i8o : The Atlantic 



eight. These men were skilled in various trades and industries such 

 as the making of glass, metals, tar, etc. Thus, migrants from nations 

 that were later to contribute important elements in our industrial 

 population were already represented in the first colony at its found- 

 ing. 



The peak of the Polish migration to America was long deferred 

 but the Germans continued to arrive in most of the colonies in in- 

 creasing numbers. The Delaware River and the port of Philadelphia 

 formed an attractive haven for the early colonial vessels. The climate 

 and the country seemed to prove inviting and congenial to the cen- 

 tral Europeans such as the Germans and the Swiss. The so-called 

 middle colonies such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware had 

 been first colonized by mixed populations which included the Eng- 

 Hsh, the Dutch, the Swedes, and these were now joined by the Ger- 

 mans. 



In this part of the country each nation followed its own customs 

 in laying out farms and in cultivating different products. Thus, from 

 the beginning, there was a diversity in production and methods of 

 cultivation and also in agriculture and some of the patterns then 

 established have persisted even to the present time. 



William Penn was granted the territory west of the Delaware be- 

 tween New York and Maryland in 1681 and Philadelphia was estab- 

 lished in the same year. This colony was established as a refuge for 

 oppressed Quakers who gathered here from many different quarters. 

 Along with them came settlers from many other nations also in 

 search of freedom. These included the Scotch, the Irish, the French 

 and, of course, the Germans. Between 1683 and 1750, waves of immi- 

 grants came from Germany and Switzerland. 



Between 1700 and the time of the Revolution at least 100,000 Ger- 

 mans came from the Palatinate and other lands of the Rhine Valley 

 to Pennsylvania. Here they formed settlements of their own and 

 became designated as the "Pennsylvania Dutch." At the time of the 

 Revolution they composed about one-third of the Pennsylvania pop- 

 ulation. Another third of the population was accounted for by immi- 

 grants from northern Ireland. 



The Germans, however, did not confine themselves to the middle 

 colonies. A first wave of German-Swiss immigration hit New York 

 in 1683. The conditions under which they could obtain holdings of 

 land under the Dutch system did not appeal to them as advantageous 

 so they began to move westward through the Mohawk Valley. Here 



