In that region of the Rhine country known in those days as the German Palatinate, now a part of Bavaria, Protestants were being massacred by the troops of Louis of France, then engaged in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13) and in the zealous effort to extirpate heretics from the soil of Europe.

In 1708, by proclamation, Good Queen Anne offered protection to the persecuted Palatines and invited them to her dominions.

Twelve thousand of them went to England, where they were warmly received by the English.

But it was no slight task to settle twelve thousand immigrants of an alien speech in England and enable them to become independent and self-supporting.

A better solution of their problem lay in the Western World: The Germans needed homes and the Queen's overseas dominions needed colonists.