Colombian American - History

History

The first Colombians immigrants who settled in the United States arrived, probably, in the nineteenth century. However, the Colombian presence in United States would not be known with certainty since the federal census did not specify the country of origin for South Americans until 1960. These immigrants did not maintain any relation with their native countries, just until a few generations after, they identify themselves only as Americans.

The first Colombian community formed after World War I, through the arrival of several hundred professionals (nurses, accountants, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, and bilingual secretaries) that established to New York City; more late, were added to community the students who decided stay on after earning their degrees. Most immigrants settled in Jackson Heights, a middle-class neighborhood in Queens, that have good houses, school and churches. The growth of neighborhood was slow until 1940, when increase the Colombian immigration to New York.

Most Colombians who arrived after the mid-1960s wanted to stay in the United States temporarily. Therefore, increased the number of Colombian illegal immigrants: This immigrants were of 250,000 to 350,000 people in the mid 1970s. Despite a succession of immigration laws, the Colombian population in the United States continued to grow. New York remained the most popular destination. Smaller communities formed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. and in the 1970s, North Side, Chicago. since the 80´s, many Colombians be established in Miami (especially in his suburbs, such as Doral, Kendall, and Hialeah, and the Weston suburb of Fort Lauderdale). Initially they settle in Little Havana, the largest Cuban neighborhood, engaged, many them, in business of trade between Miami and Latin America. The area also attracted the Colombian wealthy, who settled there to get medical care, send their children to school, and escape from social, economic, and political turmoil in Colombia. Thus, by 1987 Colombian Americans were one of the fastest growing Hispanic groups in Miami. By the early 1990s, many Colombian Americans left the metropolitan centers for the suburbs due to crime and the high cost of urban living. This trend was probably started for the first time in the coastal towns of Connecticut and New York. Thus, the Colombians communities had a great growth in places as Stamford, Connecticut, Bergenline and Englewood, New Jersey, Jacksonville, Florida (that attracted a growing number of people from Miami), and Skokie, Evanston, Arlington Heights and Park Ridge, Illinois. Despite the migration to others areas, the largest communities remained in New York City, Miami, and their environs. In 1990 and 1991, 43,891 Colombians were admitted to the United States, more than from any other South American country. Also, they were for the first more important group of undocumented immigrants of South America. The 1992 and 1997 were years in which the guerrillas in Colombia increased, so nearly 75,000 Colombians immigrated to the United States in this period, many of them stayed in California.