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Elkhart County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the county's population was 197,559.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Elkhart County QuickFacts )〕 The county seat is Goshen.〔(【引用サイトリンク】accessdate=2011-06-07 )〕 Elkhart County in part of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka Combined Statistical Area. It is also considered part of the broader region of Northern Indiana known as Michiana, and is east of South Bend, Indiana, east of Chicago, Illinois, and north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The area is referred to by locals as the recreation vehicle (RV) capital of the world and is known for its sizable Amish and Old Order Mennonite population. For the latter reason, the county teams up with neighboring LaGrange County to promote tourism by referring to the area as Northern Indiana Amish Country.〔(Welcome to Northern Indiana Amish Country )〕 Elkhart County has grown rather rapidly over the past couple of decades, which can be attributed to the growing RV industry. The latest population estimates suggest that Elkhart County continues to grow more than its neighboring counties. ==History== At the beginning of the 19th century, the area now known as Elkhart was mainly inhabited by the Potawatomi tribe. Pioneers began settling in the area known as the Elkhart Prairie in 1829 and on April 1, 1830 Elkhart County was officially established with its original county seat in Dunlap. After some reorganizing of the county borders, the seat was moved to Goshen near the geographical center of the county. Elkhart County was founded exclusively by immigrants from New England. These were old stock "Yankee" immigrants, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who settled New England in the 1600s. The completion of the Erie Canal caused a surge in New England immigration to what was then the Northwest Territory. The end of the Black Hawk War led to an additional surge of immigration, once again coming almost exclusively from the six New England states as a result of overpopulation combined with land shortages in that region. Some of these later settlers were from upstate New York and had parents who had moved to that region from New England shortly after the Revolutionary War. New Englanders and New England transplants from upstate New York were the vast majority of Elkhart County's inhabitants during the first several decades of its history. These settlers were primarily members of the Congregational Church though due to the Second Great Awakening many of them had converted to Methodism and some had become Baptists before coming to what is now Elkhart County. The Congregational Church subsequently has gone through many divisions and some factions, including those in Elkhart County are now known as the Church of Christ and the United Church of Christ. As a result of this heritage the vast majority of inhabitants in Elkhart County, much like antebellum New England were overwhelmingly in favor of the abolitionist movement during the decades leading up to the Civil War. Correspondingly, many inhabitants of Elkhart County fought in the Union Army during the Civil War. In the late 1880s and early 1890s Irish and German migrants began moving into Elkhart County, most of these later immigrants did not move directly from Ireland and Germany, but rather from other areas in the Midwest where they had already been living, particularly the state of Ohio.〔A Standard History of Elkhart County, Indiana: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development, Volume 1. American Historical Society, 1916〕〔A Standard History of Elkhart County, Indiana: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development, Volume 2. American Historical Society, 1916〕〔A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Elkhart County, Indiana by Anthony Deahl. Lewis Publishing Company, 1905〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elkhart County, Indiana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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