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1300
Travelers from the land bridge between Asia and North America came over at least 20,000 years ago.
Thousands of years before Europeans began crossing the vast Atlantic by ship and settling en masse, the first immigrants arrived in North America from Asia. They were Native American ancestors who crossed a narrow spit of land connecting Asia to North America at least 20,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. -
The Arrival and Growth of the European settlers
By the early 1600s, communities of European immigrants dotted the Eastern seaboard, including the Spanish in Florida, the British in New England and Virginia, the Dutch in New York, and the Swedes in Delaware. Some, including the Pilgrims and Puritans, came for religious freedom. Many sought greater economic opportunities. Still others, including hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans, arrived in America against their will. -
The First African Slaves Arrive
In late August 1619, 20-30 enslaved Africans landed at Point Comfort, today's Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va., aboard the English privateer ship White Lion. In Virginia, these Africans were traded in exchange for supplies. Several days later, a second ship (Treasurer) arrived in Virginia with additional enslaved Africans. -
The Irish come over during the Great Potato Famine
The potato crops fails in Ireland sparking the Potato Famine which kills one million and prompts almost 500,000 to immigrate to America over the next five years. -
The First Mexicans join the country
The Mexican-American War ends: the U.S. acquires additional territory and people under its jurisdiction. The First Mexicans join the country after the Mexican-American War -
The First Chinese Immigrants come to America
The California Gold Rush sparks the first mass immigration from China. -
The Poles and Russian come to America
Poland's religious and economic conditions prompted the immigration of approximately two million Poles by 1914. -
The First Japanese come to Hawaii
Japanese laborers arrive in Hawaii to work in sugar cane fields. -
The Largest group of Germans Immigrate
In the 1880s, the decade of heaviest German immigration, nearly 1.5 million Germans left their country to settle in the United States; about 250,000, the greatest number ever, arrived in 1882. 1890 - An estimated 2.8 million German-born immigrants lived in the United States. -
The First Italians come to America
Italy's troubled economy, crop failures, and political climate begin the start of mass immigration with nearly four million Italian immigrants arriving in the United States. -
Cubans and Puerto Ricans can now enter America
Congress establishes a civil government in Puerto Rico and the Jones Act grants U.S. citizenship to island inhabitants. U.S. citizens can travel freely between the mainland and the island without a passport. -
The Japanese come to America
The United States and Japan form a "Gentleman's Agreement" in which Japan ends the issuance of passports to laborers and the U.S. agrees not to prohibit Japanese immigration. -
The Bracero Program brings in Millions of Mexican workers
The Bracero Program was a series of diplomatic accords between Mexico and the United States signed in 1942 that brought millions of Mexican immigrants to the United States to work on short-term agricultural labor contracts. -
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
In 1965, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which did away with quotas based on nationality and allowed Americans to sponsor relatives from their countries of origin. As a result of this act and subsequent legislation, the nation experienced a shift in immigration patterns. Today, the majority of U.S. immigrants come from Asia and Latin America rather than Europe.