About an hour or so from where I live there are heavily Portuguese communities along the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border.
I’ve been working with a guy from that community over the past week.
He comes from the Azores or Portugal’s overseas territories in the Mid Atlantic.
I looked it up on Google and it said most other Portuguese in the area were also from the Overseas islands.
Anyway, I’m not sure what exactly attracted the immigration from overseas but it is continuing into the present day.
At least initially, before the whaling industry went into decline New Bedford had been considered “the whaling capital of the world”, so there was Portuguese immigration for that reason, at least initially.
However the industry itself teetered off in the 1870’s I think so I’m not sure what’s been keeping the sustained immigration in the time since then.
I’ve heard part of it has to do with immigration laws being eased up in the time since but even still I don't know if the Employment situation has just been so dire on the islands that Portuguese try for a new life in America.
Either way even that wouldn’t make sense to me unless they have some outdated view on what life is like in America because Portugal itself is an EU member country including its overseas territories so I would think that they could find work in other European countries and relocate more easily if the reason were an economic one.
Either way I thought at least among Europe at large the prevailing view of America in the modern age was an overwhelmingly negative one.
But the realization that even if at an astronomically small scale compared to US immigration overall, there still is European immigration caught me by surprise. The truth is I don’t venture outside of my community much but I grew up thinking that my state was practically all just multigenerational American white people with no recent ethnic heritage.
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My wife comes from the German-speaking, secessionist minority of my country. They aren't immigrants per se, they are border people whom used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire whose lands ended up absorbed by my country after the Great War.
They aren't bad people and always welcome me when I visit their town, but they do feel oppressed, want to rejoin Austria (although Austria doesn't want them) and the other, non German-speaking locals won't let them forget that they opened their doors and welcomed the Nazi troops during WWII.
Wow man. All these years later and people still haven’t forgotten ww2?
Also I presume you are talking about Hungary?
More like southern Europe
Italy would be my final guess then. Lol
One of our local towns (Milford haven) was founded in 1793 when Quaker whalers were invited over from Nanucket.
Wow. Some welsh in there too?
The pictures from a fairly recent tapesty, the Welsh bit is taken from a poem. https://gwallter.com/books/wales-and-whales.html
Just Native Americans.
Oh. So you live in the western states?
I been to South Dakota before and found it quite nice.
No, I live in the north east. Lots of Iroquois reservations around where I live.
Well I just about thought the Northeast was all but exterminated of Natives.
Maine perhaps?
NY…unfortunately.
Oh shit. No kidding
I wish it were a joke, but it is sadly true. I’m stuck behind the Iron Curtain.
Well, I’m in MA so not much better
Not much at all.