Answer:
It depends on the settlers you're referring to :)
but overall, when you look at most non-prehistoric settlements in history, most are motivated by power and/or money (which essentially means power in today's world.) for example, many coming to the Americas were in search of slaves (which gave them a position of power) and riches. (which when reported back to the mother country, would praise them, giving them power).
for example, In the late 1400s, Christopher Columbus set off to Asia in search of gold, the most precious commodity in Spain at the time. On his expedition, Columbus instead wound up in what is now known as the Bahamas. As his ship approached, the natives of the land, the Arawaks, swam out to greet him and his crew with food and other goods. This was in contradistinction to the actions committed by Columbus’ men, as they came with greed to find gold and the power that came with it.
Columbus, seeing that they had gold pieces in their ears, captured them aboard and impelled them to give directions to the source of which the gold was found. He then sailed to Hispaniola, where he found gold pieces within the rivers. With a hunger for more riches, Columbus imprisoned more natives and told Spain that he had found vast amounts of gold, fertile land, and overly-generous Indians, hoping to aggrandize himself by exaggerating his findings.
This led to a second expedition with more avaricious men, hungry for nothing but riches and power. Columbus and his men then enslaved more Indians and forced them to work in mines and on plantations. With the cruelty they endured, the Indians would fight and be killed, run away and be killed, or committed..ya know. No matter their actions, the natives were condemned to death. This dehumanization of the Indians led to the death of over half of an innocent culture in the span of just two short years.
This anomalous perspective of Columbus’ tale shows that what we whitewash as serendipitous discoveries filled with love and learning, was, in fact, simply an expedition fueled by greed and filled with death. This suppression of the true story glorifies Columbus and the emergence of our nation, rather than highlighting the way our people took advantage of the kindness of others and took the lives of the innocent for their own wealth. We defend Columbus’ inhumane nature by concluding that it leads to our own success, but it is questioned if murder and madness were truly necessary and if it can actually be justified by success.
With imposing such a great impact upon the history of our nation, the origin of racism is a topic of which has lingered ominously without being fully investigated or questioned by The People. As historians dig deep into the past, they can begin to see the inception of such ideology with the first indentured servants brought to the New World, caused by the experiences of those who first settled within the colonies.
It all begins with the winter of 1609. This winter, known as The Starving Time, was a time in which the settlers of Jamestown underwent extreme hardship and hunger. With too little food to eat and settlers dropping one by one, many reverted to drastic and severe measures such as cannibalism. In the face of this sinister sight, despite their more efficient means of survival,
many Native Americans were unable to help the settlers from their misfortune. The way in which the Indians were able to handle that winter indicated that despite the settlers’ advanced technology, they were inferior in means of survival. As many settlers even left to join the natives, their desperation turned toward the enemy; the savages that many once held their chins high above, were now being seen as those that everyone wished to be. With this change of roles, other colonists turned their desperation into anger. Many lashed out, burning and torturing the Indians in attempts to somehow prove their superiority.