Central Asians in the United States

Last updated
Central Asian Americans
Total population
Total: ~450,000
62,713 (Uzbek), [1] 32,017 (Kazakh) [1]
Regions with significant populations
New York City  · New Jersey  · Philadelphia  · San Antonio  · Houston  · San Francisco  · San Jose  · Los Angeles  · Washington, D.C.  · Nebraska  · Chicago  · Northern Virginia
Languages
American English  · Baloch  · Dari  · Kazakh  · Kyrgyz  · Pashto  · Russian  · Tajik  · Turkmen  · Uyghur  · Uzbek
Religion
Islam  · Eastern Orthodoxy  · Judaism

Central Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from Central Asia. They include Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek individuals. People of Afghan, Baloch, and Uyghur descent are also sometimes classified as Central Asians. Although previously not mentioned under any category, Central Asians are now categorized as Asian Americans as of 2024. [2] [3]

Contents

Kazakh Americans

Kazakhs began to emigrate to the United States after World War II. Shortly after of the war, some Kazakh Soviet citizens, who were captured during World War II, after their liberation by Allied troops migrated to the United States. [4]

Kyrgyz Americans

The emigration of Kyrgyz to the United States began in the 1970s, when hundreds of Afghan Kyrgyz were forced to urgently evacuate from Afghanistan during the Afghan war. However, mass emigration to the United States began in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and political instability in the post-Soviet space.

The number of Kyrgyz immigrants living in the United States is estimated at 30,000 to 50,000. However, the exact number is difficult to determine because some Kyrgyz Americans may be undocumented migrants.

As a rule, migration is carried out using the green card lottery. [5]

Tajik Americans

Turkmen Americans

Turkmen Americans are a very small ethnic group in the United States. The exact number of Turkmen Americans is not well-documented, and they are not as prominent or numerous as some other ethnic groups in the country.

Uzbek Americans

Tandoori Food and Bakery, a kosher Bukharan Jewish Uzbek restaurant in Rego Park, Queens, June 2018 Tandoori Food and Bakery 02.jpg
Tandoori Food and Bakery, a kosher Bukharan Jewish Uzbek restaurant in Rego Park, Queens, June 2018

Excluding Afghan Americans, Uzbek Americans are the largest Central Asian population in the United States. 62,713 Uzbeks live in the United States, [1] with the largest community existing in the New York City metropolitan area. The New York area Uzbek community is diverse and has 3 main sub-communities: Uzbek Muslims who first came to the United States in the 1980s as political refugees from the Soviet Union living in Morris County, New Jersey, many of whom are staunchly anti-communist and upwardly mobile; newer Uzbek Muslim immigrants to New York City who have benefited from the green card lottery, 20,000 of whom have settled in Brooklyn since the 2000s; and the Bukharan Jews who mostly live in Queens, many of whom have done well in real estate and the Diamond District. [6]

Bukharan Jews

The United States has the largest community of Bukharan Jews in the world outside of Israel. 70,000 Bukharian Jews reside in the United States, with 50,000 living in the New York City borough of Queens alone. The Bukharan Jews are concentrated in the neighborhoods of Rego Park, Queens and Forest Hills. [7] [8]

Afghan Americans

Hazrati Abu Bakr Siddique, a mosque in Queens founded by Afghan, Turkistani, and Uzbek immigrants from Afghanistan, April 2009 Flushing 33 Av 143 St mosque jeh.JPG
Hazrati Abu Bakr Siddique, a mosque in Queens founded by Afghan, Turkistani, and Uzbek immigrants from Afghanistan, April 2009

Afghan Americans (Dari : آمریکایی‌های افغان‌تبارAmrikāyi-hāye Afghān tabar, Pashto : د امريکا افغانانDa Amrīka Afghanan) are Americans of Afghan descent or Americans who originated from Afghanistan. They form the largest Afghan community in North America with the second being Afghan Canadians. The Afghan Americans may originate from any of the ethnic groups of Afghanistan. They have long been considered by the Board of Immigration Appeals and the United States Census Bureau as White Americans, [9] but a significant number may also identify themselves as Middle Eastern Americans or Asian Americans. [10] [11]

The Afghan community in the United States was minimal until large numbers were admitted as refugees following the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Others have arrived similarly during and after the latest war in Afghanistan. [12] [13] Afghan Americans reside and work all across the United States. [14] The states of California, Virginia and New York historically had the largest number of Afghan Americans. [15] [11] Thousands may also be found in the states of Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington, Oklahoma, Michigan, Idaho, Missouri, North Carolina, and Illinois. [16] [17] [14] [13] [18] [19] As of 2019, their total number is approximately 156,434. [20]

Baloch Americans

Baloch Americans are Americans of Baloch descent.

A 2015 eight-part documentary by VSH News, the first Balochi language news channel, called Balochs in America, shows that Baloch Americans live in different parts of the United States, including Washington D.C., New York, Texas, North Carolina, and Washington. Many Baloch Americans come from Pakistan, particularly Karachi and the province of Balochistan. Others come from the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan. Many Baloch Americans work at nonprofits, information technology companies, and in the public sector.

Uyghur Americans

Uyghur Americans are Americans of Uyghur ethnicity. Most Uyghurs immigrated from Xinjiang, China, to the United States from the late 1980s onward, with a significant number arriving after July 2009. The Uyghur American population is small, but growing. Northern Virginia has one of the largest Uyghur populations in the United States. [21] Around 1,500 Uyghurs live in the Washington metropolitan area, with the majority living in Fairfax County, Virginia. [22] A small but notable community of around 150 Uyghurs live in the Boston area. [23]

Uyghurs' history in the United States dates back to the 1960s with the arrival of a small number of immigrants. In the late 20th century, after a series of Xinjiang conflicts, thousands of Uyghurs fled from their homeland of Xinjiang (China) to Kazakhstan, Turkey, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries and places. A 2010 estimate put the Uyghur population in the United States at one thousand, however, the Uyghur American Association has said that more have moved to the United States in the 2010s because of the crackdown in China in July 2009. Several thousand Uyghurs are said to be living in the Washington, D.C. area, which has the largest population of Uyghurs in the United States. There are also small populations of Uyghurs in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Houston.

As for 2019, the Chinese government was reported to routinely carry out harassment and abuse of Uyghurs in the United States in an attempt to control the speech and actions of the estimated 8,905-15,000 persons of Uyghur ethnicity living in the United States. Section 8 of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 requires a report on "efforts to protect United States citizens and residents, including ethnic Uyghurs and Chinese nationals legally studying or working temporarily in the United States, who have experienced harassment or intimidation within the United States by officials or agents of the Government of the People's Republic of China" to be produced within 90 days.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Asia</span> Subregion in Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea to the southwest, European Russia to the northwest, China and Mongolia to the east, Afghanistan and Iran to the south, and Siberia to the north. It includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan" in both respective native languages and most other languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Kyrgyzstan</span>

The Demographics of Kyrgyzstan is about the demographic features of the population of Kyrgyzstan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The name Kyrgyz, both for the people and the country, means "forty tribes", a reference to the epic hero Manas who unified forty tribes against the Oirats, as symbolized by the 40-ray sun on the flag of Kyrgyzstan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tajiks</span> Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia

Tajiks are a Persian-speaking Eastern Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. More Tajiks live in Afghanistan than Tajikistan. They speak varieties of Persian, a Western Iranian language. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang, who speak the Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages. In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are counted as a separate ethnic group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Afghanistan</span>

The population of Afghanistan is around 43.4 million as of 2024. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Central Asia, South Asia, and Western Asia. Ethnic groups in the country include Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, as well as smaller groups such as Baloch, Nuristani, Turkmen, Aimaq, Mongol and some others which are less known. Together they make up the contemporary Afghan people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyrgyz people</span> Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia

The Kyrgyz people are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia. They primarily reside in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and China. A Kyrgyz diaspora is also found in Russia, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. They speak the Kyrgyz language, which is the official language of Kyrgyzstan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyrgyzstan</span> Country in Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the capital and largest city. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast. Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's over 7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians.

The Kazakhs are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe. There are Kazakh communities in Kazakhstan's border regions in Russia, northern Uzbekistan, northwestern China, western Mongolia and Iran. The Kazakhs arose from the merging of various medieval tribes of Turkic and Mongolic origin in the 15th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bukharan Jews</span> Jewish subgroup of Central Asia

Bukharan Jews, in modern times called Bukharian Jews, are the Mizrahi Jewish sub-group of Central Asia that traditionally spoke Bukharian, a Judeo-Persian language most similar to the Tajik dialect of Farsi. Their name comes from the former Muslim-Uzbek polity Emirate of Bukhara which once had a sizable Jewish population. The vast majority lived in modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, with small groups in Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Afghanistan</span> Ethnic group

The history of the Jews in Afghanistan goes back at least 2,500 years. Ancient Iranian tradition suggests that Jews settled in Balkh, a Zoroastrian and Buddhist stronghold at the time. The Kingdom of Judah collapsed in 587 BCE leading to this migration. In more recent times, the community has been reduced to complete extinction. At the time of the large-scale 2021 Taliban offensive, only two Jews were still residing in the country: Zablon Simintov and his distant cousin Tova Moradi. When the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was re-established by the Taliban in August 2021, both Simintov and Moradi made aliyah on 7 September 2021 and 29 October 2021, respectively, leaving Afghanistan completely empty of Jews. Today, the overwhelming majority of the Afghan Jewish community resides in Israel, with a small group of a few hundred living in the United States and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sart</span> Historical term for settled inhabitants of Central Asia

Sart is a name for the settled inhabitants of Central Asia which has had shifting meanings over the centuries. According to Great Soviet Encyclopedia, before the October Revolution of 1917, the name “Sart” was used in relation to the Uyghurs and Uzbeks by Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and semi-nomadic Uzbeks.

Ethnic groups in South Asia are ethnolinguistic groupings within the diverse populations of South Asia, including the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan is variously considered to be a part of both Central Asia and South Asia, which means Afghans are not always included among South Asians, but when they are, South Asia has a total population of about 2.04 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soviet Central Asia</span> Section of Central Asia formerly controlled by the Soviet Union

Soviet Central Asia was the part of Central Asia administered by the Russian SFSR and then the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian republics declared independence. It is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan in the Russian Empire. Soviet Central Asia went through many territorial divisions before the current borders were created in the 1920s and 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyuli</span> Branch of Ghorbati people

The Lyuli, Jughi or Jugi are a branch of the Ghorbati people living in Central Asia, primarily Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and southern Kyrgyzstan; also, related groups can be found in Turkey, and the Balkans, Crimea, Southern Russia and Afghanistan. They speak ethnolects of the Persian and Turkic language and practice Sunni Islam. The terms Lyuli and Jugi are considered pejorative. They have a clan organization. Division into sub-clans is also practiced. The Lyuli community is extremely closed towards non-Lyuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic groups in Afghanistan</span>

Afghanistan is a multiethnic and mostly tribal society. The population of the country consists of numerous ethnolinguistic groups: mainly the Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, and Uzbek, as well as the minorities of Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Brahui, Qizilbash, Pamiri, Kyrgyz, Moghol, and others. Altogether they make up the Afghan people.

The threat of terrorism in Kazakhstan plays an increasingly important role in relations with the United States which in 2006 were at an all-time high. Kazakhstan has taken Uzbekistan's place as the favored partner in Central Asia for both Russia and the United States. Kazakhstan's counter-terrorism efforts resulted in the country's 94th ranking among 130 countries in the 2016 Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute of Economics and Peace. The higher the position on the ranking is, the bigger the impact of terrorism in the country. Kazakhstan's 94th place puts it in a group of countries with the lowest impact of terrorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazakhs in China</span> Ethnic group in Xinjiang, China

Kazakhs in China form the largest community of Kazakhs outside Kazakhstan. They are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. There is one Kazakh autonomous prefecture – Ili in Xinjiang – and three Kazakh autonomous counties – Aksay in Gansu, and Barkol and Mori in Xinjiang.

Minorities in Turkey form a substantial part of the country's population, representing an estimated 25 to 28 percent of the population. Historically, in the Ottoman Empire, Islam was the official and dominant religion, with Muslims having more rights than non-Muslims, whose rights were restricted. Non-Muslim (dhimmi) ethno-religious groups were legally identified by different millet ("nations").

Uzbek Americans are Americans of Uzbek descent as well as non-Uzbek former citizens of Uzbekistan. The community also includes those who have dual American and Uzbek citizenship.

The history of the Jews in Central Asia dates back centuries, where Jews have lived in countries which include Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Central Asians in the United Kingdom are Central Asians living in the United Kingdom. They have been present in the country since the 21st century and primarily originate from the countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES, Universe: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea, 2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  2. ↑ "What Updates to OMB's Race/Ethnicity Standards Mean for the Census Bureau". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  3. ↑ "What You Should Know About the Upcoming Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A".
  4. ↑ Mendikulova G. The Kazakh Diaspora: History and Modernity. - Almaty, 2006. - p. 264-268
  5. ↑ "CENTRAL ASIAN DIASPORA IN THE USA: THE CASE OF KYRGYZ AMERICANS". Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2021-06-20. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  6. ↑ "ISIS at the Gyro King". New York Magazine. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  7. ↑ "Now Americans, Bukharian Jews face new set of challenges". Times of Israel. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  8. ↑ Higgins, Andrew (7 April 2018). "In Bukhara, 10,000 Jewish Graves but Just 150 Jews". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  9. ↑ "In the Matter of K, 2 I&N Dec. 253". Board of Immigration Appeals. May 26, 1945. p. 256. Retrieved 2021-07-23– via Casetext.com. From an ethnological and scientific point of view, Afghans are unanimously considered to be of the Caucasian race and white persons.
  10. ↑ Zeweri, Helena (2011). "Afghan American: Identity". In Jonathan H. X. Lee (ed.). Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife. ABC-CLIO. pp. 117–120. ISBN   978-0-313-35066-5. Some of Afghan ancestry might choose Middle Eastern as a way to self-identify, while others might pick Asian based on geographical understand of their ancestral lineage, and still others might pick white (non-Hispanic) because it rings truer to them from a racial classification point of view.
  11. 1 2 "Economic integration of Afghan refugees in the US, 1980–2015" (PDF). World Institute for Development Economics Research. May 2018. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  12. ↑ "How Biden is resettling Afghans in the US". Washington Examiner. September 1, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  13. 1 2 "Denver ranks among top relocation destinations for Afghan refugees". Axios. September 1, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  14. 1 2 "Country of origin: Afghanistan". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  15. ↑ "Afghans in New York Look Back on a Strange Decade". The Atlantic. September 2, 2011. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  16. ↑ "California and New York are hubs for Afghan resettlements". Washington Examiner. August 24, 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  17. ↑ "Mapped: Afghan refugees headed to 46 states". Axios. September 16, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  18. ↑ Matthew B. Stannard (August 21, 2009). "Fremont's Little Kabul eyes election with hope". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  19. ↑ "New York's Divided Afghans". The Baltimore Sun. July 8, 2004. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  20. ↑ "2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates: Afghan". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Uyghurs in America Aim To Keep Language Alive". Voice of America. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  22. ↑ "'We're A People That Are Grieving': Local Uighurs Have Escaped China, But Still Fear Repression". DCist. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  23. ↑ "Local Uyghur Restaurant Owner Speaks Out: 'I Should Fight For My Father'". WGBH (FM). 23 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
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