Early American settlers often built crude houses in the form of log cabins.

Settlers are people who have travelled of their own choice, from the land of their birth to live in "new" lands or colonies. // Pre-Colonial America For details, see the main Pre-Colonial America article. ... A log cabin is a small house built from logs. ... This article refers to a colony in politics and history. ...

In modern history, the word "settlers" is synonymous with terms like pioneers, colonists, or (as British people once called them) "colonials". It has been argued that all peoples are "settlers", since migration has featured throughout human history and prehistory. However, the word settler is generally used only in relation to modern or early modern history. The early modern period is a term used by historians to refer to the period in Western Europe and its first colonies, that spans the time between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution that has created modern society. ...

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. This article is about the colonists of North America. ... The term Mormon is a colloquial name referring to Latter Day Saints, derived in the 1830s from the Book of Mormon, one of their books of scripture, whose compiler was called the prophet Mormon. ... A bilingual poster in Romanian and Hungarian promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s. ...

The colony concerned is often, but not always, controlled by the government of a settler's home country, and emigration is usually, but not always, 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. Imperial - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Postcolonial theory is a literary theory or critical approach that deals with literature produced in countries that were once, or are now, colonies of other countries. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ...

In almost every real historical case, settlers live on land which previously belonged to long-established peoples, known as indigenous people (often called "natives", "Aborigines" or, in the Americas, "Indians"). This land is usually settled against the wishes of the indigenes, and then controlled, defended and expanded by force, or it is bought or leased from indigenous people on terms highly favourable to the settlers, sometimes under a treaty (e.g. the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand). Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ... The Americas (sometimes referred to as America) is the area including the land mass located between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, generally divided into North America and South America. ... The Treaty of Waitangi (Māori: Te Tiriti o Waitangi) was signed on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. ...

In some cases (e.g. Australia), the legal ownership of some lands are contested much later by indigenous people, who seek or claim traditional usage, land rights, native title and related forms of ownership or partial control. Land rights are those property rights that pertain to real estate, that is, land. ... Native title, or indigenous land rights, is a concept in the law of Australia that recognises the continued ownership of land by local Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders. ...

In the Middle East, Israeli settlers are Jews who have moved to areas also claimed by Palestinians. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim partial descent from peoples who lived in the region in prehistoric times (see: Ancestry of the Palestinians). However, Israelis argue that Palestinians are descended mostly from Arab "settlers" in the Land of Israel (which the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Palestine in 135 CE), after the Caliphate conquered the area in the 7th Century. A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... An Israeli settlement refers to a housing development for Israeli Jewish settlers in areas which came under the control of Israel as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War beyond the boundaries defined by the 1949 Armistice Agreements. ... The Palestinians are a mainly Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine. ... The Palestinians are a mainly Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are an originally Arabian ethnicity widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. ... The Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael) is the land that made up the ancient Jewish Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. ... Emperor Hadrian Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76-July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, was Roman emperor from 117-138, and a member of the gens Aelia. ... Palestine (Latin: Syria Palæstina; Hebrew: פלשתינה Palestina, ארץ־ישראל Eretz Yisrael; Arabic: فلسطين Filasá¹­Ä«n) is the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the banks of the Jordan River, plus various adjoining lands to the east. ... For other uses, see number 135. ... An Anglicized/Latinized version of the Arabic word خليفة or Khalīfah, Caliph (  listen?) is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. ... // Events Islam starts in Arabia, the Quran is written, and Syria, Iraq, Persia, North Africa and Central Asia convert to Islam. ...

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 (e.g. in South Africa), or convicts (e.g. in Australia). 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. Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for forms of work, especially in modern or early modern history, in which adults and/or children are employed against their will by the threat of destitution, detention, violence (including death), or other extreme hardship to themselves, or to members of their... The word slaves has several meanings and usages: People who are owned by others, and live to serve them without pay. ... An Indentured servant is an unfree labourer under contract to work (for a specified amount of time) for another person, often without any pay, but in exchange for accommodation, food, other essentials and/or free passage to a new country. ...

Although they are generally thought of as travelling 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 Afrikaaners in South Africa, or the Oregon Trail in the United States. In South African history, the Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration of the Boers, descendants primarily of immigrants from western mainland Europe. ... Afrikaners (sometimes known as Boers) are white South Africans, predominantly of Calvinist German, French Huguenot, Friesian and Walloons descent who speak Afrikaans. ... For other uses of the term, see Oregon Trail (disambiguation) The route of the Oregon Trail is shown in red in the western United States The Ox Team or the Old Oregon Trail 1852-1906 by Ezra Meeker. ...

In Imperial Russia, the government used to invite foreign nationals to settle in sparsely populated lands. These settlers were called "colonists". See, e.g., articles Slavo-Serbia, Volga German, Volhynia. Big Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire, adopted in 1882 Central element from the Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian... Volga German pioneer family comemorative statue in Victoria, Kansas, USA. The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans living near the Volga River and the Black Sea, maintaining German culture, language, traditions, and religions: Evangelical Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism. ... Volhynia (Wołyń in Polish; Волинь, Volyn’ in Ukrainian; also called Volynia, Volyň in Czech) comprises the historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Pripyat and Western Bug -- to the north of Galicia and of Podolia. ...

Settlers in hypothetical societies, such as on other planets, often feature in science fiction or fantasy fiction and/or games. A hypothesis (= assumption in ancient Greek) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... For other definitions of fantasy, see fantasy (psychology). ...

See also

• Colony
• Immigrant
• Indigenous people
• Squatter