John Winthrop (12 January 1587/8 – 26 March 1649) was a wealthy English
Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in the founding of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, the first major settlement in what is now
New England after
Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of immigrants from England in 1630, and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years of existence. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "
city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments and religions of neighboring colonies.