Same went for the Hessians, which led to younger sons going into mercenary work. Quite a number were shipped to the 13 colonies by George III to kill the American revolution.
The famous battle of Trenton and its follow-up led to hundreds of Hessian POWs, who were marched off into Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) country where they'd be stranded among other German speakers and put to work there.
They looked at their situation, and had a few years to think about it, and a good number of Hessians (both the POWs and others) saw they'd have a much better deal here, and stayed. Rob Lowe's episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" uncovered his Hessian ancestor.
For that matter, during the medieval warming period the Scandinavian population blew up pretty well and a similar lack of inheritable land led to the Viking expansion into eastern Europe, the British Isles, Normandy, Sicily, Iceland, Greenland, and (for a 100-150 years) North America.
“For that matter, during the medieval warming period the Scandinavian population blew up pretty well and a similar lack of inheritable land led to the Viking expansion into eastern Europe, the British Isles, Normandy, Sicily, Iceland, Greenland, and (for a 100-150 years) North America.”
“Sicily”
Most don’t have any idea that the Vikings had a presence in Sicily, a little bit of ancestor of Mafia/GodFather.