Immigration

Immigration
Everyone in America came from somewhere else. Even the "native" American's ancestors immigrated from Asia, possibly across the Bering Strait. Admittedly they immigrated thousands of years ago, and were here long before the European immigrants, but they immigrated non-the-less.
Most people left their homelands and immigrated to America (or to anywhere, for that matter) for one (or more) of three reasons:
Adventure
Better opportunities in the new land
To escape religious or political persecutionThe Spanish conquistadors left Spain in search of adventure and most of them did not originally intend to settle in America. Many had homes and families in Europe and their voyages to America were intended to be for limited periods of time. The immigrants who came on the Mayflower were looking for greater religious freedom and they came with the intention of settling. Jewish immigrants fled persecution in Germany and Russia.