Written over a period of years by William Bradford, the leader of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, Of Plymouth Plantation is regarded as the most authoritative 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 the year 1647. The book ends with a list, written in 1651, of Mayflower passengers and what happened to them.