<span>Today, Polonians in the United States
exceeds 10 million. Polonians (Poles or Polish Americans) are inhabitants of Poland, living in the United States. The history of Poles in the United
States dates
to the American Colonial era in 1608 and had lived in present-day United States
territories for over 400 years.</span>
Polish American
immigration was divided into three "waves" by historians:
<span>1. </span>the largest from
1870 to 1914, after World War II, and
<span>2. </span>after Poland's
independence in 1989
<span>Immigrants in all
three waves were attracted by the high wages and job opportunities for
unskilled manual labor in the United States (American mining, meatpacking,
construction, steelwork, and heavy industry</span>
