The immigration of various
German
-speaking groups to the United States began in the 1680s and continued into the twentieth century. Large numbers arrived in the 1850s, 1870s, and 1880s. Pre-1847 immigration consisted primarily of religious exiles (“Old
Lutherans
”), farmers, and landless peasants from southern and eastern Germany. Political exiles emigrated to America following the 1848 revolutions.
During the eighteenth century, Pennsylvania was settled by German and Swiss...