Immigration

A historical view

Immigration to the USA became usual in the 17th century and still is today. The immigration started in the colonial America. Over 17th and 18th century there were around 400.000 English people and half of the European immigrants that migrated there. And over the 19^th century it came from mostly Latin America and Asia.

From 1836 to 1914, over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States and many more from other countries and in 1875; the nation passed its first immigration law, the Page Act of 1875. By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States. Because of this, the immigration act of 1924 came. The 1924 Act was restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews, Italians, and Slavs, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers, beginning in the 1890s. Immigration patterns of the 1930s were dominated by the Great Depression, which hit USA hard and lasted over ten years. The Great Depression was a serious worldwide economic depression in the decade before World War II.

THE YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR II.

-          The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Cellar Act, removed the system of national-origin quotas.

-           In 1990, George H. W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990,[33] which increased legal immigration to the United States by 40%

-          Nearly 8 million people immigrated to the United States from 2000 to 2005; 3.7 million of them entered without papers

-          Over 1 million immigrants were granted legal residence in 2011

Norwegian immigration

In the 18^th century almost 800.000 Norwegians immigrated to the north-America. At first there were mostly children families, but after the 1860s it was mostly people whit an education that traveled alone.

The immigration from Norway to America was in the period of 1825 to 1920. And the big emigration waves started from the 1860s.

The reason for mass emigration was: poverty, oppression, class division, overcrowding and economic regulations in Norway.

Ellis Island

You can find Ellis Island in New York, Hudson River. It’s an island that once was the main place for

 immigration in the USA. The immigration station was opened in 1. January 1892 and it closed in November 1954. When it closed, over 20 million immigrants had passed over the island. Of this, only 2% was denied access, and sent home to their country of origin.  

Ellis Island has its name from its first owner, Samuel Ellis. But today the island is a museum and owned by the government and is administrated by National Park Service.

SOURCES: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States ation to the USA

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_emigrasjon_til_USA

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island