Census Ancestry Map

[Miriam C.]

Means Ancestry of those living in American now. It shows where the majority of a given popluation lives based on thier ancestry or majority ancestry. Most Americans are actually a blend of several Nationalitys and races.

Example: A majority of people of Mexican decent people live in the South West while a majority of African decent people live in the South East.

My people are scattered

[Juneaudave]

That is interesting...the Alaska map shows the Aleut/Eskimo as a single population group...and the rest as American Indian (that I think would rather be identified as Alaska Native, if not by their cultural group). In any case, most Federal law refers to Alaska Natives seperately from American Indian.

[madjack]

Rick, "American" in context of the map is for folks who claim no other nationality but American...while I am of French/German/Scandinavian descent, I claim to be "American"....I find the whole map out of context and actually distasteful...for example, the map has listings for most of the individual Eurapean countries but ALL Blacks are listed as one single group instead of giving a tribal/country designation...such discrepancies as this skew all of the results that the map is purported to show....
madjack

[Miriam C.]

It is a bit strange. Try this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_the_word_American#United_States_Census

[Miriam C.]

Rick, "American" in context of the map is for folks who claim no other nationality but American...while I am of French/German/Scandinavian descent, I claim to be "American"....I find the whole map out of context and actually distasteful...for example, the map has listings for most of the individual Eurapean countries but ALL Blacks are listed as one single group instead of giving a tribal/country designation...such discrepancies as this skew all of the results that the map is purported to show....
madjack

Seems one or two are by color not national or genetic heritage

[Classic Finn]

That Map is off - Way Off...Its missing places that our Nationality or Nationalities live and have settled..way before that map has ever been made.

Now where did this map maker get educated at? How old is that Map Maker?

Classic Finn

[MOKI SEAKER]

Where is Kennewick Man? Jim G

[dakotamouse]

They've got North Dakota down exactly!

[angib]

What people write down on their census form has to be taken with a pinch of salt. There was a campaign in 2001 in several English-speaking countries to try to get enough people to declare their religion as 'Jedi' or 'Jedi knight' for it to have to be recognised officially. New Zealand came top, with 1.5% of the population saying they were Jedi. Not surprisingly, none of the countries recognised this 'religion'.

Wikipedia: Jedi census phenomenon

Andrew

[mwatters]

Hard to gripe too much about how people tend to self-identify themselves. But how much can it possibly truely mean when MOST Americans (assuming we're talking about folks who've been in the country for 3 or more generations) are of very mixed ancestry. To the best of my knowledge I've got ancestors from England, France, Germany and (supposedly) Native American. What the heck box am I supposed to check?

My favorite example of the meaningless nature of this sort of thing... Roughly 1/3 of "African American" males carry Y chromosomes that are European in origin. The real rates of mixed-ancestry is of course much higher. (That's the sort of detail that really throws a monkey wrench into the whole 'reparations' argument...)

Mike
"A happy mutt"
Watters

[dakotamouse]

My ancestory is German, Russian and Italian. The way I identify myself is by our family cooking traditions. Borscht, Knoephla soup, fleishkuekla and kuchen show us as Germans from Russia. You'll never find lefse or lutefisk on the Christmas table at our house. But you will at or Norwegian friends homes.

[angib]

A recent TV documentary in Britain took some people who think they are 'native' English and conducted DNA tests on them. One politician, Maggie Thatcher's right hand man, turned out to be very North European, but all the others weren't. Maggie Thatcher's daughter had about 25% Middle Eastern origins and a woman trying to establish a 'white British ethnic' group had mostly southern Balkan DNA, suggesting she had Romany (gypsy) ancestry. Apparently she intends to sue the programme makers!

In other DNA tests, it was found that a majority of those in the south of Britain who appear to be, and look, white have at least some African DNA markers. We are all mongrels - and that's people who think their family has lived in one place for many generations!

Throw in emigration across the Atlantic and I think you could describe most ancestry claims as 'charming myths'.

Andrew

[angib]

I've worked a fair bit in Eastern Europe/Russia and I can tell you that Borscht was definitely and for sure invented in at least six different countries. All the other countries make a pale imitation of the authentic Borscht made here (....... enter the name of the country you are currently in) and it is not suitable even for feeding to our pigs, etc, etc.

If you wanted a good reason to start a war, the origin of Borscht would be an excellent choice.

Andrew

[Miriam C.]

A recent TV documentary in Britain took some people who think they are 'native' English and conducted DNA tests on them. One politician, Maggie Thatcher's right hand man, turned out to be very North European, but all the others weren't. Maggie Thatcher's daughter had about 25% Middle Eastern origins and a woman trying to establish a 'white British ethnic' group had mostly southern Balkan DNA, suggesting she had Romany (gypsy) ancestry. Apparently she intends to sue the programme makers!

In other DNA tests, it was found that a majority of those in the south of Britain who appear to be, and look, white have at least some African DNA markers. We are all mongrels - and that's people who think their family has lived in one place for many generations!

Throw in emigration across the Atlantic and I think you could describe most ancestry claims as 'charming myths'.

Andrew

In the very nicest way---is the Queen English? Or her children?

I find that facinating because as a young teen I found out we were part French. I grew up and discovered very likely we were Huguenot and not even considered human. So much for romantic and exotic.

[dakotamouse]

If you wanted a good reason to start a war, the origin of Borscht would be an excellent choice.

Now why the heck would I want to start a war? As my folks say....."sit down und eat!!"