When European colonizers first entered North America, they encountered fence-less lands. They believed that the land was unimproved and available for their taking, as they sought economic opportunity and homesteads. But when the English entered Virginia, they encountered a fully established culture of people called the Powhatan. The Powhatan farmers in Virginia scattered their farm plots within larger cleared areas. These larger cleared areas were a communal place for growing useful plants. As the Europeans viewed fences as hallmarks of civilization, they set about transforming "the land into something more suitable for themselves".