Dutch Americans

Dutch Americans are <a href="/facts/Americans/srd9GJ5U">Americans</a> of <a href="/facts/Dutch_people/QhHtJ2WK">Dutch</a> and <a href="/facts/Flemish_people/MIyUKkDM">Flemish</a> descent whose ancestors came from the <a href="/facts/Low_Countries/umPWQ5hV">Low Countries</a> in the distant past, or from the <a href="/facts/Netherlands/y8xn5stT">Netherlands</a> as from 1830 when the Flemish became independent from the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands/JGfEtJAy">United Kingdom of the Netherlands</a> by creating the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Belgium/YKuMXP5j">Kingdom of Belgium</a>. Dutch settlement in the Americas started in 1613 with <a href="/facts/New_Amsterdam/9uPT8dpj">New Amsterdam</a>, which was exchanged with the English for <a href="/facts/Surinam_(Dutch_colony)/LlakTUxL">Suriname</a> at the <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Breda_(1667)/lUSHqyoA">Treaty of Breda (1667)</a> and renamed <a href="/facts/New_York_City/YlyvFmVC">New York City</a>. The English split the Dutch colony of <a href="/facts/New_Netherland/2S44xW81">New Netherland</a> into two pieces and named them <a href="/facts/New_York_(state)/mnl67G1G">New York</a> and <a href="/facts/New_Jersey/pI5k19S7">New Jersey</a>. Further waves of immigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.
According to the 2021 <a href="/facts/American_Community_Survey/vLQq3I5Q">American Community Survey</a>, an estimated 3.1 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage, while 884,857 Americans claimed total Dutch heritage. In 2021, 113,634 Dutch Americans were foreign-born (of which 61.5% in Europe). The 2009-2013 survey estimated 141,580 people of 5 years and over to speak Dutch at home, which was equal to 0.0486% of the total population of the United States. In 2021, 95.3% of the total Dutch American population of 5 years and over only spoke English at home.
Prominent (partial) Dutch American political figures include Presidents <a href="/facts/Martin_Van_Buren/eLHQGzL1">Martin Van Buren</a>, <a href="/facts/Warren_G._Harding/v9zaPPvS">Warren G. Harding</a>, and <a href="/facts/Theodore_Roosevelt/WzUPbcbo">Theodore</a> and <a href="/facts/Franklin_D._Roosevelt/HtG9vMQv">Franklin D. Roosevelt</a> and U.S. Senators <a href="/facts/Philip_Schuyler/mW6Ts677">Philip Schuyler</a>, <a href="/facts/Nicholas_Van_Dyke_(U.S._Senator)/Y66ov90g">Nicholas Van Dyke</a>, <a href="/facts/Hamilton_Fish/89qzmYWy">Hamilton Fish</a>, <a href="/facts/John_C._Ten_Eyck/2FmUUYYB">John C. Ten Eyck</a>, <a href="/facts/Daniel_W._Voorhees/rtNHc5je">Daniel W. Voorhees</a>, <a href="/facts/Arthur_Vandenberg/FhdMfxYk">Arthur Vandenberg</a>, <a href="/facts/Peter_G._Van_Winkle/YG8Lgoq5">Peter G. Van Winkle</a>, <a href="/facts/Alan_Simpson_(American_politician)/1Tjty81C">Alan Simpson</a>, <a href="/facts/Fred_Thompson/CIlN7c43">Fred Thompson</a>, <a href="/facts/John_Hoeven/aRbtErSz">John Hoeven</a>, and <a href="/facts/Chris_Van_Hollen/uIKAl2Ae">Christopher Van Hollen</a>. Two of the <a href="/facts/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States/2QxuFllb">Founding Fathers of the United States</a>, <a href="/facts/Egbert_Benson/Q7UsRanV">Egbert Benson</a> and <a href="/facts/John_Jay/YnszbqzQ">John Jay</a>, were also of Dutch descent. Governors <a href="/facts/John_Hickenlooper/LaVs2Azb">John Hickenlooper</a> of <a href="/facts/Colorado/IgIHrJI5">Colorado</a>, <a href="/facts/Harold_G._Hoffman/AQDb4Io9">Harold G. Hoffman</a> and <a href="/facts/Thomas_Kean/sP5YC8zd">Thomas Kean</a> of New Jersey, <a href="/facts/William_Henry_Vanderbilt_III/hnaelA77">William Henry Vanderbilt III</a> of <a href="/facts/Rhode_Island/WgrYmlzj">Rhode Island</a>, <a href="/facts/George_Bell_Timmerman_Jr./tmdVMfco">George Bell Timmerman Jr.</a> of <a href="/facts/South_Carolina/lQQX84IS">South Carolina</a>, and <a href="/facts/Cornelius_P._Van_Ness/hXH1scz5">Cornelius P. Van Ness</a> of <a href="/facts/Vermont/dcj3usCm">Vermont</a> were also born to Dutch American families. Today the majority of the Dutch Americans live in <a href="/facts/Michigan/bCurmfT2">Michigan</a>, <a href="/facts/California/zLW2vdQJ">California</a>, <a href="/facts/Montana/jPFKMuK5">Montana</a>, <a href="/facts/Minnesota/ncgVuC4Q">Minnesota</a>, <a href="/facts/Illinois/MuPb1Ctn">Illinois</a>, <a href="/facts/Wyoming/kuKmWryL">Wyoming</a>, Colorado, <a href="/facts/North_Dakota/9aNh8gAf">North Dakota</a>, <a href="/facts/South_Dakota/R51Fbf1t">South Dakota</a>, <a href="/facts/Nebraska/g9hHfRFU">Nebraska</a>, <a href="/facts/Kansas/koenIXmE">Kansas</a>, <a href="/facts/Missouri/wQ3VAb99">Missouri</a>, <a href="/facts/Indiana/VRnvjXoQ">Indiana</a>, New York, New Jersey, <a href="/facts/Wisconsin/XvyqH6vN">Wisconsin</a>, <a href="/facts/Idaho/68ELs9Um">Idaho</a>, <a href="/facts/Utah/te7zUyBX">Utah</a>, <a href="/facts/Iowa/taAwUvKE">Iowa</a>, <a href="/facts/Ohio/YutCnTlh">Ohio</a>, <a href="/facts/West_Virginia/USP8LtCq">West Virginia</a>, and <a href="/facts/Pennsylvania/HGqC5bBm">Pennsylvania</a>.
Not included among Dutch Americans are the <a href="/facts/Pennsylvania_Dutch/LxFq7QLQ">Pennsylvania Dutch</a>, a group of mainly <a href="/facts/German_American/KoI8oW3Y">German Americans</a> who settled in Pennsylvania in the colonial era and whose name is a derivation of the Pennsylvania Dutch <a href="/facts/Endonym/8pyd1nE9">endonym</a> Deitsch, which means "Pennsylvania Dutch" or "German". Ultimately, the terms Deitsch, <a href="/facts/Dutch_language/yIB5lbsx">Dutch</a>, <a href="/facts/Middle_Dutch/E1h4swn9">Diets</a> and <a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">Deutsch</a> are all descendants of the <a href="/facts/Proto-Germanic_language/LJrKRx5A">Proto-Germanic</a> word *þiudiskaz, meaning "popular" or "of the people"; while all Germanic cognates of the term refer to some Germanic people, they more commonly refer to Germans than Netherlanders.

Dutch Americans open-in-new

Dutch Americans