Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony, situated around the port cities of Salem and Boston, was founded by the Massachusetts Bay Company, who established a theocratic government with the franchise limited to church members. The territory controlled by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions of the states of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Territory claimed, but never administered, by the colonial government extended as far west as the Pacific Ocean.
Growing estrangement between the colony and England resulted in the annulment of the company's charter on 18 June 1684. The Massachusetts Bay Colony remained an entity, however, until the substitution of royal government under the new name and charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which also merged the Plymouth Colony and Maine, became effective on 7 October 1691.