Among the various events recorded in the history of past ages, there are
few more interesting and important than the discovery of the western
world. By it a large field for adventures, and a new source of power,
opulence and grandeur, opened to European nations. To obtain a share of
the vast territories in the west became an object of ambition to many of
them; but for this purpose, the maritime and commercial states possessed
the greatest advantages. Having first discovered the country, with
facility they transported people to it, settled colonies there, and in
process of time shared among them the extensive wilderness.

[Sidenote] Most men pleased with the history of their ancestors.

All accounts relating to these settlements afford pleasure to curious and
ingenious minds, in what quarter of the globe soever they live; but to
the posterity of the first adventurers they must be peculiarly
acceptable. In the lives of our ancestors we become parties concerned;
and when we behold them braving the horrors of the desert, and
surmounting every difficulty from a burning climate, a thick forest, and
savage neighbours, we admire their courage, and are astonished at their
perseverance. We are pleased with every danger they escaped, and wish to
see even the most minute events, relating to the rise and progress of
their little communities, placed before us in the most full and
conspicuous light. The world has not yet been favoured with a particular
history of all these colonies: many events respecting some of them lie
buried in darkness and oblivion. As we have had an opportunity of
acquiring some knowledge of one of the most valuable and flourishing of
the British settlements in that quarter, we propose to present the world
with a particular, but imperfect, detail of its most memorable and
important transactions.