Most of the colonization of the Americas was mercantilist in origin. The initial discovery was started as a way to find a trade route to China and many colonization efforts were more about resource extraction than anything else; it took a century before colonies started popping up focused on religious freedom.

As for the comparison to Antarctica, there was an intentional pause put on colonization as it became apparent that colonization was finally within humanity’s technological grasp and there were possible mineral rights that would make colonization worth it.

Colonization will likely be slow, but I expect that economic uses for the Moon will be found.