New Haven Colony

New Haven Colony was an English colony on the north shore of Long Island Sound, founded in 1638 by Puritans led by the minister John Davenport and the merchant Theophilus Eaton. The settlers purchased land from the Quinnipiac and laid out a strict biblical commonwealth around a central green, with church membership controlling political rights. The colony never obtained a royal charter, which left its legal title insecure. Its agriculture was poor, its trade modest and its location isolated, and although it planted outposts in what are now New York, New Jersey and Delaware, these brought more disputes than profit. New Haven sheltered regicides of Charles I after the Restoration, worsening relations with England. In 1664 the colony was absorbed into the more prosperous Connecticut Colony, and New Haven retained a separate identity as a town. It later served as co-capital of Connecticut until 1875 and became the seat of Yale College.