The Portuguese in the United States
Hispanic Division, Library of Congress
The Portuguese were the leading European explorers in the fifteenth century and it was through
the efforts of Portuguese-born and sponsored men that many parts of the world, including the
coast of present-day California, were discovered and mapped. They began settling in the United
States several centuries later, although there were isolated Portuguese Jewish communities here
beginning in the seventeenth century and in the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii, in the eighteenth.
In the late 1900s large numbers began to immigrate, often first working on whaling ships leaving
from the Azores or Cape Verde Islands and settling in Hawaii, California, or New England.
Eventually they would come to New Jersey and other parts of the United States. With the
enactment of new immigration legislation in 1921, new arrivals dropped tremendously, picking up
again in the 1950s after earthquakes devastated the Azorean island of Faial. The immigrants came
largely from the Azores, but also from Cape Verde and Madeira, later from mainland Portugal and
occasionally from other parts of the Portuguese empire, including Macau. They and their
descendants have been active in all facets of life in the United States, from agriculture to industry to politics, and at the same time have introduced some of their customs, food, and even
instruments to other Americans.
This project is sponsored by the Luso-American Development Foundation, and is part of the Transatlantic Digital Library project.
Special Presentation:
Celebrating Portuguese Communities in the U.S.: A Cartographic
Perspective
Acknowledgements
Library of Congress
Comments: Ask a Librarian
(06/04/99)