U.S. Census Office, Maps Showing the Distribution Within the Territory of the United States...Certain Foreign Elements of the Population [British, English, Welsh, Swedish, Norwegian] (1874)

This series of choropleth maps illustrates the distribution of British Americans, English and Welsh, and Swedish and Norwegian populations across the United States. Darker shading indicates a higher percentage of the specified population within a given area. In each set, the first map shows the distribution of first-generation immigrants, while the second depicts the descendants of first-generation immigrants. British immigrants settled primarily in states such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. English and Welsh immigrants were concentrated in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. Swedish and Norwegian immigrants, by contrast, settled predominantly in Wisconsin and Minnesota. These patterns reflect the growing attractiveness of the Midwest during this period, as states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota drew large numbers of immigrants. By 1880, for example, 71 percent of Minnesota’s population consisted of either first-generation immigrants or the children of first-generation immigrants. The Midwest’s availability of inexpensive land and expanding economic opportunities made the region especially appealing to immigrant settlers. This series of maps was included in the Statistical Atlas of the United States based on the Results of the Ninth Census, a compilation of data visualizations published in 1874 under the direction of Francis A. Walker to present information collected from the 1870 Census in visual form.