The Norwegians are the pioneers in the emigration movement from the North in the nineteenth century; the Danes were the last to come in considerable numbers. Statistics, however, show that one hundred eighty-nine Danes had emigrated to this country before 1830, while there were only ninety-four from Norway and Sweden. The Norwegian foreign-born population had in 1850 reached 12,678; while that from Sweden was 3,559; and Denmark had furnished a little over eighteen hundred. The Danish immigration was not over five thousand a year until 1880 and has never reached twelve thousand. The Swedish immigration received a new impulse in 1852; it was five thousand in 1868; it reached its climax of 64,607 in 1882. According to Norwegian statistics the emigration from Norway to the United States was six thousand and fifty in 1853, but according to our census reports did not reach five thousand before 1866; the highest figure, 29,101, was reached in 1882 (according to our census).[15] [15] Or 28,000 according to Norwegian statistics. The total emigration from the Scandinavian countries to America between 1820 and 1903 was 1,617,111. This remarkable figure becomes doubly remarkable when we stop to consider that the population of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden is only two and one-half per cent of the total population of Europe; yet they have contributed nearly ten per cent of our immigrant population. There are in this country nearly one-third as many Scandinavians (counting those of foreign birth and foreign parentage both) as in the Scandinavian countries; for the German element the ratio is one to thirteen. At this point I may refer the reader to the table in Appendix I of this volume, showing the growth and distribution of the Scandinavian factor, especially in the northwestern states, since 1850. Table I shows Wisconsin as having almost as large a Scandinavian population in 1850 as all the rest of the country. Wisconsin was the destination of the Norwegian immigrant from the time emigration began to assume larger proportions, and it held the lead for twenty-five years. Iowa and Southern Minnesota began entering into competition prominently since 1852 and 1855 respectively. The growth of Swedish immigration in the fifties and sixties gave the lead to Minnesota by 1870, Illinois taking second place in 1890. Returning now to the Norwegian immigration specifically, it may be observed that it was directed to the Northwest down to recent years, almost to the exclusion of the rest of the country. The reader may now be referred to Table II in the Appendix, which shows the growth of the Norwegian population in each state since 1850.