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Facts about Immigration

New York, N.Y. Immigrants' Landing, Ellis Island

Here are some facts you will need to know as you get started:

  • Immigrants have been coming to America for thousands of years.
  • The first immigrants to North America came from Asia. Today we call them Native American Indians.
  • Later people from Europe, Africa and Asia came to make America their home.
  • From the early days of the American Colonies new people were coming to make America their home.
  • After the United States became a country, people from other countries continued to make America their home as new lands in the west were opened to settlers.
  • During the 1800s most new settlers to Iowa came from states to the east. But as Iowa grew and developed, many people came to live in Iowa from foreign countries.

    Places of Nativity for Foreign Born
    Residents of Iowa—Census of 1870

    Total State Population – 1,194,020
    Total foreign Born Population – 204,692

    Austria
    Bohemia
    British America
    Denmark
    France
    Germany
    Great Britain
    2, 691
    6,765
    17,907
    2,827
    3,130
    66,162
    25,318
    Holland
    Ireland
    Norway
    Sweden
    Switzerland
    Other
    4,513
    40,124
    17,554
    10,796
    3,937
    2,967

  • Immigrating to a new country with a strange and unfamiliar language was scary. For this reason, immigrants often chose to live in cities or towns where friends or family members had already settled.
  • That’s exactly what happened in Waterloo. As the city developed and new businesses were started, immigrants often came to Waterloo to join family members and friends who had arrived earlier.
  • Waterloo became home to new immigrants from countries such as Italy, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Mexico, Croatia, Bulgaria and Russia—to name just a few.
  • Today the story of immigration continues as people come to America from all over the world.

To learn more about immigration, read The Story of Immigration to Waterloo.

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