From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albanian Americans are citizens of the United States who are of Albanian ancestry. According to the 2000 US census, there are 113,661 Americans of full or partial Albanian descent. The states with the largest Albanian American populations are New York (32,428), Michigan (15,343), Massachusetts (10,594), New Jersey (7,336) and Connecticut (7,200). The Albanians began to settle in the USA in the early 1920s from Greece, Southern Italy and Kosovo, and in the 1990s from Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, and refugees of war. But it's said the largest Albanian American (Kosovar Albanian) community is the Riverside/San Bernardino, California area near Los Angeles and San Diego, due to a large number of Kosovars who arrived at the March Air Base in Riverside.[citation needed]
Albanian Americans believe that their population in the United States ranges from 750,000 to about 1,500,000 million. The reason is many have come in the early 20th century and they considered themselves Italians even though they are Arberesh Albanians.[citation needed] The Greater New Orleans area has a large Arberesh community, mostly decended from 19th century Sicilian immigrants ["The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present" by Edwin E. Jacques, 1995].
Similar shifts in ethnic identification happens today when Albanians come from many different countries other than Albania. Some were forced to change their citizenship from Albanian to Serbian to stop the Serbian opression. Many Albanians even though they consider themselves Albanians might have their last names ending with ic or ski which is usually used in Slavic last names. Also many Greeks present and past such as the Arvanities, identify themselves as Greeks if though they have Albanian blood.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
