Why did Europeans emigrate to America?

Answer 1

One word. Land. In the US, one had the possibility of owning land (remember the Homestead Act), which in Europe was not much of a possibility for those outside of the rich or noble classes. Poverty in Europe and the promise of oppurtunity in America was also another reason. The over-population also contributed. Besides in the US there was also the chance to know religious and political freedom like no where else. For the Irish, the potato famine was a major cause. For Black Sea-Germans, the Russian nationalism in czarist Ukraine put pressure on them to leave (late 1800's early 1900's). Wars in Europe. There are all sorts of reasons.

Answer 2

Well, it really depends on what time period you are asking about if you want specifics. But, the overall reason was that they were looking for a better life.

Many were poor and the new world was supposed to better for their families. They believed there were better jobs and resources in the Americas. Many came as indentured servants.

Some were forced to leave Europe by their home governments (ex. Jews from certain parts of Europe beginning in the late 1800s and lasting all the way up until the end of WWII). It was either leave or die, they had no other choice.

Others were running from the law. Then there were some who were just looking for adventure. These are just a few of the reasons, as it's really hard to condense them all into one, especially with no time period or particular group specified.

As you can see there were many reasons Europeans emigrated to N. America, but they all boil down to the fact that they all wanted a better life. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of Africans....

Answer 3

To get away from French cooking. LOL

Actually the promise of free land and religious freedom. Europe had just gotten out of series of wars and incredibly cold weather period (the Little Ice Age). Germans lest because of the Thirty Years War which devastated much of what is now Germany. Bad place to be.

Answer 4

The Industrial Revolution had started in Europe and they needed more raw materials for the food, clothes etc. So, they started searching the world for a new place to get sources from and they found America.

Answer 5

If you ask the US Immigration, it was 'to gain religious freedom'.
Truly, the political reality in Europe left no space for individual freedom. A lot of things we do in this country would have been criminal in Europe, a couple of hundred years ago.
If you read the Bill of Rights, it was written precisely in order to guarantee these freedoms that were not granted to the citizens of Europe in those times.

Answer 6

Do you mean when America was first being settled several hundred years ago? Or do you mean even today? The brief answer is for religious freedom, but for many it was also because of the chance of a better life--a chance to even acquire real wealth, especially in the form of land. And land was probably the most important form of wealth there was in former centuries. Peasants who had no chance to ever in their lives own any land in Europe could come to America and soon own large tracts if they would develop it into farmland. Many mid-American and western American states were settled this way by Europeans, but this was especially true in the early years of the Atlantic coast colonies. Some came hoping to find silver and gold and gems. The wish for a better life still drives people to America today because it really is possible to gain more material goods here than elsewhere, or so many seem to think. Whether that's true or not is another matter, but many have always thought so--it wasn't just because of religion. The oldest permanent English settlement (Jamestown, Virginia, 1607) was established strictly to see if there was any wealth to be gained from this new land--not for any religious reason whatsoever, except for some hint that perhaps they could convert the native Americans to the Protestant form of Christianity. But that just had to be stated to satisfy certain people back in England to make it seem like a noble enterprise. In the meantime, Spain was establishing American colonies including those in what is now Florida to convert the natives to the Catholic form of Christianity, and also of course in hopes of finding gold and silver. In the early years in America, however, religion was probably the single most important reason, especially along the upper part of the Atlantic coast. Many people in Europe, including Scotland and England, were not being allowed to practice what they believed in and were even being killed for their beliefs in large numbers, like the Hugenots of France and certainly Jewish people everywhere (as well as being largely prevented from earning a decent living and not being allowed to own property, etc.). But England also sent many criminals simply because English jails were overcrowded, and for those, it was neither religion nor the wish for a better life. These people wouldn't be called criminals today because their only crime may have been something very insignificant, like having a small amount of debt, or merely stealing a loaf of bread to feed a hungry family. Yet they could be sent to really terrible prisons for that, and for really long jail terms--be jailed for many crimes that don't seem like real crimes today to us at all. Even shooting a rabbit on the landlord's property was a really serious crime. So English jails were overcrowded, and often the judge when sentencing someone would give them a choice: be deported to America for life or go to prison. (Australia was settled by people from the jails also, originally.) But really, even in the early part of the 20th century, many came here to escape religious persecution and that may still be true now--or political persecution, that too, for some. An example is Germans who did not admire Hitler and wanted to get out of Germany in the 1930s as the Nazis began to take over. There were also the Jews of Russia who came in large numbers around 1905-1910. Another reason many came from Europe was to escape famine, especially from Ireland. The Irish Potato Famine was such a horror in the mid 1800s that countless thousands starved to death, and Irish Catholics came in floods to the U.S. during that time. Actually, that too was because of religious persecution in a more indirect way, historians believe. No doubt many come nowadays for college and jobs, or are just attracted to the bursting energy of the U.S. culture. Many surely come just because they do see it as the land of opportunity and freedom even while seeing its flaws. Certainly it is the land of material plenty, though there are European countries which exceed America in things like providing healthcare for all or having a lower infant death rate. Still, it is seen as a country where the opportunity does exist to gain wealth now just as it was when America was first being settled--and is now and always has been a country where your religion is your own business and the govenment cannot get involved in that aspect of your life.

So -- for many reasons. For a more specific answer, you would have to say which Europeans and which period of history you are thinking of. French Hugenots? The Irish? European Jews? The English or Scots or Swedes? Even many of the German soldiers hired by England to fight against the Colonies in the American Revolution stayed on after the war and became American citizens. So it just depends. For a good answer, you can see that you would have to greatly narrow this question down, wouldn't you?

I hope this helps -- and hope I'm not doing your homework for you!

Answer 7

Some were lured by the promise of wealth and riches, some just wanted a new life after deciding that Europe was to overcrowded and just sucked.

Answer 8

For religious freedom, more economic opprotunities and freedom.

Answer 9

Mercantilism...... economic self-sufficiency