The history of Boston is rich and glorious owing to manifold reasons. In 1629, Reverend William Blackstone was the first English immigrant who settled in Boston. The next year John Winthrop and his Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony settled at Boston. At that time this location was called Shawmut by the local Algonquin inhabitants.
On September 17, 1630, Winthrop decided to shift to Shawmut permanently and renamed it as Boston.
Until 1664, the church members controlled citizenship in Massachusetts. Rebels like Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were banished by the church. Despite these facts, representative institutions were establishing in the colony laying the stone for its future as an established democratic nation.
For the next two centuries, Puritan way of life was more prevalent in Boston. It emerged as a center for education and learning with the arrival of legendary theologians and statesmen. The famous educational institutions such as the Boston Latin School and Harvard University were established during this period.
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In 1639, the first printing press was constructed in the colonies by Stephen Daye.
Some of the major historical events of Boston are the Stamp Act of 1765, the Tea Act of 1773 and the Boston Tea Party. The Townsend Acts of 1767 played a big role in the Boston history. It led to the Boston Massacre. The British took action against the defiant acts by closing the ports and reorganization of more troops to control the rebels. On April 18, 1775, British troops departed to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock in the towns of Lexington and Concord. The revolutionary Lexington Green was shot dead resulting in the beginning of American Revolution. Two months later when the Battle of Bunker Hill was over, George Washington was called to Boston to take control of the rebel army.
The Boston manufacturers were benefited from the Civil War as they produced blankets, shoes, weapons, and other articles for the troops. Boston also actively participated in the abolitionist movement. The late 19th century was a major turning point in the history of Boston as it established itself as the greatest industrial city.
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