Guest Post by Simon Black
In early 1657, a young farmer from southeastern England named John Washington boarded a small merchant vessel bound for the English colonies in North America.
Officially he was supposed to be part of a minor trade voyage to transport tobacco to the colonies.
But secretly John had no intention of ever returning home. He wanted to sail as far away from England as he could.
Britain in the 1657 was a pretty miserable place. A series of civil wars throughout the 1640s had left the country impoverished and chaotic, leading to the dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell.
Continue reading “When the “Lord Protector” turned out to be the worst tyrant of all”
