Although both of these voluntary programs homesteading and transmigration share the same goals, there is a major difference between them. The U.S. homesteading program, familiar around the world to people who have seen it depicted countless times in films and television shows, was unplanned and unorganized. American migrants packed their belongings and walked west, taking whatever land they wanted on a first-come, first-served basis. No thought was given to environmental consequences. The indigenous people who lived on the land for thousands of years were forced to move to reservations, often far from their ancestral lands. The slaughter of wildlife was so extensive that many species were all but extinguished. The settlers themselves received no help and many died in the harsh conditions of their migration, before their new farms and villages became the heartland of America and a major source of food for the world.

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