European Groups in 1700s North America: British, French, Spanish, German, Irish & More

The 18th century saw massive, diverse European migration to North America. Major groups:

1. British (English, Scots, Scots-Irish, Welsh)

Largest group. 13 Atlantic colonies (future US); Newfoundland, Nova Scotia. Push factors: enclosure, religious dissent, poverty. Pull: land, self-government. By 1775, ~85% of colonial white population.

2. French

New France: Quebec, Acadia, Louisiana, Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley. ~80,000 by 1760. Fur trade, missionary, military focus. Lost territory after 1763 (Seven Years' War) — but Canadiens persisted.

3. Spanish

Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California. Missions, presidios, ranchos. ~3,000 in Texas, ~10,000 in New Mexico, ~1,000 in California (1790). Integrated with Indigenous and mestizo populations.

4. German

~100,000 by 1775 — 2nd largest European group in British colonies. Palatines (1709–10), then chain migration. Concentrated in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Dutch), NY, MD, VA. Lutheran, Reformed, Mennonite, Amish. Skilled farmers, craftsmen.

5. Irish

Presbyterian Scots-Irish (Ulster Scots) — ~250,000 by 1775. Pennsylvania backcountry, Shenandoah Valley, Carolinas. Frontier settlers, fierce independence. Catholic Irish smaller, often indentured.

Others

• Dutch: NY/NJ legacy (New Netherland); elite families (Roosevelts, Van Burens).
• Swedes/Finns: Delaware Valley (New Sweden 1638–55); log cabin tech.
• Swiss: Mennonite/Amish (PA), later 18th c.
• Jews: Sephardic (NY, Newport, Charleston, Savannah) — few hundred.
• Africans: Enslaved — not voluntary migrants, but >300,000 arrived 1700–1775; demographic majority in SC, large in VA/MD.

Legacy

These groups forged regional cultures — Yankee, Midland, Southern, Backcountry, French Canadian, Hispano — that still shape US politics, dialect, religion, and identity.