settlers
First to stay
Settlers are people who move to a new region to establish residence, typically where few or none of their kind lived before.
The word often appears in historical contexts describing colonial expansion: The settlers pushed westward.
It can carry neutral or loaded connotations depending on perspective—pioneers building communities or colonizers displacing indigenous populations.
In the board game Settlers of Catan, players compete to establish settlements.
Simple wooden dwelling
- farmlandAgricultural terrain
- acreageAmount of land owned
- plowTool for turning soil
- harvestGathering mature crops
barn · pasture · livestock · dugout · tillage · grange · hearth · threshing
Those who open territory
- pathfindersThose who discover routes
- wagonWheeled hauling vehicle
- frontierEdge of settlement
- wildernessUncultivated, uninhabited natural region
exploration · westward · expedition · scouts · prospectors · trappers · migrants · emigrants
Foreign territorial takeover
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- subjugationForcing into submission
- dominationSupreme authority held
conquistadors · missionaries · plantation · displacement · dispossession · indigenous · annexation · protectorate
Small rural community
- townshipCounty's smaller division
- inhabitantsPermanent occupants of place
- residentsPeople living somewhere
- neighborsThose dwelling nearby
congregation · hamlet · borough · commune · cooperative · founding · establishment · town
cabin
Simple wooden dwelling
harvest · barn · pasture · livestock · dugout · tillage · grange · hearth · threshing · husbandry
trailblazers
Those who open territory
- pathfindersThose who discover routes
- wagonWheeled hauling vehicle
- frontierEdge of settlement
wilderness · exploration · westward · expedition · scouts · prospectors · trappers · migrants · emigrants · overland
colonization
Foreign territorial takeover
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- subjugationForcing into submission
domination · conquistadors · missionaries · plantation · displacement · dispossession · indigenous · annexation · protectorate · trading posts
village
Small rural community
- townshipCounty's smaller division
- inhabitantsPermanent occupants of place
- residentsPeople living somewhere
neighbors · congregation · hamlet · borough · commune · cooperative · founding · establishment · town · newcomers
- 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, transcontinental railroad, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
- migrationmigration, immigrants, refugees, immigration, emigration
- Old Westcowboy, cowboys, cowgirl, sheriff, sheriffs
- VikingsViking, longships, longship, raiding, raiders
- Westward ExpansionOregon Trail, Lewis and Clark, covered wagons, pioneers, frontier
- Colonial AmericaGeorge Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, Declaration of Independence
settlersnomads
Unsettled, roving people
wanderers · migrants · itinerants · drifters · transients
settlersindigenous peoples
Original inhabitants of lands
natives · First Nations · original inhabitants · indigenous populations · native populations
- settle downBecome calm or established
- settled downBecame calm or stationary
- settle forAccept reluctantly as sufficient
- settle inBecome comfortably established
- settled inBecame comfortably established
- settle onMake a final choice
settle, settled, settlement, settler, unsettled, unsettle, settles, resettle, settlements