How to grow

A good way to help you grow is to build up the Town Hall's and Academies in each town. Knowledge is good and scientific points can not be taken away. In early days, don't build big armies because they cost too much in maintenance and they will dessert when the gold runs out.

Town Hall's need to grow to allow the population to grow.

Francie

In addition to this, don't forget to regularly upgrade your trade ports. Larger ports mean that goods can be shipped out faster, which leads to a shorter overall time for building huge projects like Governor's Residences.

...and don't forget that as you expand your town hall you also need to keep upgrading
your tavern to keep the folks happy. Otherwise they get angry and leave town.

Also make sure you have a warehouse to cover the fact that you don't have an army.