What is the main race in America? Why do these races exist?

The United States is a typical multi-ethnic country. According to the spirit of the American Constitution, these people can also be called Americans after years of integration, but this is a race in the political sense, not an ethnic sense.

The United States is dominated by ethnic groups, with whites accounting for 85%-87% and blacks accounting for 10%- 12%. Yellow people (including Indians and China, etc.). ) 2%-3%, Brazilians are the general name of Brazilian residents in South America, mainly living in Latin America. There are mainly Indians, blacks and whites of Portuguese descent, as well as various intermarried hybrids. Among them, 54.03% are white, 39.94% are mulatto, 5.30% are black, and the rest are Indians and other yellow people. Most of them live in the northeastern, southeastern and southern States and along the Atlantic coast.

Portuguese is a common language, which absorbs many Indian and African words and forms Brazilian Portuguese. More Catholicism. There are many churches, churches and monasteries, which have great influence on political and social life. Most festivals originated from Catholic religious festivals.

The United States is a country with serious racial problems, and we also know that the United States is a multi-ethnic immigrant country. The complexity and possible intensity of this problem are indeed limited. Even the understanding of slavery and the process of solving these problems are suspected of "simplification".

The racial problems in America today are really "dazzling". Recently, when discussing the riots in Los Angeles, a Korean sociologist in the United States said that it is necessary to realize that "the United States has changed from a black-and-white society to a multi-racial society. Other ethnic groups outside the venue also went to the center of the stage and became the protagonists. " This situation can actually be seen from the appearance, because standing on the land of the United States and looking out, the intuitive feeling is colorful races.

However, it is unforgettable that racial issues in the United States are so sensitive. It does have something to do with historical origins. Because in American history, race was once associated with slavery. This makes the racial problem, which is not easy to deal with anywhere, add a historical grudge here.

In fact, civil war is not the only way to solve slavery. Anti-slavery efforts are almost consistent with this system, and these efforts began even before the establishment of the United States. However, due to historical limitations, this can only be a gradual process. This is actually a process in which human beings gradually know themselves and gradually clean themselves up.

When Columbus discovered America, the development of America began in South America. At first, it had nothing to do with the ancestors of Americans, the British. At that time, the world belonged to the "sea overlord". So Spain and Portugal, with a large number of navigators and pirates, became the masters of South America, the most important of which was the Spanish. "Sea tyrants" are also familiar with Africa.

Slavery is indeed an important part of the development of human civilization. This is true of European white civilization and African black civilization. Therefore, it seems obvious that what should be exported today became a slave trade 400 years ago. Of course, there are also some tribal blacks captured by white slave traders, but this cannot be the most economical and convenient source. Therefore, based on the extremely unbalanced social development in Africa at that time and their actual slave status, some blacks also became an important part of this transaction. They got the "supply" and sold it to become sellers.

In today's America, if you want to buy a few cars of gravel to pave the road, you should look for a transportation company instead of a gravel yard. So did the slave trade 400 years ago. At that time, the business was maritime, and slave traders were all maritime adventurers. As this is a profitable industry, captains from all European countries have joined the ranks. But the strongest are still Spain and Portugal. So that the word "nigro" used by Americans for a long time actually comes from Spanish and Portuguese, not English.

Spain has developed from South America to North America for more than 100 years. This development is accompanied by an increase in the number of blacks because of the scarcity of labor. At that time, blacks were so common in South America that today we can even see some islands and countries dominated by blacks in South America. They are not local aborigines, and their ancestors were brought here in the wave of selling black slaves.

Then, when the pioneers recognized by Americans, the first batch of English Puritans, drifted on the famous Mayflower for 65 days, and finally arrived at the east coast of North America, that is, New England, and knelt down to pray in the face of a vast wasteland, was this really the huge virgin land they saw? This statement is also right and wrong.

Because in any case, when they arrived, compared with the vast land of the whole North American continent, it was really vast and sparsely populated. Within their range of activities, even far beyond their radius of activities, there are still vast, rare and even inaccessible places.

After a period of historical development, there are mainly the following:

Native Americans (Indians):

About 20,000 years ago, some hunting tribes from Asia chased cattle all the way, crossed the Asian-American continental bridge in the Bering Strait today, and came to the American continent, becoming the earliest American immigrants in history. Time flies, to 1492 Spanish explorer Christopher? When Christopher Columbus "discovered" the New World, there were about 654.38+0.5 billion indigenous people living in the American continent. Columbus mistakenly thought that his arrival in San Salvador, Bahamas, was the legendary east indies, so he called the local Native Americans "Indians".

There are 562 tribal peoples in the United States, scattered in 48 States and Alaska, with a total area of 22.4 million hectares. The largest 65,438+02 Indian tribes are Cherokee (369,035), Navajo (225,298), Sioux (65,438+007,3265,438+0) and Chipwa (65,438+005,900). There are 55,330 Pueblos, 53,330 Apache, 52,557 Iroquois, 50,888 Rumblins, 45,872 Cricks and 37,992 Blackford people.

European immigrants:

The British were the mainstream nation among the early American colonists, and English became the mainstream language of the United States. However, immediately after Britain, other Europeans swarmed in, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Germans and Swedes. Thomas, a famous spokesman for the American Revolution? Thomas Paine himself is British, and he clearly pointed out in 1776: "Europe, not Britain, is the mother country of the United States." Europe, not Britain, is America's home country. However, until 1780, British or Irish descendants still accounted for 3/4 of Americans.

From 1840 to 1860, the United States ushered in the first wave of immigration. At that time, due to poor agricultural harvest, population growth and political turmoil, the whole of Europe was starving, and about 5 million people left their homes every year. Because of potato disease, Ireland starved to death more than 750 thousand people. Many survivors emigrated overseas. In just 1847 a year, the number of Irish immigrants to the United States reached 1 18 120. Today, there are about 39 million Irish Americans.

1848~49 The failure of the German Revolution caused many Germans to emigrate overseas. 1861~ During the American Civil War in 1965, the federal government also encouraged Europeans, especially Germans, to immigrate to the United States to enrich their troops. In return for military service, the federal government gives immigrants free land. By 1865, about15 of the federal soldiers were wartime immigrants. Today, 22% of Americans are of German descent.

1820~70 years, about 200 thousand European Jews entered the United States from Germany and other places. Most of these Jewish immigrants are small traders engaged in retail trade and scattered all over the United States. More Jews immigrated to the United States around 1880. During the period of about 12 years, they were brutally persecuted in eastern European countries. In the next 45 years, 2 million Jews immigrated to the United States. These Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and Austria are poor and don't know English. Most of them live in big cities such as new york and Chicago, work in factories or engage in handicrafts and run small shops. Today, there are more than 5 million Jewish Americans, more than half of whom live in new york, California and Florida. The vast majority of Jews live in cities and suburbs, mainly middle class, with high education and income level, and have an important influence in the political, economic and cultural fields of the United States.

Reluctant immigrants:

In the tide of immigration into North America, a group of people were forced to come. That is, between 16 19 and 1808, 500,000 Africans were sold to the United States as slaves. 1808, the United States promulgated a law prohibiting the import of slaves. However, due to the need of labor, especially in southern agricultural areas, farmers still continue to own slaves and their children. Today, African-Americans account for 12.9% of the total population of the United States, with 34,658190 people (data of the US Census Bureau in 2006, 5438+0.65438+February 7).

Latin American immigrants (Hispanic):

About 4 million Spanish-speaking Latin American immigrants flooded into the United States in the 1950 s. According to the data of the US Census Bureau on March 8, 2000, the Latin American population living in the United States today is 27,174,300. About half of them are from Mexico, and the other half are from Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Colombia. 36% of Hispanics live in California. Other Hispanic populations are Texas, New York, Illinois and Florida. After Castro won the Cuban Revolution, thousands of Cubans went into exile in Florida. There are so many Cuban-Americans living in Miami that the Miami Herald, the largest newspaper in the city, published a Spanish edition in addition to the English edition.

Asian immigrants:

China people are the first Asians to immigrate to the United States. As early as 1785, three China sailors, A Xing, A Chuan and A Chun, arrived in the United States on the sailboat Goddess of Wisdom. However, until the middle of the19th century, China people rarely heard of the United States and were not interested in immigration, because China's relatively stable social order and natural economy enabled ordinary people to live and work in peace and contentment despite poverty. However, after the Opium War and the invasion of western powers since 1840, the Qing government, which was at home and abroad, squeezed the people more and more, which aroused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, and the people were miserable and desperate. 1848 After the news of the discovery of gold mines in California spread to China, Fujian, Guangdong and other coastal areas, more and more China people began to cross the ocean and live in a foreign land. In 1849, 79 1 Chinese entered San Francisco, and in 1850, the number increased to 4025. By 1873, the number of China people who immigrated to the United States has reached about150,000.

After China, Asian immigrants from Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, Philippine and North Korea followed closely and started the thorny road of emigrating to the United States.

According to the data released by the US Census Bureau on February 7, 2006, there are/kloc-0,242,998 Asians in the United States, accounting for 4.2% of the total population of the United States. Most Asians are new immigrants who immigrated to the United States in recent decades. However, Asian Americans have become one of the most successful ethnic minorities in the United States because of their fine traditions of thrift, hard work and emphasis on education, and their income and education level are relatively high.