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 Asians in the United States 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. The United States census does not mention Central Asians under any category. [2]

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. [3]

Kyrgyz Americans

The emigration of Kyrgyz to the United States began in the 70s, 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. [4]

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 benefitted 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. [5]

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. [6] [7]

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, [8] but a significant number may also identify themselves as Middle Eastern Americans or Asian Americans. [9] [10]

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. [11] [12] Afghan Americans reside and work all across the United States. [13] The states of California, Virginia and New York historically had the largest number of Afghan Americans. [14] [10] Thousands may also be found in the states of Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington, Oklahoma, Michigan, Idaho, Missouri, North Carolina, and Illinois. [15] [16] [13] [12] [17] [18] As of 2019, their total number is approximately 156,434. [19]

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 onwards, 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. [20] Around 1,500 Uyghurs live in the Washington metropolitan area, with the majority living in Fairfax County, Virginia. [21] A small but notable community of around 150 Uyghurs live in the Boston area. [22]

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">Afghans</span> People or citizens of Afghanistan

Afghans or Afghan people are nationals or citizens of Afghanistan, or people with ancestry from there. Afghanistan is made up of various ethnicities, of which Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks are the largest. The two main languages spoken by Afghans are Dari and Pashto, and many Afghans are bilingual in speaking fluent Dari and Pashto.

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

Central Asia is a subregion of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the southwest and Eastern Europe in the northwest to Western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Central Asian nations are colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as the countries all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan", meaning "land of".

<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 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. 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 41 million as of 2023. 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 Nuristani, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, 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 are primarily found in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 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 of the country. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast. With a population of 6.7 million, Kyrgyzstan is the 34th-most populous country in Asia, and the 4th-most populous country in Central Asia. Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's seven million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazakhs</span> Turkic people of Central Asia and Eastern Europe

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe, mainly Kazakhstan, but also parts of northern Uzbekistan and the border regions of Russia, as well as northwestern China and western Mongolia. The Kazakhs arose from the merging of the medieval tribes of Turkic and Mongolic origin in the 15th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of China</span>

There are several hundred languages in China. The predominant language is Standard Chinese, which is based on Beijingese, but there are hundreds of related Chinese languages, collectively known as Hanyu, that are spoken by 92% of the population. The Chinese languages are typically divided into seven major language groups, and their study is a distinct academic discipline. They differ as much from each other morphologically and phonetically as do English, German and Danish, but meanwhile share the same writing system (Hanzi) and are mutually intelligible in written form. There are in addition approximately 300 minority languages spoken by the remaining 8% of the population of China. The ones with greatest state support are Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang.

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

Bukharan Jews, in modern times also called Bukharian Jews, are an ethnoreligious Jewish sub-group of Central Asia that historically spoke Bukharian, a Judeo-Tajik dialect of the Tajik language, in turn a variety of the Persian language. Their name comes from the former Central Asian Emirate of Bukhara, which once had a sizable Jewish population. Bukharan Jews comprise Persian-speaking Jewry along with the Jews of Iran, Afghanistan, and the Caucasus Mountains. Bukharan Jews are Mizrahi Jews, like Persian, Afghan and Mountain Jews.

<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.

<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 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.

Prior to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) posed the greatest threat to the Karimov administration. In 2002 the IMU was reclassified as terrorist by the United States. Since the invasion, the IMU has been greatly weakened due to US military actions which cut off its supply of resources and killed its leader, Juma Namangani.

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">Ethnic groups of Pakistan</span> Overview of the ethnic groups of Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the world's most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries. The major Pakistani ethnolinguistic groups include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Gujjar, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Balochs, Paharis and Brahuis, with significant numbers of Baltis, Kashmiris, Chitralis, Shina, Kohistanis, Torwalis, Hazaras, Burusho, Wakhis, Kalash, Siddis, Uzbeks, Nuristanis, Pamiris, Hindkowans, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uyghurs and other various minorities.

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 different duties from non-Muslims. Non-Muslim (dhimmi) ethno-religious groups were legally identified by different millet ("nations").

Uzbek Americans are Americans of Uzbek descent. 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. ↑ "About the Topic of Race".
  3. ↑ Mendikulova G. The Kazakh Diaspora: History and Modernity. - Almaty, 2006. - p. 264-268
  4. ↑ "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.
  5. ↑ "ISIS at the Gyro King". New York Magazine. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  6. ↑ "Now Americans, Bukharian Jews face new set of challenges". Times of Israel. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  7. ↑ Higgins, Andrew (7 April 2018). "In Bukhara, 10,000 Jewish Graves but Just 150 Jews". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. 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.
  11. ↑ "How Biden is resettling Afghans in the US". Washington Examiner. September 1, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  12. 1 2 "Denver ranks among top relocation destinations for Afghan refugees". Axios. September 1, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  13. 1 2 "Country of origin: Afghanistan". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  14. ↑ "Afghans in New York Look Back on a Strange Decade". The Atlantic. September 2, 2011. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  15. ↑ "California and New York are hubs for Afghan resettlements". Washington Examiner. August 24, 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  16. ↑ "Mapped: Afghan refugees headed to 46 states". Axios. September 16, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  17. ↑ Matthew B. Stannard (August 21, 2009). "Fremont's Little Kabul eyes election with hope". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  18. ↑ "New York's Divided Afghans". The Baltimore Sun. July 8, 2004. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  19. ↑ "2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates: Afghan". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Uyghurs in America Aim To Keep Language Alive". Voice of America. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  21. ↑ "'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.
  22. ↑ "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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