Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Populations of European descent form the largest group, with almost 198 million
people, or 67% of the total population. Within this group, the core of Protestant
immigrants of British descent (the WASPs
1
) is only a small minority whose culture
and politics have influenced other groups of more recent immigrants. Among the
largest of these communities, there are still some groups who claim different origins
with certain pride, for example, the Irish or Italians.
Religion is another factor of differentiation among communities, as is the case,
in particular, of Jews or some Protestant sects like the Mormons, some of whom
voluntarily settled together in the state of Utah.
Victims of a long history of racism, black Americans, or rather “African
Americans” in politically correct terms, are the most visible and self-conscious
minority. Present since 1619 in Virginia, blacks represented 17% of the population
of the United States in 1840 at the end of the transatlantic slave trade.
Despite significant population growth, their relative importance declined after
the Civil War due to the waves of incoming European immigration, dropping to less
than 10% of the total population in 1920. Higher fertility rates helped them jump
back to 13.4% of the population with 39.2 million people in 2004, of which only 1.7
million are of mixed race.
The “Asian” category made its appearance with the 1890 census to refer to all
people from the Asian continent, against which the United States had just
established an immigration ban. The Chinese were already the largest ethnic group
among established Asian Americans.
2
The presence of Asians remained very
discreet until 1950. The Cold War changed the situation with the wars in Korea and
Vietnam. The United States has since reopened their borders to immigration from
Asia. Communities of Asian origin went from 300,000 people in 1950 to 1.5 million
in 1970, 7.3 million in 1990, and nearly 14 million in 2004 (4.8% of the total
population). Originally coming exclusively from countries bordering the Pacific,
these communities have since widely diversified with immigrants from South Asia.
According to the demographic survey
3
conducted in 2004, among the 12% of
residents born abroad, one in four comes from the Asian continent.
1
. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.
2
. Fewer than 110,000 “Asians” were counted in 1890, representing 0.17% of the population
at the time.
3
. American Community Survey.
