United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Germans
Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry and history. German is the shared mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans; the English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages. Since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, German society has been characterized by a Catholic-Protestant divide. Of 100 million native speakers of German in the world 80 million consider themselves Germans. There are an additional 80 million people of German ancestry in the United States, Argentina, South Africa, the post-Soviet states, France, each accounting for at least 1 million. Thus, the total number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied. Today, people from countries with German-speaking majorities most subscribe to their own national identities and may or may not self-identify as ethnically German.
The German term Deutsche originates from the Old High German word diutisc, referring to the Germanic "language of the people". It is not clear how if at all, the word was used as an ethnonym in Old High German. Used as a noun, ein diutscher in the sense of "a German" emerges in Middle High German, attested from the second half of the 12th century; the Old French term alemans is taken from the name of the Alamanni. It was loaned into Middle English as almains in the early 14th century; the word Dutch is attested in English from the 14th century, denoting continental West Germanic dialects and their speakers. While in most Romance languages the Germans have been named from the Alamanni, the Old Norse and Estonian names for the Germans were taken from that of the Saxons. In Slavic languages, the Germans were given the name of němьci with a meaning "foreigner, one who does not speak "; the English term Germans is only attested from the mid-16th century, based on the classical Latin term Germani used by Julius Caesar and Tacitus.
It replaced Dutch and Almains, the latter becoming obsolete by the early 18th century. The Germans are a Germanic people. Part of the Holy Roman Empire, around 300 independent German states emerged during its decline after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years War; these states formed into modern Germany in the 19th century. The concept of a German ethnicity is linked to Germanic tribes of antiquity in central Europe; the early Germans originated on the North German Plain as well as southern Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the number of Germans was increasing and they began expanding into eastern Europe and southward into Celtic territory. During antiquity these Germanic tribes remained separate from each other and did not have writing systems at that time. In the European Iron Age the area, now Germany was divided into the La Tène horizon in Southern Germany and the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany. By 55 BC, the Germans had reached the Danube river and had either assimilated or otherwise driven out the Celts who had lived there, had spread west into what is now Belgium and France.
Conflict between the Germanic tribes and the forces of Rome under Julius Caesar forced major Germanic tribes to retreat to the east bank of the Rhine. Roman emperor Augustus in 12 BC ordered the conquest of the Germans, but the catastrophic Roman defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest resulted in the Roman Empire abandoning its plans to conquer Germania. Germanic peoples in Roman territory were culturally Romanized, although much of Germania remained free of direct Roman rule, Rome influenced the development of German society the adoption of Christianity by the Germans who obtained it from the Romans. In Roman-held territories with Germanic populations, the Germanic and Roman peoples intermarried, Roman and Christian traditions intermingled; the adoption of Christianity would become a major influence in the development of a common German identity. The first major public figure to speak of a German people in general, was the Roman figure Tacitus in his work Germania around 100 AD; however an actual united German identity and ethnicity did not exist and it would take centuries of development of German culture until the concept of a German ethnicity began to become a popular identity.
The Germanic peoples during the Migrations Period came into contact with other peoples. The Limes Germanicus was breached in AD 260. Migrating Germanic tribes commingled with the local Gallo-Roman populations in what is now Swabia and Bavaria; the arrival of the Huns in Europe resulted in Hun conquest of large parts of Eastern Europe, the Huns were allies of the Roman Empire who fought against Germanic tribes, but the Huns cooperated with the Germanic tribe of the Ostrogoths, large numbers of Germans lived within the lands of the Hunnic Empire of
South Dakota's at-large congressional district
South Dakota's At-Large Congressional District is the sole congressional district for the state of South Dakota. Based on area, it is the fourth largest congressional district in the nation; the district is represented by Dusty Johnson. The district was created when South Dakota achieved statehood on November 2, 1889, electing two members At-Large. Following the 1910 Census a third seat was gained, with the legislature drawing three separate districts; the third district was eliminated after the 1930 Census. Following the 1980 Census the second seat was eliminated. Since 1983, South Dakota has retained a single congressional district. Hillary Clinton of New York won the June 3, 2008 South Dakota Democratic Primary with 55.35% of the statewide/at-large congressional district vote while Barack Obama of Illinois received 44.65%. The state/at-large congressional district gave Clinton her final win during the course of the historic and drawn-out 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary season. U. S. Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who had endorsed John Edwards, decided to support Obama before her state/congressional district voted in the primary for Clinton.
John McCain of Arizona won the June 3, 2008 South Dakota GOP Primary with 70.19% of the statewide/at-large congressional district vote while libertarian-leaning Ron Paul of Texas finished in second place in the state/congressional district with 16.52%. Incumbent U. S. Representative Bill Janklow resigned the seat January 20, 2004, after he was convicted of second-degree manslaughter, triggering a special election. Democrat Stephanie Herseth was selected as the Democratic nominee for this special election and she defeated Republican Larry Diedrich with 51 percent of the vote in a close-fought election on June 1, 2004. Herseth's victory gave the state its first all-Democratic congressional delegation since 1937. In the November general election, Herseth was elected to a full term with 53.4 percent of the vote, an increase of a few percentage points compared with the closer June special elections. Herseth's vote margin in June was about 3,000 votes, but by November it had grown to over 29,000. Herseth thereby became the first woman in state history to win a full term in the U.
S. Congress. Both elections were hard-fought and close compared to many House races in the rest of the United States, the special election was watched by a national audience; the general election was viewed as one of the most competitive in the country, but was overshadowed in the state by the competitive U. S. Senate race between Democrat Tom Daschle and Republican John Thune, which Thune narrowly won. Two seats were created in 1889, they were changed into three districts in 1913. One at-large seat remained after 1983. Martis, Kenneth C.. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Martis, Kenneth C.. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present 2004 campaign finance data
Lake Oahe
Lake Oahe is a large reservoir behind Oahe Dam on the Missouri River. The lake has an area of 370,000 acres and a maximum depth of 205 ft. By volume, it is the fourth-largest reservoir in the US. Lake Oahe has a length of 231 mi and has a shoreline of 2,250 mi. 51 recreation areas are located along Lake Oahe, 1.5 million people visit the reservoir every year. The lake is named for the 1874 Oahe Indian Mission. Lake Oahe begins just north of Pierre, South Dakota and extends nearly as far north as Bismarck, North Dakota. Mobridge, South Dakota is located on the eastern shore of the central portion of the lake. Bridges over Lake Oahe include US Route 212 west of Gettysburg, South Dakota and US Route 12 at Mobridge; the former town of Forest City has been flooded beneath Lake Oahe, about 9 miles west of Gettysburg. Prehistoric archaeological sites have been explored in the area, including Molstad Village near Mobridge, it dates to before the emergence of the Arikara and Mandan as separate peoples, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Species of fish in the reservoir include walleye, northern pike, channel catfish, smallmouth bass. Chinook salmon, native to the Pacific Northwest, are artificially maintained in Lake Oahe and are a popular target for anglers; the lake supports populations of the endangered pallid sturgeon. There are 50 public recreation areas. Many of these areas offer boat ramp facilities, campgrounds, picnic areas, hiking trails, along with access for hunting and fishing opportunities; some of the recreation areas include: Oahe Downstream Recreation Area Cow Creek Recreation Area Okobojo Point Recreation Area West Whitlock Recreation Area Indian Creek Recreation Area Revheim Bay Recreation Area West Pollock Recreation Area Beaver Creek Recreation Area Hazelton Recreation Area Both the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and the Standing Rock Indian Reservation occupy much of the western shoreline of Lake Oahe. Two possible burial sites of Sitting Bull, a Sioux leader, are located along Lake Oahe. One is near North Dakota, while the other is near Mobridge.
The shoreline and public lands around Lake Oahe contain various artifacts and cultural resources important to many Native American tribes that have lived and traveled through the Missouri River Basin and the Lake Oahe area. All artifacts, including fossils and other objects are prohibited from damaging; the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with other Federal and Tribal Law Enforcement officers enforce the unauthorized collection and damaging of culturally important sites and artifacts through the Antiquities Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Penalties for violations can include fines, up to Federal prison sentences. In the 1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation built five large dams on the Missouri River, implemented the Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program, forcing Native Americans to relocate from flooded areas. Over 200,000 acres on the Standing Rock Reservation and the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota were flooded by the Oahe Dam alone.
As of 2015, poverty remains a problem for the displaced populations in the Dakotas, who are still seeking compensation for the loss of the towns submerged under Lake Oahe, the loss of their traditional ways of life. Lake Oahe became a point of contention in protests to block the Dakota Access Pipeline; the construction project has been controversial for its environmental impacts, several Native American tribes in the Dakotas and Iowa have opposed the project. These include the Meskwaki. In 2016 a group from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation brought a petition to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and sued for an injunction to stop the project. On December 4, 2016 USACE denied the easement that "would allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe" and Jo-Ellen Darcy, the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army "said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing." Darcy said "that the consideration of alternative routes would be best accomplished through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis."President Trump soon thereafter issued "a memorandum and an executive order asking USACE to expedite its consideration of the company’s application for an easement to start construction."
The USACE subsequently "withdrew its call for the environmental study." On 7 February 2017, the USACE approved an easement through Lake Oahe. On 9 February 2017, the Cheyenne River Sioux filed the first legal challenge to the easement, citing an 1851 treaty and interference with the religious practices of the tribe. List of dams and reservoirs in North Dakota List of lakes in South Dakota Lake Oahe, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Corps Lakes - Lake Oahe South Dakota Department of Game and Parks North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation North Dakota Department of Game and Fish
1910 United States Census
The Thirteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau on April 15, 1910, determined the resident population of the United States to be 92,228,496, an increase of 21.0 percent over the 76,212,168 persons enumerated during the 1900 Census. The 1910 Census switched from a portrait page orientation to a landscape orientation; the 1910 census collected the following information: Full documentation for the 1910 census, including census forms and enumerator instructions, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. The column titles in the census form are as follows: LOCATION. Street, road, etc. House number. 1. Number of dwelling house in order of visitation. 2. Number of family in order of visitation. 3. NAME of each person whose place of abode on April 15, 1910, was in this family. Enter surname first the given name and middle initial, if any. Include every person living on April 15, 1910. Omit children born since April 15, 1910. RELATION. 4. Relationship of this person to the head of the family.
PERSONAL DESCRIPTION. 5. Sex. 6. Color or race. 7. Age at last birthday. 8. Whether single, widowed, or divorced. 9. Number of years of present marriage. 10. Mother of how many children: Number born. 11. Mother of how many children: Number now living. NATIVITY. Place of birth of each person and parents of each person enumerated. If born in the United States, give the state or territory. If of foreign birth, give the country. 12. Place of birth of this Person. 13. Place of birth of Father of this person. 14. Place of birth of Mother of this person. CITIZENSHIP. 15. Year of immigration to the United States. 16. Whether naturalized or alien. 17. Whether able to speak English. OCCUPATION. 18. Trade or profession of, or particular kind of work done by this person, as spinner, laborer, etc. 19. General nature of industry, business, or establishment in which this person works, as cotton mill, dry goods store, etc. 20. Whether as employer, employee, or work on own account. If an employee— 21. Whether out of work on April 15, 1910.
22. Number of weeks out of work during year 1909. EDUCATION. 23. Whether able to read. 24. Whether able to write. 25. Attended school any time since September 1, 1909. OWNERSHIP OF HOME. 26. Owned or rented. 27. Owned free or mortgaged. 28. Farm or house. 29. Number of farm schedule. 30. Whether a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy. 31. Whether blind. 32. Whether deaf and dumb. Special Notation In 1912 and 1959, New Mexico, Arizona and Hawaii would become the 47th, 48th, 49th and 50th states admitted to the Union; the 1910 population count for each of these areas was 327,301, 204,354, 64,356 and 191,909 respectively. On this basis, the ranking list above would be modified as follows: First 42 ranked states - positions unchanged New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, Wyoming and Alaska; the original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau in the 1940s. The microfilmed census is available in rolls from the National Records Administration. Several organizations host images of the microfilmed census online, along which digital indices.
Microdata from the 1910 census are available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. 1911 U. S Census Report Contains 1910 Census results Historic US Census data census.gov/population/www/censusdata/PopulationofStatesandCountiesoftheUnitedStates1790-1990.pdf
McIntosh County, North Dakota
McIntosh County is a county in the U. S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 2,809, its county seat is Ashley. The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on March 9, 1883, with areas partitioned from Campbelll, McPherson counties, with some previously-unorganized areas, it was named for a territorial legislator at the time. The county seat was Hoskins, but changed in 1888 after everything in Hoskins but the school was moved three miles east to the new Soo Line Railroad townsite of Ashley; the county government was not organized at that date, but the new county was not attached to another county for judicial or administrative purposes. Its government was organized on October 4, 1884. McIntosh County lies on the south line of North Dakota, its south boundary line abuts the north boundary line of the state of South Dakota. The terrain consists of rolling hills dotted with lakes and ponds, with occasional protuberances; the terrain slopes to the south, with its highest point on the north line at 2,156' ASL.
The county has a total area of 995 square miles, of which 975 square miles is land and 20 square miles is water. North Dakota Highway 3 North Dakota Highway 11 North Dakota Highway 13 As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 3,390 people, 1,467 households, 975 families in the county; the population density was 3.48/sqmi. There were 1,853 housing units at an average density of 1.90/sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 98.88% White, 0.15% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.09% from other races, 0.56% from two or more races. 0.83% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 82.2% were of German and 5.0% American ancestry. There were 1,467 households out of which 22.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.30% were married couples living together, 3.50% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.50% were non-families. 32.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.90% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older.
The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.75. The county population contained 19.40% under the age of 18, 4.60% from 18 to 24, 19.40% from 25 to 44, 22.40% from 45 to 64, 34.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 51 years. For every 100 females there were 91.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $26,389, the median income for a family was $31,771. Males had a median income of $22,153 versus $16,743 for females; the per capita income for the county was $15,018. About 10.60% of families and 15.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.50% of those under age 18 and 18.90% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 2,809 people, 1,307 households, 800 families in the county; the population density was 2.88/sqmi. There were 1,858 housing units at an average density of 1.91/sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 98.1% white, 0.4% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.2% from other races, 0.6% from two or more races.
Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 76.8% were German, 26.9% were Russian, 6.2% were Norwegian, 5.2% were American. Of the 1,307 households, 19.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.0% were married couples living together, 3.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.8% were non-families, 36.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.66. The median age was 52.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $34,904 and the median income for a family was $46,198. Males had a median income of $35,200 versus $23,594 for females; the per capita income for the county was $22,608. About 9.2% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.7% of those under age 18 and 20.2% of those age 65 or over. Roloff McIntosh County is a powerfully Republican county; the only Democrats to carry McIntosh County have been Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 and 1932, plus Al Smith in 1928, both of whom owed their success to the county's overwhelmingly "wet" German-American culture.
In 1920, 1940, 1944. and 1952 elections the Republican Presidential candidate received over ninety percent of the county's vote. Although shifting somewhat Democratic in more recent Presidential elections, John McCain received nearly sixty percent of the county's vote in the 2008 U. S. presidential election. President Donald Trump won seventy-seven percent of the vote in 2016, the best result in the county since Ronald Reagan; the county is represented in the US House of Representatives by Republican Kevin Cramer. As part of District 28 it is represented in the North Dakota Senate by Robert S. Erbele and in the North Dakota House of Representatives by Mike Brandenburg and Jeffery Magrum. National Register of Historic Places listings in McIntosh County ND
Norwegians
Norwegians are a North Germanic ethnic group native to Norway. They speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in the United States, Australia, Chile, Brazil, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Proto-Indo-European speaking Battle-Axe peoples migrated to Norway bringing domesticated horses, agriculture and wheel technology to the region. During the Viking age, Harald Fairhair unified the Norse petty kingdoms after being victorious at the Battle of Hafrsfjord in the 880s. Two centuries of Viking expansion tapered off following the decline of Norse paganism with the adoption of Christianity in the 11th century. During The Black Death 60% of the population died and in 1397 Norway entered a union with Denmark. In 1814, following Denmark-Norway's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, Norway entered a union with Sweden and adopted a new constitution. Rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting Norway independence.
Although Norway remained neutral in World War I, the country was unofficially allied with the Entente powers. In World War II Norway proclaimed its neutrality, but was nonetheless occupied for five years by Nazi Germany. In 1949, neutrality was abandoned and Norway became a member of NATO. Discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norway's economic fortunes but in referendums held in 1972 and 1994, Norway rejected joining the EU. Key domestic issues include integration of a fast growing immigrant population, maintaining the country's generous social safety net with an aging population, preserving economic competitiveness; as with many of the people from European countries, Norwegians are spread throughout the world. There are more than 100,000 Norwegian citizens living abroad permanently in the U. S. U. K. and other Scandinavian countries. Norwegian or Norse Vikings travelled north and west and founded vibrant communities in the Faroe Islands, Orkney, Ireland and northern England.
They conducted extensive raids in Ireland and founded the cities of Cork and Limerick. In 947, a new wave of Norwegian Vikings appeared in England. In the 8th century and onwards, Norwegian- and Danish Vikings settled in Normandy, most famously those led by Rollo, thus began the tradition of the Normans, who expanded to England and other Mediterranean islands. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegian Vikings established settlements in uninhabited regions; the first known permanent Norwegian settler in Iceland was Ingólfur Arnarson. In the year 874 he settled in Reykjavík. After his expulsion from Iceland Erik the Red discovered Greenland, a name he chose in hope of attracting Icelandic settlers. Viking settlements were established in the sheltered fjords of the western coast. Erik's relative Leif Eriksson discovered North America. During the 17th and 18th centuries, many Norwegians emigrated to the Netherlands Amsterdam; the Netherlands was the second most popular destination for Norwegian emigrants after Denmark.
Loosely estimated, some 10% of the population may have emigrated, in a period when the entire Norwegian population consisted of some 800,000 people. The Norwegians left with the Dutch trade ships that when in Norway traded for timber, hides and stockfish. Young women took employment as maids in Amsterdam. Young men took employment as sailors. Large parts of the Dutch merchant fleet and navy came to consist of Danes, they took Dutch names, so no trace of Norwegian names can be found in the Dutch population of today. One well-known illustration is that of Admiral Kruys, he was hired in Amsterdam by Peter I to develop the Russian navy, but was from Stavanger, Norway. The emigration to the Netherlands was so devastating to the homelands that the Danish-Norwegian king issued penalties of death for emigration, but had to issue amnesties for those willing to return, announced by posters in the streets of Amsterdam. Dutchmen who search their genealogical roots turn to Norway. Many Norwegians who emigrated to the Netherlands, were employed in the Dutch merchant fleet, emigrated further to the many Dutch colonies such as New Amsterdam.
Many Norwegians emigrated to the U. S. between the 1850s and the 1920s. Today, the descendants of these people are known as Norwegian Americans. According to the 2000 U. S. Census, three million Americans consider Norwegian to be their sole or primary ancestry, it is estimated. Travelling to and through Canada and Canadian ports were of choice for Norwegian settlers immigrating to the United States. In 1850, the year after Great Britain repealed its restrictive Navigation Acts in Canada and more emigrating Norwegians sailed the shorter route to the Ville de Québec in Canada, to make their way to US cities like Chicago and Green Bay by steamer. For example, in the 1850s, 28,640 arrived at Quebec, Canada, en route to the US, 8,351 at New York directly. Norwegian Americans represent 2-3% of the non-Hispanic Euro-American population in the U. S, they live in both the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest. As early as 1814, a party of Norwegians was brought to Canada to build a winter road from York Factory on Hudson Bay to the infant Red River settlement at the site of present-day W
Campbell County, South Dakota
