Origins of people in the USA
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: General History
Forum Name: Archaeology & Anthropology
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URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13477
Printed Date: 21-May-2024 at 04:28
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Topic: Origins of people in the USA
Posted By: Argentum Draconis
Subject: Origins of people in the USA
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:17
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Following suggestions and questions are only about people with European background in the USA.
Despite it being a former British colony i personally dont think American (USA) people look like English, at least most of them. I wonder from which countries it has received the most migrations. Ireland is in the first place as far as i know.
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Replies:
Posted By: Afsar Beghi
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:22
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there are people from all countries in the usa. There are no real numbers from the migrations , so its hard to tell which one was the biggest, but I think the biggest one was definitely the Irish people.
------------- Dadaloğlum bir gun kavga kurulur, Oter tufek davlumbazlar vurulur, Nice koç yiğitler yere serilir, Olen ölür kalan sağlar bizimdir! |
Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:25
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I'd say Russians and Italians take up second place... ------------- 
Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears. |
Posted By: Afsar Beghi
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:29
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dont forget the germans and jews
------------- Dadaloğlum bir gun kavga kurulur, Oter tufek davlumbazlar vurulur, Nice koç yiğitler yere serilir, Olen ölür kalan sağlar bizimdir! |
Posted By: Argentum Draconis
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:51
| Population of Ireland is something like 6 million, i've read somewhere that there were 40 million people in USA with Irish origins, just how can this be possible? And also it seems the number of people with German background are also significant, was there any event or specific reason for that many Germans leaving their country? |
Posted By: Afsar Beghi
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:53
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The failure of the German Confederation's Revolution of
1848-49 led many of its people to emigrate. source http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/factover/ch1.htm ------------- Dadaloğlum bir gun kavga kurulur, Oter tufek davlumbazlar vurulur, Nice koç yiğitler yere serilir, Olen ölür kalan sağlar bizimdir! |
Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 16:29
Irish are catholics, they get lots of kids... Well, they used to anyway...-------------
Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears. |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 17:47
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My 2 cents-
1 Irish
2 Italian
3 Scots
4 German
5 Welsh
6 Russian
7 jews
------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: Herschel
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 19:25
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Germans are the single largest ethnic group in the United States. the rest are a guess for the order, but I think they're somewhat right: 2.) Irish 3.) Italians 4.) West Africans 5.) English 6.) Scandinavians 7.) Polish 8.) Jews Edit: Wikipedia states, "The largest ethnic group of European ancestry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_peoples - German at 15.2%, followed by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_people - Irish (10.8%), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_people - English (8.7%), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_people - Italian (5.6%) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia - Scandinavian (3.7%)." Edit 2: I also want to make clear, that the reason American whites have a somewhat distinct look is beacuse all of the ethnic groups have merged so much. Last names which indicate ethnicity are so irrelivant now, as someone with a portuguese or Greek last name could be as blonde and blue-eyed as a Northern European from generations of German and Scandinavian admixture. I consider myself Irish because of my stereotypically obvious Irish name, but I actually have more Scandinavian and German blood in me. ------------- |
Posted By: Northman
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 20:06
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I see no mentioning of Dutch and Scandinavian people, although I think their share were quite significant.
Most Europeans came in through Ellis Island and the archives there are a valuable source for genealogy.
In the 19'th century, Scandinavia, as many other countries, was hard influenced by the general European crises, and with an exploding population growth, people were forced to immigrate, simply to survive.
They had heard rumors of the great land of opportunities, where any farmer could get a piece of land, sufficient to support a family.
They sold everything to pay the ticket, and only few had anything when they stood on American soil.
About 300.000 Danes immigrated to America in less than 80 years (more than 10% of the population), and I would assume a similar number from Sweden and Norway.
Its fairly easy to trace what routes the different nationalities preferred, and where they settled.
The Scandinavian farmers found themselves at home in northern states like Minnesota, Wyoming, the Dakotas and Nebraska; some went on to Canada as well.
Life wasnt easy, but the farmers were lucky compared to those who remained back in NY and other big cities on the east coast, trying to make a living.
A Dane, Jacob A. Riis wrote a book about the conditions for these people in the 1880's, called:
http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html - HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES STUDIES AMONG THE TENEMENTS OF NEW YORK Clicking the Title will take you to the online-version of that book.
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Posted By: Paul
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 20:18
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I believe it was Cywr who originally posted this ages ago in another topic. Proving for once and for all Roosavelt and Wilson both declared war on the wrong side.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.jpg">  ------------- Light blue touch paper and stand well back http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk - http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk - http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk |
Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 20:25
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As said, the top in Europe are German, Irish, English, Italian, Slavs and next (I don't count "Jews" as an ethnic group, no anti-Semitism intended, but saying somebody is of Jewish ancestry is ridicolous, especially when you get into halves and fourths, by that logic, I am half Catholic, a fourth Presbyterian, and a fourth Methodist) and I believe the eigth of the European ethnic groups in America is the Scots if you count the Scots-Irish(which is way more than 5 million, considering the fact that so many southernors idiotically tell the census that they have "American" ancestry which would make the total number of Scots around 10-15 million total). ------------- 
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Posted By: Herschel
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 20:27
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Just to add a note to the map above. Most people who clasify themselves as simply "American" are of English and Scottish decent. They are some of the longest settled and most established immigrants to the Americas. Many can trace their roots to before the Revolutionary War. Edit: I see Barbarossa beat me to that statement by two minutes. ------------- |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 20:53
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Northman wrote- I see no mentioning of Dutch and Scandinavian people, although I think their share were quite significant.
The first president of the US wasn't GW, he was a Swede, by the name of John Hanson. Under the Articles of confederation there were 8 presidents elected before Washington. Because the Articles did not use the name USA or the office of President, They are not listed. Washington was the first elected under the Constitution. ------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: mamikon
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 21:00
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Germans across almost all of Northern US? so why did the public support UK during both wars? especially WWI?
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Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 21:23
Anybody can understand why the U.S. went against Germany in World War II. As for World War I, if you consider the similarity in cultures, trade relations, and the fact that many Americans felt sympathy towards the Allied cause, and also the Zimmerman note, it is no wonder that the Americans allied with Britain. Also, if you count Irish, Scottish, English, and Welsh descendants in the United States, they will greatly outnumber the German descendants. -------------
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Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 21:30
I would also like to note for my Scottish argument I said earlier that about 7% of Americans consider themselves of "American" ancestry, as you said, mostly of English and Scottish descent. Also, besides the Scots-Irish, many people stupidly think that Scotland is part of England, and thus, most undoubtedly the Scots and Welsh were lumped together into English. Also take note that many Americans considered themselves of "British ancestry", of which I am sure some Scots belonged to. -------------
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Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 07:30
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Barbarossa wrote - I don't count "Jews" as an ethnic group, no anti-Semitism intended, but saying somebody is of Jewish ancestry is ridicolous, especially when you get into halves and fourths, by that logic, I am half Catholic, a fourth Presbyterian, and a fourth Methodist.
But Jews consider themselves a seperate ethnic group, and for a very long time, they did not mix a lot. As immigrants, I would consider them a separate group, also because of their behaviour after coming to the US: like other groups, they huddled together in seperate communities with sometimes little interaction with other groups. This makes them a seperate group to consider, in my eyes...
As for the Dutch; I think there are a lot more Dutch people in Canada, Australia and New Zealand than in the US, I would be surprised if they where a group of any significance, after we sold New Amsterdam to England. -------------
Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears. |
Posted By: xristar
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 07:44
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Aparently Greeks don't seem to be in your lists. According to the Greek foundation of Greek diaspora, there are about 2,000,000 Greeks in the USA now. Of course that would make them a tiny minority. I think that is because Greeks migrated to the USA mostly in the 20th century, and especially the second half. So they found an already big and established population, and they did not have much time to intermix. ------------- 
Defeat allows no explanation Victory needs none. It insults the dead when you treat life carelessly. |
Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 10:36
They should be considered Hebrew, not Jewish. Jewish is a religion, Hebrew is an ethnic group. -------------
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Posted By: Herschel
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 11:05
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It common usage, though, Jews are seen as an ethnic group. You almost never hear anyone say, "There are 2 million Hebrews in New York City."
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Posted By: xi_tujue
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 11:28
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how many hebrewsz are there and whats the difernce between a hebrew and other dudes from the middle east.
I heard no offence jews are not middle eastern I said what about original hebrews he said aha schekle dealers what is a schekle dealer. is it something offensif it sounds like that mabey because it gots the word dealer in it.  ------------- I rather be a nomadic barbarian than a sedentary savage |
Posted By: Herschel
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 13:03
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Sorry, I don't think I understood everything properly, but from what I got out of it: There are about 6 million Jews in the United States. (more than in the country of Israel) Most are descendents from the European Jews, rather than the Spanish/Middle Eastern ones. I think the difference between Hebrews and other Middle Eastern people, besides not being an Arab language (though an Afro-Asiatic one), is that they have brought with them a significant non-Palestinian bloodline. ------------- |
Posted By: Afsar Beghi
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 16:54
The Khazars (a turkic tribe) were also converted and became Jews. I think the Jews are a very mixed "people". They have arab, egyptian , european and many more genes. ------------- Dadaloğlum bir gun kavga kurulur, Oter tufek davlumbazlar vurulur, Nice koç yiğitler yere serilir, Olen ölür kalan sağlar bizimdir! |
Posted By: Herschel
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 17:20
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I've heard about the Khazars before. Interesting stuff. However, I think most modern Jews are descended from Jews who settled on the Rhine river and were forced further East as centuries passed. Obviously there was some conversion among the Turkic tribe, but I've read it was only the aristocracy who really converted. Those Jewish peoples probably migrated West and merged with the others in Poland. (Not that I've read that before...just something that seems to make sense to me) Or, they could have gone further East and become the Central Asian Jews, too. You never know. ------------- |
Posted By: Odin
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 20:52
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Most Americans are of German, English, and Scots-Irish decent. The US is just as influenced by German customs and traditions as British ones, our taste for Lager (light) beers instead of darker beers like the ales Brits like is an example of the German influence. ------------- "Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now." -Arnold J. Toynbee |
Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 21:18
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For the Scottish and Irish influence, look at military funerals, sometimes "Amazing Grace" is played on the bagpipes. We obviously have way more of a British influence, we speak the language, and we have taken some words from specific dialects (like in Western Pennsylvania, both "Yinz" and "Nebby" come from Scotland).
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