Here is a simplified version:

   German

   American

   Mexican

   Irish

   African

   Italian

   English

   Japanese

   Puerto Rican

These two demographic maps display the ancestry of people living in the USA, according to a census taken in 2000.

The thing that struck me about this map is the high number of people who consider themselves to have German ancestry. According to the census, German Americans account for 17.1% of the population, which was the highest percentage, followed by Irish American at 12%. I think my surprise is due to not knowing very much about how America was originally populated and the groups of people that went there. When I think of Americans today, what comes to mind is Latinos, African Americans, Irish Americans and Italian Americans. I think they are groups that are given more focus in media and the news. Although, in trying to think about why the preponderance of German ancestry was so unusual to me, I realized that once I thought more deeply about it, it made sense.

Most Germans were originally drawn to America because of the promise of rich land for farming and religious freedom. If a lot of people with agricultural knowledge were emigrating to America, it must have been helpful in the pioneering push across the Appalachians into the grass plains of central America. In reference to religious freedom, a lot of people who followed the Amish Mennonite movement emigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th century to escape religious persecution, later spreading out across the rest of America. Most of the Amish communities became Americanised, although some still exist, practicing their way of life - Ohio containing the largest population of Amish.

Another thing I found interesting about these maps was the racial segregation it suggested. Not an enforced segregation, but a natural one. In another demographic map showing race in America, the divide between white and black Americans be seen clearly. The Hispanic and African Americans seem to be largely grouped along the east west coast, excluding Florida, from New York to Louisiana. This distribution could be connected to the abolition of slavery in 1865 and the American Civil War - people of African ancestry would be more inclined to move out of the confederate states in the south and into the north, who fought against slavery.

The Mexican ancestry along the south can be explained by those states bordering on Mexico, so anyone emigrating from there would not have moved far. A lot of the states and cities in that area have Spanish names.

Most of the Americans with English ancestry are in Maine and Vermont, but there is an isolated pocket of them in Utah. The English heritage in Maine and Vermont is easy to explain, as it was this area in which the original immigrants landed. The land there was easy to live on and bordered by the Appalachian, or 'Endless' Mountains, so it would have been more practical to stay where they started. The high percentage of English ancestry in Utah could be because a lot of British Mormons moved there in order to practice their religion.

I also noted that a few states noted their ancestry as American, which in the census was the option if the person wasn't sure of their ancestry. This could be because family histories have been lost, or that their ancestors became so Americanised that they discarded their ancestry and fully embraced being an American.