What is an indentured servant? Why did some British settlers agree to servitude?

Most of the settlers who came to Virginia in the 1600s were poor, and so were willing to leave England in the hope of finding better opportunities in America. Approximately 75 percent of these settlers were men. Too poor to pay for their transportation across the Atlantic, many of them came as indentured servants. In exchanged for their transportation, they agreed to work for a master for a period of four to seven years. Masters often treated indentured servants harshly. In England, masters commonly taught their servants a trade, but American masters often regarded servants as little more than laborers