US Ancestry - Game Information

Regarding some of the criticisims of the map:

This data reflects how people have identified their own ancestry. Hence, the inclusion of "American", and the separate categories for "Mexican" and "Hispanic/Spanish".

Some of the other nationalities mentioned (e.g., Polish) don't show up for a couple of reasons:

1) the ethnicity may be common in a given area (say, Swedes in the Dakotas), but not the MOST common in the area (variously German, Norwegian, and Native American).

2) the ethnicity (e.g., Czech, Polish) may be the most common in a small area, but the map at this scale cannot show such fine resolution (such as individual neighborhoods). So, the small-scale diversity is englulfed by the large-scale of the map.

Of course, there is another problem with self-identification: many Americans no longer know what their ancestry was. If their families have been here for many generations, they are likely mixed ancestry. Also, it was quite common for people to Anglicize ("Americanize") their names. In some cases, Such changes were forced by immigration officials. In other cases, it was voluntary: a way to assimilate more quickly, get better jobs, etc. And sometimes, it was to avoid harassment (as in Germans who Anglicized their names during the world wars).

All taken together, this is a better map of who we think we are than who we really are. But that's still valid, and it still makes for a good game. There will be differences between the perception and the reality, of course. But in very broad outline (and noting some of the problems above), the two probably mesh fairly well.

It is confusing that there are seperate categories for Mexican and Hispanic. American should NOT be a category, for there is no such ethnicity as American. Polish, Swedish, Scottish and Asian should be on here, and the French button is where I live!!! (random)

wow. I've never knew that! thanks for the interesting game!

yes...

Is the German category the whole light blue part of the map?

If you are a legal citizen of Japan, you are Japanese, but Japanese is also an ethnicity. The USA has been around long enough that in the south, there is a distinct white identity (primarily English ancestry) that has been called American.

I don't understand why "American" is a category. If you are a legal citizen of the U.S., then you are American.

That map is great, where'd you find it?

Yes, there were so many years when Poland was like today Mexico. With the highest number of immigrants

I am surprised that there is no mention of Polish. Chicago seems to have a high concentration of Polish ancestry. Nice game.