Immigration in US History
by
Carl L. Bankston (Editor); Danielle Hidalgo (Editor)
ISBN: 1587652668
Publication Date: 2006-02-28
Of the many themes that characterize U.S. history, immigration is one of the most constant and most pervasive. Since the first European and African immigrants began arriving in North America during the early seventeenth century, immigrants have steadily poured into what is now the United States. During the early twenty-first century, that flow has continued unabated - the major difference being that most immigrants now come from Latin America - especially Mexico and Central America - and Asia. Of the 281,421,056 residents of the nation counted by the U.S. Census in 2000, nearly 99 percent traced their ancestry to immigrants who arrived here within in the past four centuries. Moreover, even Native Americans - who make up the remainder - can trace their ancestry to immigrants who came thousands of years earlier. The United States is, indeed, a nation of immigrants.