Viking-era exploration Norsemen from Greenland and Iceland were the first Europeans to reach North America.
Leif Erikson reached North America via
Norse settlements in Greenland around the year 1000. Norse settlers from Greenland founded the settlement of
L'Anse aux Meadows in
Vinland, in what is now Newfoundland,
Canada. These settlers failed to establish a permanent settlement because of conflicts with indigenous people and within the Norse community.
Colonial settlement honoring the
100th anniversary of Norwegian immigration. The Netherlands, and especially the cities of
Amsterdam and
Hoorn, had strong commercial ties with the coastal lumber trade of Norway during the 17th century and many Norwegians immigrated to Amsterdam. Some of them settled in Dutch colonies, although never in large numbers. There were also Norwegian settlers in
Pennsylvania in the first half of the 18th century, upstate New York in the latter half of the same century, and in
New England during both halves. During the colonial period, Norwegian immigrants often joined the Dutch seeking opportunities for trade and a new life in America. The Dutch often took Norwegians with them to the New World for their sailing expertise. There was a Norwegian presence in
New Amsterdam in the early part of the 17th century.
Hans Hansen Bergen, a native of
Bergen, Norway, was one of the earliest settlers of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, having immigrated in 1633. Another early Norwegian settler,
Albert Andriessen Bradt, arrived in New Amsterdam in 1637. Approximately 60 people had settled in the
Manhattan area before the region was taken over by the
British Empire in 1664. The total number of Norwegians that settled in
New Netherland is not known. In the period that followed, many of the original Norwegian settlers in the area remained, including the family of
Pieter Van Brugh, a colonial
mayor of Albany, who was the grandson of early Norwegian immigrants.
19th century Many immigrants during the early 1800s sought religious freedom. From the mid-1800s however, the driving forces behind Norwegian immigration to the United States were agricultural disasters which led to
poverty, from the
European Potato Failure of the 1840s to the
Famine of 1866–68. The
agricultural revolution also put farmers out of work and pushed them to seek employment in a more industrialized America.
Religious migration The earliest immigrants from Norway to America emigrated mostly for religious motives, especially as members of the
Religious Society of Friends or as
Haugeans. To a great extent, this early emigration from Norway was born out of religious persecution, especially for
Quakers and a local religious group, the Haugeans. Organized Norwegian immigration to North America began in 1825, when several dozen Norwegians left
Stavanger bound for North America on the
sloop Restauration (often called the "Norse
Mayflower"). Under the leadership of
Cleng Peerson, the
Restauration left Stavanger in July 1825 and ferried six families on a 14-week journey. The ship landed in New York City, where it was at first impounded for exceeding its passenger limit. After intervention from
President John Quincy Adams, the passengers moved on to settle in
Kendall, New York with the help of
Andreas Stangeland, witnessing the opening of the
Erie Canal en route. After making the journey to Kendall, Cleng Peerson became a traveling emissary for Norwegian immigrants and died in a Norwegian Settlement near
Cranfills Gap,
Texas, in 1865. The descendants of these immigrants are referred to as "
Sloopers", in reference to the sloop ship that brought them from Norway.
Organized immigration While about 65 Norwegians emigrated via Sweden and elsewhere in the intervening years, no emigrant ships left Norway for the New World until the 1836 departures of the and . In 1837, a group of immigrants from
Tinn emigrated via
Gothenburg to the
Fox River Settlement, near present-day
Sheridan, Illinois. It was the writings of
Ole Rynning, who traveled to the U.S. on the in 1837 that energized Norwegian immigration, however. Throughout much of the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th century, a vast majority of Norwegian emigration to both the United States and Canada followed a route commonly shared by most Swedish, Danish and Finnish emigrants of the period, being via England by means of the monopoly established by the leading shipping lines of Great Britain, primarily the
White Star Line and the
Cunard Line, both of which operated chiefly out of
Liverpool, England. These lines negotiated with smaller 'feeder lines', primarily the
Wilson Line, which was based out of the port city of Hull on England's east coast, to provide emigrants with passage from port cities such as Christiania (present-day Oslo), Bergen and Trondheim to England via Hull. Steamship companies such as Cunard and White Star included fares for passage on these feeder ship in their overall ticket prices, along with railroad fares for passage between Hull and Liverpool and temporary accommodations in numerous hotels owned by the shipping lines in port cities such as Liverpool. Most Norwegian emigrants bound for the United States entered the country through New York City, with smaller numbers coming through other eastern ports such as Boston and Philadelphia. Other shipping lines such as the
Canadian Pacific Line, which operated chiefly out of Liverpool, and the Glasgow-based
Anchor Line operated routes to ports in eastern Canada, primarily
Quebec City,
Montreal and
Halifax. Because Canadian-bound routes were slightly shorter, lines which disembarked at Canadian ports often provided quicker passages and cheaper fares. The Canadian route offered many advantages to the emigrant over traveling to the U.S. directly. "They moved on from Quebec both by rail and by steamer for another thousand or more miles (1,600 km) for a steerage fare of slightly less than $9.00." Steamers from Quebec, Canada brought them to Toronto, Canada; then, the immigrants often traveled by rail for to
Collingwood, Ontario, Canada on Lake Huron, from where steamers transported them across Lake Michigan to Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Not until the start of the 20th century did Norwegians accept Canada as a land of the second chance. This was also true of the many American-Norwegians who moved to Canada seeking homesteads and new economic opportunities. By 1921, one-third of all Norwegians in Canada had been born in the U.S. Between 1825 and 1925, more than 800,000 Norwegians immigrated to North America—about one-third of Norway's population with the majority immigrating to the U.S., and lesser numbers immigrating to the Dominion of Canada. With the exception of
Ireland, no single country contributed a larger percentage of its population to the United States than Norway. Data from the U.S. Office of Immigration statistics of the number of Norwegians obtaining lawful permanent resident status in the U.S. from 1870 to 2016 highlights two peaks in the migration flow, the first one in the 1880s, and the second one in the first decade of the 20th century. It also shows an abrupt decrease after 1929, during the economic crisis of the 1930s.
Settlement in 1898. Photo taken by John McCarthy and collected by
Fred Hultstrand was issued. The image on the stamp is based on Norwegian settlers in front of their sod house. Beginning in 1836, Norwegian immigrants arrived in significant numbers annually. From the early "slooper" settlement in
Illinois, Norwegian pioneers followed the general spread of population northwestward into
Wisconsin. Wisconsin remained the center of Norwegian American activity up until the
American Civil War, a war in which a number of Norwegian Americans fought for the Union, such as in the
15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment. In the 1850s Norwegian land seekers began moving into both
Iowa and
Minnesota, and serious migration to
the Dakotas was underway by the 1870s. Norwegian immigration through the years was predominantly motivated by economic concerns. Compounded by crop failures, Norwegian agricultural resources were unable to keep up with population growth, and the
Homestead Act of 1862 promised fertile, flat land. As a result, settlement trended westward with each passing year. The majority of Norwegian agrarian settlements developed in the northern region of the so-called Homestead Act Triangle between the
Mississippi and the
Missouri rivers. Early Norwegian settlements were in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Illinois, but moved westward into Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Later waves of Norwegian immigration went to the Western states such as
Montana,
Washington,
Oregon, and
Utah through missionary efforts which gained Norwegian and Swedish converts to
Mormonism. Additionally, craftsmen also immigrated to a larger, more diverse market. Until recently, there was a Norwegian area in
Sunset Park, Brooklyn originally populated by Norwegian craftsmen. The
Upper Midwest became home to most immigrants. In 1910 almost 80 percent of the one million or more Norwegian Americans lived in that part of the United States. In 1990, 51.7 percent of the Norwegian American population lived in the
Midwest. At that time, Minnesota had the largest Norwegian American population and
Minneapolis functioned as a hub for Norwegian American secular and religious activities. Chicago was an attractive destination. In the
Pacific Northwest, the
Puget Sound region, and especially the city of
Seattle, became another center of immigrant life. Enclaves of Norwegian immigrants emerged as well in greater
Brooklyn,
New York, in
Alaska, and
Texas. After Minnesota, Wisconsin had the most Norwegians in 1990, followed by California, Washington, and North Dakota. == Cultural identity ==