The Pilgrims arrived in the New World during the winter, making it very difficult for them to find food and build shelter.

Already weakened by their two-month voyage, most of the passengers failed to survive the first few months in their new home.

Fortunately, native people called Wampanoag, or "eastern peoples," already lived in the Massachusetts Bay area. They shared their knowledge of local crops and navigation with the "coat-men," as they called the English, and helped the colonists survive.