If you bought Wood from Northburgh as advised above, you will be able to settle around 40 houses right away. Build a Marketplace, surround it with as many houses as you have Wood for.
Continuous mode can be considered the ultimate Anno 1404 experience since it allows total freedom to build your world how you want. The Continuous game mode allows you to customize a plethora of options regarding map size, resources, natural disasters, other players, starting conditions, and winning conditions.