Scottish Americans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Scottish Americans 20-25 million Up to 8.3% of the U.S. population Scotch-Irish Americans 27 to 30 million Up to 10% of the U.S. population 5,310,285 (2013 ACS) Scottish) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
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Appalachia Delaware Valley, The Dakotas, New England Southern United States Plurality in Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Utah and Maine |
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| Languages | |
| English (American English dialects) Scottish Gaelic speaking minority | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (including Presbyterianism, Baptist, Pentecostalism, Methodist and Roman Catholicism), other religions (including deism) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Scotch-Irish Americans, English Americans, Irish Americans, Welsh Americans, British Americans, Scottish Canadians, Scotch-Irish Canadians, Scottish Australians |
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Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: Ameireaganaich Albannach; Scots: Scots-American fowk) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage. The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province of Ulster in Ireland (see Plantation of Ulster) and thence, beginning about five generations later, to North America in large numbers during the eighteenth century.
In the 2013 American Community Survey 5,310,285 were identified as Scottish and 2,976,878 of Scotch-Irish descent. Large scale emigration from Scotland to America began in the 1700s after the Battle of Culloden where the Clan structures were broken up and as a result of the Highland Clearances. The Scots went in search of a better life and settled in the thirteen colonies, mainly around South Carolina and Virginia.
According to the United States Historical Census Data Base (USHCDB), the ethnic populations in the British American Colonies of 1700, 1755 and 1775 were:
The number of Americans of Scottish descent today is estimated to be 20 to 25 million (up to 8.3% of the total US population), and Scotch-Irish 27 to 30 million (up to 10% of the total US population), the subgroups overlapping and not always distinguishable because of their shared ancestral surnames.
The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province of Ulster in Ireland (see Plantation of Ulster) and thence, beginning about five generations later, to North America in large numbers during the eighteenth century.
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