Population, Settlement, Race, and Ethnicity in the South

Although casual observers may conclude that the South's population is dominated by two groups-a largely homogeneous group of whites of English ancestry and the descendants of African-American slaves-such a characterization is overly simplistic. The purpose of this article is to outline the population, settlement, and ethnic geographies of the South from colonial times to the present. The final section includes speculation about future population trends in the South.