
An Armenian American is an American whose ancestry is from Armenia. During the 2009 Census in the United States, 1,270,000 Americans indicated either full or partial Armenian ancestry.
History
The first Armenian known to have moved to America is nicknamed "Martin the Armenian". He was one of the settlers in the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. He arrived in Jamestown in 1618, when the colony was only 11 years old. Martin was invited to the colony to raise silk worms. Other Armenians were also brought to the colony but they went back to Europe.
Armenians began to arrive in the United States in high numbers in the late 19th century. However, the influx was intensified when over 100,000 Armenian refugees came after World War I to flee the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
Images for kids
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An Armenian family in Boston, 1908
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Distribution of Armenians in Los Angeles County, 2000.
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Glendale, California has the highest concentration of Armenians in the nation and the highest outside of Armenia.
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The Armenian Heritage Park in downtown Boston
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Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School in Little Armenia neighborhood of East Hollywood is the largest Armenian school in the US with more than 1,000 students.
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St. Vartan Cathedral in midtown Manhattan
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Armenian National Committee of America headquarters in Washington
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System of a Down is composed of four Armenians
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George Deukmejian was the Governor of California from 1983 to 1991
