Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the United States. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England.Massachusetts was a site of early English colonization: the Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, and in 1630 the Massachusetts Bay Colony, taking its name from the indigenous Massachusett people, established settlements in Boston and Salem.