另一是麻省理工学院Massachu setts Institute of Technology。前者致力于理论科学；后者致力于应用科学。这两个学院都设在波士顿以西之剑桥Cambridge。哈大创于1636年，现今有学生2万多。麻院创于1861年，设备极新。此外，尚有麻州大学University of Massachusetts，创于1863年，地点在阿模斯特Amherst；波士顿大学创于1869年，地点在波士顿。第二，美国独立之战，本州为开始之地，且为领导地区。第三，波士顿港口现在是新英格兰第一大港。在殖民地时期内，它是北美洲第一大港兼为渔港。近海产鳕鱼甚富。
主要物产是马铃薯、牛奶、肉牛、猪、肉鸡、苹果及蔓橘cranberry。沿海产鳕鱼及比目鱼。
Introduction简介
Four themes dominate the history of this small but influential state：the importance of individual and personal ******* and liberty，mercantile（商业的）activity and entrepreneurship，inventiveness，and industrial genius（天才），and pioneering social action．
The pre－European population of Massachusetts was a small number of relatively independent native American tribes．About 30，000Indians from the Algonquian（阿尔冈琴语系（北美印第安语言））tribes lived in the area．When the Pilgrims（朝拜者）arrived in 1620，many had already died of diseases brought to America from the Europeans．Only 7，000Native Americans remained in Massachusetts at that time．
Early European Exploration and Colonization The coast of what is now Massachusetts was probably skirted（环绕）by Norsemen in the 11th century，but in the late 16th century，European ships explored the New England（新英格兰）coast，led by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524and Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602．Their explorations were based in part upon the information of Europeans on fishing voyages who had reached North America during the 16th century．
Interest in the commercial exploitation of New England grew in Europe，especially in England．The first permanent（永久的）settlers in Massachusetts，however，were not fortune hunters but the religious group known as the Pilgrims，whose first land－fall was Cape Cod rather than their original Virginia destination．
In December 1620they landed at Plymouth（普利茅斯（英国港市）），where they established a colony according to terms drawn up in the Mayflower Compact before debarking（登岸）．Their first governor，John Carver，died the next year，but under his successor，William Bradford，the Plymouth Colony took firm hold．Weathering（经受住）early difficulties，the colony eventually prospered（成功）．The Pilgrims were soon followed by other English settlers．The Dorchester（多尔切斯特［英国英格兰南部城市］（多塞特郡首府））Company founded a colony at Gloucester（（英国）格洛斯特硬干酪）（1623）on Cape Ann and，after Gloucester’s failure，at Naumkeag（Salem，1626）．In 1628a party of Puritans led by John Endecott settled at Salem（塞伦）under the auspices of（由……赞助或主办）the New England Company．
In 1629the New England Company was reorganized（改造）as the Massachusetts Bay Company after receiving a more secure patent（专利权，执照）from the crown．In 1630John Winthrop led the first large Puritan migration from England（900settlers on 11ships）．Boston supplanted（代替）Salem as capital of the colony，and Winthrop replaced Endecott as governor．Winthrop and，together with cleric（牧师，传教士）John Cotton，dominated its affairs for the next two decades．Puritanism was the overriding（最重要的；高于一切的）religiopolitical（宗教和政治的）force in the Bay Colony，whose leaders sought to establish a Bible commonwealth．
Citizenship（called freemanship）was restricted（until 1664）to church members．Religious dissenters（反对者），most notably Anne Hutchinson，and Roger Williams，were banished（流放，驱逐）from the colony．Within the framework of religious restriction，however，the colony early developed representative institutions．
In 1632the freemen gained the right to elect the governor directly，and in 1634the freemen of each town won the right to send deputies to the General Court．Throughout this early period new immigrants arrived，settling along the coast and a short distance inland．Farming，lumbering（木材业），and fishing were the principal occupations．Native American resentment（怨恨，愤恨）of the Puritan presence and ovement into the interior resulted in the Pequot War of 1637，after which the four Puritan colonies（Massachusetts Bay，Plymouth，Connecticut，and New Haven）formed the New England Confederation，the first voluntary union of American colonies．In 1675－1676，the confederation（联邦）broke the power of the Native Americans of southern New England in King Philip’s War．In the course of the French and Indian Wars ，however，frontier settlements such as Deerfield were devastated（毁坏）．
In 1643the Bay Colony formed the New England Confederation with Plymouth，Connecticut，and New Haven colonies to coordinate defense．The confederation acted most effectively during King Philip’s War（1675－1676）．Continual disagree ments arose between the colonists and the English government，especially after the restoration（恢复）of the English monarchy in 1660．