Mongolian Americans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 18,344 (as of 2010) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 California
|
54,993 |
 Illinois
|
4,000 |
 Virginia
|
2,600 |
 Colorado
|
2,000 |
| Languages | |
| Mongolian, English | |
| Religion | |
| Buddhism,Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kalmyk Americans | |
Mongolian Americans are American citizens who are of full or partial Mongolian ancestry. The term Mongol American is also used to include ethnic Mongol immigrants from groups outside of Mongolia as well, such as Kalmyks, Buryats, and people from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China. Some immigrants came from Mongolia to the United States as early as 1949, spurred by religious persecution in their homeland. However, Mongolian American communities today are composed largely of migrants who arrived in the 1990s and 2000s, as communism in Mongolia came to an end and restrictions on emigration were lifted.
The Denver metropolitan area was one of the early focal points for the new wave of Mongolian immigrants. Other communities formed by recent Mongolian immigrants include those in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Another large Mongolian American community resides in Los Angeles.
The Mongolian community in Denver traces its roots back to 1989, when Djab Burchinow, a Kalmyk American engineer, arranged for three junior engineers from Mongolia to study at the Colorado School of Mines. They were followed by four further students the following year; in 1991, Burchinow also began to urge the Economics Institute at the University of Colorado to admit Mongolian international students as well. By 1996, the University of Colorado's Denver campus had set up a program specifically aimed at bringing Mongolian students to Colorado. The growth in the number of students coincided with an economic boom and a labor shortage in the Denver area; as a result, many Mongolian students in Colorado chose to stay in the state after their graduation. However, a significant number went back to Mongolia as well, to the extent that in 2003 they formed an association of students returned from Colorado. Their influence is seen in other ways as well; the name of the street the United States embassy resides on is named "Denver Street". As of 2006[update], Colorado's Mongolian American population was believed to be roughly 2,000 people, according to the director of a community-run Mongolian language school set up by local parents worried about the increasing Americanization of their children.
...
Wikipedia