Chapter 6

One of the things I learned in this chapter was the difference between old and new immigrants is that old immigrants are from northern and western Europe who immigrated before the 1880s and new immigrants came after and were from eastern Europe.  Also, I learned that from 1820 to 1920, the US population grew from 10 to 100 million. Every year from 1860 to 1920, the foreign born population was about 13-14%.

In that century, about 4.5 million Irish immigrated to the United States. But not all that tried to make it here made it safe. Diseases were brought on ships so many people died. About 17 thousand died at sea, and another 20 thousand died after landing from diseases they got on board. Hospitals were extremely overcrowded so many weren’t even admitted. In 1853, about 10 percent of 180,000 died at sea because of cholera.  The ones that did make it were at the bottom of the social scale. They were given the worst jobs, and Negro slaves were put before them. 

Chapter 4 Discussion Questions

Between 1727 and 1740, about how many ships of German immigrants arrived per year?

What were the differences between indentured servants from the British Isles and German immigrants?

Why did contracts for German immigrants end?

 What was the main push factor that brought Scottish Irish to America?

 What was the Seaflower?

 What was the major internal migration route of the Colonial Era?

 What were kind of people were some of the Scots that were deported to America?

Slavery and Immigrants from Africa

Some things I learned while reading this chapter were:

When slavery existed only in the southern states, the northern states also benefited from it. 

Also, slavery helped with the development of western and American capitalism.

It is hard to know a lot of about African slaves because they were illiterate and couldn’t keep journals. So only slave owners kept documents about slaves and also the names that they wanted to call them.

Slave owners had their preference with the ethnicities of their slaves.

Between 13 and 33 percent of slaves that left Africa were never delivered.

Even though most of the slaves were male, the female population eventually increased.

The death rate for slave babies was about 25 percent more than for white babies.

The life expectancy of white people was 12 percent higher than for slave. 

Chapter 2 English Immigrants in America

I never knew when the United States took the first census. I noticed that they it was only blacks and whites that were counted. I wonder if it was only don’t by skin color because those were the only options.  About 80 percent of the population was white.  After reading that I looked at the census page for 2010 and I read that 6% of the population didn’t actually put a race, they put “some other race”. So I don’t know how accurate the census is when it comes to peoples race. I remember being confused when filling out that section.

The author mentioned how it can take people a while to save money to immigrate to another county. He also mentioned how it was expensive to transport a whole family and how some British families wouldn’t be able to afford it. I think that in that aspect things are still the same. For example, when people come to the US today, sometimes they have to pay to get into the country illegally, or they have to travel to another country to then come to the US.  

Migration

In the first chapter of the book one of the things that caught my attention was the increase in people migrating to Europe. Over a period of 400 years, the population went from 95 to 729. People migrated because of increased agriculture, the increase of the industrial revolution, and because of the lessening of the plague. But also during that time, 60 million people left Europe and most of them to the United States.

Something else that stood out was the author mentioning that it was a myth that people come to the United States to find wealth from poverty. I think that even though people do sometimes come for that reason that isn’t always the case. I know people who came from other counties they weren’t poor in theirs. I have a good friend whos brother just moved to the US and their dad sends money for him to rent an apartment from Iran. I have another friend whos mom sent him money from Peru for him to buy a car. So I agree with the author about that myth.  

Also, the term “chain migration” made a lot of sense to me. My mom is from a small town in Mexico in which about 700 people used to live about 25 years ago. Now, only about 300 people are left. People started coming to the US, and brining their family members. It reminded me of it because people don’t just come all at once, they come one at a time. 

Pacific Seafarers and Maritime Cultures

I liked this article more that the last one that was assigned. Something I found very interesting in this article is that it is believed that Homo erectus traveled by about 20-30km long. Even though it isn't extremely long distances and it was only by raft, it is still amazing that they were capable of doing so. It is also amazing that about 3,000 years ago people sailed 850 km to Tonga and Samoa, and they built boats that were capable of sustaining the current and winds. One thing that caught my attention is that the sea level used to be 410 feet lower than it is today!