History of Plymouth Plantation is regarded as the most authoritative and authentic account of the Pilgrims and the early years of the colony they founded. Written between 1630 and 1651, the journal describes the story of the Pilgrims from 1608, when they settled in the Dutch Republic on the European mainland, through the 1620 Mayflower voyage to the New World, until 1647. The book ends with a list, written in 1651, of Mayflower passengers and their whereabouts. William Bradford (1590-1657) was an English Separatist, one of the signatories to the Mayflower Compact and the second Governor of the Plymouth Colony.