The New Hampshire Colony was the product of several English land grants dating from 1623 to 1680, and for much of its colonial history was subject to the Massachusetts Colony and its leadership in Boston.

The colony's first settlements were at Little Harbor , Dover, Portsmouth and Exeter. The settlement at Exeter was founded in 1638 by John Wheelright , a disciple of Anne Hutchinson. These towns agreed to unite in 1639 and in 1641 agreed to join with Massachusetts Colony. The crown set New Hampshire apart in 1679 (as part of King Charles II's power grab), reunited it with Massachusetts again in 1688, and separated it out one last time in 1691, at which point it became the royal Province of New Hampshire.

New Hampshire did not get its own colonial governor until 1741.

The disputed New Hampshire Grants territory (New Hampshire claimed it, a judge awarded it to New York) later became the state of Vermont.

See: List of Colonial Governors of New Hampshire