Finnish Americans
Finnish Americans are Americans of Finnish descent, who currently number at about 700,000. Finns first started coming to the United States in large numbers in the late 19th century, and continued until the mid 20th century. However, there were some Finns in the United States beforehand; in particular, they were instrumental in the development of the New Sweden colony on the Delaware River, later absorbed into New Netherland.
An early Ethnic Finn or perhaps rather Finland-Swedish was John Morton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Notable Finnish Americans include Linus Torvalds, inventor of the Linux operating system who stayed a few years in California, Renny Harlin (Harjola), a film director and producer, Gus Hall (originally Arvo Kusta Halberg), U.S. Communist Party leader and Pamela Anderson, actress and model (although she was born in Canada).
See Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish American