Editing German Americans (section)

====Southeast====
Two waves of German colonists in 1714 and 1717 founded a colony in [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] called [[Germanna]],<ref name="Germanna Foundation">{{Citation |url = http://www.germanna.org/history |title = Germanna History |access-date = August 2, 2009 |archive-date = March 3, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090303040633/http://www.germanna.org/history |url-status = live }}</ref> located near modern-day [[Culpeper, Virginia]]. Virginia Lieutenant Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]], taking advantage of the [[headright system]], had bought land in present-day [[Spotsylvania County, Virginia|Spotsylvania]] and encouraged German immigration by advertising in Germany for [[miner]]s to move to Virginia and establish a mining industry in the colony. The name "Germanna", selected by Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]], reflected both the German immigrants who sailed across the Atlantic to Virginia and the British queen, [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]], who was in power at the time of the first settlement at Germanna. In 1721, twelve German families departed Germanna to found [[Germantown, Virginia|Germantown]]. They were swiftly replaced by 70 new German arrivals from the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]], the start of a westward and southward trend of German migration and settlement across the [[Piedmont region of Virginia|Virginia Piedmont]] and [[Shenandoah Valley]] around the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]], where [[Palatine German language|Palatine German]] predominated. Meanwhile, in [[Southwest Virginia]], Virginia German acquired a [[Swabian German]] accent.<ref name="Fischer">{{cite book |first1 = David Hackett |last1 = Fischer |author-link1 = David Hackett Fischer |first2 = James C. |last2 = Kelly |date = 2000 |title = Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement |place = Charlottesville |publisher = [[University of Virginia Press]] |isbn = 978-0813917740 |oclc = 41278488 }}</ref><ref name="Dominion">{{cite book |first1 = Ronald L. |last1 = Heinemann |first2 = John G. |last2 = Kolp |first3 = Anthony S. |last3 = Parent |first4 = William G. |last4 = Shade |date = 2007 |title = Old Dominion, New Commonwealth : A History of Virginia, 1607–2007 |place = Charlottesville |publisher = [[University of Virginia Press]] |isbn = 978-0813926094 |oclc = 74964181 }}</ref><ref name="cradle">{{cite book |first = Peter |last = Wallenstein |date = 2014 |orig-date = 2007 |edition = 2nd |title = Cradle of America : A History of Virginia |place = Lawrence |publisher = [[University Press of Kansas]] |isbn = 978-0700619948 |oclc = 878668026 }}</ref>

In [[Province of North Carolina|North Carolina]], an expedition of German [[Moravian Church|Moravians]] living around [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], and a party from Europe led by [[August Gottlieb Spangenberg]], headed down the [[Great Wagon Road]] and purchased {{convert|98985|acre|km2}} from [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville|Lord Granville]] (one of the British Lords Proprietor) in the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] of North Carolina in 1753. The tract was dubbed {{lang|de|Wachau-die-Aue}}, Latinized [[Wachovia Tract|Wachovia]], because the streams and meadows reminded Moravian settlers of the [[Wachau]] valley in [[Austria]].<ref name="TarHeel">{{cite book |title = The Tar Heel State: A History of North Carolina |first = Milton |last = Ready |date = 2005 |publisher = [[University of South Carolina Press]] |location = Columbia |isbn = 978-1570035913 |oclc = 58976124 }}</ref><ref name="NC4Centuries">{{cite book |title = North Carolina through Four Centuries |first = William S. |last = Powell |author-link = William S. Powell |date = 1989 |publisher = [[University of North Carolina Press]] |location = Chapel Hill |isbn = 978-0807818503 |oclc = 18589517 }}</ref><ref name="NCAHistory">{{cite book |title = North Carolina: A History |first = William S. |last = Powell |author-link = William S. Powell |date = 1988 |orig-date = 1977 |edition = 2nd |publisher = [[University of North Carolina Press]] |location = Chapel Hill |isbn = 978-0807842195 |oclc = 18290931 }}</ref> They established German settlements on that tract, especially in the area around what is now [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina|Winston-Salem]].<ref>{{cite book |isbn = 0806302925 |title = The Moravians in North Carolina: An Authentic History |last1 = Reichel |first1 = Levin Theodore |year = 1968 |publisher = Genealogical Publishing Com }}</ref><ref name="Wachovia">{{cite web |url = https://www.ncpedia.org/wachovia |last = Surratt |first = Jerry L. |year = 2006 |title = Wachovia |access-date = October 7, 2022 |website = NCPedia |archive-date = October 8, 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221008034917/https://www.ncpedia.org/wachovia |url-status = live }}</ref> They also founded the transitional settlement of [[Bethabara, North Carolina]], translated as House of Passage, the first planned Moravian community in North Carolina, in 1759. Soon after, the German Moravians founded the town of [[Old Salem|Salem]] in 1766 (now a historical section in the center of Winston-Salem) and [[Salem College]] (an early female college) in 1772.

In the [[Province of Georgia|Georgia Colony]], Germans mainly from the [[Swabia]] region settled in Savannah, St. Simon's Island and [[Fort Frederica]] in the 1730s and 1740s. They were actively recruited by [[James Oglethorpe]] and quickly distinguished themselves through improved farming, advanced [[tabby (cement)]]-construction, and leading joint Lutheran-[[Anglicanism|Anglican]]-Reformed religious services for the colonists.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

German immigrants also settled in other areas of the [[Southern United States|American South]], including around the [[Dutch Fork|Dutch (Deutsch) Fork]] area of [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]],<ref name="Conzen"/> and Texas, especially in the [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] and [[San Antonio]] areas.