Those who left were the most at risk of persecution, starvation or disenfranchisement (due to the shrinking amount of wealth to be inherited, similar to how hal

Those who left were the most at risk of persecution, starvation or disenfranchisement (due to the shrinking amount of wealth to be inherited, similar to how half-nobodies congregated around Norman adventurers to invade England or Italy). The religious upheavals following the Reformation and the insane demographic growth following in the wake of industrialization drove the settlement of overseas colonies, not ethereal qualities like optimism and entrepreneurship.