With Donald Trump now the de facto Republican nominee in the race for the Oval Office, immigration has become a hot-button issue in the US right now – but as the video below shows, the history of the United States goes hand in hand with the arrival of immigrants.
Created by Max Galka, the visualisation was compiled using information gleaned from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics. With each dot passing from one country to the continental United States, the video shows the passage of 10,000 migrants, with the early years dominated by the Irish.
Indeed, the first half of the 19th century shows the huge influence European immigration played on the fledgling nation, with the UK, Italy, Germany, and Russia all sending millions of people to the US. These trends held strong until after WWII, when the US opened itself up to Asian immigrants and Latin Americans.
Take a look at the fascinating video in full below:
