Immigration

Immigration brought new settlers into the colonies, while expansion increased the area occupied by settlers. Where people settled mattered because access to land and the opportunities available were not the same everywhere. The three broad regions—New England, the Middle colonies and the Southern colonies—provide a useful way to understand these differences.

Britain’s relationship with the wider world could therefore produce immigration through the loss of territory as well as its acquisition.

The American McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 restricted this route, making Britain a more important alternative. This shows how a change in one country's immigration policy could redirect migration towards another.