America's Ancestry, Explained Through Maps

If you want more in depth videos on the geography, history, and culture of the United States, check out my two-part Regional Breakdown of the US, my Regional Breakdown of California, and The US Explained, my ongoing series on each of the 56 states, territories, and federal districts that make up the United States!

All video clips used were marked as reuse allowed, please check out the creators of these great drone clips below! -

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[meflowers]

So, I just randomly found and was watching this video and at 13:22, you show a picture of a WWII ship. That ship was the USS Harry Taylor, and my dad served on that ship during WWII. I’ve studied that picture a lot, and found my dad among the many servicemen. The story of that ship was it had picked up thousands of soldiers from Europe and was going to take them to the Pacific arena via the Panama Canal to fight Japan. While still in the Atlantic, they received word that Japan surrendered, so they reversed course and headed to the NY harbor. It was the first ship to reach the harbor after VJ Day. Thanks for sharing, it brought back memories of my dad and his service!

[RubieRutledgeAUAR]

First of all, I want to say that I am not a native English speaker despite my mom being from Minneapolis. So, I'm sorry if my grammars are bad. In short, I grew up in Bali, Indonesia and my mom speaks Indonesian all the time with me but my family and I just moved here to Tampa, FL 2 years ago.

The thing is that determining the US' diversity based on self-identified census is poor. Like, really. Because I read this thing where back in 2015 a genetic testing company named 23andMe conducted a genetic study and examining all samples they got from the volunteers. Based on the study, it showed that the average genes of the volunteers' samples of all races were being as low as 20% and as high as 55% "British & Irish". But also, the study revealed that the average genes of the volunteers' samples were being as low as 8% and as high as 16% "French & German". "British & Irish" genes are derived from the inhabitants of the British Isles, while "French & German" genes are derived from the inhabitants of the Western European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Austria. So not only from Germany and France despite of the name.

Also the average African-American samples' genes showed that they were being as low as 16% and as high as 29% European, mostly from the British Isles where the genes are grouped as "British & Irish". It also highlighted that people from North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin had as low as 20% "British & Irish" genes in average, while people from Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia had as high as 55% "British & Irish" genes on average. So, based on the study, the plurality of Americans' gene pools are derived from the British Isles, especially England despite receiving higher immigration from Ireland and Germany later on ago. So, the study really highlighted how those immigrants were well integrated into the predominantly British-descended American society and they often if not always, found themselves intermarrying local Americans whose ancestries were deep-rooted in the 13 Colonies. So, that's why their genes(I mean the genes of the volunteers) showed a plurality of British and Irish.

Also, the I've read something on Wikipedia about the "British diaspora" article. It's actually interesting because, up to 33% of Americans(2019) were of British descent while 48% of Canadians(2016) are also of British descent. The difference is just 15% right? But if I would make an "educated" estimate, it is suffice to say that a plausible percentage of around 70% of Americans today have genes or DNAs from the British Isles(note that I say British Isles and not only England) ranging from as low as around 10% and as high as around 80%. And also, another "educated" estimate is that it's plausible that around 40% of Americans today have genes or DNAs from Western European countries including Germany. So, it is wrong that only 13% of Americans are of German descent because it can actually go up to 30%. German ancestry is also underreported but English and other British and Irish ancestries are more severely underreported.

In fact, most if not all, Americans don't have a single ancestry and often have at least 6 ancestries in their bodies and that's including my mom. She said that she has Irish, Norwegian, Italian, German, Czech, Polish, Scottish and that's heck of a lot actually. And my dad is a native Balinese. I haven't tested my DNA yet. I think it's really interesting to see how it goes though.

Also, I want to add that it's very interesting that the average genes of the samples from Minnesota were being as high as 20% Scandinavian and as high as 16% "French & German". So based on the genetic study, it's suffice to say that the average Minnesotans(actually the average genes of the volunteers from Minnesota) had the lowest(20%) "British & Irish" genes but had the highest Scandinavian and "French & German" genes at 20% and 16%. Also, a recent genetic study done by Ancestry has shown that the average Americans carrying the surnames Smith and Miller(which are often thought to be the anglicized versions of Schmidt and Mueller) have around 50-55% "British & Irish" genes with only around 20-25% "French & German" genes.

That's why genetic studies, genetic datas, genetic sources and other genetic-related stuff are a thousand times better choice rather than a self-identified census in observing the diversity that the US has. Because, the thing is that most people don't even report all of their ancestries that they have and many of them are biased too with a more "exotic" German or Italian rather than English which is seen as a "mainstream" ancestry that the majority of the population already have. Also the bedrock of Americans' ancestries are from the British and Irish stocks, whom that also founded the US early population. So, the foundation of the US' population is from those British and Irish.

Also it's worth mentioning that the immigration per decade(like from 1880-1899, 1900-1909, 1910-1919, 1920-1929 and so on) only accounted around 10-15% of the total US' population and it never made up to 15%. It's a fact that the immigrants were relatively smaller compared to the locals by numbers and they often found themselves intermarrying the locals of British and Irish ancestries. So, it's fact that the foregin-borns from 1880-1899 and on and on were accounting less than 15% of the total US' population per decade and often found themselves intermarrying the locals. That's how immigration works because if they were to replace the English descendants in the US they had to at least account for 40% of the total US' population per decade. But unfortunately, the US overall, only had around 10-15% foreign-borns accounting for the total US' population per decade(like 1880-1899 and so on and on).

So yeah, despite all the rambles, the conclusion is that genetically, white Americans are of plurality British and Irish ancestries but indeed with a significant Western European admixtures mixed in as well. Wikipedia also stated that "the most commonly found ancestry/DNA in white American genes is English" on the article about "White Americans". So, not only English but also German is underreported.

[demarcomixon]

Great video. I’m an American descendant of slavery and you did a great job with speaking about our history and the Great Migration. My only complaint is that you lumped Black immigrants with Black Americans who are descendants of American Chattel Slavery. We are a separate ethnic group from Black immigrants that has been in America since the colonial era. We are quintessentially American. Additionally, Black Americans that are descendants of American Chattel Slavery are a mixed race group of people. We are an amalgamation of various African groups, mixed with various European groups primarily British, and many of us have Native American ancestry as well. I strongly believe that fact must be mentioned. You mentioned that Mexicans and Louisiana Creoles are an admixed people but failed to mention that about Black Americans. You would be extremely hard pressed to find a BlackAmerican who descends from American Chattel Slavery who does not have any European heritage.

[pathfinderstravelmagazine]

I really enjoyed this video. I especially liked your mention of the Gullah, Creole, and Cajun cultures. Well done.

[gdmtk]

Great job discussing the specific locations immigrants came from and went to. I like that you were more specific than just "from this country to USA". Including what part of the originating country, why they were leaving, what state they landed in, and why they chose that location, is amazingly detailed. Very well done.

I also appreciate you actually trying to pronounce names correctly. Lots of videos brush it off like "I am no good at pronunciation" then don't even try. You gave no excuses and gave a firm attempt. I didn't notice any mispronunciations. But I'm sure someone super keen probably noticed something.

[patrickdavenport]

As an African American, I find this so eye-opening. I identify as black, because that's how most of the world sees me and how I see myself. However, I have French, Irish, and Native American ancestry, as recently as my great grandparents, and probably other non-African ethnicities before that. I never think about their journeys or their lives here in a personal way, but more as some other group of people's history, even though the truth is that they are my people too. This video sparked a change in my way of thinking.

[andrewadcock]

As a Cajun, That was a pretty good analysis. I can’t speak French but my brother and grandmother can speak it and I’d like to learn one day as it feels important to me. Many people in Louisiana are very prideful in there heritage

[lynnealuebben-creates]

This was so well done. I am utlizing this for our migration lessons. Thank you so much for posting. Your research and care of detail, and diversity were really well appreciated. As an educator the amount of research you did is priceless.

[Noel_]

Great job Carter! I think a lot of people from the Americas (myself included) have this hunger for knowing our heritage. It's a time consuming and beautiful task to revive our ancestors' stories and their journeys. Anyway, I'll keep posted for the next video! 🔔

[Marylandbrony]

My dad’s family is from the first wave of colonists to Maryland who are Catholics and more or less stayed in Southern Maryland around Potomac river until my grandfather moved north to Baltimore as a part of the post-war migration from rural areas to city’s/suburbs.

I think the post-war migration of people away from rural areas would be an interesting topic. America was still a rural nation until basically the 1920s and only after WW2 did America really became a urban country.

[larsedik]

I didn't know I had English ancestors until I discovered online some research that cousins of mine had done. As it turned out, our English ancestors arrived in Rhode Island (primarily) and a few in Massachusetts in the 1630s, but none later than 1650. Eventually they made their way through Virginia, South Carolina, and Louisiana to Texas and left all memories of England behind, but they were always fairly large landowners and were always wealthy. According to 23&Me, I am 25% English and 50% German. My German ancestors immigrated to Texas in the 19th Century and are easily traceable back to Europe. Some of these were also large landowners (on my father's side), but on my mother's side, they were poor farmers or tradespeople. The other 25% of me is French, Scandinavian, Dutch, Scots-Irish, and Irish, but I cannot trace any of their heritage back to Europe. However, my cousins did trace some of our English heritage back to Scandinavia.

[grouchygeek]

This year i dug into my familys ancestry and found out we mostly descended from both Ireland and England. I was so fascinated and i just love learning more about my ancestry whenever possible. Nice vid!

[jijitters]

Amazing video! As a Norwegian+Finnish-American in Minnesota, I never had any idea that was rare until I got older. A lot of my classmates had Swedish names too. I almost thought we were going to be skipped entirely, so this was an interesting lesson in how small that ethnic population is in the country overall, compared to my state specifically.

[jenniferburns]

I am best described as of mixed European ancestry, descended from people from every region of Europe (Eastern, Scandinavian, Mediterranean, UK, Germanic, and more) and sadly have almost no ties to any of these cultures or languages. Whenever I see groups retaining language and traditions, I am happy for them. I live in a city with a significant number of people from a single community in Italy, a thriving Mexican community, and enjoy all the ethnic festivals every summer. Thanks for giving me a better appreciation of the many ways people became part of the US.

[Elyfairy]

As a native New Jersey resident, I am English irish French German Italian Danish and polish. But I grew up dominated by the Italian-Irish Catholic culture. Almost everyone was either Italian/Irish Catholic or Jewish. I was surrounded by Irish pubs and Italian restaurants and Jewish bakeries.

[Osapatali]

Even if I had critiques... it would be MOOT. Fantastic presentation young man! Thank you for the work and due diligence; even more for sharing!.. Yakoke for Aiokoa!!

[daveh]

Thank you so much for putting in the time and effort to make such an informative video.

[jakmak]

This was really informational and fascinating to watch. Thank you for the hard work you put into this

[weston.weston]

Thanks for this great presentation, Carter!

[davidjnichisti]

Wow, you have put together such a comprehensive package of nationalities. I am Italian and Polish American, all of my grandparents came over in 1900-1920 from Italy and Lithuania.