Dutch Americans
While the Netherlands was a small country, the Dutch Empire was quite large so emigrants leaving the mother country had a wide variety of choices. New Amsterdam was not high on their list, especially because of the Native American risk. The major Dutch cities were centers of high culture, but they still sent immigrants. Most new arrivals were farmers from remote villages who, on arrival, in America scattered into widely separated villages with little contact with one another. Even inside a settlement, different Dutch groups had minimal interaction. With very few new arrivals, the result was an increasingly traditional system cut off from the forces for change. The people maintained their popular culture, revolving around their language and their Calvinist religion. The Dutch brought along their own folklore, most famously "Sinterklaas" (the foundation of the modern day Santa Claus) and created their own as in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". They maintained their distinctive clothing, and food preferences and introduced some new foods to America, including beets, endive, spinach, parsley, and cookies.
Shia Islam in the Netherlands
Shia form a minority within the Muslim community of the Netherlands with Twelver adherents forming a majority. Most of the Twelver or Ithnā 'Asharīs in the Netherlands are political refugees. They come from different nations, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. They come from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, in addition to a small group from Pakistan and Lebanon, while the Turkish Ithnā 'Asharīs are guest workers. The majority of them came to the Netherlands in the 1990s as political refugees. The number of Twelver Shia alone who possess Dutch nationality as of 1 January 2005 was 108,728, being Iraqis, Afghanis, and Iranians excluding the figure of other Shiite sects and also of those who do not possess Dutch nationality. These groups came mainly because of political unrest in the region, such as the Iranian revolution, and the war between Iraq and Iran.