Which of these cities has the most firsthand/direct connection to Europe/Europeans?

[Capsicum]

All of these cities have recent links to, and people with firsthand connections to Europe and often immigrants still directly from or with family overseas (eg. Russia, UK, France, Italy, Greece, Poland etc.).

I'm talking specifically about people with some overseas connection to Europe from firsthand experience (eg. either immigrants from Europe, people who visit Europe, or cultural influence from modern day Europe) that are not from distant colonial ties or so "assimilated" that the connection is forgotten or lost.

[10023]

New York by far.

edit: I see our Montreal based forum era have voted. We are talking about current connection as well, right?

[Docere]

Definitely not Chicago.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by 10023

edit: I see our Montreal based forum era have voted. We are talking about current connection as well, right?

Yes, I'm talking about modern day connections to Europe and European culture.

Montreal does have a lot of people with European cultural connections besides English and French.

Montreal is the most trilingual city in Canada, where many people speak an immigrant language besides the two official ones. Some of these are European languages like Italian, Spanish (though much of it is from Latin America), or Russian, in addition to the presence of non-European ones like Arabic or Chinese languages.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ata-shows.html

And it does have a lot of people still born in Europe.

254,860 people born in Europe, out of 936,305 immigrants, in a census metro area of 4 million, according to the last Canadian census.

[MolsonExport]

I am from Montreal, but I voted New York.

[Docere]

Why hasn't Jacksonville been included in this poll?

[MonkeyRonin]

New York has the most general economic, cultural, media, tourist, etc. connections to Europe and beyond, just by virtue of being one of the world's preeminent & globally connected cities.

But if we're taking about immigrant connections or the exertion of direct influence by European counties on the city, then it's another story. Toronto and Montreal's "ethnic" European population stock is more recently derived (being predominantly post-WWII) and maintains more direct immigrant links; and in Montreal in particular they continue to make up a larger share of the modern immigrant population than they do in New York (are any European counties still among its top contributors of immigrants?).

Culturally as well, the biggest foreign influence on Montreal is from the biggest exporter of French-language media & culture - France. That should be obvious. Toronto also has a certain residual Britishness, and British-derived stuff takes up a larger share of the pie than it would anywhere in the US - though the US still undoubtedly holds the largest single cultural sway over the city. But New York, as with the US in general - I think it's pretty safe to say that the mainstream cultural outlook of the city is a little more inward-focused.

[Capsicum]

I think one thing that makes Montreal pretty distinctive is that people from France to the present day (both expats who are there for a while and actual immigrants who plan to live long term) still arrive and live in the city in reasonably large numbers.

https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/10...munity/543444/

http://canadaimmigrants.com/immigrants-in-montreal/

In most English-speaking Canadian or American cities, people from the UK don't arrive in large numbers as immigrants (in the current, present day generation). There are expats and workers but rarely do you see British themselves counted as immigrants in the stats of top places of recent foreign birth in N. American cities.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

In most English-speaking Canadian or American cities, people from the UK don't arrive in large numbers as immigrants (in the current, present day generation). There are expats and workers but rarely do you see British themselves counted as immigrants in the stats of top places of recent foreign birth in N. American cities.

As of 2016, isn't the UK still one of the top 5 (or at least top 10) source countries of immigrants to Canada?

[PFloyd]

dc_denizen & Crawford to come on this thread to crap on Canadian cities in 3.2.1.0 (and forum administrators: 'nothing to see here').

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Docere

Why hasn't Jacksonville been included in this poll?

[ThePhun1]

You guys can laugh as hard as you want, I still stand by it.

Jacksonville is the Paris of North America by the way.

[ThePhun1]

And if you believe that last part, I've got ocean front property in Oklahoma to sell to you.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I am from Montreal, but I voted New York.

I am from Chicago, but I voted Chicago.

Because that's what we Chicagoans do.

I didn't even read the fucking question.

It was about polish sausages, right?

[Chef]

You could make an argument for Orlando (or Miami). But the Europeans you find there generally aren't the Europeans that bourgeois North Americans think of when they think of Europeans.

[Docere]

Even though NYC's European population is most closely associated with the Ellis Island immigration that came to an end more than 90 years ago, I remember reading that close to half of NHWs in NYC are either immigrants or have immigrant parents. It's probably the only major American city where not only the Hispanics and Asians, but also the NHWs and Black populations are still very much immigrant populations.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

As of 2016, isn't the UK still one of the top 5 (or at least top 10) source countries of immigrants to Canada?

According to wiki the UK was #9 on the list for Canada, but the numbers are pretty small, only 5.5k people or around 2% of all migrants going to Canada. I wouldn't be surprised if that means the UK born population going down as there will be lots of British born people in older generations dying off.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Docere

Even though NYC's European population is most closely associated with the Ellis Island immigration that came to an end more than 90 years ago, I remember reading that close to half of NHWs in NYC are either immigrants or have immigrant parents. It's probably the only major American city where not only the Hispanics and Asians, but also the NHWs and Black populations are still very much immigrant populations.

I'm not talking about Ellis Island immigrants.

I'm talking about the fact that there are young Europeans all over Manhattan and prime Brooklyn. You'll hear every European language in the street. I've got like at least a dozen friends who are British, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch who currently live in NYC. Europeans move to NYC like Americans move to London (which would be the answer to this question in reverse), only in even greater numbers.

I don't think the Census accurately captures that kind of transient population (e.g., my Spanish friend who got an MBA at Columbia and then stayed for a couple years, but will return to London or Madrid). But that's what NYC has more of than anywhere by far. And it's the #1 tourist city for Europeans, so the number that pass through is orders of magnitude greater.

[giallo]

NYC without a doubt. Is it even a question?

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I am from Chicago, but I voted Chicago.

Because that's what we Chicagoans do.

I didn't even read the fucking question.

It was about polish sausages, right?

Yes, the question is about which city makes the best deep dish kielbasa.