Motivations for immigration to American colonies in 1700s. Reasons for large population increase in 1700s.

The first successful colony in America was in Jamestown, Virginia, established 1607. When it was first founded, the colony contained only several hundred people. During the two hundred years that followed the population increased greatly, due in part to massive immigration from the Old World. By 1790 the colony housed a little under four million people. The high rate of immigration stemmed from a number of different motivators, including the peoples' hope for a better lifestyle than …

…colonial America. The new area presented a whole fresh realm of possibilities that England did not offer, and as a result, the unemployed, unhappy and/or restless went there in search of satisfaction and something new. Various literature written by educated men of the period promoted emigration and helped spread the word of these prospects. These reasons are what account for the large number of that people moved to colonial America in the seventeenth century.