THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, April 12, 2024 Page 3 375th anniversary of Malden’s incorporation as a town – explorers and cofounders By Inna Babitskaya alden is one of the most ancient cities in Massachusetts, New England and the USA. It was incorporated as a town 375 years ago, on May 2, 1649. But the fi rst English settlers in the area of a future Malden appeared 400 years ago, in 1624. An exploration of the future state of Massachusetts began even 10 years earlier (in 1614/15) – by the famous mercenary, adventurer and cofounder of Virginia’s colony Captain John Smith (1580–1631), who can be considered the godfather of New England. When Smith saw the entrance M to Boston Harbor, he erroneously decided that it was the estuary of a large water artery and named it Charles River, in honor of the Prince of Wales and the future king Charles I. Also, the prince’s name was given to the fi rst settlement on the south bank of the Charles River. As he mentioned in the “Advertisements for the Inclimate of that region, underlining its trading and strategic imANNIVERSARY | SEE PAGE 17 Captain John Smith Sir Ferdinando Gorges divers and sundry sorts, in some places very black and fat, in others good clay, sand and gravel, the superfi cies neither too fl at in plains, nor too high in hills.” Smith named the whole discovered territory “New England.” This land fascinated the experienced traveler, who wrote in his book “A Description of New England” (1616) that “the country of Massachusetts is the paradise of all those parts, for here are many isles, all planted with corn, groves, mulberries, salvage gardens, and good harbors.” He described the inhabitants, fauna, fl ora, soil and “America” (by Ferdinando Gorges) Captain John Smith’s “The General Historie” experienced Planters of New England,” “I took the fairest reach of this bay for a river... that fair channel to divide itself into so many fair branches as made forty or fi fty pleasant islands within that excellent bay, where the land is of Captain John Smith’s “A Description of New England” Captain John Smith’s map of New England
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