Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Left
Italian immigrants
Center
Arrivals to the island
Right
French West Indian arrivals
Milestones in Immigration History
1624
First Dutch arrived in New
Amsterdam, which thrived as a
trading center, attracting settlers
from many other nations. By
1643, the 500-strong population
spoke 18 different languages.
1892
When Castle Island, an immi-
grant depot set up in 1855, could
no longer handle the inflow, Ellis
Island took over. “Settlement
Houses” were set up in the city
to help those living in squalid
tenements, and “Americanization”
programs encouraged assimilation.
1664
The dislike of Dutch governor
Peter Stuyvesant and unpopular
tax demands by the Dutch West
India Company meant little resis-
tance to the ousting of the Dutch
by the British, who
renamed the city
New York.
1924
Nearly 40 percent of New
York's population was foreign-born.
U.S. laws set national quotas on
immigration; Great
Britain's Caribbean
colonies benefited
from the British
quota and arrived
in large numbers.
1790
For the first
U.S. Census, New
York's population of
33,131 was the
second largest in
the Colonies. The make-up
was mostly British and Dutch.
1965
The Hart-Cellar
Act ended discrimin-
ation based on national origin; a
new wave of immigration began.
Asian women in a garment
factory in Chinatown
Mid-1800s
Ireland's 1845-8 Great Famine
and economic hardship in
Germany led many to seek new
lives in New York, where
rapid growth as a seaport
and manufacturing cen-
ter opened many jobs.
1980s
One million mainly Asian
and Latin American newcomers
arrived. The Chinese population
topped 300,000, Koreans became
visible elements in the city, and
Dominican numbers grew.
1990-present
Another one million new-
comers entered, swelling the
foreign-born population to over
40 percent of the total popula-
tion - the highest since 1910.
Immigrants from more than 160
nations now live in New York.
1880-1910
Thousands of
Russian and Polish
Jews and Italians
arrived, fleeing
persecution or hard
economic times.
Polish woman
at Ellis Island
c.1910
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