Mass emigration from England first took off in the 17th century with the colonisation of America and the Caribbean. The number of people leaving the shores of England was huge and unprecedented. Mukti Jain Campion speaks to historian James Evans, author of Emigrants: Why the English Sailed to the New World and to American historian Professor Linford Fisher to find out how those early English settlers fared and how Native Americans responded to the incursion of their lands.

A Culture Wise Production for the Migration Museum

Producer: Mukti Jain Campion

Readings: Adrian Preater and Wilf Skerry

Music: Shakira Malkani

Image credit: Osbert Parker from his video Timeline, as featured in the Migration Museum's Departures exhibition.

Exhibition: This podcast accompanies the exhibition Departures: 400 Years of Emigration from Britain at the Migration Museum in London. For more information, visit: www.migrationmuseum.org/exhibition/departures