If settlers to North America were escaping England, why were the colonies named after British places?
Many early settlers were not escaping they went to seek their fortune and often had financial backing from the powers that be in England .The Duke of York for instance invested large sums to purchase land from the Dutch thus New Amsterdam became New York and Albany the state capitol of New York state is named for his other title the Duke of Albany.the colonies were ruled by England and though the English did cause people to go for religious reasons the religious groups themselves were often extreme punishing people severely if they didn’t observe the particular religion in particular colonies.
