Turkish American
| Total population | |
|---|---|
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(206,911 (2014 ACS) – 500,000 (est.) 0.06% – 0.16% of the US population) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
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| Related ethnic groups | |
| Cypriot Americans Iranian Americans Greek Americans Turkmen Americans Uzbek Americans Armenian Americans | |
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^ a: Government immigration figures on the number of Turks in the US are not fully reliable because a considerable number of Turks were born in the Balkans and the USSR. |
(206,911 (2014 ACS) – 500,000 (est.)
Turkish Americans (Turkish: Amerikalı Türkler) are Americans of Turkish descent or origin.
The earliest known Turkish settlers in the United States arrived in 1586 when Sir Francis Drake brought at least two hundred Muslims, identified as Turks and Moors, to the newly established English colony of Roanoke on the coast of present-day North Carolina. Only a short time before reaching Roanoke, Drake's fleet of some thirty ships had liberated these Muslims from Spanish colonial forces in the Caribbean where they had been condemned to hard labor as galley slaves. Historical records indicate that Drake had promised to return the liberated galley slaves, and the English government did ultimately repatriate about one hundred of them to the Ottoman realms.
Significant waves of Turkish immigration to the United States began during the period between 1820 and 1920. About 300,000 people immigrated from the Ottoman Empire to the United States, although only 50,000 of these immigrants were Muslim Turks whilst the rest were mainly Arabs, Azeri, Armenians, Greeks, Jews and other Muslim groups under the Ottoman rule. Most ethnic Turks feared that they would not be accepted in a Christian country because of their religion and often adopted and registered under a Christian name at the port of entry in order to gain easy access to the United States; moreover, many declared themselves as "Syrians" or even "Armenians" in order to avoid discrimination. The majority of Turks entered the United States via the ports of Providence, Rhode Island; Portland, Maine; and Ellis Island. French shipping agents, the missionary American college in Harput, French and German schools, and word of mouth from former migrants were major sources of information about the "New World" for those who wished to emigrate.
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