Great Britain's North American Colonies saw a wide variety of people take the opportunity to settle America's Atlantic coast. Due to the wide variety of colonies and locations from which people came, the reasons for traveling to the New World ran the gamut from political and religious reasons to simple economic necessity and serving punishment in the colonies. Almost all of the colonists were middle or lower class individuals seeking a better life, rather than individuals trying to get rich quickly.

The Pilgrims who migrated to America in the early seventeenth century did so in order to escape religious persecution in Europe. They were motivated by reasons of political repression and a desire for personal freedom.

In the early years of the American republic, white settlers and the native population clashed violently and frequently, often resulting in massacres and atrocities (more frequently, but not exclusively, committed by white settlers). In 1830, the American government passed the Indian Removal Act, which forced a large number of Native Americans (most of whom were living in the South) to migrate west of the Mississippi. The subsequent death march is referred to as the Trail of Tears. This took place during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson.

Brazil and the Caribbean were by far the most common destinations for enslaved Africans during the era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. This is because the climates of Brazil and the Caribbean were perfect for growing all sorts of different plantation-based cash crops like sugar, rubber, and cotton.

All of these are examples of forced migration except the emigration of Jewish people from Europe to Israel in the 1950s. You could easily claim that Jewish people migrating away from Europe in the years before the end of World War Two were forced migrations, but in the 1950s most of the migration was voluntary. The desire to be part of a shared Jewish cultural identity in Israel was the primary driving force.

As Americans, we tend to primarily associate the Atlantic Slave Trade with the arrival of enslaved Africans into English colonies in North America; however, this represented a relatively small proportion of the slave trade at the time. The plantations of Brazil, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Caribbean, were the most common destinations for slaves. By some estimates, more than ten million slaves arrived in Brazil during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

During the Reconstruction era of American history and up to the Civil Rights’ Era many African-Americans migrated North, to industrial centers like New York and Chicago. They were seeking personal liberty and economic opportunity. Much of the urban ethnic makeup of contemporary America is because of this pattern of migration.

For many years, industrial centers in the midwest like Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland were home to booming economies and burgeoning populations; however, as American industry began to decline as a global force in the second half of the twentieth century, there were far fewer jobs available. This led many Americans to migrate south and west in search of greater economic opportunity and better weather. The region they left behind became known as the “Rust Belt” to reflect how the heavy machinery was going to rust due to disuse.

The term “Cotton Belt” is how the South in the United States was often referred to, reflecting the region's centuries long dependence on cotton plantations for much of its wealth; however, in recent years, many Americans have been migrating from the Northeast and the Midwest to the South in search of better weather and new job opportunities. This has caused geographers to rebrand the region as the “Sun Belt.” It stretches across most of the Deep South and includes Texas and California.

During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Europe accounted for by far the largest proportion of immigrants arriving in the United States; however, over the course of the twentieth century, this trend changed dramatically. Now, the majority of immigrants to the United States come from Latin America. A significant number also arrive from South and East Asia, particularly from India, China, and Korea.