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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
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Austria
Bohemia
British America
Denmark
France
Germany
Great Britain
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2, 691
6,765
17,907
2,827
3,130
66,162
25,318
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Holland
Ireland
Norway
Sweden
Switzerland
Other
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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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