From 1641 to 1679, the colony of New Hampshire was simply a subdivision of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1679, however, King Charles II of England granted a charter and New Hampshire was officially a royal colony. (He did this partially due to the notion that the Massachusetts Bay Colony was becoming greedy with its land.) The colony was notably more tolerant than Massachusetts, with religious freedom for its citizens. Only Protestants could run for and hold public office, however. Socially, Charles II hoped that the colony would mirror England, and many families settled in the area. Like most other New England colonies, New Hampshire's primary sources of income were fishing, trading, fur, and timber. This stemmed largely from the available natural resources, which included dense forests and access to the ocean (and its considerable fish populations). Its conditions were also similar to the rest of New England; the weather was generally cold (especially because New Hampshire was the northernmost of the original thirteen colonies) and the soil was rocky. This led to the development of subsistence farming in the colony. Overall, the New Hampshire colony was similar to the rest of the New England colonies in terms of land, economics, and social structure, with the exception of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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