A family of Russian settlers in the Caucasus region, circa 1910

Causes of Emigration

The reason for emigration of settlers varies, but often includes one or more factors such as: economic or personal financial hardship; social, cultural, ethnic, or religious persecution (e.g. the Pilgrims, Mormons and Zionists), or; political oppression and/or policies aimed at encouraging foreign settlement.

The colony concerned is sometimes controlled by the government of a settler's home country, and emigration is sometimes approved by an imperial government. The term settler is not usually used in relation to the later histories of well-established and/or independent, postcolonial countries with continuing immigration, like the present-day United States, Canada or Australia, where terms like immigrants are preferred.

Historical usage

A personification of pioneering as represented by a statue in The American Adventure in the World Showcase pavilion of Walt Disney World's Epcot.

The word "settler" was not originally usually used in relation to unfree labour immigrants, such as slaves (e.g. in the United States), indentured labourers (such as in Colonial America),^[1] or convicts (such as in New York, 1674-1775; Australia 1788-1868). More recently descendants of these immigrants may argue that they have as much right to use the word "settler" as the descendants of free immigrants.

In Imperial Russia, the government invited Russians or foreign nationals to settle in sparsely populated lands.^[2] These settlers were called "colonists". See, e.g., articles Slavo-Serbia, Volga German, Volhynia, Russians in Kazakhstan.

Although they are often thought of as traveling by sea — the dominant form of travel in the early modern era — significant waves of settlement could also use long overland routes, such as the Great Trek by the Boer-Afrikaners in South Africa, or the Oregon Trail in the United States.

Modern usage

However, sometimes one tribe of native settlers drove another tribe from the lands it held, such as the settlement of lands in the area now called Carmel-by-the-Sea, California where Ohlone peoples settled in areas previously inhabited by the Esselen tribe (Bainbridge, 1977). ^[3]

In the Middle East, Israeli settlers are Jews who live in areas captured during the Six-Day war and claimed by Palestinians and Syria. Some historians and scientists maintain that Palestinians are descended mostly from Arab settlers in Palestine, after the Caliphate conquered the area in the 7th century. However, both Israelis and Palestinians claim partial descent from peoples who lived in the region in prehistoric times (see: History of ancient Israel and Judah, Ancestry of the Palestinians).

Early North American settlers from Europe often built crude houses in the form of log cabins

Other usage

Settlers in hypothetical societies, such as on other planets, often feature in science fiction or fantasy fiction and/or video games.

References

Similar terms

• Squatter

See also

• Indigenous people
• Settler colonialism
• Virgin Lands Campaign
• Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme
• Transmigration program
• Israeli settlement
• Naturalized TRNC citizens
• Sooners
• Lebensraum
• Green March

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