Large numbers of immigrants have come to the United States since the early 17th century,
Europeans settled mainly in the western half of the country. Immigrants from Asia and from
Mexico settled mostly in the east and the northwest.- immigrants from Asia and from Mexico
tended to settle in the west and southwest
Between 1892 and 1954 - 1924, Ellis Island in Los Angeles Harbour admitted seventeen
million immigrants.
In 1907, as many as eleven thousand people a week were processed. And today, four out of
every five - four out of every ten Americans can trace part of their family history directly back
to Ellis Island. Many of these immigrants settled on the Upper East side of Manhattan - on
the Lower East Side of Manhattan . The Tenement Museum shows how harsh their living
conditions could be. Families of eleven people lived in small apartments with just two rooms
- just three rooms /it was pretty much just three rooms 325 square feet partitioned into three
rooms you had the front room which was the only room with direct access to light and air the
center room was typically the kitchen and then you had a smaller room in the back which
was. On the other side of the country, families arrived at Devil's Island in California -
immigrants passed through a point of entry called Angel Island in California's San Francisco
Bay, where conditions were more relaxed for Asians. - here they had to contend with
immigration laws that were especially strict for Asians