Many came here probably by accident. The Phoenicians, being traders found little of worth for so long a trip. They just missed the Costco Indian tribes otherwise things may have been different.
Columbus may have dazzled Ferdinand and Isabella with visions of the wealth of the East to get some ducats but I understand he was really after peppers.
An Italian can’t make a good pepper and egg sangweech without peppers.
;]
I like that pepper theory... :^)