A Frisian American is an inhabitant of the United States with full or partial Frisian ancestry.
Frisians a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are closely related to the Dutch and the English. They have their own Frisian languages divided by geographical regions. The Old Frisian language was once the Germanic language closest to English, though outside influences (from Dutch on Frisian and from French or English) have made both languages grow ever farther apart as time went by.
Today there exists a tripartite division of the original Frisians; namely the North Frisians, East Frisians and West Frisian, caused by the Frisia's constant loss of territory in the Middle Ages, but the West Frisians in the general do not feel or see themselves as part of a larger group of Frisians, and, according to a 1970 inquiry, identify themselves more with the Dutch than with East or North Frisians.[1] Therefore the moniker 'Frisian' is (when used for the speakers of all three Frisian language) a linguistic (and to some extent, cultural) concept, not a political one.
In the New Netherland colony, Frisian people from North Frisia, East Frisia and West Friesland were the largest ethnic group in the city of New Amsterdam which later became New York City.[2] The New Amsterdam area was chiefly explored by one Jonas Bronk who led a group of settlers from North Frisia, and the region was later named The Bronx after him.[2] Bronk (also known as Bronck) himself is said to have been either Danish or Swedish.[3][4] Many North-Frisian settlers were refugees of the Burchardi flood of 1634 which had destroyed the wealthy island of Strand. According to Paulsen, "they introduced their old democratic traditions into the patrician Dutch society of that time."[2]
Because there is no modern united Frisian state, Frisian Americans are often included within Dutch Americans, German Americans or Scandinavian Americans.[2]
Notable Frisian Americans [edit]
East Frisian Origin [edit]
North Frisian origin [edit]
West Frisian origin [edit]
Fictional Frisian Americans [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Frisia. 'Facts and fiction' (1970), by D. Tamminga. (Dutch)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Paulsen, Frederik Sr. "Frisians in the History of the United States". Rootsweb.com. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
- ^ van Laer, A. J. F. (1916). Scandinavian Immigrants in New York. "Reviews of Books". The American Historical Review (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association) 22 (1): 164–166. JSTOR 1836219. "… Jonas Bronck was a Dane …"
- ^ Andersson, Brian G. (1998). "The Bronx, a Swedish Connection". Ancestry Magazine 16 (4): 36–41.
- ^ "Across Oceans, Across Time". dkmuseum.org. Retrieved 12 January 2012. "However, when a descendant visited Sylt, she was told in no uncertain terms by a local historian that her ancestor was Frisian, not Danish. ... His surname Jensen indicates at least some ethnic Danish heritage, while Boy(e) is a common Frisian name."
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1 Poles came to the United States legally as Austrians, Germans or Prussians as well as Russians throughout the 19th century, because from 1772-1795 till 1918, all Polish lands had been partitioned between imperial Austria, Prussia (a protoplast of Germany) and Russia until Poland regained its sovereignty at the end of World War One. The country's borders were consolidated in 1922/1923.
2 Russia is a transcontinental country in eastern Europe and northern Asia. Although most of its territory is in Asia (78%), mostly its post-colonial territories added to European Russia, vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country.
3 Yugoslav Americans are the American people from the former Yugoslavia, formed by most of current countries of the Balkans.
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