What are the ancestors of Americans?

About 20,000 years ago, some hunting tribes from Asia chased cattle all the way, crossed the Asian-American continental bridge in the Bering Strait today, and came to the American continent, becoming the earliest American immigrants in history. Time flies, to 1492 Spanish explorer Christopher? 6? 1 When Christopher Columbus "discovered" the new continent, there were about 654.38+0.5 billion aborigines living on today's American continent. Columbus mistakenly thought that his arrival in San Salvador, Bahamas, was the legendary east indies, so he called the local Native Americans "Indians".

There are 562 tribal peoples in the United States, scattered in 48 States and Alaska, with a total area of 22.4 million hectares. The largest 65,438+02 Indian tribes are Cherokee (369,035), Navajo (225,298), Sioux (65,438+007,3265,438+0) and Chipwa (65,438+005,900). There are 55,330 Pueblos, 53,330 Apache, 52,557 Iroquois, 50,888 Rumblins, 45,872 Cricks and 37,992 Blackford people.

European immigrants:

The British were the mainstream nation among the early American colonists, and English became the mainstream language of the United States. However, immediately after Britain, other Europeans swarmed in, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Germans and Swedes. Thomas, a famous spokesman for the American Revolution? 6? 1 Thomas Paine himself is British. He clearly pointed out in 1776: "Europe, not Britain, is the mother country of the United States." Europe, not Britain, is America's home country. However, until 1780, British or Irish descendants still accounted for 3/4 of Americans.

From 1840 to 1860, the United States ushered in the first wave of immigration. At that time, due to poor agricultural harvest, population growth and political turmoil, the whole of Europe was starving, and about 5 million people left their homes every year. Because of potato disease, Ireland starved to death more than 750 thousand people. Many survivors emigrated overseas. In just 1847 a year, the number of Irish immigrants to the United States reached 1 18 120. Today, there are about 39 million Irish Americans.

1848~49 The failure of the German Revolution caused many Germans to emigrate overseas. 1861~ During the American Civil War in 1965, the federal government also encouraged Europeans, especially Germans, to immigrate to the United States to enrich their troops. In return for military service, the federal government gives immigrants free land. By 1865, about15 of the federal soldiers were wartime immigrants. Today, 22% of Americans are of German descent.

1820~70 years, about 200 thousand European Jews entered the United States from Germany and other places. Most of these Jewish immigrants are small traders engaged in retail trade and scattered all over the United States. More Jews immigrated to the United States around 1880. During the period of about 12 years, they were brutally persecuted in eastern European countries. In the next 45 years, 2 million Jews immigrated to the United States. These Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and Austria are poor and don't know English. Most of them live in big cities such as new york and Chicago, work in factories or engage in handicrafts and run small shops. Today, there are more than 5 million Jewish Americans, more than half of whom live in new york, California and Florida. The vast majority of Jews live in cities and suburbs, mainly middle class, with high education and income level, and have an important influence in the political, economic and cultural fields of the United States.

Reluctant immigrants:

In the tide of immigration into North America, a group of people were forced to come. That is, between 16 19 and 1808, 500,000 Africans were sold to the United States as slaves. 1808, the United States promulgated a law prohibiting the import of slaves. However, due to the need of labor, especially in southern agricultural areas, farmers still continue to own slaves and their children. Today, African-Americans account for 12.9% of the total population of the United States, with 34,658190 people (data of the US Census Bureau in 2006, 5438+0.65438+February 7).

Latin American immigrants (Hispanic):

About 4 million Spanish-speaking Latin American immigrants flooded into the United States in the 1950 s. According to the data of the US Census Bureau on March 8, 2000, the Latin American population living in the United States today is 27,174,300. About half of them are from Mexico, and the other half are from Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Colombia. 36% of Hispanics live in California. Other Hispanic populations are Texas, New York, Illinois and Florida. After Castro won the Cuban Revolution, thousands of Cubans went into exile in Florida. There are so many Cuban-Americans living in Miami that the Miami Herald, the largest newspaper in the city, published a Spanish edition in addition to the English edition.

Asian immigrants:

China people are the first Asians to immigrate to the United States. As early as 1785, three China sailors, A Xing, A Chuan and A Chun, arrived in the United States on the sailboat Goddess of Wisdom. However, until the middle of the19th century, China people rarely heard of the United States and were not interested in immigration, because China's relatively stable social order and natural economy enabled ordinary people to live and work in peace and contentment despite poverty. However, after the Opium War and the invasion of western powers since 1840, the Qing government, which was at home and abroad, squeezed the people more and more, which aroused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, and the people were miserable and desperate. 1848 After the news of the discovery of gold mines in California spread to China, Fujian, Guangdong and other coastal areas, more and more China people began to cross the ocean and live in a foreign land. In 1849, 79 1 Chinese entered San Francisco, and in 1850, the number increased to 4025. By 1873, the number of China people who immigrated to the United States has reached about150,000.

After China, Asian immigrants from Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, Philippine and North Korea followed closely and started the thorny road of emigrating to the United States.

According to the data released by the US Census Bureau on February 7, 2006, there are/kloc-0,242,998 Asians in the United States, accounting for 4.2% of the total population of the United States. Most Asians are new immigrants who immigrated to the United States in recent decades. However, Asian Americans have become one of the most successful ethnic minorities in the United States because of their fine traditions of thrift, hard work and emphasis on education, and their income and education level are relatively high.