The English colonizer and soldier Sir Ferdinando Gorges (1568-1647) was an important promoter of New England colonization.

Ferdinando Gorges's career covered the years from the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) to the surrender of Charles I (1645) during the English civil war. This was the era when English efforts at North American colonization became successful, and Gorges was a significant figure in that drama. While he never established a permanent settlement or profited financially from his endeavors, he founded Maine and kept the idea of colonization in New England alive.

Gorges was born into a prosperous landowning family in Dorset. Although he was an infant when his father died, Gorges received a good education and entered into a military career. He served in Holland against the Spanish and in France in support of Henry IV's struggle for the French throne. While in France he was knighted by the Earl...