The history of immigration to the United States of America is, in some senses, the history of the United States itself.
Between 1629 and 1640 some 20,000 Puritans emigrated out of England, most settling in the New England of North America, in an event known as the Great Migration, these people became the Yankees of far north New England, who later spread out to New York and the Upper Midwest.
From 1609 to 1664, some 8,000 Dutch settlers peopled the New Netherlands, which later became New York and New Jersey.
Between 1645 and 1670, some 45,000 Royalists and/or indentured servants left England to work in the Middle Colonies and Virginia
From about 1675 to 1715, the Quakers made their move, leaving the Midlands and North England behind for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The Quaker movement was one of the largest religious presences in early colonial America.
Last but not least, between about 1710 and 1775, the so-called Scotch-Irish, mostly Presbyterian Protestants from England, the Scottish lowlands and northern Ireland came to North America, and generally settled in Appalachia and the western frontier, the places later would become Kentucky and Tennessee.
The majority of African slaves were brought to the future United States before it was the United States. The numbers are less than clear but it is believed that some 300,000 slaves were brought to the States before Independence, and some 100,000 were imported in the period between the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War.
And while history tends to emphasize the British shipment of convicts to its Australian colony, between 1700 and 1770, some 50,000 European convicts were also delivered across the seas to North America.
The 1850 United States census was the first federal U.S. census to query about the "nativity" of citizens--where they were born, either in the United States or outside of it, and is thus the first point at which solid statistics become available.
Contemporary immigrants are very strongly concentrated in six states: California, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey and Illinois. The combined total immigrant population of these six states is 70% of the total foreign-born population as of 2000.Colonial-Era Immigration to North America
Voluntary Migrations from Europe
The population of the colonies that later became the United States grew from zero Europeans in the mid-1500s to 3.2 million Europeans and 700,000 African slaves in 1790. At that time, it is estimated that 3/4 of the population were of British descent with Germans being the second largest free ethnic group and making up some 7% of the population.Slavery, Indentured Servitude and Convict Shipments
Immigration 1776 to 1849
Immigration 1850 to 1900
Immigration 1901 to 1939
Immigration WWII to 1970
Immigration 1971 to Present
