America: The promised land

In the years 1820-1932 more than 300.000 Danes immigrated to America. There could be many reasons to why young people felt tempted to leave their country. But they had to make a difficult decision. They had to say goodbye to their families, which they might never see again and they had to be adjusted to a long sea voyage to New York and an uncertain future in an unknown country where they did not know the language. Most of the Danes settled as peasants in the prairie and 160 acres sounded like a dream for a poor boy from a small farm in Jutland. But they had to work hard in many years, before they could see a result from their hard work. You may wondering why so many survived and handled it well.