
Simulated Dendrochronology of US Immigration 1790-2016 - adzm
https://web.northeastern.edu/naturalizing-immigration-dataviz/
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KineticLensman
This is a real work of beauty. Also, I might have just found my side-project
for the Christmas holiday: try to do something similar for the UK.

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ggm
Beautiful effect. So full marks for stylish and simple.

I'm not sure I can read all the story-arcs of change over time on this un-
adorned. I think the photo of a huge redwood trunk with significant events in
the human timeline overlaid might be in my mind here: left could be legal
changes affecting immigration, right could be world events stimulating
immigration eg the boom and bust and famine cycle.

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mirimir
I'm surprised that African slaves aren't an obvious component. Am I missing
something? I am somewhat red-green color blind, I admit. But I did look at the
left-hand list in the video, and didn't see many.

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dzdt
The US made slave importation illegal in 1808 -- [1] though see [2]. The
slaves in the US between then and the civil war were mostly born here. There
is also a data issue. The graphs are generated from US census information. The
census first asked nation of origin for free persons starting in 1850. The
only census asking nation of origin for slaves was 1860.

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_Prohibiting_Importation_...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_Prohibiting_Importation_of_Slaves)

[2]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotilda_(slave_ship)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotilda_\(slave_ship\))

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mirimir
Even though this is about immigration, TFA does note:

> Tree rings that are nearly circular indicate that population growth due to
> immigration was much less significant than that due to natural-born persons.

And I missed that census data is the source. Because at 100% in Firefox, the
relevant paragraph ends:

> The data was queried from IPUMS-USA and consists of millions of samples of
> questionnaires from U.S.

At 110%, I see that it's actually:

> The data was queried from IPUMS-USA and consists of millions of samples of
> questionnaires from U.S. Censuses.

So yeah, I guess that census data didn't include slaves.

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sct202
I didn't realize there were such large waves of Canadian immigrants.

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LiweiZ
Do colors used have any meaning? When I look at it as part of a tree, green
and calm colors for me always suggest healthy growth. I understand my question
might be a bit political. I'm just getting this feeling when I perceive all
the beautiful graphs as part of a tree. This probably would get many
downvotes. But still I want to let you know my instant feelings.

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yjftsjthsd-h
Colors and side of the tree are points of origin; it's in the 3rd image on the
page. If you're asking why those colors were picked... they have to be
something; it's almost certainly random assignment of easily-distinguishable
colors.

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NelsonMinar
I'd love to know the details of how individual cells are placed. It's
beautiful!

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NelsonMinar
Ah, they have a paper with detail: [https://web.northeastern.edu/naturalizing-
immigration-datavi...](https://web.northeastern.edu/naturalizing-immigration-
dataviz/download/portfolio-camera-ready.pdf)

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TomMckenny
I notice an unusually large spike in German immigration 1970-1990. Does anyone
know why?

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safanycom
East Germany?

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matt4077
That would have been after 1990 (well, November 1989). Remember the wall?

I’d guess a change in visa rules, with possibly some pent-up demand.

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petermcneeley
Are the Marshall Islands part of lower lower south Canada?

