Most Americans Are GERMAN - Explained

Explaining a couple of surprising facts about american ancestry, and what it made me realise about the self governance model of the US, and in particular Minnesota

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[stevenjlovelace]

A lot of German Americans quickly assimilated during World War I, going as far as to change their last names. (Kind of like the British royal family.)

[jubmelahtes]

There are more Norwegian-Americans than Norwegians so yeah

[mudcatfrank]

As a native Minnesotan, I can add more to this. Because several generations have passed, most families are mixed. My parents were German-Norwegian and German-Danish. My maternal grandmother's parents were Danish and settled in North Dakota. My Dad's mother's family were Norwegian and settled in Iowa. (We occasionally teased him by calling him an I-wegian). The farming community I grew up in had mostly families of Norwegian and German descent with some Bohemians and Dutch. The only Irish-named family were Lutheran because the mother was Norwegian.
Yes, different ethnic groups did settle close to each other, my husband and I lived near New Ulm for awhile. A very German place! But not all old families in Minnesota are of German and Scandinavian descent. My husband's family on both sides were English and Welsh and had been in Minnesota for a few generations.
Don't overlook that hotspot of German settlement: Wisconsin, next door to Minnesota.

[Flollo]

i am german, you are german, everybody is german

[omega]

Fun fact: did you know that, About 90% of Argentina's population is European. Mostly Italian (50%)

[thezebraherd]

The US's massive size and ethnic diversity it is big reason for its patriotism without a strong sense of patriotism it would be hard to maintain such big group of different ethnicitys across half of an entire continent

[levoGAMES]

German Americans are way underappreciated tbh. Give em credit where credit's due.

[jocabulous]

I am like 70% German, and the rest Scottish and Irish. My dad is almost 100% german

[whitestaralliance]

My mother is a German American and my father is From Denmark. He arrived in America in 1985.
Greeting from Kansas

[oliversime]

Greetings from neighboring North Dakota! I am actually mostly German and Russian so right on. Enjoy St. Paul! It is a beautiful city!

[johnhooyer]

I recognized where you were at immediately and began freaking out. I'm Iowan, but have spent significant time in Minnesota where family lives. Also, I'm of Dutch Swedish, and German heritage (with some Irish), and I always definitely knew that most Americans identify as having German ancestry. Even a bunch of my African American friends that I grew up with. The other European country that is most cited is easily the Irish, and again, I didn't need the chart to know that. Actually, whenever I meat someone with English ancestry, it stands out to me as being kind of weird and foreign. I don't really think of Americans as being English, except for the founding fathers, but I don't tend think of us as being their biological descendants. There are a lot of English surnames, but half of the time those are Americanized foreign names.

By the way, I apparently some English ancestor if you go back a dozen or so generations and get to the colonial era, although I suppose that I'm on board with other Americans who consider any English heritage from that far back to basically be "American."

By the way, a lot of rural Minnesotans dislike the TC public transport because they don't like how their taxes are used for a public transport that only certain people in the cities will use. And also, it will take a whole year to complete some basic roadwork about a block long. I freaking hated always having to take detours because of stagnant roadwork.

The Vikings is the name of the American football team. Which, for the record, is not the same as British football, which we call soccer. I am personally writing up a proposal to the governor of Minnesota, by the way, to change the state flag to a Nordic Cross using the three main colors of the current seal-on-a-bedsheet flag (navy blue, gold, white), since it looks better, stands out more, and also shows history. I would also be completely happy with the flag proposal that you brought up at the end of the video (I'm writing this as I'm watching). Basically, the main thing I'd change would be to turn the purple interior to white, considering that the football team always threatens to move to California.

Depending on your politicial leanings, a ton of Americans _absolutely_ like viewing their states as semi-sovereign countries. Not quite nation-states, but definitely still states in the proper political sense, since America is on principle a collection of separate entities that came together and signed a social contract to get along with each other and share certain resolutions via the federal government. States' Rights is a major buzz word in America.

[mrstealyotrees]

It’s really interesting to see the correlation between ethnic groups and states in the U.S. I would love to see a similar style video about the Canadian provinces and the ethnic groups that make them up

[DaltonHBrown]

My great grandparents were actually Black Sea Germans.

[larryf]

The most common word for British-American is Wasp (although it could be considered derogatory) WASP= White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

[joshellsworth]

Too bad they didnt keep their culture or language

[harborseal]

The US Is one of the only nations on earth besides Canada, Australia and New Zealand to pride itself on the diversity of its citizens ancestry. It annoys me when I see comments like "Americans are NOT Europeans", no most are not from Europe but they're technically Europeans, and Asians, and Africans, and Native Americans. Point is American is not a race (Unless you're native), so white Americans are Europeans, European Americans. Continental Eurasian comments always seem to be so toxic and hostile towards the Anglo-Sphere countries. (Although I guess there are some reasons, British Imperialism and Colonialism, American Imperialism, Slaughter of Natives) But Europeans aren't clean.

[Coolrh]

Most Brits can also claim they are Germans (Anglo Saxon).

[SylviaBommesFan]

Most Germans to not come from Germany, because there was no (unified) German state until 1871.

[MrASutton]

ibx2cat! Had been looking into Nunavut (a territory of Canada), wondered if you knew anything about why they hadnt left canada, since most of the 35, 000 ish people who live there are of Inuit decent. Dont know if it intrigues you or not, but I find it a super awesome place of the world. So few people in such a huge area, and like 2 of the largest islands on earth are located there as well, which each hold less than 100 people on each? some crazy low number like that. On top of all that, Inuit culture varies from the typical first nations found elsewhere in Canada, especially the Inukshuks! (technically the plural is inuksuit). Just thought I could POSSSIBLY teach you something, since you've taught me a lot about other countries. Love the videos!

[louclarcen]

I've been getting into your channel and was so happy to see a video filmed in my beloved Saint Paul! My ancestry is English, Luxembourgish, German, and Swedish. (Not many Luxembourgian-Americans in the US, but we're mostly clustered in Minnesota and Wisconsin.)