Illinois Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

Pre-statehood settlers of English and Ulster Scots descent came from [[Virginia]], the Carolinas, [[Tennessee]], and [[Kentucky]] by way of the Ohio River, where they joined a few hundred Frenchmen already in the area. The first blacks came to Illinois in 1719 with the French, but their numbers remained few until after the Civil War. Indian tribes relinquished their last remaining Illinois lands shortly after the Black Hawk War of 1832.  

When Illinois became a state in 1818, most of the population lived near the waterways of southern Illinois. During the 1830s and 1840s, most settlers came from New York and New England by way of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes or on the National Road. They settled the central and northern counties. Overseas immigration of the 1840s and 1850s was composed mainly of Germans and Irish. After the Civil War they were joined by Austrians, Hungarians, Russians, Scandinavians, Italians, and Poles.  

Iowa was the destination of many who left Illinois in the 1850s. Illinois families also helped settle Kansas and Nebraska. Others joined the California gold rush or traveled the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Northwest.  

The abundance and availability of land attracted the most Swedish immigrants, especially Illinois and Minnesota. For further reading, see: [[Swedish American: Illinois History|Swedish American: Illinois History]].