Estonian American
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 27,113 (2013) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| California · New York · New Jersey · Washington · Florida | |
| Languages | |
| American English, Estonian | |
| Religion | |
| Protestant (Lutheran), deism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Estonians, Finnish Americans |
Estonian Americans (Estonian: Ameerika eestlased) are Americans who are of Estonian ancestry, mainly descendants of people who left Estonia before and especially during World War II. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, there were over 27,000 Americans of full or partial Estonian descent, up from 26,762 in 1990.
Estonians first started coming to the United States in the late 19th century, and continued until the mid-20th century. The beginnings of industrialization and commercial agriculture in the Russian Empire transformed Estonian farmers into migrants. The pressures of industrialization drove numerous Estonian peasants to emigrate to the United States continuing until the outbreak of World War I. In 1944, in the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red Army, 80,000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Germany and Sweden, becoming war refugees and later, expatriates. Some thousand of them moved on from there and settled in the United States. After the war's end, these displaced persons were allowed to immigrate to the United States and to apply for citizenship. Some of these refugees and their descendants started returning to Estonia at the end of the 1980s.
Conductor Neeme Järvi was the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as the international Gothenburg Symphony, and Het Residentie Orkest of The Hague. His three children, conductors Paavo Järvi and Kristjan Järvi, and flautist Maarika Järvi, are prominent American musicians in their own right. Paavo Järvi is the chief conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
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