US Immigration: Arrival and Settlement Patterns of Three Groups

This report examines the distinct arrival and settlement patterns of Irish, Italian, and Southeast Asian immigrants in the United States, drawing from the historical context of US immigration. It highlights that Irish immigrants, escaping famine, arrived via transatlantic voyages and settled in northeastern and western urban areas. Italian immigrants, driven by war, poverty, and natural disasters, traveled by steamship, often in steerage, with many settling in California and the northeastern cities, particularly New York. Southeast Asians, fleeing conflict after the Vietnam War, undertook perilous journeys across rivers, jungles, and seas, establishing communities primarily in eastern Washington. The report concludes by emphasizing the unique circumstances and geographical distributions associated with each group's immigration experience.

Running head: ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE US
ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF IMIGRANTS IN THE US
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ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE US
Executive summary
This report will give a brief of the different arrival and settlement patterns of the Irish, Italian and
Southeast Asian immigrants into the US. This report will also discuss in brief the reasons of
immigration of Italian, Irish and Southeast Asians to the US under lights of the history of US
immigration and will conclude by showing how the arrival and settlement patterns of the Irish,
Italian and Southeast Asian immigrants vary.

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ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE US
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Irish arrival and settlement pattern into the US...........................................................................3
Italian arrival and settlement pattern into the US........................................................................4
South-east Asians arrival and settlement pattern into the US......................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................6

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ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE US
Introduction
The United States of America has a vast historical background of immigration. There are
four phases in the history of US immigration. Prior to 1840, over 2 million Europeans, 90% of
them being immigrants from Great Britain, immigrated to the US. Between 1840 to1850 the 4
million people immigrated to the US, where 90% were from North and West Europe, 40% from
Ireland and 33% from Germany. In 1880s 5 million people immigrated to the US, 80% from
North and West Europe and 1/3rd from Germany. Between the late 1880s to the early 1900s,
approximately 20 million people immigrated, nearly 1 million per year and 90% were from
North and South Europe. From 1960 till the present day, approximately 20 million people,
comprising of Latin Americans and Asians, immigrated to the US (Ewing, 2012). Therefore, the
US has seen a vast history of immigration and the collaborating paragraphs will deal with the
settlement and arrival patterns, with special reference to the Irish, Italians and South Asian
immigrants into the US.
Discussion
Irish arrival and settlement pattern into the US
The Irish started to immigrate into the US during the Famine era. During this era, famine
was ragging in Ireland and the Irish immigrated to America from two directions, by transatlantic
voyages to the East Coast Ports, that is Boston and New York, and by land or sea to Canada,
which was then known as British North America. In 1890 the Irish population in America
reached its peak at nearly 1.9 million, which later on increased to 4.8 million, comprising of 13%
of the total population (Kenny, 2014). As to the settlement pattern of the Irish, the Irish

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ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE US
immigrants mostly settled in the urban areas in the north eastern part of the country and as the
west opened up, many got settled there.
Italian arrival and settlement pattern into the US
From 1800 the Italians started to immigrate to America due to reasons like war,
unemployment, natural disasters, poverty, political corruption and social chaos. The immigration
of Italians to America started with 3000 mile journey from Italy to America. 96% of the
immigrants, who arrived in New York, directly travelled to the United States by way of ships.
The first voyage took 3 months and later with the introduction of steamships, the tenure of the
journey reduced significantly and Italian immigration increased with time (Abramitzky &
Boustan, 2016). A vast majority of Italian immigrants, even though characterized with poverty,
with the help of family booked passage to American steerage or third class, which is the cheapest
mode of accommodation, the Italian immigrants immigrated to the US. As to the settlement
pattern, 20% of Italian immigrants who came from the wine growing areas of Northern Italy got
settled in California and parts of the west (Bacci, 2015). Italian immigrants coming from
Southern Italy tended to settle in the big cities of North East America and one third of the Italians
made their homes in New York City.
South-east Asians arrival and settlement pattern into the US
By the end of the South-east Asian War in 1975, which, witnessed 25 years of bloodshed
and bombing, millions of Cambodians, Vietnamese and Laotians died. The survivors suffered an
uncertain future under the totalitarian rule and therefore started taking refuge to western
democracies. The Southeast Asians took huge risks for escaping and immigrating to the US.
They made daring escapes across rivers, through jungles and sea voyages to enter America
(Coward, Hinnells & Williams, 2012). For 10 years, after 1975, about 100,000 Southeast Asians

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ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE US
began to immigrate to the US per year. Approximately, 45,000 got settled in Washington, mostly
in the King and Pierce countries, and some in Yakima, Spokane and other parts of Eastern
Washington (Castles, De Haas & Miller, 2013). However, due to the inter sate immigration the
exact amount of population was difficult to gauge.
Conclusion
Therefore, the above discussions clearly show that the Irish immigrants immigrated to the
US by way of transatlantic voyages and journeys on land or sea. They mostly settled in the
North-eastern and western part of the country. Whereas, the Italians immigrants arrived the US
by steamship and third class ship voyages and settled mostly in California and western parts of
America. On the other hand, the South-east Asians immigrated to the US by way of daring
escapes across rivers, through jungles and across seas and mostly settled in the Eastern parts of
Washington. Hence, this report clearly states the different arrival and settlement patterns of the
Irish, Italians and South-east Asians in the US.

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References:
Abramitzky, R., & Boustan, L. P. (2016). Immigration in American Economic History (No.
w21882). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Bacci, M. L. (2015). A history of Italian fertility during the last two centuries. Princeton
University Press.
Castles, S., De Haas, H., & Miller, M. J. (2013). The age of migration: International population
movements in the modern world. Palgrave Macmillan.
Coward, H. G., Hinnells, J. R., & Williams, R. B. (Eds.). (2012). South Asian Religious
Diaspora in Britain, Canada, and the United States, The. SUNY Press.
Ewing, W. A. (2012). Opportunity and exclusion: A brief history of US immigration
policy. Immigration Policy Center, 1-7.
Kenny, K. (2014). The American Irish: A History. Routledge.