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Saying that the United States is white/black/hispanic/Asian barely scratches the surface. Immigration during the last 40-45 years has produced a virtual United Nations between our Atlantic and Pacific shores.
Seems like everybody is here, every nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, etc. But I'm sort of wondering here:
is it really everybody?
Are there groups that are noticeable by their very absence? Which groups, if any, are not here in any appreciable number with virtually no real US presence? Are there groups out there that I couldn't go to a restaurant with their cuisine anywhere in the US.....because none exists?
Saying that the United States is white/black/hispanic/Asian barely scratches the surface. Immigration during the last 40-45 years has produced a virtual United Nations between our Atlantic and Pacific shores.
Seems like everybody is here, every nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, etc. But I'm sort of wondering here:
is it really everybody?
Are there groups that are noticeable by their very absence? Which groups, if any, are not here in any appreciable number with virtually no real US presence? Are there groups out there that I couldn't go to a restaurant with their cuisine anywhere in the US.....because none exists?
There are plenty of tiny or invisible groups(Chilean, Argentineans, Bolivians, Most of North and Sub Saharan Africa, portions of Eastern & Northern Europe) but I can't think of any nations that isn't represented in the US in some form. I tried even some small obscure nations but there always appears to be some restaurant or bar somewhere in NYC, LA or Chicago. I think you'd have to go beyond nations and start looking at ethnic groups within nations to start seeing cultures that close to non existent in the US. Closest nation might be Tunisia. Only 4,000 - 7,000 in the US, even though that country has 10 million people.
I decided to take a look at this just now. I downloaded the 2016 ACS estimates on place of birth of foreign-born population. They don't include every country, but all of the ones with more than around 20,000 U.S. residents/immigrants. I then cross-referenced it on the total population of the country.
Note that this ratio is not the percentage of citizens of that country that live in the U.S. In some cases, people do migrate to other countries. In other cases, the countries receive immigrants from elsewhere.
Top 10 (most enriched): Dominica (40%), Guyana (35%), Grenada (31%), Jamaica (25%), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (21%), El Savador (20%), Barbados (19%) Trindidad & Tobago (17%), Belize (13%) and Cuba (10%). This mostly reflects how a very high proportion of Anglo-Caribbean people leave their home countries and migrate to the U.S. (NYC area and Florida).
Bottom 10 (least enriched (all less than 0.17%): South Africa, India, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Turkey, China, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Indonesia. Obviously there are big Chinese-America and Indian-American communities (and to a lesser extent, Bengali and Nigerian ones) but the diaspora is a drop in the bucket here in the U.S.
In terms of absolute numbers, the smallest groups are Bahamas, Singapore, Dominica, Kuwait, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Norway, Latvia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. But again, the U.S. census doesn't track national origin through the ACS for countries with less than 20,000 U.S. residents, so a lot of nations are likely far, far below that.
I'm pretty sure no Sentinelese has ever stepped foot on US soil.
Not a country of course. Although it's only technically part of India, considering they kill any outsiders who land there.
That reminds me though of stories I've heard from the few Papuans who come to the U.S. Literally no one will believe (because of how they look) they aren't from Africa. Once I heard an amusing story where everyone in a class had to use pushpins on a map to show where their families were from, and after pointing out PNG someone said to him "it doesn't matter where they took your ancestors on a boat, we're all from the motherland."
Not a country of course. Although it's only technically part of India, considering they kill any outsiders who land there.
That reminds me though of stories I've heard from the few Papuans who come to the U.S. Literally no one will believe (because of how they look) they aren't from Africa. Once I heard an amusing story where everyone in a class had to use pushpins on a map to show where their families were from, and after pointing out PNG someone said to him "it doesn't matter where they took your ancestors on a boat, we're all from the motherland."
Well yeah, but I think Sentinelese are considered their own ethnic group. Sort of analogous to the Hmong - they're a people with a unique language and culture, but don't have a country to call their own.
And technically, Papua New Guinea is part of Melanesia. Melanesians and Negritoes (a group of peoples located somewhat to the north and west of Melanesia) are often mistaken for Africans because they do share several characteristics, and while not genetically proven, likely descend from a mixture of Australoid and East African peoples.
Well yeah, but I think Sentinelese are considered their own ethnic group. Sort of analogous to the Hmong - they're a people with a unique language and culture, but don't have a country to call their own.
True.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fezzador
And technically, Papua New Guinea is part of Melanesia. Melanesians and Negritoes (a group of peoples located somewhat to the north and west of Melanesia) are often mistaken for Africans because they do share several characteristics, and while not genetically proven, likely descend from a mixture of Australoid and East African peoples.
There's no East African ancestry among Melanesian or Negritos. Genetically speaking, they're relatively closely related to East/Southeast Asians. They look like Africans (although some New Guinea Highlanders don't very much) because the original human phenotype was brown skin and kinky black hair. Before the advent of agriculture in China (and its introduction to India from the Near East) it's thought that everyone in South and Southeast Asia looked "black." But the more numerous farmers pushed the hunter-gatherers to the fringes, which is why they're just isolated populations on islands and deep in remote jungle areas.
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