The Molotschna Colony was founded by 193 Danziger Old Flemish Mennonite families from the Vistula delta in Polish-Prussia, who arrived at the Chortitza (Old) Colony on the Dnieper River in Fall of 1803. In the Spring of 1804 the first nine villages were laid out along the banks of the Molotschna River some 100 km. to the southeast. Another 165 families came that same Fall with eight new villages laid out in 1805. Much like the 19th century settlers of the American-midwest, the Molotschna pioneers traversed the 1000 miles of primitive roads and trails in covered wagon trains carrying their possessions and herding livestock. The journey took an average of five to seven weeks.