What did they come over for?

[The Lady Shael]

 Well, a couple weeks ago, my friend was in her Spanish class, where they had a sub, and watched Road to El Dorado, the Disney cartoon. But the sub went on and on about history and settlers and everything, and she explained how they came over for land.

But my friend raised her hand and said, no, that's wrong, they didn't want land, they just wanted gold. The primary reason they wanted to go to America was because of the gold. And the sub said, no, you're wrong. And she made my friend go to the library and copy some pages out of a history book, complete with her own footnotes on post-it notes, explaining that the settlers came over for land, NOT gold.

Personally, I thought it was hilarious, especially when I saw the footnotes, but I believe my friend. I was just curious if other people think the same thing.

And just for random information, it was just her and the sub. The rest of the people in her class are brain-dead or something, or so she says.

[Peace Alliance]

 To get to the other side.

[The Lady Shael]

 Wow, that was... brilliantly clever, Peace....heh, j/k

I was considering not putting the "Other" option at all...I hate putting them in polls, but I figured I should anyway....

[Peace Alliance]

 Is this an american history thing? Because I really know nothing about it... OR maybe its just because i slept through history class.

[windhound]

 American History..  yeppers..
methinks it depended on the person..  some didnt have any money and wanted to make some with all the new oppertunities the new world opened up..  they could get lotsa land for not a lotta money..  very appealing..
then again, the richer peoples just wanted to get richer..  why else would they leave their plush, comphy settings for an unknown place with few if any home comforts..  

*shrugs*

[Peace Alliance]

 i know lots of people came over to canada from england and france because of all the amazing prospects... Just the idea of so much land and trees and stuff seemed to be amazing. I forget who it was, but i was talking to someone from europe who seemed to be amazed that i lived near lakes that were surrounded by trees... haha, they're all over the place, i never thought of that as such a great thing.

[IFman]

 They came for spices, gold, and land

They tried to sail to India faster by going across the ocean.
They wanted gold when they saw the "indians" wearing it.
When they went back, the queen/king wanted land and gold.

simple?

[Wildwood]

 

They came for spices, gold, and land

They tried to sail to India faster by going across the ocean.
They wanted gold when they saw the "indians" wearing it.
When they went back, the queen/king wanted land and gold.

simple?

perfectly said

[windhound]

 nope.  not perfectly said..  we're talkin about Jamestowne, the first english settlement..  

not when columbus found the place..  the Jamestown settlers didnt come to dig for gold I assure you..  or else they woulda mined instead of planting tobacco..

Edit:  oh, and if they wanted to steal the gold from the indians there would have been much much more trouble then there was..  think about it, the indians could have wiped them all out easily should the settlers had been violent with the natives..  there were mostly farmers there, more practical people than the mercenaries columbus and the conquistadores from spain were..  

*shrugs*

[Devari]

 Heh, ever heard of the Lakota? Pushed out of their land because some power-hungy people wanted to get even richer. Pushed out the Lakota and practically destroyed the Black Hills, thought by the Lakota to be the holiest place on Earth, the centre of creation. Nowadays, only about 5% of the lands have been untouched. And now there are plans to build a firing range quite close to the holiest sites of all.

All in the name of Gold. Was it worth it? Was it fair? Is it worth it? Is it fair?

And, I hate to smear the name of some Civil War heroes, but Generals Sheridan and Custer were quite the racists. Actually, I'm interested - are they actually considered heroes?

*pats First Nations 12 Course*

[The Lady Shael]

 *pokes windy* But they only planted tobacco after they realized they'd all die out because they wasted all their time looking for gold. Remember it. They came over, after hearing tales of gold and such, and when they got there, they wasted all their time doing that. They tried bartering with the Indians and stuff too, but realized they didn't have any gold. Then they realized they were in trouble for the winter, and that's where Pocahontas comes in, and she teaches them how to grow stuff and live like that, and stuff.

And, we're not talking about India and spices and that stuff. That was a good 200 years earlier than when I'm talking about....

[IFman]

 

In June of 1606, King James I granted a charter to a group of London entrepreneurs, the Virginia Company, to establish a satellite English settlement in the Chesapeake region of North America. By December, 108 settlers sailed from London instructed to settle Virginia, find gold and a water route to the Orient.

I got that from the official Jamestown website.

So they came over to settle Virginia, find gold and a water route to the Orient

[windhound]

 *pokes Shael*
it's been a full year since my US history course..  

actually, the planting of tobacco was a kind of a flukeish type thing...  somone tried it out and was very successful, and others tried it out..  now NC and Virginia are major tobacco manufactures..  bleah..  I kinda wish my state would try to find somthin else to grow..  tobacco..  grosseth

anyways, a tonne of the settlers who came to Jamestown died out in the first winter..  they were ill prepared and ended up eating rats and dead peoples..  well, atleast I kinda hope the people were dead they tried to eat..  I remeber vaugly the discussion in my history class about that..  quite interrestin..

[Lereac]

 I, personally, think that they came for gold.  They were copying the Spanish.  They just weren't as successful, so they settled for land in the end.

[Nohcnonk]

 They wanted to have HAPPY!!! new lives!