POPULATION. The Territory of Illinois in 1810 'had 12,282 inhabitants. The population of the State by decades is as follows: In 1820, 55,211; 1830, 157,445; 1840, 476,183; 1S50, 851,470; 1860, 1,711,951; 1870, 2,539,S91; 1880, 3,077, 871; 1890, 3,816,351; 1900, 4,821,550. The rank of the State advanced from eleventh in 1850 to fourth in 1860 and third in 1890, which posi tion it still holds. In 1890 it surpassed Ohio for the first time, and became the most populous State west of the Alleghany Mountains. The greatest absolute gain was made in the last dec ade of the century, the per cent. of increase being 26.0, as compared with 20.7 for the United States. The earlier movements of population into the State were largely composed of South erners, who crossed the Ohio River into southern Illinois, or were attracted up the Mississippi River to the lead-mining districts in the north western part of the State. These, however, were soon greatly outnumbered by immigrants from the Eastern States. Some of the public lands were still unoccupied when the great German mi gration to America began. and consequently a large number of Germans found homes within the State, and Chicago has continued to be a Ger man centre. The German born are considerably
more than twice as numerous as any other for c4m nationality, and constitute over one-third of the total foreign-born population. The Scandi navians came a little later, yet in time to secure a firm foothold in the northern part of the State. The Irish element is much less prominent than in the Atlantic Coast States, but is about equal to the Scandinavians in numbers. The more recent immigrants include a large number who are of the Slav or Latin race. The total for eign-born population in 1000 numbered 966,747. The colored population numbered 86.677, of whom 1503 were Chinese. The urban population equals half the total for the State, and the gain during the last decade has been wholly in the towns and cities, the per cent. of gain in these being 53.2. Sixty-six places exceed 4000 in number of in habitants. The density of population is S6 per square mile, or more than three times that of the nation as a whole. The male sex outnumbers the females by 125,000.