Answer:
Figures consolidated by different historians estimate that between 50 and 60 million Europeans left their countries towards places as distant as the United States, Siberia and Australia only between 1815 and 1930. A part of them came back to Europe, but the majority established once and for all in the new world, having a decisive influence on the construction of these countries.
The 2009 American Census estimates that about 50 million inhabitants of the USA are of German descent, almost 16% of the total population. They are the descendants of about 4.5 million ethnic Germans who moved to the country.
Some of the reasons for this “European wave” were not very different from the causes that are causing the current migratory current towards Europe. In most cases, it reflected the situation and the economic and social changes in each of the emigrants' countries of origin.
The mass arrival of Irish people in the USA occurred after the great famine of 1845-1852. About 300,000 Spaniards moved to Latin America between 1958 and 1975 to leave the poverty and repressive regime of dictator Francisco Franco. In other cases, the social changes brought about by industrialization impelled people to leave their countries.
