This map illustrates the distribution of African American population as percentage out of the entire population in each county. In the map, African American population is mostly concentrated in the southwest coastal region of the continental US, reaching as high as 86% of population for certain counties. This is understandable from a historical perspective, as most African Americans first arrived in the United States as slaves in the colonial region. Since slaves were most needed in the south for cotton production, much African American population remains in the south rather than the north. African American population then remains sparse throughout the rest of the continent, with some concentration at the west coast.
This map shows the distribution of Asian population in the same way as the previous map. Asian population is mostly concentrated at the west coast, with some scattered counties with higher percentage of Asian population in the central area. There are also regions with high Asian population percentage at the northwest of the continent. Certain counties have Asian population percentages that are as low as 0.0085%, while counties with the highest Asian population only have 46% of Asian population. The concentration of Asian population at the west coast can be explained by the history of Asian immigration, as lots of Asian immigrants first arrived in San Francisco as a result of the Gold Rush.
This map shows the distribution of population of races other than white, black, or Asian. Since the population in the United States other than that of white, black, or Asian is mainly made up of Hispanics or Latin Americans, the map therefore reflects the distribution of the population of Hispanics. As one would expect, the population of Hispanics is mainly concentrated at the area directly north of Mexico and areas that were historically part of Mexico, including Texas, New Mexico, and California. There also seems to be areas with high population of races other than white, black, or Asians in Idaho and Washington states. However, whether those races are of Hispanic origins is rather unclear.
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The utilization of GIS is an excellent method for quick and easy to understand representation of the census data. At a glance, one can easily see the distribution of a certain population. From the maps that I created, population of all races tend to concentrate at coastal areas and the border of the country while northern regions of the continent seem to have less population. Also, historical factors play a major role in determining where a certain race mostly populates. In other words, places where a race first arrived at or immigrated to usually became where the population grew the fastest and thus the source of later emigration.
The maps that I created also taught me many facts that I would have discovered myself. Coming from an area heavily populated by Asians, my impression of Asian population in the United States is thus biased. As a result, I was a bit surprised to see how little area Asians actually populate in the United States. Moreover, I was even more surprised to see the maximum percentage of Hispanic population being lowered than that of Asian population, as this fact seems to completely contradicts with my experience living in Los Angeles.
The impression given by the maps, however, may not entirely reflect reality due to certain reasons. Since the color ramp in each map is based on percentage per county, the maps should not be used to compare populations of different counties since each county's total population varies. Also, the maps do not portray an accurate representation of the actual number of population of a race. Due to the difference in each county's total population, an overall higher ratio does not always mean higher total quantity and vice versa. Furthermore, since the maps are based on populations of counties, political factors may have an huge effect on the ratio of a population of a race. For example, certain ethnic groups may seem like minorities or having low population percentages purely due to the effect of gerrymandering.
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