New York City ethnic enclaves
Encyclopedia
Since its founding in 1625 by Dutch
traders as New Amsterdam
, New York City
has been a major destination for immigrants of many nationalities, naturally forming ethnic enclave
s, neighborhoods dominated by one ethnicity. Freed African American slaves also moved to New York City in the Great Migration
and the later Second Great Migration
and formed ethnic enclaves. These neighborhoods are set apart from the main city by differences such as food, goods for sale, or even language. Ethnic enclaves provide inhabitants security in work and social opportunities, but limit economic opportunities, do not encourage the development of English speaking, and keep immigrants in their own culture. As of 2000, 36% of the population of New York City are immigrants. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world.
African American
s, Jamaican American
s and Trinidadian Americans have both formed ethnic enclaves in New York. Asia
n ethnic groups with enclaves in New York include Chinese American
s, Filipino American
s, Indian American
s, Pakistani American
s and Korean American
s. European ethnic groups with ethnic enclaves include German American
s, Greek American
s, Irish American
s, Italian American
s, and Jewish Americans
. Latin American groups with ethnic enclaves include Dominican American
s, Guyanese
, Mexican American
s, and Nuyorican
s. Middle Eastern ethnic groups have also formed ethnic enclaves.
was founded in 1625, by Dutch
traders as New Amsterdam
. New Amsterdam was a slow growing village, but was diverse
, but the Netherlands never had a large emigrant population, and the colony attracted few Dutch and more people from different ethnic groups. As early as 1646, 18 languages were spoken in New Amsterdam, and ethnic groups within New Amsterdam included Dutch, Danes, English
, Flemish
, French
, Germans, Irish
, Italians
, Norwegians, Poles, Portuguese
, Scots, Swede, Walloons
, and Bohemians. The young, diverse village also became a seafarer's town, with tavern
s and smugglers. After Peter Stuyvesant
became Director, New Amsterdam began to grow more quickly, achieving a population of 1,500, and growing to 2,000 by 1655 and almost to 9,000 in 1664, when the British seized the colony, renaming it New York.
Colonial New York City was also a center of religious diversity, including one of the first Jewish
congregations, along with Philadelphia, Savannah
, and Newport
.
. Groups with ethnic enclaves include African-American, Jamaican, other West Indians and West African.
There is at least one community of West Africans in New York—Le Petit Senegal
in Harlem
, Manhattan
. The enclave is situated on 116th Street
between St. Nicholas and 8th Avenues, and is home to a large number of Francophone West Africans. Many natives also speak Wolof
, an African language which is spoken alongside French in Senegal, and the neighborhood also has residents from countries such as Somalia
, Yemen
, Nigeria
, Ethiopia
, Ivory Coast, Guinea
, and Mali
.
The first recorded African American
s were brought to the present-day United States
in 1619 as slaves. New York State began emancipating slaves in 1799, and in 1841, all slaves in New York State were freed, and many of New York's emancipated slaves lived or moved to in Fort Greene
, Brooklyn
. All slaves in the United States were later freed in 1865, with the end of the American Civil War
and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
. After the Civil War, African Americans left the South, where slavery had been the strongest, in large numbers. These movements are now known as the Great Migration
, during the 1910s and 1920s and the Second Great Migration
, from the end of World War II
until 1970.
After arriving in New York, the African Americans formed neighborhoods, partially due to racism of the landlords at the time. The socioeconomic center of these neighborhoods, and all of "Black America", was Harlem
, in Northern Manhattan
. Hamilton Heights, on Harlem's western side, was a nicer part of Harlem, and Sugar Hill
, named because its inhabitants enjoyed the "sweet life", was the nicest part.
In the 1930s, after the A train
opened, Harlem residents began to leave crowded Harlem for Brooklyn
. The first neighborhood African Americans moved to in large numbers was Bedford-Stuyvesant
, composed of the neighborhoods Bedford
, Stuyvesant
, Weeksville
(which had an established African American community by the time of the New York Draft Riots
), and Ocean Hill
. From Bedford-Stuyvesant, African Americans moved into the surrounding neighborhoods, including Crown Heights
, and Brownsville
. After World War II a phenomenon now known as "white flight
" took place all over North America, and Brooklyn was no exception. Neighborhoods that experienced this include Canarsie
, Flatbush
, and East Flatbush
.
Queens
also experienced "white flight". Jamaica
and South Jamaica
both underwent ethnic change. Some of Queens' African American neighborhoods are housing projects
or housing cooperatives, such as LeFrak City
. Other African American neighborhoods include Laurelton
, Cambria Heights
, Hollis
, Springfield Gardens
, and St. Albans
.
The Bronx
experienced "white flight" as well, but in mostly in the 1970s, and mostly in the South Bronx
.
An enclave of Liberians developed in Staten Island at the end of the 20th century.
descendants in brooklyn. That figure includes persons who identify with the Dominican Republic
(3.3%), but does not include the (7.4%) Puerto Rican
population. Including Puerto Ricans there are approximately 560,000 (23.8%) persons of caribbean descent in Brooklyn. Similar, but not identical demographics in America can be found in Miami, but there are not as many Cubans in New York.
New York State has the largest population of Jamaican American
s in the United States. Brooklyn, has a 3.5% Jamaican population. In 1655, Jamaica
was captured by the British, who brought African slaves in large numbers to work on plantations. The African slaves were emancipated in 1838, and owners starting paying wages to workers, who were now free to immigrate to the United States. Many Jamaicans immigrated in the years following 1944, when the United States economy was rebuilding from World War II
, seeing opportunity. After 1965, when immigration quotas were lifted, Jamaican immigration skyrocketed again.
Jamaican neighborhoods include Queens Village
and Jamaica
in Queens
; Crown Heights
, East Flatbush
, Flatbush
, and Bedford-Stuyvesant
in Brooklyn
; and Wakefield
and Tremont
in The Bronx
.
an community in New York
is Flatbush, Brooklyn
. The 2010 US Census indicates that 3% of Brooklynites are of Haitian descent. On Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand Avenue and Church Avenue you can find Haitian businesses, cuisine’s, music and etc. Other prominent Haitian neighborhoods include East Flatbush, Canarsie, and Kensington
in Brooklyn
and Springfield Gardens, Queens Village, Cambria Heights in Queens
.
; Chinatown, Flushing
; and Chinatown, Brooklyn
The New York metropolitan area
contains the largest ethnic Chinese
population outside of Asia
, enumerating 665,714 individuals as of the 2009 American Community Survey Census statistical data, including at least 7 Chinatowns, comprising the original Manhattan Chinatown, two in Queens
(the Flushing Chinatown and the Elmhurst
Chinatown), three in Brooklyn
(the Sunset Park Chinatown
, the Avenue U
Chinatown, and the Bensonhurst
Chinatown), and one in Edison, New Jersey
, not to mention fledgling ethnic Chinese enclaves emerging throughout the New York metropolitan area. Chinese Americans, as a whole, have had a (relatively) long tenure in New York City
. The first Chinese immigrants came to Lower Manhattan
around 1870, looking for the "gold" America had to offer. By 1880, the enclave around Five Points
was estimated to have from 200 to as many as 1,100 members. However, the Chinese Exclusion Act, which went into effect in 1882, caused an abrupt decline in the number of Chinese who immigrated to New York and the rest of the United States. Later, in 1943, the Chinese were given a small quota, and the community's population gradually increased until 1968, when the quota was lifted and the Chinese American population skyrocketed.
The Manhattan Chinatown (simplified Chinese: 纽约华埠 ; traditional Chinese: 紐約華埠; pinyin: Niŭyuē Huá Bù) is home to the largest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere
and is one of the oldest ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia. Within Manhattan's expanding Chinatown lies a "Little Fuzhou
" on East Broadway and surrounding streets, occupied predominantly by immigrants from the Fujian Province of Mainland China. Areas surrounding the "Little Fuzhou" consist mostly of Cantonese
immigrants from Guangdong Province, the earlier Chinese settlers, and in some areas moderately of Cantonese immigrants. In the past few years, however, the Cantonese dialect that has dominated Chinatown for decades is being rapidly swept aside by Mandarin
, the national language of China and the lingua franca
of most of the latest Chinese immigrants. The energy and population of Manhattan's Chinatown are fueled by relentless, massive immigration from Mainland China, both legal and illegal in origin, propagated in large part by New York's high density, extensive mass transit system, and huge economic marketplace.
The early settlers of Manhattan
's Chinatown
were mostly from Taishan
and Hong Kong
of the Guangdong
Province of China, which are the Cantonese speakers and also from Shanghai
. They form most of the Chinese population of the area surrounded by Mott and Canal
Streets. The later settlers, from Fuzhou, Fujian
, form the Chinese population of the area bounded by East Broadway
. Chinatown's modern borders are roughly Grand Street
on the north, Broadway
on the west, Chrystie Street
on the east, and East Broadway to the south.
The present Flushing Chinatown, in the Flushing
area of the borough of Queens
was predominantly non-Hispanic white until the 1970s when Taiwanese
began a surge of immigration, followed by other groups of Chinese. By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population. However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion. A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone. Mandarin Chinese (including Northeastern Mandarin
), Fuzhou dialect
, Min Nan
Fujianese
, Wu Chinese, Beijing dialect
, Wenzhounese, Shanghainese
, Cantonese
, Taiwanese, and English are all prevalently spoken in Flushing Chinatown. Even the relatively obscure Dongbei style of cuisine indigenous to Northeast China
is now available in Flushing Chinatown.
Elmhurst
, another neighborhood in the borough of Queens, also has a large and growing Chinese community. Previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, this newly evolved second Chinatown in Queens has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue.
By 1988, 90% of the storefronts on Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park
, in southern Brooklyn, had been abandoned. Chinese immigrants then moved into this area, not only new arrivals from China, but also members of Manhattan's Chinatown, seeking refuges from high rents, who fled to the cheap property costs and rents of Sunset Park and formed the Brooklyn Chinatown, which now extends for 20 blocks along 8th Avenue, from 42nd to 62nd Streets. This relatively new but rapidly growing Chinatown located in Sunset Park was originally settled by Cantonese immigrants like Manhattan's Chinatown in the past, but is now being repopulated by Fujianese
(including Fuzhou people) and Wenzhounese immigrants.
A second Chinatown has developed in southern Brooklyn, on Avenue U
in the Homecrest
area, as evidenced by the growing number of Chinese-run fruit markets, restaurants, beauty and nail salons, and computer and general electronics dealers.
Nearby in southern Brooklyn in Bensonhurst
, below the D-line elevated subway along on 86th Street between 18th Avenue and Stillwell Avenue, is an emerging Brooklyn's third Chinatown. The second Chinatown and the third emerging Chinatown of Brooklyn are now increasingly carrying the majority of the Cantonese population in Brooklyn as the Cantonese dissipate from the main Brooklyn Chinatown in Sunset Park. With the migration of the Cantonese in Brooklyn now to Bensonhurst, and along with new Chinese immigration, small clusters of Chinese people and businesses in different parts of Bensonhurst have grown integrating with other ethnic groups and businesses. It is possible that a few more small Chinatowns might form as the Chinese population and number of Chinese businesses continue to grow in various sections of Bensonhurst as it can be witnessed.
In Woodside
, Queens
, 13,000 out of 85,000 (~15%) of the population is Filipino. Woodside's "Little Manila
" extends along Roosevelt Avenue
.
The first Filipino settlement in the United States was Saint Malo
, Louisiana
, established in 1763. Mass immigration started in the late 19th century, to service the plantations of Hawaii
and the farms of California
. The immigration quota was lowered to 50 Filipinos a year, however, Filipinos in the United States Navy
were exempt from this. Therefore, Filipinos settled near Naval Bases and formed ethnic enclaves due to discrimination. The quota was raised in the second half of the 20th century, starting another wave of Filipino immigration, looking for political freedom and opportunity, and one which has extended until present.
s are another group that has settled in New York City, forming a few different ethnic enclaves. One of these is called "Curry Row" and is in the East Village
, Manhattan
, centered on 6th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, another is called "Curry Hill" or "Little India", centered on Lexington Avenue
between 26th and 31st Streets, and another is in Jackson Heights
, Queens
, centered around 74th Street between Roosevelt and 37th Avenue.
Richmond Hills is another "Little India" community. This area has the largest Sikh population in the New York City area. It is also known as "Little Punjab".
There have been three major waves of Indian immigrants, the first between 1899 and 1913, the second after India was granted independence from the United Kingdom
in 1947, and the third after the immigration quota for individual countries was lifted in 1965.
As of 2010, New York City metropolitan area contains the largest Asian Indian population in North America.
s have a large presence in New York, with the city (along with New Jersey) hosting the largest Pakistani population than any other region in the United States. The population of Pakistanis is estimated at around 35,000; they are settled primarily in the boroughs of Queens
(more specifically Jackson Heights
) and Brooklyn
(Coney Island Avenue
). These numbers make Pakistani Americans the fifth largest Asian American group in New York City. As of 2006, 50,000 people of Pakistani descent were said to be living in New York City. This figure rises to 70,000 when illegal immigrants
are also included. Pakistani migration to New York has occurred heavily only since the past two to three decades, reflecting the history of Pakistani migration elsewhere in the country; "Little Pakistan
s" or ethnic enclaves populated by Pakistanis tend to be characterised and populated by other South Asian Americans as well, including Indians and Bangladeshis and thus are dominated by South Asian culture. Pakistani restaurants, grocery markets and halal shops are abound in such areas.
s started immigrating with the signing of the Korean-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which allowed them to do so freely. The first wave of Korean immigration lasted from 1903–1905, when 7,000 Koreans came to the United States. After this first wave, the 1907 "Gentlemens Agreement" of President Theodore Roosevelt
restricted Korean immigration to the United States. President Harry Truman repealed this in 1948. and from 1951–1964, another wave of Koreans migrated to the United States, and a third wave lasted from 1969-1987. As economic conditions improved in Korea, many Koreans chose to stay.
Korean communities in New York include Koreatown
in Manhattan
, Bedford Park
in the Bronx
, and Sunnyside
, Woodside
, Elmhurst
, Flushing
, Bayside
, Douglaston
, and Little Neck
, in Queens
.
and Brooklyn
. The Bangladeshis in New York tend to form enclaves in neighborhoods predominantly populated by Asian Indians. These enclaves include one in Kensington, featuring Bangladeshi grocers, hairdressers, and halal
markets, one in Jackson Heights, and one on Hillside Avenue, in Queens. As well as the Bangladeshis living alongside the Indians, they, in fact, own many of the Indian restaurants in Brooklyn and Queens.
At 8.3% of the population, Italian American
s compose the largest European American
ethnic group in New York City, and are the largest ethnic group in Staten Island
(Richmond County), making it the most Italian county in the United States, with 37.7% of the population reporting Italian American ancestry.
Though Italian immigration began as early as the 17th century, with Pietro Cesare Alberti, from Venice, being the first reported Italian living in the New Amsterdam colony, effective immigration started around 1860 with the founding of the Kingdom of Italy
. Italian immigration skyrocketed, and lasted that way until 1921, when Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act
that slowed the immigration of Italians. Most of the Italian immigrants to New York were from Southern Italy, from cities, Sicily
, or Naples
.
At one time, Little Italy
, in Manhattan
, had over 40,000 Italians and covered seventeen blocks. Now, Chinatown
has taken over all of what used to be Little Italy except for a two block area on Mulberry Street
between Kenmare and Grand
streets, with about 5,000 Italian Americans. Morris Park
, Bronx has a large Italian population. Other Italian neighborhoods include Fordham, Bronx
, around Arthur Avenue; Pelham Bay, Bronx
; Bay Ridge
, Brooklyn
; Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
; South Brooklyn
, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
, the city's largest Italian neighborhood (as of 2009); Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
; Astoria
, Howard Beach
, and Ozone Park, Queens
.
Irish American
s make up approximately 5.3% of New York City, composing the second largest non-Hispanic white ethnic group. Irish Americans first came to America in colonial
years (pre-1776), with immigration rising in the 1820s due to poor living conditions in Ireland. But the largest wave of Irish immigration came after the Great Famine in 1845.
After they came, Irish immigrants often crowded into subdivided homes, only meant for one family, and cellars, attics, and alleys all became home for some Irish immigrants. In fact, New York once had more Irishmen than Dublin itself. The Irish in New York developed a particular reputation for joining the New York City Police Department as well as the New York Fire Department.
Bay Ridge
, Brooklyn
, was originally developed as a resort for wealthy Manhattanites in 1879, but instead became a family-oriented Italian- and Irish-American community. Another large Irish-American community is located in Woodlawn
, Bronx, but Woodlawn also has a mix of different ethnic groups. One large Irish community in Manhattan
was Hell's Kitchen
. Other sizable Irish-American communities include Belle Harbor
and Breezy Point
, both in Queens
.
arrived in New York City in 1654, when it was still New Amsterdam
, from Recife
(Brazil
) following the First Anglo-Dutch War
to escape the Inquisition
, resulting a decade later in the first known civil rights case in the New World
when a Jew named Asser Levy successfully appealed to the New Amsterdam colonial council for the right to serve in the army. Later German immigration brought large communities of Ashkenazi Jews
. Starting then until 1820 was the first wave of Jewish immigration to America, bringing fewer than 15,000 Jews. The first wave of Jewish people were fleeing religious persecution in Brazil
, Portugal
, Spain
, Bordeaux
, Jamaica
, England
, Curaçao
, Holland, and Poland
, and founded communities in New York, Newport
, Charleston
, Savannah
, and Philadelphia. From 1820 to 1880 came the second wave, in which a quarter million German Jews migrated to America. A third major wave of Sephardi Jews
coming from the Balkans and the Middle East after the Turkish revolution. The outbreak of World War I
and the Holocaust
caused many German Jews to immigrate to the United States. During this period, 1881 to 1924, over 2,000,000 Eastern Europe
an Jews immigrated, fleeing anti-semitic persecution in their home countries. A later wave from Eastern Europe, from 1985–1990, over 140,000 Jews immigrated from the former Soviet Union
. 50,000 Jews a year still immigrate to the United States.
New York today has the second largest number of Jews in a metropolitan area, behind Gush Dan
(the area including Tel Aviv
) in Israel
. Borough Park
, Brooklyn
, (also known as Boro Park) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish
communities in the world. Crown Heights, Brooklyn
, also has a large Orthodox Jewish community. Flatbush, Brooklyn
, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
, Midwood, Brooklyn
, Forest Hills, Queens
, Fresh Meadows, Queens
and the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, Manhattan, are also home to Jewish communities. Another neighborhood, the Lower East Side
, though known as a mixing pot for people of many nationalities, including German, Puerto Rican, Italian, and Chinese, was primarily a Jewish neighborhood, though now it has become primarily Chinese.
has several Russian American
communities, including Bath Beach
, Bensonhurst
, Gravesend
, Sheepshead Bay
, and the largest Russian-speaking community in the United States, Brighton Beach. Many Russians in New York are Jews from the former Soviet Union
, which broke up in 1991, and most still retain at least part of their Russian culture. The primary language of Brighton Beach is Russian
, as seen from businesses, clubs, and advertisements. A significant portion of the community is not proficient in English, and about 98% speak Russian as their native language.
communities in New York include Greenpoint
, Brooklyn
("Little Poland
"), North Williamsburg, Brooklyn
, Maspeth, Queens
, and Ridgewood, Queens
, around Fresh Pond Road & Forest Avenue.
Astoria
, Queens
, is home to the largest concentration of Greek American
s in New York. When one would walk down a street in the 1970s, one would see Greek restaurants, Hellenic clubs, and many Greek-owned businesses. Now, Astoria has become more diverse, with Mexican American
s, Colombian American
s, Pakistani American
s, and Russian American
s all calling Astoria home. Many Greeks are leaving Astoria for Whitestone, Queens
, but many of the buildings in Astoria are still owned by Greeks.
The largest Greek migration to the United States began around 1910 and ended around 1930, with most migrating for the economic opportunity, but as living conditions in Greece improved in the 1980s, Greek migration slowed. However, Astoria remains New York's "Little Greece".
first immigrated to the United States from Southern Italy, Greece, and Kosovo in the 1920s. Later, in the 1990s, after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe
, many Albanians flocked to the United States. Two neighborhoods that became Albanian are Belmont
(especially near Arthur Avenue) and Morris Park
(especially around Lydig Avenue, the most highly populated Albanian American community in New York). Both are 20th-century Italian-American neighborhoods in the Bronx
.
between 6th and 10th
Streets. The community was there when the East Village was still referred to as the Lower East Side
, and was a moderately large community. Though it has since declined, the number of Ukrainians in the neighborhood may have been as high as 60,000 after World War II
.
Germans starting immigrating to the United States
in the 17th century, and until the late 19th century, when Germany
was the country of origin for the largest number of immigrants to the United States. In fact, Over one million Germans entered the United States in the 1850s alone.
German American ethnic enclaves in New York City include the now-defunct Little Germany, in Manhattan
and the extant Yorkville, Manhattan
. Little Germany, or as it was called in German
, Kleindeutschland, was positioned in the Lower East Side
, around Tompkins Square, in what would later become known as Alphabet City
. The General Slocum disaster in 1904 wiped out the social core of the neighborhood, and many Germans moved to Yorkville. Yorkville, part of the Upper East Side
, is bounded (roughly) by 79th Street
to the south, 96th Street
and Spanish Harlem
to the north, the East River
to the east, and Third Avenue
to the west. The main artery of the neighborhood, 86th Street
, has been called the "German Broadway
". For much of the 20th century, Yorkville was inhabited by German and Hungarian American
s.
The Queens
neighborhoods of Ridgewood
and Glendale
include small populations of Germans. Ridgewood notably includes Gottschee
expatriates from modern-day Slovenia
.
in Brooklyn recalls a Norwegian
enclave, which became mostly assimilated in the late 20th century. This neighborhood also hosted New York's principal Finnish
enclave.
are Latin American-centric. Latin American ethnic groups with enclaves in New York include Argentinians, Brazilians, Colombians, Dominicans, Ecuadorians, Haitians, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans.
More than half of the population Jackson Heights
, Queens
, are immigrants, primarily South Asia
ns, and Latin America
ns, including Argentinians, Colombians
, and Uruguayans.
Most Brazilian Americans in New York can be found in two areas. The first and primary of these is Astoria
, Queens
, and a section of West 46th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue
in Midtown
Manhattan
. In Astoria, the area around 36th Avenue and 30th Street is the most Brazilian in character. However, this area is not solely a Brazilian neighborhood, as it is also a Bengali
, Pakistani
, Indian
, Mexican
, Arab
, Japanese
, Korean
, Greek
, Dominican
, and Italian
neighborhood. The top three languages in the area are (in this order): Bengali
, Spanish
, and Portuguese
(the native language of Brazilians). The other Brazilian neighborhood, 46th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, was officially named "Little Brazil", but resident Brazilians call it "Rua 46."
One of many Latin America
n groups represented in New York, Colombian American
s have a very strong presence in Jackson Heights
and a nearby neighborhood, Elmhurst
, especially along Roosevelt Avenue
.
New York City has a few Guyanese
communities, both primarily Indo-Guyanese
. One is in Richmond Hill
, Queens
, on Liberty Ave between Lefferts and Van Wyck, and the other is in Ozone Park, Queens
, around 101 and Liberty Avenues. The Indo-Guyanese originated in India
. After the abolition of slavery, South Asians were brought to Guyana to work as indentured servant
s. These South Asians were Hindu
and spoke Caribbean Hindi
. The descendants of these indentured servants later immigrated to New York.
New York City has a few Ecuadorian American
ethnic enclaves. A part of Southside Williamsburg
in Brooklyn is Ecuadorian in nature, with Spanish
being the language spoken on the streets, bodega
s advertising goods in Spanish, and churches advertising bingo games in Spanish. Other Ecuadorian neighborhoods include Tremont
, in the Bronx, and several neighborhoods in Queens
, including Jackson Heights
, Corona
, and Ridgewood
, have significant Ecuadorian communities.
Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, with New York City having a Dominican community since the 1930s. Large scale immigration of Dominicans began after 1961 onward when dictator Rafael Trujillo died. Other catalysts in Dominican immigration were the invasion of Santo Domingo
in 1965, and the regime of Joaquín Balaguer
from 1966-1978. In part due to these catalysts, starting in the 1970s and lasting until the early 1990s, Dominicans
were the largest group of immigrants coming into New York City. Now, Dominicans compose 7% of New York's population and are the largest immigrant group. Major Dominican neighborhoods in New York include Washington Heights, Manhattan
, Bushwick, Brooklyn
, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
, Corona, Queens
, Sunnyside, Queens
, Woodside, Queens
, and the South Bronx
, particularly the Soundview
, Hunts Point
, and Fordham-Bedford sections.
The Dominican population of Woodside is concentrated on three blocks of identical apartment buildings. More immigrants groups are found in large numbers in Woodside, including Irish
, Chinese
, Koreans
, Islamics, Mexicans
, and Colombians
. Another Dominican neighborhood, the South Bronx, became infamous for poverty and arson, a lot by landlords seeking insurance money on "coffin ships" of buildings. By 1975, the South Bronx was the most devastated urban landscape in America, and had experienced the largest population drop in urban history, given the exception of the aftermath of war. The South Bronx has started to recover, and most of it has recovered from the damage done in the 1970s. Also, by 1984, the traditionally heavily Italian
neighborhood of Corona had instead become heavily Dominican, and Corona experienced rapid economic growth - 59% - as compared to the rest of the city experiencing 7%, as well as having the most overcrowded school district in the city (as of 2006). Washington Heights is another Dominican neighborhood, but the first Hispanics to call Washington Heights "home" were Puerto Ricans and Cubans
, after World War II, while Dominicans and Mexicans came later. The Dominican population of Washington Heights is significant, and candidates for political office in the Dominican Republic will run parades up Broadway through the 150s and 160s.
In some of these neighborhoods, shops advertise in Spanish
and English, the Dominican flag
flies proudly from windows, storefronts, and balconies, and the primary language is Dominican Spanish
.
s, as of 2003, were New York's fastest growing ethnic group. Close to 80% of New Yorker Mexicans were born outside the United States, and Mexicans are now New York's third largest Hispanic group, after Puerto Ricans
and Dominican
s, and more than 60% of Mexican New Yorkers reside in Brooklyn
and Queens
. In Brooklyn, Sunset Park
and Bushwick
have the highest concentration of Mexicans, and Crown Heights
has a large Mexican population, while in Queens Elmhurst
, East Elmhurst
, and Jackson Heights
have the largest Mexican populations, while Corona
and
Kew Gardens
also have sizeable communities. Spanish Harlem
has the largest Mexican community in Manhattan
, around 116th Street
and 2nd Avenue.
Puerto Ricans have been immigrating to New York since 1838, in 1910 only 500 Puerto Ricans lived in New York, but by 1970 that number skyrocketed to over 800,000, and 40% of those lived in the Bronx
.
Brooklyn
has several neighborhoods with a Puerto Rican presence. These include Bushwick
, East Williamsburg
, East New York
, Cypress Hills
, Williamsburg
, and Sunset Park
.
Ridgewood
, Queens
, also has a significant Puerto Rican population, as does neighboring community Bushwick, Brooklyn
.
Puerto Rican neighborhoods in Manhattan
include Spanish Harlem
and Loisaida
. Spanish Harlem was "Italian Harlem
" from the 1880s until the 1940s. By 1940, however, the name "Spanish Harlem" was becoming widespread, and by 1950, the area was predominately Puerto Rican and African American
. Loisaida, the Puerto Rican community east of Avenue A
, is still Latino in character, despite the "gentrification" that has affected the East Village
and the Lower East Side
since the 1960s.
In some places in the South Bronx
, Spanish is the primary language. Throughout the 1970s, the South Bronx became known as the epitome of urban decay
, but has since made a recovery.
Astoria
, Queens
, has an Egyptian American
community, dubbed "Little Egypt", centered on Steinway Street between Broadway and Astoria Boulevard. It features many Middle East
ern cafés, restaurants, and shops, including other business from countries like Afghanistan
, Morocco
, Lebanon
, and Syria
.
North Williamsburg
, Brooklyn
, is an ethnic enclave centered around Israeli American
s. There is also a small community of Israelis centered around Kings Highway
, also in Brooklyn. Israelis first immigrated to the United States after 1948, when Israel
won its independence from the United Kingdom
, and the United States has experienced two large waves of immigration from Israel. The first was during the 1950s and early 1960s, 300,000 Israelis immigrated to the United States, and another wave, starting in the mid-1970s and lasting through the present, in which 100,000 to 500,000 Israelis have immigrated to the United States.
There is also a significant Middle Eastern population in Midwood, Brooklyn.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
traders as New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
has been a major destination for immigrants of many nationalities, naturally forming ethnic enclave
Ethnic enclave
An ethnic enclave is an ethnic community which retains some cultural distinction from a larger, surrounding area, it may be a neighborhood, an area or an administrative division based on ethnic groups. Sometimes an entire city may have such a feel. Usually the enclave revolves around businesses...
s, neighborhoods dominated by one ethnicity. Freed African American slaves also moved to New York City in the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
and the later Second Great Migration
Second Great Migration (African American)
The Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. It took place from 1941, through World War II, and lasted until 1970. It was much larger and of a different character than the first Great Migration...
and formed ethnic enclaves. These neighborhoods are set apart from the main city by differences such as food, goods for sale, or even language. Ethnic enclaves provide inhabitants security in work and social opportunities, but limit economic opportunities, do not encourage the development of English speaking, and keep immigrants in their own culture. As of 2000, 36% of the population of New York City are immigrants. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world.
African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s, Jamaican American
Jamaican American
Jamaican Americans are Americans of Jamaican heritage or Jamaican-born people who live in the United States of America. American citizenship is not a prerequisite of being a Jamaican American as permanent residents are also given this title....
s and Trinidadian Americans have both formed ethnic enclaves in New York. Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n ethnic groups with enclaves in New York include Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
s, Filipino American
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
s, Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
s, Pakistani American
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
s and Korean American
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
s. European ethnic groups with ethnic enclaves include German American
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
s, Greek American
Greek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
s, Irish American
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
s, Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
s, and Jewish Americans
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
. Latin American groups with ethnic enclaves include Dominican American
Dominican American
A Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
s, Guyanese
Guyanese people
Guyanese people are people originating in the South American nation of Guyana. Geographically Guyana is not an island in the Caribbean but a nearby mainland land mass associated with the English Caribbean through history and culture first as a Dutch, then British colony, and as a founding member of...
, Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
s, and Nuyorican
Nuyorican
Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Rican diaspora located in or around New York State especially the New York City metropolitan area, or of their descendants...
s. Middle Eastern ethnic groups have also formed ethnic enclaves.
History of immigration to and ethnic enclaves in New York City
New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
was founded in 1625, by Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
traders as New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
. New Amsterdam was a slow growing village, but was diverse
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, but the Netherlands never had a large emigrant population, and the colony attracted few Dutch and more people from different ethnic groups. As early as 1646, 18 languages were spoken in New Amsterdam, and ethnic groups within New Amsterdam included Dutch, Danes, English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
, French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
, Germans, Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, Italians
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
, Norwegians, Poles, Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
, Scots, Swede, Walloons
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
, and Bohemians. The young, diverse village also became a seafarer's town, with tavern
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
s and smugglers. After Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
became Director, New Amsterdam began to grow more quickly, achieving a population of 1,500, and growing to 2,000 by 1655 and almost to 9,000 in 1664, when the British seized the colony, renaming it New York.
Colonial New York City was also a center of religious diversity, including one of the first Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
congregations, along with Philadelphia, Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, and Newport
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
.
African and Caribbean
African and Afro-Caribbean people have many ethnic enclaves in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Groups with ethnic enclaves include African-American, Jamaican, other West Indians and West African.
Le Petit Senegal
Le Petit Sénégal, or Little Senegal, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It has been called Le Petit Senegal by the West African immigrant community and Little Senegal by some people from outside the neighborhood....
in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. The enclave is situated on 116th Street
116th Street (Manhattan)
116th Street runs from Riverside Drive, overlooking the Hudson River, to the East River, through the New York City borough of Manhattan. It traverses the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Harlem, and Spanish Harlem; the street is interrupted between Morningside Heights and Harlem by Morningside...
between St. Nicholas and 8th Avenues, and is home to a large number of Francophone West Africans. Many natives also speak Wolof
Wolof language
Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, and is the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo language family...
, an African language which is spoken alongside French in Senegal, and the neighborhood also has residents from countries such as Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Ivory Coast, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, and Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
.
African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s were brought to the present-day United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1619 as slaves. New York State began emancipating slaves in 1799, and in 1841, all slaves in New York State were freed, and many of New York's emancipated slaves lived or moved to in Fort Greene
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Part of Brooklyn Community Board 2, Fort Greene is listed on the New York State Registry and on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a New York City-designated Historic District...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. All slaves in the United States were later freed in 1865, with the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
. After the Civil War, African Americans left the South, where slavery had been the strongest, in large numbers. These movements are now known as the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
, during the 1910s and 1920s and the Second Great Migration
Second Great Migration (African American)
The Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. It took place from 1941, through World War II, and lasted until 1970. It was much larger and of a different character than the first Great Migration...
, from the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
until 1970.
After arriving in New York, the African Americans formed neighborhoods, partially due to racism of the landlords at the time. The socioeconomic center of these neighborhoods, and all of "Black America", was Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, in Northern Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Hamilton Heights, on Harlem's western side, was a nicer part of Harlem, and Sugar Hill
Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Sugar Hill is a neighborhood in the northern part of Hamilton Heights, which itself is a sub-neighborhood of Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is defined by 155th Street to the north, 145th Street to the south, Edgecombe Avenue to the east, and...
, named because its inhabitants enjoyed the "sweet life", was the nicest part.
In the 1930s, after the A train
A (New York City Subway service)
The A Eighth Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. Its route bullet is colored blue on route signs, station signs, and the official subway map since it runs on the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan....
opened, Harlem residents began to leave crowded Harlem for Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. The first neighborhood African Americans moved to in large numbers was Bedford-Stuyvesant
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Formed in 1930, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3, Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The neighborhood is patrolled by the NYPD's 79th and 81st...
, composed of the neighborhoods Bedford
Bedford, Brooklyn
Bedford is a community in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, centered approximately at the corner of modern-day Fulton Street and Franklin Avenue.Its name is better known today as part of the larger community of Bedford-Stuyvesant...
, Stuyvesant
Stuyvesant Heights, Brooklyn
Stuyvesant Heights is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn, a part of settled in the mid-17th century before the borough of Brooklyn was incorporated as a city...
, Weeksville
Weeksville, Brooklyn
Weeksville is a neighborhood founded by African American freedmen in what is now Brooklyn, New York, United States, part of the present-day neighborhood of Crown Heights.-History:...
(which had an established African American community by the time of the New York Draft Riots
New York Draft Riots
The New York City draft riots were violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. The riots were the largest civil insurrection in American history apart from the Civil War itself...
), and Ocean Hill
Ocean Hill, Brooklyn
Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Founded in 1890, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233...
. From Bedford-Stuyvesant, African Americans moved into the surrounding neighborhoods, including Crown Heights
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
, and Brownsville
Brownsville, Brooklyn
Brownsville is a residential neighborhood located in eastern Brooklyn, New York City.The total land area is one square mile, and the ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11212....
. After World War II a phenomenon now known as "white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
" took place all over North America, and Brooklyn was no exception. Neighborhoods that experienced this include Canarsie
Canarsie, Brooklyn
Canarsie is a neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, United States. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18....
, Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
, and East Flatbush
East Flatbush, Brooklyn
East Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 17 Though the borders of East Flatbush are highly subjective, its northern border is roughly at Empire Boulevard and East New York Avenue east of East 91st Street, its southern...
.
Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
also experienced "white flight". Jamaica
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
and South Jamaica
South Jamaica, Queens
South Jamaica, known colloquially as Southside & Southside Jamaica Queens, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located south of downtown Jamaica, the Long Island Rail Road tracks Jamaica Avenue and Liberty Avenue. The western border is the Van Wyck Expressway, and it...
both underwent ethnic change. Some of Queens' African American neighborhoods are housing projects
Public housing in the United States
Public housing in the United States has been administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized assistance for low-income and people living in poverty. Now increasingly provided in a variety of settings and formats, originally public housing in the U.S...
or housing cooperatives, such as LeFrak City
LeFrak City, Queens
LeFrak City is a very large apartment development in the southernmost region of Corona, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens, located between Junction Boulevard, 57th Avenue, 99th Street and the Long Island Expressway...
. Other African American neighborhoods include Laurelton
Laurelton, Queens
Laurelton is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is now a largely middle class neighborhood. In the 1930s through 1970s and beyond, the neighborhood was populated by many Jewish Americans, but succeeding generations have been made up of new migrants. The neighborhood is part...
, Cambria Heights
Cambria Heights, Queens
Cambria Heights is a middle-class neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Queens Village to the north, St. Albans to the west, and...
, Hollis
Hollis, Queens
Hollis is a neighborhood within the southeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. A predominantly African American community, the boundaries are considered to be the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road to the west, Hillside Avenue to the north, Francis Lewis Boulevard to...
, Springfield Gardens
Springfield Gardens, Queens
Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton & Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the west by Farmers Boulevard...
, and St. Albans
St. Albans, Queens
St. Albans is a middle class community in the New York City borough of Queens around the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, about two miles north of JFK Airport. It is southeast of Jamaica, west of Cambria Heights and north of Springfield Gardens and Laurelton.The neighborhood...
.
The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
experienced "white flight" as well, but in mostly in the 1970s, and mostly in the South Bronx
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
.
An enclave of Liberians developed in Staten Island at the end of the 20th century.
Caribbean American
According to the 2010 US Census data on brooklyn.com there are approximately 370,000 (16.4%) CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
descendants in brooklyn. That figure includes persons who identify with the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
(3.3%), but does not include the (7.4%) Puerto Rican
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
population. Including Puerto Ricans there are approximately 560,000 (23.8%) persons of caribbean descent in Brooklyn. Similar, but not identical demographics in America can be found in Miami, but there are not as many Cubans in New York.
Jamaican
Jamaican American
Jamaican Americans are Americans of Jamaican heritage or Jamaican-born people who live in the United States of America. American citizenship is not a prerequisite of being a Jamaican American as permanent residents are also given this title....
s in the United States. Brooklyn, has a 3.5% Jamaican population. In 1655, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
was captured by the British, who brought African slaves in large numbers to work on plantations. The African slaves were emancipated in 1838, and owners starting paying wages to workers, who were now free to immigrate to the United States. Many Jamaicans immigrated in the years following 1944, when the United States economy was rebuilding from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, seeing opportunity. After 1965, when immigration quotas were lifted, Jamaican immigration skyrocketed again.
Jamaican neighborhoods include Queens Village
Queens Village, Queens
Queens Village is mostly a residential neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens.The Queens Village Post Office serves the ZIP codes of 11427 , 11428 , and 11429...
and Jamaica
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
; Crown Heights
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
, East Flatbush
East Flatbush, Brooklyn
East Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 17 Though the borders of East Flatbush are highly subjective, its northern border is roughly at Empire Boulevard and East New York Avenue east of East 91st Street, its southern...
, Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
, and Bedford-Stuyvesant
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Formed in 1930, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3, Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The neighborhood is patrolled by the NYPD's 79th and 81st...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
; and Wakefield
Wakefield, Bronx
Wakefield is a working-class section of the northern borough of the Bronx in New York City, bounded by the New York city line with Westchester County or 243rd street to the north,and 222nd Street to the south, and the Bronx River, Bronx River Parkway and Metro-North Railroad tracks to the west...
and Tremont
Tremont, Bronx
Tremont is a low income residential neighborhood geographically located in the west Bronx, New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 5. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: East 183rd Street to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, the...
in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
.
Haitian
According to the 2000 census, there are about 200,000 Haitians/Haitian Americans in Brooklyn, showing that it is home to the largest number of Haitian immigrants in New York City. The neighborhood that has the largest HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an community in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
is Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
. The 2010 US Census indicates that 3% of Brooklynites are of Haitian descent. On Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand Avenue and Church Avenue you can find Haitian businesses, cuisine’s, music and etc. Other prominent Haitian neighborhoods include East Flatbush, Canarsie, and Kensington
Kensington, Brooklyn
Kensington is a neighborhood in the center of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the area south of Prospect Park and the Green-Wood Cemetery. It is bordered by Coney Island Avenue to the east, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Caton Avenue to the north, McDonald Avenue and 37th Street to the...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and Springfield Gardens, Queens Village, Cambria Heights in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
.
Chinese
Main articles: Chinatown, ManhattanChinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
; Chinatown, Flushing
Chinatown, Flushing
Chinatown, Flushing, or Flushing Chinatown , in the Flushing area of the borough of Queens in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...
; and Chinatown, Brooklyn
Chinatown, Brooklyn
Chinatown, Brooklyn, or Brooklyn Chinatown , in the Sunset Park area of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
contains the largest ethnic Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
population outside of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, enumerating 665,714 individuals as of the 2009 American Community Survey Census statistical data, including at least 7 Chinatowns, comprising the original Manhattan Chinatown, two in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
(the Flushing Chinatown and the Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
Chinatown), three in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
(the Sunset Park Chinatown
Chinatown, Brooklyn
Chinatown, Brooklyn, or Brooklyn Chinatown , in the Sunset Park area of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...
, the Avenue U
Avenue U
Avenue U is a street located in Brooklyn, New York City. This avenue is a main thoroughfare throughout its length. Avenue U begins at Stillwell Avenue and ends at Bergen Avenue...
Chinatown, and the Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
Chinatown), and one in Edison, New Jersey
Edison, New Jersey
Edison Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. What is now Edison Township was originally incorporated as Raritan Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870, from portions of both Piscataway Township and Woodbridge Township...
, not to mention fledgling ethnic Chinese enclaves emerging throughout the New York metropolitan area. Chinese Americans, as a whole, have had a (relatively) long tenure in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The first Chinese immigrants came to Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
around 1870, looking for the "gold" America had to offer. By 1880, the enclave around Five Points
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
was estimated to have from 200 to as many as 1,100 members. However, the Chinese Exclusion Act, which went into effect in 1882, caused an abrupt decline in the number of Chinese who immigrated to New York and the rest of the United States. Later, in 1943, the Chinese were given a small quota, and the community's population gradually increased until 1968, when the quota was lifted and the Chinese American population skyrocketed.
The Manhattan Chinatown (simplified Chinese: 纽约华埠 ; traditional Chinese: 紐約華埠; pinyin: Niŭyuē Huá Bù) is home to the largest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
and is one of the oldest ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia. Within Manhattan's expanding Chinatown lies a "Little Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
" on East Broadway and surrounding streets, occupied predominantly by immigrants from the Fujian Province of Mainland China. Areas surrounding the "Little Fuzhou" consist mostly of Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
immigrants from Guangdong Province, the earlier Chinese settlers, and in some areas moderately of Cantonese immigrants. In the past few years, however, the Cantonese dialect that has dominated Chinatown for decades is being rapidly swept aside by Mandarin
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, the national language of China and the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of most of the latest Chinese immigrants. The energy and population of Manhattan's Chinatown are fueled by relentless, massive immigration from Mainland China, both legal and illegal in origin, propagated in large part by New York's high density, extensive mass transit system, and huge economic marketplace.
The early settlers of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
were mostly from Taishan
Taishan
Taishan is a coastal county-level city in Guangdong Province, China. The city is part of the Greater Taishan Region....
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
of the Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
Province of China, which are the Cantonese speakers and also from Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. They form most of the Chinese population of the area surrounded by Mott and Canal
Canal Street (Manhattan)
Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west to Brooklyn in the east . It forms the main spine of Chinatown, and separates it from Little Italy...
Streets. The later settlers, from Fuzhou, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, form the Chinese population of the area bounded by East Broadway
East Broadway (Manhattan)
East Broadway is a two-way east-west street in the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Broadway begins at Chatham Square and runs eastward under the Manhattan Bridge, continues past Seward Park and the eastern end of Canal Street, and ends...
. Chinatown's modern borders are roughly Grand Street
Grand Street (Manhattan)
Grand Street is a street in Manhattan, New York City. It runs east-west parallel to and south of Delancey Street, from SoHo through Chinatown, Little Italy, the Lower East Side to the East River....
on the north, Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
on the west, Chrystie Street
Chrystie Street
Chrystie Street is a street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. It runs for about seven blocks, from Canal Street to East Houston Street. Chrystie Street extends northward to become Second Avenue....
on the east, and East Broadway to the south.
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
area of the borough of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
was predominantly non-Hispanic white until the 1970s when Taiwanese
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
began a surge of immigration, followed by other groups of Chinese. By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population. However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion. A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone. Mandarin Chinese (including Northeastern Mandarin
Northeastern Mandarin
Northeastern Mandarin is the dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in what historically was Manchuria. It is very similar to the Beijing dialect upon which Standard Chinese is based.-Geographical spread:...
), Fuzhou dialect
Fuzhou dialect
Fuzhou dialect , also known as Foochow dialect, Foochow, Foochowese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it ' , meaning the language spoken in...
, Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
Fujianese
Fujianese
Fujianese refers to someone or something related to or originating in Fujian. This may be:* The Minbe di of Northern Fujian, This is the customary use of the word in English....
, Wu Chinese, Beijing dialect
Beijing dialect
Beijing dialect, or Pekingese , is the dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, which is used by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China , and Singapore....
, Wenzhounese, Shanghainese
Shanghainese
Shanghainese , or the Shanghai language , is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is largely not mutually intelligible with other Chinese varieties...
, Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
, Taiwanese, and English are all prevalently spoken in Flushing Chinatown. Even the relatively obscure Dongbei style of cuisine indigenous to Northeast China
Northeast China
Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...
is now available in Flushing Chinatown.
Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
, another neighborhood in the borough of Queens, also has a large and growing Chinese community. Previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, this newly evolved second Chinatown in Queens has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue.
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the west...
, in southern Brooklyn, had been abandoned. Chinese immigrants then moved into this area, not only new arrivals from China, but also members of Manhattan's Chinatown, seeking refuges from high rents, who fled to the cheap property costs and rents of Sunset Park and formed the Brooklyn Chinatown, which now extends for 20 blocks along 8th Avenue, from 42nd to 62nd Streets. This relatively new but rapidly growing Chinatown located in Sunset Park was originally settled by Cantonese immigrants like Manhattan's Chinatown in the past, but is now being repopulated by Fujianese
Fujianese people
Min-speaking peoples are a major subgroup of the Han Chinese . They are a Min Chinese-speaking people that mainly live in Fujian, Hainan, southern Zhejiang, and Guangdong province's Leizhou and Chaoshan regions...
(including Fuzhou people) and Wenzhounese immigrants.
A second Chinatown has developed in southern Brooklyn, on Avenue U
Avenue U
Avenue U is a street located in Brooklyn, New York City. This avenue is a main thoroughfare throughout its length. Avenue U begins at Stillwell Avenue and ends at Bergen Avenue...
in the Homecrest
Homecrest, Brooklyn
Homecrest is a neighborhood situated in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It borders Kings Highway to the north, Avenue X to the south, Coney Island Avenue to the west, and Ocean Avenue to the east. Homecrest uses the ZIP Code, 11229. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15...
area, as evidenced by the growing number of Chinese-run fruit markets, restaurants, beauty and nail salons, and computer and general electronics dealers.
Nearby in southern Brooklyn in Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
, below the D-line elevated subway along on 86th Street between 18th Avenue and Stillwell Avenue, is an emerging Brooklyn's third Chinatown. The second Chinatown and the third emerging Chinatown of Brooklyn are now increasingly carrying the majority of the Cantonese population in Brooklyn as the Cantonese dissipate from the main Brooklyn Chinatown in Sunset Park. With the migration of the Cantonese in Brooklyn now to Bensonhurst, and along with new Chinese immigration, small clusters of Chinese people and businesses in different parts of Bensonhurst have grown integrating with other ethnic groups and businesses. It is possible that a few more small Chinatowns might form as the Chinese population and number of Chinese businesses continue to grow in various sections of Bensonhurst as it can be witnessed.
Filipino
Woodside, Queens
Woodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside and on the east by Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Some areas are widely residential and very quiet, while others are...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, 13,000 out of 85,000 (~15%) of the population is Filipino. Woodside's "Little Manila
Little Manila
Little Manila is term that refers to a community with a large Filipino immigrant and descendant population.- California :...
" extends along Roosevelt Avenue
Roosevelt Avenue
Roosevelt Avenue is a main thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens. Roosevelt Avenue begins at 48th Street and Queens Boulevard in the neighborhood of Sunnyside...
.
The first Filipino settlement in the United States was Saint Malo
Saint Malo, Louisiana
Saint Malo was a small fishing village that existed in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana on the shore of Lake Borgne from the mid 18th century into the early 20th century, when it was destroyed by the New Orleans Hurricane of 1915. It was the first settlement of Filipinos in the United...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, established in 1763. Mass immigration started in the late 19th century, to service the plantations of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and the farms of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The immigration quota was lowered to 50 Filipinos a year, however, Filipinos in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
were exempt from this. Therefore, Filipinos settled near Naval Bases and formed ethnic enclaves due to discrimination. The quota was raised in the second half of the 20th century, starting another wave of Filipino immigration, looking for political freedom and opportunity, and one which has extended until present.
Indian
Indian AmericanIndian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
s are another group that has settled in New York City, forming a few different ethnic enclaves. One of these is called "Curry Row" and is in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, centered on 6th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, another is called "Curry Hill" or "Little India", centered on Lexington Avenue
Lexington Avenue (Manhattan)
Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
between 26th and 31st Streets, and another is in Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, centered around 74th Street between Roosevelt and 37th Avenue.
Richmond Hills is another "Little India" community. This area has the largest Sikh population in the New York City area. It is also known as "Little Punjab".
There have been three major waves of Indian immigrants, the first between 1899 and 1913, the second after India was granted independence from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1947, and the third after the immigration quota for individual countries was lifted in 1965.
As of 2010, New York City metropolitan area contains the largest Asian Indian population in North America.
Pakistani
Pakistani AmericanPakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
s have a large presence in New York, with the city (along with New Jersey) hosting the largest Pakistani population than any other region in the United States. The population of Pakistanis is estimated at around 35,000; they are settled primarily in the boroughs of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
(more specifically Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
) and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
(Coney Island Avenue
Coney Island Avenue
Coney Island Avenue is a roadway in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that runs north-south for a distance of roughly five miles, almost parallel to Ocean Parkway. It begins at Brighton Beach Avenue in Coney Island and goes north to Park Circle at the southwest corner of Prospect Park, where...
). These numbers make Pakistani Americans the fifth largest Asian American group in New York City. As of 2006, 50,000 people of Pakistani descent were said to be living in New York City. This figure rises to 70,000 when illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
are also included. Pakistani migration to New York has occurred heavily only since the past two to three decades, reflecting the history of Pakistani migration elsewhere in the country; "Little Pakistan
Little Pakistan
"Little Pakistan" is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Pakistanis or people of Pakistani ancestry , usually in an urban neighborhood.-List of Little Pakistans:-Norway:...
s" or ethnic enclaves populated by Pakistanis tend to be characterised and populated by other South Asian Americans as well, including Indians and Bangladeshis and thus are dominated by South Asian culture. Pakistani restaurants, grocery markets and halal shops are abound in such areas.
Korean
KoreanKorean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
s started immigrating with the signing of the Korean-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which allowed them to do so freely. The first wave of Korean immigration lasted from 1903–1905, when 7,000 Koreans came to the United States. After this first wave, the 1907 "Gentlemens Agreement" of President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
restricted Korean immigration to the United States. President Harry Truman repealed this in 1948. and from 1951–1964, another wave of Koreans migrated to the United States, and a third wave lasted from 1969-1987. As economic conditions improved in Korea, many Koreans chose to stay.
Korean communities in New York include Koreatown
Koreatown, Manhattan
Koreatown, or K-town as it is colloquially known, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, that is generally bordered by 31st and 36th Streets and Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenues...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Bedford Park
Bedford Park, Bronx
Bedford Park is a residential neighborhood in the northwest Bronx between the New York Botanical Garden and Lehman College. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Mosholu Parkway to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, East 198th Street to the south, and Jerome Avenue...
in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, and Sunnyside
Sunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens, in New York state, in the United States. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south...
, Woodside
Woodside, Queens
Woodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside and on the east by Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Some areas are widely residential and very quiet, while others are...
, Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
, Flushing
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
, Bayside
Bayside, Queens
Bayside is a suburban neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York, New York in the United States. Bayside is known as one of the most expensive areas to live in Queens, with well kept homes and landscaping...
, Douglaston
Douglaston, Queens
Douglaston, population 14,168 , is a community in the New York City borough of Queens. Douglaston comprises six distinct neighborhoods: Doug Bay, Douglas Manor, and Douglaston Hill, all located north of Northern Boulevard on the peninsula abutting Little Neck Bay; Douglaston Park, located between...
, and Little Neck
Little Neck, Queens
Little Neck is a community in the northeast corner of Queens County, bordered on the north by Little Neck Bay and on the east by Great Neck in Nassau County. Due to this proximity to Nassau, Little Neck remains one of the most suburban-looking areas in New York City. The southern border is the...
, in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
.
Bangladeshi
There is a significant community of Bangladeshis in New York City, a majority of those reside in the boroughs of QueensQueens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. The Bangladeshis in New York tend to form enclaves in neighborhoods predominantly populated by Asian Indians. These enclaves include one in Kensington, featuring Bangladeshi grocers, hairdressers, and halal
Halal
Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...
markets, one in Jackson Heights, and one on Hillside Avenue, in Queens. As well as the Bangladeshis living alongside the Indians, they, in fact, own many of the Indian restaurants in Brooklyn and Queens.
European
Many European ethnic groups have formed enclaves In New York. These include Albanian, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian.Italian
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
s compose the largest European American
European American
A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
ethnic group in New York City, and are the largest ethnic group in Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
(Richmond County), making it the most Italian county in the United States, with 37.7% of the population reporting Italian American ancestry.
Though Italian immigration began as early as the 17th century, with Pietro Cesare Alberti, from Venice, being the first reported Italian living in the New Amsterdam colony, effective immigration started around 1860 with the founding of the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
. Italian immigration skyrocketed, and lasted that way until 1921, when Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act
Emergency Quota Act
The Emergency Quota Act, also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921, the Per Centum Law, and the Johnson Quota Act restricted immigration into the United States...
that slowed the immigration of Italians. Most of the Italian immigrants to New York were from Southern Italy, from cities, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, or Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
.
At one time, Little Italy
Little Italy, Manhattan
Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. Today the neighborhood of Little Italy consists of Italian stores and restaurants.-Historical area:...
, in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, had over 40,000 Italians and covered seventeen blocks. Now, Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
has taken over all of what used to be Little Italy except for a two block area on Mulberry Street
Mulberry Street (Manhattan)
Mulberry Street is a principal thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York. The street was listed on maps of the area since at least 1755. The "Bend" in Mulberry in which the street changes direction from southwest to northeast to a northerly direction was to avoid the wetlands surrounding the Collect Pond...
between Kenmare and Grand
Grand Street (Manhattan)
Grand Street is a street in Manhattan, New York City. It runs east-west parallel to and south of Delancey Street, from SoHo through Chinatown, Little Italy, the Lower East Side to the East River....
streets, with about 5,000 Italian Americans. Morris Park
Morris Park, Bronx
Morris Park is a neighborhood in the Bronx borough of New York City . The neighborhood is part of Community Board 11 in the East Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Pelham Parkway to the north, the Amtrak Northeast Corridor tracks to the east and south, and...
, Bronx has a large Italian population. Other Italian neighborhoods include Fordham, Bronx
Fordham, Bronx
Fordham is a neighborhood of New York City, United States, located in the West Bronx. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 5. It is bordered by Fordham Road to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, East 183rd Street to the south, and Jerome Avenue to the west...
, around Arthur Avenue; Pelham Bay, Bronx
Pelham Bay, Bronx
Pelham Bay is a neighborhood in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City. It is named for Pelham Bay Park, New York City's largest park which lies on the neighborhood's northeastern border.-History:...
; Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
; Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
; South Brooklyn
South Brooklyn
South Brooklyn is a region or composite neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, encompassing areas of Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Gowanus, Park Slope, and Boerum Hill. Thus it is roughly encompassed by Brooklyn Community Board 6, which in turn approximates the southern half of the 18th...
, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
Dyker Heights is a residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City, USA. It is sandwiched among Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, and Gravesend Bay. According to the Post Office, Dyker Heights is bounded to the west by Interstate 278, to the north by Bay Ridge...
, the city's largest Italian neighborhood (as of 2009); Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Cobble Hill is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. Bordered by Atlantic Avenue on the north, Hicks Street to the west, Smith Street on the east and Degraw Street to the south, Cobble Hill sits adjacent to Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights with Carroll Gardens to the south...
; Astoria
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
, Howard Beach
Howard Beach, Queens
Howard Beach is a suburban neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bordered in the north by the Belt Parkway and South Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park, the south by Jamaica Bay in Broad Channel, the east by 102nd-104th streets, and the west by 78th...
, and Ozone Park, Queens
Ozone Park, Queens
Ozone Park is a working class neighborhood located in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens bordering Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and City Line, Brooklyn....
.
Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
s make up approximately 5.3% of New York City, composing the second largest non-Hispanic white ethnic group. Irish Americans first came to America in colonial
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
years (pre-1776), with immigration rising in the 1820s due to poor living conditions in Ireland. But the largest wave of Irish immigration came after the Great Famine in 1845.
After they came, Irish immigrants often crowded into subdivided homes, only meant for one family, and cellars, attics, and alleys all became home for some Irish immigrants. In fact, New York once had more Irishmen than Dublin itself. The Irish in New York developed a particular reputation for joining the New York City Police Department as well as the New York Fire Department.
Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, was originally developed as a resort for wealthy Manhattanites in 1879, but instead became a family-oriented Italian- and Irish-American community. Another large Irish-American community is located in Woodlawn
Woodlawn, Bronx
Woodlawn is a neighborhood at the very north end of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Unlike some neighborhoods in New York City, its boundaries are fairly well-defined, as it is bounded by McLean Avenue to the north, which is approximately the New York City / Westchester County line, the...
, Bronx, but Woodlawn also has a mix of different ethnic groups. One large Irish community in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
was Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
. Other sizable Irish-American communities include Belle Harbor
Belle Harbor, Queens
Belle Harbor is an upscale neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is a tightly-knit, upper class community located on the western half of the Rockaway Peninsula, the southernmost area of the borough. While there are no formal boundaries for the area, Belle Harbor is often used to...
and Breezy Point
Breezy Point, Queens
Breezy Point is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, between Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay on the landward side, and the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood is governed by Queens Community Board 14...
, both in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
.
Jewish
The first JewsJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
arrived in New York City in 1654, when it was still New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, from Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
(Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
) following the First Anglo-Dutch War
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
to escape the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
, resulting a decade later in the first known civil rights case in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
when a Jew named Asser Levy successfully appealed to the New Amsterdam colonial council for the right to serve in the army. Later German immigration brought large communities of Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
. Starting then until 1820 was the first wave of Jewish immigration to America, bringing fewer than 15,000 Jews. The first wave of Jewish people were fleeing religious persecution in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, Holland, and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and founded communities in New York, Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, Savannah
Savannah
Savannah or savanna is a type of grassland.It can also mean:-People:* Savannah King, a Canadian freestyle swimmer* Savannah Outen, a singer who gained popularity on You Tube...
, and Philadelphia. From 1820 to 1880 came the second wave, in which a quarter million German Jews migrated to America. A third major wave of Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
coming from the Balkans and the Middle East after the Turkish revolution. The outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
caused many German Jews to immigrate to the United States. During this period, 1881 to 1924, over 2,000,000 Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an Jews immigrated, fleeing anti-semitic persecution in their home countries. A later wave from Eastern Europe, from 1985–1990, over 140,000 Jews immigrated from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. 50,000 Jews a year still immigrate to the United States.
New York today has the second largest number of Jews in a metropolitan area, behind Gush Dan
Gush Dan
The Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area , or Gush Dan , is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Tel Aviv and the Central Districts of Israel. The area is closely linked to the city of Tel Aviv through social, economic, and cultural ties. It is located along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline...
(the area including Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
) in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Borough Park
Borough Park, Brooklyn
Borough Park , is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City in the United States....
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, (also known as Boro Park) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
communities in the world. Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
, also has a large Orthodox Jewish community. Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, Midwood, Brooklyn
Midwood, Brooklyn
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA, roughly halfway between Prospect Park and Coney Island. The neighborhood is within Community District 14...
, Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...
, Fresh Meadows, Queens
Fresh Meadows, Queens
Fresh Meadows is a residential neighborhood in northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens.-Location:Fresh Meadows is located on the northeast side of Hillcrest, bordered to the east by Cunningham Park, to the south by Union Turnpike and St. John's University, and to the west by...
and the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, Manhattan, are also home to Jewish communities. Another neighborhood, the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
, though known as a mixing pot for people of many nationalities, including German, Puerto Rican, Italian, and Chinese, was primarily a Jewish neighborhood, though now it has become primarily Chinese.
Russian
BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
has several Russian American
Russian American
Russian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
communities, including Bath Beach
Bath Beach, Brooklyn
Bath Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough of Brooklyn in the United States. It is located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay.-Geography:...
, Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
, Gravesend
Gravesend, Brooklyn
Gravesend is a neighborhood in the south-central section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA.The derivation of the name is unclear. Some speculate that it was named after the English seaport of Gravesend, Kent. An alternative explanation suggests that it was named by Willem Kieft for the...
, Sheepshead Bay
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sheepshead Bay is a bay separating the mainland of Brooklyn, New York City from the eastern portion of Coney Island, the latter originally a barrier island but now effectively an extension of the mainland with peninsulas both east and west...
, and the largest Russian-speaking community in the United States, Brighton Beach. Many Russians in New York are Jews from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, which broke up in 1991, and most still retain at least part of their Russian culture. The primary language of Brighton Beach is Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, as seen from businesses, clubs, and advertisements. A significant portion of the community is not proficient in English, and about 98% speak Russian as their native language.
Polish
Polish AmericanPolish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
communities in New York include Greenpoint
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at the Bushwick inlet, on the southeast by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg, on the north by Newtown Creek and Long Island City, Queens at the...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
("Little Poland
Little Poland
Little Poland may refer to:*Lesser Poland , a historical region of southern Poland*Lesser Poland Voivodeship , a present-day administrative region in southern Poland...
"), North Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, Maspeth, Queens
Maspeth, Queens
Maspeth is a small community in the borough of Queens in New York City. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside and Sunnyside to the north, Long Island City to the northwest, Greenpoint to the west, East Williamsburg to the southwest, Fresh Pond and Ridgewood to the south, and...
, and Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
, around Fresh Pond Road & Forest Avenue.
Greek
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, is home to the largest concentration of Greek American
Greek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
s in New York. When one would walk down a street in the 1970s, one would see Greek restaurants, Hellenic clubs, and many Greek-owned businesses. Now, Astoria has become more diverse, with Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
s, Colombian American
Colombian American
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.-Causes of migration:...
s, Pakistani American
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
s, and Russian American
Russian American
Russian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
s all calling Astoria home. Many Greeks are leaving Astoria for Whitestone, Queens
Whitestone, Queens
Whitestone is a residential neighborhood in the northernmost part of the City of New York borough of Queens. Located between the East River to the north and 25th Avenue to the south. Whitestone is surrounded by College Point, Flushing, Bayside, Auburndale, Linden Hill, and Murray Hill...
, but many of the buildings in Astoria are still owned by Greeks.
The largest Greek migration to the United States began around 1910 and ended around 1930, with most migrating for the economic opportunity, but as living conditions in Greece improved in the 1980s, Greek migration slowed. However, Astoria remains New York's "Little Greece".
Albanian
AlbaniansAlbanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
first immigrated to the United States from Southern Italy, Greece, and Kosovo in the 1920s. Later, in the 1990s, after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, many Albanians flocked to the United States. Two neighborhoods that became Albanian are Belmont
Belmont, Bronx
Belmont is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the west Bronx. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 6. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Fordham Road to the north, Bronx Park to the east, East 183rd Street to the south, and the Third...
(especially near Arthur Avenue) and Morris Park
Morris Park, Bronx
Morris Park is a neighborhood in the Bronx borough of New York City . The neighborhood is part of Community Board 11 in the East Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Pelham Parkway to the north, the Amtrak Northeast Corridor tracks to the east and south, and...
(especially around Lydig Avenue, the most highly populated Albanian American community in New York). Both are 20th-century Italian-American neighborhoods in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
.
Ukrainian
There is a small Ukrainian American community in the East Village, centered around Second AvenueSecond Avenue (Manhattan)
Second Avenue is an avenue on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan extending from Houston Street at its south end to the Harlem River Drive at 128th Street at its north end. A one-way street, vehicular traffic runs only downtown. A bicycle lane in the left hand portion from 55th...
between 6th and 10th
10th Street (Manhattan)
10th Street is an east-west street from the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan to Avenue D in the East Village. East of Sixth Avenue it changes heading, from east-northeast to east-southeast. Traffic is eastbound as far as Tompkins Square Park, of which it marks...
Streets. The community was there when the East Village was still referred to as the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
, and was a moderately large community. Though it has since declined, the number of Ukrainians in the neighborhood may have been as high as 60,000 after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
German
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 17th century, and until the late 19th century, when Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
was the country of origin for the largest number of immigrants to the United States. In fact, Over one million Germans entered the United States in the 1850s alone.
German American ethnic enclaves in New York City include the now-defunct Little Germany, in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and the extant Yorkville, Manhattan
Yorkville, Manhattan
Yorkville is a neighborhood in the greater Upper East Side, in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City. Yorkville's boundaries include: the East River on the east, 96th Street on the north, Third Avenue on the west and 72nd Street to the south. However, its southern boundary is a subject of...
. Little Germany, or as it was called in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Kleindeutschland, was positioned in the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
, around Tompkins Square, in what would later become known as Alphabet City
Alphabet City, Manhattan
Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the Lower East Side and East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is also known as Loisaida, a Spanglish adaptation of 'Lower East Side'. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter...
. The General Slocum disaster in 1904 wiped out the social core of the neighborhood, and many Germans moved to Yorkville. Yorkville, part of the Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
, is bounded (roughly) by 79th Street
79th Street (Manhattan)
79th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East 79th Street stretches from East End Avenue to Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side, where it enters Central Park through Miners' Gate...
to the south, 96th Street
96th Street (Manhattan)
96th Street is a major two-way street in East Harlem and the Upper West Side, which is a part of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from the East River at the FDR Drive to the Henry Hudson Parkway at the Hudson River...
and Spanish Harlem
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
to the north, the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
to the east, and Third Avenue
Third Avenue (Manhattan)
Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Cooper Square north for over 120 blocks. Third Avenue continues into The Bronx across the Harlem River over the Third Avenue Bridge north of East 129th Street to East Fordham Road at...
to the west. The main artery of the neighborhood, 86th Street
86th Street (Manhattan)
86th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.On the West Side its continuous cliff-wall of apartment blocks includng The Belnord is broken by two contrasting landmarked churches at prominent corner sites, the Tuscan...
, has been called the "German Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
". For much of the 20th century, Yorkville was inhabited by German and Hungarian American
Hungarian American
Hungarian Americans Hungarian are American citizens of Hungarian descent. The constant influx of Hungarian immigrants was marked by several waves of sharp increase.-History:...
s.
The Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
neighborhoods of Ridgewood
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
and Glendale
Glendale, Queens
Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded by Cooper Avenue to the north, Woodhaven Boulevard to the east, Myrtle Avenue to the south and Fresh Pond Road to the West...
include small populations of Germans. Ridgewood notably includes Gottschee
Gottschee County
Gottschee County refers to the former German speaking region in the Duchy of Carniola , a crownland of the Habsburg Empire, located in modern day Slovenia...
expatriates from modern-day Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
.
Norwegian
Lapskaus BoulevardLapskaus Boulevard
Lapskaus Boulevard is the nickname of 8th Avenue, located in a historically Norwegian working class neighborhood in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York....
in Brooklyn recalls a Norwegian
Norwegian American
Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...
enclave, which became mostly assimilated in the late 20th century. This neighborhood also hosted New York's principal Finnish
Finnish American
Finnish Americans are Americans of Finnish descent, who currently number about 700,000.-History:Some Finns, like the ancestors of John Morton, came to the Swedish colony of New Sweden, that existed in mid-17th century....
enclave.
Latin American
Many ethnic enclaves in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
are Latin American-centric. Latin American ethnic groups with enclaves in New York include Argentinians, Brazilians, Colombians, Dominicans, Ecuadorians, Haitians, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans.
More than half of the population Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, are immigrants, primarily South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
ns, and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
ns, including Argentinians, Colombians
Colombians
Colombians may refer to:* Citizens of Colombia, a country in South America.* Ethnic Colombians** Colombian people, persons from Colombia or of Colombian ancestry...
, and Uruguayans.
Most Brazilian Americans in New York can be found in two areas. The first and primary of these is Astoria
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, and a section of West 46th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown"...
in Midtown
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. In Astoria, the area around 36th Avenue and 30th Street is the most Brazilian in character. However, this area is not solely a Brazilian neighborhood, as it is also a Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
, Pakistani
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
, Indian
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
, Mexican
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
, Arab
Arab American
An Arab American is a United States citizen or resident of Arab ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage or identity, who identifies themselves as Arab. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World...
, Japanese
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
, Korean
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
, Greek
Greek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
, Dominican
Dominican American
A Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
, and Italian
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
neighborhood. The top three languages in the area are (in this order): Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
(the native language of Brazilians). The other Brazilian neighborhood, 46th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, was officially named "Little Brazil", but resident Brazilians call it "Rua 46."
One of many Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n groups represented in New York, Colombian American
Colombian American
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.-Causes of migration:...
s have a very strong presence in Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
and a nearby neighborhood, Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
, especially along Roosevelt Avenue
Roosevelt Avenue
Roosevelt Avenue is a main thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens. Roosevelt Avenue begins at 48th Street and Queens Boulevard in the neighborhood of Sunnyside...
.
New York City has a few Guyanese
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
communities, both primarily Indo-Guyanese
Indo-Guyanese
Indo-Guyanese are mostly descendants of indentured labourers from India who are citizens or nationals of Guyana. They are often referred to as Indians or East Indians...
. One is in Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill, Queens
Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the south and South Jamaica to the east...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, on Liberty Ave between Lefferts and Van Wyck, and the other is in Ozone Park, Queens
Ozone Park, Queens
Ozone Park is a working class neighborhood located in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens bordering Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and City Line, Brooklyn....
, around 101 and Liberty Avenues. The Indo-Guyanese originated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. After the abolition of slavery, South Asians were brought to Guyana to work as indentured servant
Indentured servant
Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
s. These South Asians were Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and spoke Caribbean Hindi
Bhojpuri language
Bhojpuri is a language spoken in parts of north-central and eastern India. It is spoken in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh , as well as adjoining parts of the Nepal Terai. Bhojpuri is also spoken in Guyana,...
. The descendants of these indentured servants later immigrated to New York.
New York City has a few Ecuadorian American
Ecuadorian American
An Ecuadorian American is any person in the United States who is of Ecuadorian ancestry. Ecuadorian Americans can be Mestizo, White, Afro-Ecuadorian, Indigenous, Mulato, or Zambo. Many Ecuadorians are of Lebanese descent...
ethnic enclaves. A part of Southside Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
in Brooklyn is Ecuadorian in nature, with Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
being the language spoken on the streets, bodega
Bodega
Bodega is a Spanish word that may refer to:* a winery, wine cellar or wine bar* a convenience store specializing in Hispanic groceriesPlaces:* Bodega, California, town in Sonoma County, California...
s advertising goods in Spanish, and churches advertising bingo games in Spanish. Other Ecuadorian neighborhoods include Tremont
Tremont, Bronx
Tremont is a low income residential neighborhood geographically located in the west Bronx, New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 5. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: East 183rd Street to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, the...
, in the Bronx, and several neighborhoods in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, including Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
, Corona
Corona, Queens
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States...
, and Ridgewood
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
, have significant Ecuadorian communities.
Dominican
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
in 1965, and the regime of Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo was the President of the Dominican Republic from 1960 to 1962, from 1966 to 1978, and again from 1986 to 1996.-Early life and introduction to politics:...
from 1966-1978. In part due to these catalysts, starting in the 1970s and lasting until the early 1990s, Dominicans
Dominican American
A Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
were the largest group of immigrants coming into New York City. Now, Dominicans compose 7% of New York's population and are the largest immigrant group. Major Dominican neighborhoods in New York include Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States, which lies between Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick. Much of this area has been and still is referred to as either Bushwick, Williamsburg, or Greenpoint with the...
, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the west...
, Corona, Queens
Corona, Queens
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States...
, Sunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens, in New York state, in the United States. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south...
, Woodside, Queens
Woodside, Queens
Woodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside and on the east by Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Some areas are widely residential and very quiet, while others are...
, and the South Bronx
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
, particularly the Soundview
Soundview, Bronx
Soundview is primarily a residential neighborhood geographically located in the South Central section of the Borough of The Bronx in New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 9...
, Hunts Point
Hunts Point, Bronx
Hunts Point is a low-income neighborhood located on a peninsula in the South Bronx in New York City. It is the location of one of the largest food distribution facilities in the world. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 2. Its boundaries are the Bruckner Expressway to the west and...
, and Fordham-Bedford sections.
The Dominican population of Woodside is concentrated on three blocks of identical apartment buildings. More immigrants groups are found in large numbers in Woodside, including Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
, Chinese
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
, Koreans
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
, Islamics, Mexicans
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
, and Colombians
Colombian American
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.-Causes of migration:...
. Another Dominican neighborhood, the South Bronx, became infamous for poverty and arson, a lot by landlords seeking insurance money on "coffin ships" of buildings. By 1975, the South Bronx was the most devastated urban landscape in America, and had experienced the largest population drop in urban history, given the exception of the aftermath of war. The South Bronx has started to recover, and most of it has recovered from the damage done in the 1970s. Also, by 1984, the traditionally heavily Italian
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
neighborhood of Corona had instead become heavily Dominican, and Corona experienced rapid economic growth - 59% - as compared to the rest of the city experiencing 7%, as well as having the most overcrowded school district in the city (as of 2006). Washington Heights is another Dominican neighborhood, but the first Hispanics to call Washington Heights "home" were Puerto Ricans and Cubans
Cuban American
A Cuban American is a United States citizen who traces his or her "national origin" to Cuba. Cuban Americans are also considered native born Americans with Cuban parents or Cuban-born persons who were raised and educated in US...
, after World War II, while Dominicans and Mexicans came later. The Dominican population of Washington Heights is significant, and candidates for political office in the Dominican Republic will run parades up Broadway through the 150s and 160s.
In some of these neighborhoods, shops advertise in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and English, the Dominican flag
Flag of the Dominican Republic
The flag of the Dominican Republic, as described by Article 96 of the Dominican Constitution, features a centered white cross that extends to the edges and divides the flag into four rectangles—the top ones are blue and red, and the bottom ones are red and blue...
flies proudly from windows, storefronts, and balconies, and the primary language is Dominican Spanish
Dominican Spanish
Dominican Spanish is Spanish as spoken in the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean country, and throughout the Dominican diaspora, which is found mostly in the United States, chiefly in New York City, Boston, and Miami....
.
Mexican
Mexican AmericanMexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
s, as of 2003, were New York's fastest growing ethnic group. Close to 80% of New Yorker Mexicans were born outside the United States, and Mexicans are now New York's third largest Hispanic group, after Puerto Ricans
Nuyorican
Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Rican diaspora located in or around New York State especially the New York City metropolitan area, or of their descendants...
and Dominican
Dominican American
A Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
s, and more than 60% of Mexican New Yorkers reside in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. In Brooklyn, Sunset Park
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the west...
and Bushwick
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
have the highest concentration of Mexicans, and Crown Heights
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
has a large Mexican population, while in Queens Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
, East Elmhurst
East Elmhurst, Queens
East Elmhurst is a culturally diverse area in New York City, in the northwest of the borough of Queens. It is located north of Jackson Heights and Corona and is bounded on the east and north by Flushing Bay. Residents are mostly moderate-income families, but there are also low-income areas. It...
, and Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
have the largest Mexican populations, while Corona
Corona, Queens
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States...
and
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens, Queens
Kew Gardens is a triangular-shaped neighborhood in central Queens bounded to the north by the Jackie Robinson Parkway , to the east by Van Wyck Expressway and 131st Street, to the south by Hillside Avenue, and to the west by Park Lane, Abingdon Road and 118th Street...
also have sizeable communities. Spanish Harlem
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
has the largest Mexican community in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, around 116th Street
116th Street (Manhattan)
116th Street runs from Riverside Drive, overlooking the Hudson River, to the East River, through the New York City borough of Manhattan. It traverses the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Harlem, and Spanish Harlem; the street is interrupted between Morningside Heights and Harlem by Morningside...
and 2nd Avenue.
Puerto Rican
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
has several neighborhoods with a Puerto Rican presence. These include Bushwick
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
, East Williamsburg
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States, which lies between Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick. Much of this area has been and still is referred to as either Bushwick, Williamsburg, or Greenpoint with the...
, East New York
East New York, Brooklyn
East New York is a residential neighborhood located in the Eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5...
, Cypress Hills
Cypress Hills, Brooklyn
Cypress Hills is a sub-section of the East New York neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, lying north of City Line and south of Cypress Hills Cemetery, in the far northeastern corner of Brooklyn. It is abutted on the west by Bushwick and on the east, across the Brooklyn–Queens border, by...
, Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, and Sunset Park
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the west...
.
Ridgewood
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, also has a significant Puerto Rican population, as does neighboring community Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
.
Puerto Rican neighborhoods in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
include Spanish Harlem
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
and Loisaida
Loisaida
Loisaida is a term derived from the Latino pronunciation of "Lower East Side", a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The term was originally coined by poet/activist Bittman "Bimbo" Rivas in his 1974 poem "Loisaida"...
. Spanish Harlem was "Italian Harlem
Italian Harlem
Italian Harlem was the name that was given to East Harlem in the New York City borough of Manhattan, when it was largely inhabited by an Italian American population....
" from the 1880s until the 1940s. By 1940, however, the name "Spanish Harlem" was becoming widespread, and by 1950, the area was predominately Puerto Rican and African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. Loisaida, the Puerto Rican community east of Avenue A
Avenue A (Manhattan)
Avenue A runs from north to south and is the westernmost of the avenues to be defined by letters instead of using the numbering system in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Avenue A runs from Houston Street to 14th Street, where it continues into a loop road in Stuyvesant Town, connecting to...
, is still Latino in character, despite the "gentrification" that has affected the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
and the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
since the 1960s.
In some places in the South Bronx
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
, Spanish is the primary language. Throughout the 1970s, the South Bronx became known as the epitome of urban decay
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
, but has since made a recovery.
Middle Eastern
Several Middle Eastern ethnic groups have immigrated to New York, including Egyptian and Israeli, forming ethnic enclaves.Astoria
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, has an Egyptian American
Egyptian American
Egyptian Americans are Americans of Egyptian ancestry, first-generation Egyptian immigrants, or descendants of Egyptians who immigrated to the United States. In the 2007 U.S. census, the number of people with Egyptian ancestry was estimated at 195,000, although some estimates range from several...
community, dubbed "Little Egypt", centered on Steinway Street between Broadway and Astoria Boulevard. It features many Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern cafés, restaurants, and shops, including other business from countries like Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
.
North Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, is an ethnic enclave centered around Israeli American
Israeli American
Israeli Americans are Americans of Israeli descent. According to the 2000 census, there were 106,839 people of Israeli ancestry in the United States.- Demographics :...
s. There is also a small community of Israelis centered around Kings Highway
Kings Highway (Brooklyn)
Kings Highway is a broad avenue that passes mostly through areas in the southern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The west end is at Bay Parkway and 78th Street. East of Ocean Avenue the street becomes mostly residential, tending generally east, then northeast, then north through...
, also in Brooklyn. Israelis first immigrated to the United States after 1948, when Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
won its independence from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the United States has experienced two large waves of immigration from Israel. The first was during the 1950s and early 1960s, 300,000 Israelis immigrated to the United States, and another wave, starting in the mid-1970s and lasting through the present, in which 100,000 to 500,000 Israelis have immigrated to the United States.
There is also a significant Middle Eastern population in Midwood, Brooklyn.
See also
- Demographics of New York CityDemographics of New York CityThe demographics of New York City are evidence of a large and ethnically diverse metropolis. It is the largest city in the United States with a population defined by a long history of international immigration...
- Cuisine of New York CityCuisine of New York CityCuisine of New York City comprises many cuisines belonging to various ethnic groups that have entered the United States through the city. Almost all ethnic cuisines are well represented in NYC, both in and out of their various ethnic neighborhoods....
- Racial and ethnic history of New York CityRacial and Ethnic History of New York CityThe following tables present a consolidated demographic profile of race and ethnicity in New York City which includes all five boroughs.- New York City :-The Bronx:-Brooklyn:-Manhattan:-Queens:-Staten Island:-Non-Hispanic Whites:...
- District XDistrict XDistrict X, also known as Mutant Town or the Middle East Side, is a fictional location in Marvel Comics. It is a neighborhood in New York City, first seen during Grant Morrison's run on the series New X-Men in New X-Men #127, which was primarily populated by mutants...
, a fictional enclave