New Hampshire was founded in 1622 when John Mason and Ferdinando Gorges were given a land grant by the Council for New England. Only three years after the Pilgrim's landed at Plymouth, the first settlers arrived near present-day Portsmouth in 1623. They were fisherman. Before long, the settlers built a fort and fish-processing buildings. They named the area Pannaway Plantation. Eventually, some of the settlers moved from Pannaway Plantation and in 1629, founded the settlement of Strawbery Banke. Strawbery Bank would eventually become Portsmouth.

In 1641, the Massachusetts colony claimed the territory that was New Hampshire. New Hampshire became known as the "Upper Province" of Massachusetts. It remained the Upper Province until 1679 when it became a "Royal Province". Once again, it was reunited with Massachusetts in 1698. Finally, in 1741, New Hampshire gained its independence and elected its own governor - Benning Wentworth, who governed the colony until 1766.