Colombian Americans
Colombian Americans
  .jpg) George Zamka – Rodolfo Linas – Soraya
Scott Gomez – Moses Arias
– Alexa Vega – Greg Giraldo
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Colombian Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their nationality or heritage from the South American nation of Colombia. They are the largest South American ethnic group in the United States.
History
The first Colombians inmigrants that settled in the United States arrived, probably, in the nineteenth century. However, the Colombian presence in United States would not be known with certainty since the federal census did not specify the country of origin for South Americans until 1960. These immigrants did not maintain any relation with their native countries, just until a few generations after, they identify themselves only as Americans.
The first Colombian community formed after World War I, through the arrival of several hundred professionals (nurses, accountants, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, and bilingual secretaries) that established to New York City; more late, were added to community the students who decided stay on after earning their degrees. Most immigrants settled in Jackson Heights, a middle-class neighborhood in Queens, that have good houses, school and churches. The growth of neighborhood was slow until 1940, when increase the Colombian immigration to New York. Each year emigrating hundreds of Colombians to United States until 1950’s, when the number of Colombians that arrived to the country rose to more of thousand annually, owing in part to upheaval caused by the civil war of 1948. Also, during the 1960s, the deep economic recession forced many Colombians to emigrate to others country in search of work. This also rose rapidly the number of Colombian immigrants in the United States. Thus, between 1960 and 1977, 116,444 Colombians entered in the country.
