37. They Originated in Europe
Jakob Ammann was a European Mennonite who founded the Amish church. The early Mennonites were largely settled in Switzerland, Alsace and southern Germany. Ammann’s beliefs were at odds with more mainstream Anabaptists, which prompted his followers to move to the New World. They eventually settled down in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the largest Amish communities can still be found today. Their name, Amish, came from an originally derisive German term used as a name of shame by Jakob Ammann’s opponents.