The United States has been greatly enriched as the result of cultural liberty. Here, the immigrant has often found the opportunity to practice and pass on to others those customs and traditions which have been handed down to him by his ancestors. The Christmas tree, Easter bunny, and New Year festivities are German in origin. Many of the festivals in California and the rodeo are Spanish in origin. Singing societies, folk dancing, games, cookery, and home life have been enriched by customs introduced from other lands. Immigration has indeed proved to be a “wind that blows democratic ideas through the world.” [Illustration] When We Came to the United States [Illustration] 1536 Spaniards begin to settle in California and in the Southwest. 1565 Spaniards establish St. Augustine, oldest city in the United States. 1607 English establish Jamestown, the oldest English settlement in North America. 1619 Negroes are first brought in as slaves. 1620 English Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock. 1624 Walloons, from Netherlands, settle Fort Orange, now Albany, New York. 1626 Netherlanders establish New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. 1628 Persecuted Protestants establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1634 Lord Baltimore and a group of English Catholics arrive in Maryland. 1636 Roger Williams and his followers establish Rhode Island. 1636 Connecticut is founded by Thomas Hooker and his religious group. 1638 Swedes and Finns settle along the Delaware River. 1639 John Mason and his followers come to New Hampshire. 1654 Twenty-three Portuguese Jews land at New Amsterdam from Brazil. 1662 Huguenots settle in Massachusetts on the present site of Oxford. 1663 English nobles, with grant from Charles II, establish North Carolina. 1664 English capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York. 1664 Berkeley, Carteret, and others establish New Jersey. 1670 English make first permanent settlement in South Carolina. 1670 French fur traders and missionaries come to the Mississippi Valley. 1679 French Huguenots settle in South Carolina. 1681 The Quakers, led by William Penn, settle Pennsylvania. 1682 The first Germans come to Pennsylvania. 1690 About 200 Scotch-Irish settle in Maryland. 1693 English help to settle 600 German-Swiss in North Carolina. 1699 The Acadians come to Louisiana and reach as far as Biloxi in present-day Mississippi. 1700 The Scotch-Irish settle along the frontiers. 1710 First German Protestants arrive in New York. 1719 Acadians establish New Orleans, Louisiana. 1720 Between 1720 and 1750, 60,000 Germans come to Pennsylvania. 1732 Oglethorpe founds Georgia. 1733 German Lutherans, Italian Protestants from Piedmont, Scots, Swiss, Portuguese Jews, and English arrive in Georgia. 1737 Irish laborers come to South Carolina. 1749 About 600 Scots settle near Fayetteville, North Carolina. 1750 Over 4,300 Germans and 1,000 English and Irish arrive in Pennsylvania. 1790 Between 1790 and 1820, around 234,000 newcomers arrive.