European American : Ask Biography

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A European American (also known as a Euro-American) is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe. This includes people via African, North American, Caribbean, Central American or South American and Oceanian nations which have a large European diaspora.

The Spanish were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the United States.

Martín de Argüelles born 1566, San Agustín, La Florida, was the first known person of European descent born in what is now the United States. Twenty-one years later, Virginia Dare born 1587 Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, was the first child born in the Thirteen Colonies to English parents.

In 2009, German Americans (16.5%), Irish Americans (11.9%), English Americans (9.0%) and Italian Americans (6.4%) were the four largest self-reported ancestry groups in the United States forming 43.8% of the total population. British Americans (English, Scottish and Welsh) are estimated to be up to (20%) or (60,000,000) of the United States population.

Overall, as the largest group, European Americans have the lowest poverty rate and the second highest educational attainment levels, median household income, and median personal income of any racial demographic in the nation.