which was sparsely populated by native Indian tribes. The first immigrants in American history came from and the Netherlands. Attracted by reports of great economic opportunities and religious and political freedom, inunigrants from many other countries flocked to the United States in increasing numbers, reaching a peak in the years 1880 — 1914. Between 1820 and 1973, the United States admitted more than 46 million immigrants. Tlic greatest numbers came from Europe，but many came also from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Canada.

Some 825, 000 American Indians, descendants of North America’s first inhabitants, now reside in the United States. Most live in the West, but many are in the south and north central areas. Of the more than 300 separate tribes, the largest is the Navaho in the Southwest.

Black people were first brou^it to America from Africa as slaves (in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln freed all who remained enslaved). Their descendants now make up more thanl2 percent of the population. They once lived mainly in the agricultural South but now are scattered throughout the nation. In the midwestem dty of Chicago, for example, there are more than one million black residents — more than three times as many as in 1940. New York State has the largest black population 一 2, 169, 000, an increase of more than three-quarters of a million in 10 years.

In Hawaii, more than a third of the residents are of Japanese descent, a third are Caucasians, about 15 percent are of Polynesian background, and the others are mainly of Filipino, Korean, and Chinese descent.

Every 10 years the United States makes a complete count, or census, of its people and industries. When the first count was made in 1790 the new nation had fewer than 4 million people, almost all living along the East Coast. Today, there are more than 220 million. In the past 20 years many people have moved to the western and southern parts of the country. The State of California on the Pacific Coast now has the largest population and the Atlantic Coast State of New York is second. Another western state， Colorado，is growing almost twice as fast as the nation as a whole. Some other western states have had spectacular population booms: Arizona has more than doubled its population since 1950 while Nevada has tripled its population in the same period. The southern State of Florida, known for its pleasant climate, has almost twice the number of residents it had in 1950.

The United States now has more than 77 million young people (between the ages of 5 and 24) — 61 percent more than in 1950. And there are 20 million persons over the age of 65，two-thirds more than in 1950.

The American people are always on the move — from one part of the country to another，from one dty to another, from farm to dty, from the city to the suburbs. One in five Americans moves to a new home every year seeking new job opportunities, a better climate, or for other reasons. Many industries have scattered their factories, often far from the parent plant, and many of their workers have decided to try the new locations.

Today three out of four Americans live in towns, cities or suburbs; about 54 million live in rural areas. Two-thirds of all families live in separate households，and 64. 2 percent own their own homes. The number of households has increased from 43 million in 1950 to about 65 million. This is due in part to medical discoveries which have greatly reduced infant mortality and extended life expectancy.

The 1970 population count revealed that there were 156 cities of 100，000 or more people; 20 years earlier there had been 107. Some cities have grown enormously — the population of Anaheim, California, rose from 15, 000 to 167, 000 in 20 years, and St. Petersburg, Florida, increased from 97, 000 to 216，000. Some of the large cities, such as Chicago, Illinois，Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Detroit, Michigan, have lost population, to their suburbs (the surrounding areas just outside the cities〉where there is more room for gardens and places for children to play. Shopping centers, schools, churches, theaters and community centers have been built in great numbers to serve the increasing numbers of people living in the suburbs.

New York City is America's largest dty. Its population, as reported in 1970, was 7，895，000. At the same dme，the population of its suburbs was nearly 5 million more. The city’ s 1, 040 kilometers of waterfront gives it the largest harbor in the world. It is visited by nearly17, 000 ships annually. Some 500，000 ship passengers and another 40 million air travelers pass throu^i New York yearly.

Chicago is the second largest dty, With 3, 367, 000 inhabitants. Los Angeles, California, is third with a population of 2, 816, 000. Riiladelphia, fourth largest, has about 2 million people. Philadelphia is important in American history, because the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were bom there.

The nation’s capital, Washington, is ninth in population with about 800, 000 residents. Specially planned and built as a national capital, Washington was laid out by French architect Pierre L，Enfant late in the 18th century. A dty of great beauty and a center of world affairs, it is also becoming a leading cultural center.

In a gathering of friends in the United States, in a meeting of a business or educational organizadong or at a public meeting, the femily names of the people present migit reveal something about the diversity of national backgrounds that they represent: The mixture of national backgrounds would differ somewhat in different parts of the country. Many Scandinavians live in Minnesota, and there are many Irish in Boston, Massachusetts. New York City is the traditional "melting pot". The South is heavily British and these people have been in America for many generations. Many Spanish and Mexicans are found in the Southwest. Yet a mixture of nationalities is characteristic of the fabric of American society. Mills, OTallon, Tognozzini, Zimmerman, Hoshida, Havlika, Smaziski, Gruber, or Ten Brink 一 all are American names, and the country is a blend of all the cultural strains these names represent. Americans are fully conscious of their dififerences in ancestry. This feeling of identity with the cultural background of one’s ancestors along with a pride in being an American has long been a characteristic of the American people. American culture is the product of many different cultures blended together to form something new.