Really interesting project by*the University of Richmond’s*Digital Scholarship Lab*in cooperation with creative map agency*Stamen Design. The map is called*Foreign-Born Population: A Nation of Overlapping Diasporas*and it presents in a spectacular way how the US history has been shaped by immigrants from all over the world.
Users can move a time-line*to watch origins of immigrants throughout each decade between 1850*and 2010. You can also click on a particular location on the map to get the county level details. Additionally each decade is commented to get the overall context:
In 1850, more than 2 of every 5 immigrants had been born in Ireland. Many had left fleeing growing poverty and later the Potato Famine. They mainly settled in urban areas of the northeast.
In 1860 nearly a third of the foreign-born had emigrated from Germany. In contrast to the Irish, Germans migrated as families, tended to be skilled workers or farmers, and settled more in the agricultural interior rather than the urban northeast.
…
In 1990, the number of foreign born from Mexico dwarfed that of any other individual country. Concentrated along the southern border, most Mexican migrants came to the US in search of jobs.
In 2000, over one and a half million immigrants from China were clustered largely in California and New York. Some stayed after attending universities in the US; poorer Chinese often found themselves laboring in the restaurant and garment industries.
The project was inspired by*Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, published by*Charles Paullin in 1932.*It contained over*700 maps covering many aspects that shaped the political, social, geological and economic boundaries of the country. And I must say that this project is a praiseworthy successor.
The post Interactive atlas of American diasporas between1850-2010 appeared first on Geoawesomeness.