Il melting pot

American society has been called a melting pot because it is the result of a combination of varios components which have been melted together. The New World has always been considered a land of opportunity. People have always immigrated to America from all the world. European settlement of north America began with the English at the time of the Pilgrim Fathers in the 17th century. They came for different reasons: for religious freedom, to escape hunger and poverity, or just to improve their lives.But when the white settlers began to populate the New World, it was already inhabited by the native Americans, or Americans Indians. Many whites could not accept the Indians as equals and they considered them inferior. They lived on land that the settlers wanteded. In 1862, Congress passed an act to help farmers. It offered them one hundred and sixty acres of land free if they remained on it for at least five years.. The settlers began moving westwards. In 1870 there were about 200’000 indians living in the West.