It took months for the refugees, fugitives, and adventurers,
Fleeing their homes and native lands,
For the chance to make a new home in the New World
A New World declared open by their king for development plans.
These Colonists came for many reasons.
Some came because they were persecuted,
For reasons of identity and conscience they were victims.
They could not live a free life where they were before.
Other Colonists came to escape-
Escape the law, themselves, and even their family.
An empty slate awaited them at their new Colony-
If they could only brave the journey.
Others were not running away but towards,
Seeking riches and power in the New World as Lords.
So they came: on multiple ships, in multiple waves.
They shared origins, not objectives.
The New World fit their purposes:
There was space to spare and keep apart
There were resources to live on and exploit.
They neither knew nor cared that native strangers governed.
The Colonists could see hints of native fauna upon arrival
As they landed and settled in seemingly empty spaces.
In this New World they took their places.
But kept a cautious distance from the nearby natives.
“Technology is what makes a species higher in order.”
So they regarded the natives as mere animals with tools and talk.
What is flora and fauna to stand in the way of expansion-
Or the needs and whims of a far more developed people?
“This is our land; they are subject to our law-
This is our life, our World, our all”
How can some stranger from another point in Space,
So casually assert sovereignty over this place?
But then issues of technology did not provide the Natives’ only woes.
This New World was already divided into nations with established foes
There were those who feared these well-equipped strangers
And in seeking office sold this fear for their personal advantage.
The foreign Colonists saw these fissures and engaged in malicious diplomacy.
They played one Nation against another in order to obtain supremacy.
In small numbers the Colonists were vulnerable and equally scared,
If the natives were united their colonies could fall.
Some Natives attacked but did not pose a threat,
As the Colonists had better arms and their allies would assist.
This increased fear and distrust of the local “savage”
Many begun to think that these natives were a liability and not an advantage.
More and more Colonists came to settle
And the areas they occupied came to be too little.
So by the authority of their far away king,
They evicted some natives and kept others for working.
As years went by the conflicts increased.
Attempts to repel were shown to be futile,
As the natives, outgunned, lost their sovereign territory.
These nations of old would no longer hold their old glory.
With time the foreigners outnumbered the Natives.
The remnants of which were at the outsiders’ mercy.
And were driven and marched to more convenient locations.
The nations of old now crammed on sparse reservations.
Canada and the United States did fairly well for fallen nations.
Those both now exist on some massive shared reservations,
On land formerly made up of North Dakota and Manitoba.
The New World is now alien, divided along lines with no resemblance of the past.