Re: Should China develope Space Shuttle to transport minerals and resources from Moo
Colonization is hardly possible without conquest, since America was already occupied and the Europeans weren't invited.
The story of the colonization being primarily based on escaping persecution is essentially a self-serving and self-comforting American fantasy. It is a rather perverse fantasy because the hard core reality is the bulk of American continent was settled by the Spaniards who came clearly sightedly, and explicitly, to enrich themselves by dispossessing and enslaving the natives...
Well, this is very off topic, but what you describe is decidedly not the case in the British colonies, Chuck, or the "bulk" of the North American continent for that matter.
My own ancestors on my Dad's side, and my wife's on her mother's side came to America in the 1600s. The did not come to conquer, nor to enslave, they came to find freedom and a better life. And it was a hard life for them.
We have their journals and have read their words about their life and that of their children and grandchildren.
My brother's wife is a Bradford...a direct descendant of William Bradford of the Plymouth colony.
These people worked hard, and in their case some of them barely survived, while many others died. Their desire to come to escape persecution and to practice their faith was in fact why they came. For them and now their ancestors (and many others), those reasons are neither self-serving or self-comforting to those of us who are their legacy.
What you say may well apply to other areas, particularly in much of Mexico and a lot of Central and South America, though I am willing to bet that there are many people whose ancestors came to those areas who will say that they were not Conquistadors, or the ruling elite who sought to enrich themselves. A lot of poor people were sent to the Americas. A lot of people came clearly for religious purposes as missionaries and most of those were not filled with ill intent. General characterizations like this are always risky because there are so many exceptions.
Most of North America was an exception to what you describe. Oh, cases can certainly be found...like the rise of the slave trade in the Southern United States grew as a decidedly bad offshoot of the very foundational principles that the resulting United States espoused, and ended up costing the lives of nearly a million Americans to set aright. But those are exceptions to the major rule of colonization of, and then later immigration to North America.
Now, the Spanish attempts did not carry the day for most of the North American continent, despite their efforts. Most of the original colonization stock of North America are more like the story of my own family and that of my wife, and many other people.
...but, as I said, ALL of this talk about colonization of the American continents is far off topic to the purpose of this thread.
LET'S GET BACK ON TOPIC
