List of Diasporas - G

G

• Galicians - left their country for mainly economic reasons to other areas of Spain, and to the Americas (esp. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States and Venezuela) and later, Western Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) in the 1950s and 1960s. Galicians also went to Africa, Australia, New Zealand and east Asia: China, Japan and the Philippines which was a former Spanish colony from 1540 to 1898.
• German diaspora - an estimated 150 million ethnic Germans originally from the historic German-speaking homeland of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol and Liechtenstein, and includes parts of Belgium (see the German-speaking Community of Belgium), Croatia, Denmark, France (esp. the region of Alsace), Gottschee County of Slovenia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and the Ukraine. In World War II, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia expelled over 10 million ethnic Germans from the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) and former German provinces which were annexed by Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the former USSR (Belarus) with Soviet and Allied support. In the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, millions of Germans left German lands especially to the Americas (i.e. the United States-see German American, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru and Venezuela). Large numbers also migrated to Australia, where they now form the fourth largest ethnic group, with nearly 750,000 people claiming German descent. Other smaller German communities in Africa or the Middle East (i.e. Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania), east Asia/Oceania (i.e. China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and New Zealand), and across the former Soviet Union (i.e. Kazakhstan).
  • "Ossi(e)s" - a term for former East Germans of the former East Germany or the German Democratic Republic in contrast to the "Wessies" or West Germans. The two countries reunified in 1990, but there is a level of Ostalgie (means East-Nostalagia) for the past and cultural aspects of East Germany. When the Berlin Wall fell and the East-West German border was demolished, hundreds of thousands of Eastern Germans moved to the west side not only for freedom, but for the additional quality of life and economic opportunities available in the west, but after reunification a good percentage returned to what is now the same country. The 5 states of the former East (see New states of Germany) remained culturally distinct, mainly the older generation whom grew up in the GDR era. In 1989, there was an influx of East Germans into opened countries of the Soviet Bloc: Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland with some western embassies, esp. East Germans went to obtain passports from the Federal Republic of (West) Germany; and others went to neutral nations like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Scandinavia and Switzerland for political reasons as some were still sympathetic to communist ideals. Some smaller numbers of East Germans chose to move in various countries of Western Europe and the Americas as well the former Soviet Union, but most returned home in the course of the 1990s. Germany may be reunified, but some "Ossie" cultural identity remains.
  • Mennonites - Christians rooted in the 16th and 17th century Anabaptist movement of the Protestant Reformation in northern Europe. Various groups of Mennonites migrated to the North America (i.e. USA, Canada mainly in Saskatchewan and northern Mexico), eastern Europe and Asia (including Israel and Egypt in Africa). There are Mennonite settlements in Central and South America (esp. in the Gran Chaco, Paraguay) and over a million Mennonite adherents worldwide.
  • Pennsylvania Dutch a corrupted term of "Pennsedeutsch" in Pennsylvania, USA, where a large (in demographic terms) German American cultural presence exists to this day. The Pennsylvania German language is decreasing in use, but has a history in the state going back 350 years.
  • Barossa German spoken by a colony of German-Australians in the Barossa valley, South Australia, Australia.
• Gerashi diasporas - The people of Gerashi origin (of Iran) who have migrated to the Arab States of the southern Persian Gulf in search of necessities and basic human rights. It has continued since the early 20th century bombing of the city by Reza Shah and the federal forces.
• Greek diaspora - refers to any ethnic Greek populations living outside the borders of Greece and Cyprus as a result of modern or ancient migrations. There is a Department of Diaspora Affairs in the Greek government. An estimated three million Greeks live in North America (the United States and Canada), Africa, Australia (especially Melbourne, the third largest 'Greek' city), across Europe - the largest groups being established in Germany, Sweden and Belgium - and the Middle East. Ancient Greek communities in what is now Turkey were destroyed due to the fallout from World War I and persecution. A Greek community remains in Istanbul according to the terms of the Lausanne treaty, but persecution in the 1950s and 1960s led most to flee. Only a small community (Pontic Greeks) remain in Turkey. A similarly ancient community of Greeks in Alexandria and Cairo was ordered to leave Egypt in the 1960s under Nasser's nationalisation programme. In addition, many Greek-speaking Cypriots migrated to Britain in the 20th century.