The Greek-American Community: Past Achievements and Future Opportunities

Greeks began arriving in America in significant numbers starting in the 1890s. At that time, more Greeks lived outside of Greece than in Greece proper. Greece had achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, but it was only after the First World War that the modern Greek state attained the borders that approximate it today and even these borders did not become final until after the Second World War. Many Greek immigrants thus came from the remaining parts of the Ottoman Empire, the surrounding Balkan countries, and Egypt. Greek immigrants also came from Cyprus, which did not become independent from British rule until 1960.