CHAPTER 1
MIGRATION

The outward movement of Greeks to the United States began around the 1870s. The Spartans, from Sparta, Greece, were the first in the modern era to give signs of mass migration from Greece, primarily for economic reasons. Initially it was only for brief periods and on a fairly small scale. Emigration from Sparta began to increase around 1880 and peaked between 1890 and 1910 when an estimated three-fourths of the male population between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five departed for the United 14 States.

After 1890, Greeks began migrating from all parts of the country. They came from central Greece, Crete, the Aegean and lonian Islands, Asia and European Turkey, Cyprus and the Balkan countries. Over time, the greatest outflow during this period came from the Peloponnese region of Greece. When Greek migration again peaked after World War II, the emigrants predominantly came from Athens and central 15 Greece. These patterns hold true for the Greek population of Las Vegas. The majority of early Greeks settling in Las Vegas came from the Peloponnese region and the island of Crete. The Greeks settling in Las Vegas during the last twenty years have migrated primarily from Athens and central Greece.

The main stimulus behind the departure of most Greeks has been economic need. The population of Greece began to grow rapidly in the late nineteenth century. Greece could 16 not supply enough food or jobs for its people. The Greek peasants experienced the greatest hardships during these desperate times. Crop failures, poor soil conditions, floods, earthquakes, and oppressive taxation forced many poor and illiterate peasants to look elsewhere for economic 17 survival. Migration during the early 1900s was precipitated even further by the decline in the price of 18 currants, the principle export crop.

To the Greek peasant, the United States became the land of opportunity where money could be made quickly if one worked hard. The majority of early Greek immigrants intended to return to Greece with sufficient capital to enjoy a comfortable life in their home villages and if necessary, ensure the proper marriage of their daughters and sisters by building up dowries from American earnings.19 Prior to World War I, almost half did eventually return to Greece. However, as Greek immigrants became more and more economically and socially attached to the United States, their migration back to Greece dramatically dropped off.

Few of the post World War II Greeks emigrated with the 20 intention of returning. Because the primary motive of the early Greek immigrant was to return to Greece, emigration was largely a male 7 phenomenon. By 1910, an estimated one quarter to one-fifth 21 of the total male labor force of Greece had left. Men sometimes left Greece to avoid compulsory military service. Many times they were ordered by the Greek government to serve up to four terms in the armed forces. Many Greek women began emigrating to the United States after World War I in search of husbands who were in short supply in Greece.23

Greek immigrants from the Ottoman Empire, especially before 1912, usually left for political rather than economic reasons. These Greek traders had built a substantial economic base, however, with renewed rivalries among the Bulgars, Turks, and Greeks, they were becoming increasingly 22 persecuted. Anti-Greek activities escalated in 1955 primarily from the riots in Istanbul and during the 1960s and 1970s from the tension between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus.24 The early Greek immigrants embarked on a new and difficult journey to the United States. Before they left, most of the early immigrants had probably never ventured far beyond their native villages, knew little about the United States, and did not speak the English language. Few had gone beyond grammar school and women with any schooling were exceptional. "The determination of the immigrant to find opportunity or easy riches urged them on. The appeal of America, despite the hardships endured in the process of reaching it was overpowering. The urge to emigrate proved 8 irresistible. .

All the early Greeks who eventually settled in Las Vegas gave economic reasons for leaving Greece to come to the United States. They saw few economic opportunities in their own village, but a vast amount in the United States if one was willing to work hard, which they were. In comparison to the early immigrants, the recent arrivals have been better educated and more urban. They are not leaving the small peasant village, but the larger cities such as Athens. They also are leaving primarily for economic reasons, however their economic backgrounds are different. The demographics of these two groups also differ. Unlike the original immigrants, there are more families leaving Greece and almost as many women as men. Many of these families are in the company of small children.26 9

ENDNOTES
14. Ibid., pp.23-24.
15. Theodore Saloutos, "Greeks", Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethic Groups, ed. Stephan Thernstran, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980), p.432.
16. Ibid., p.431.
17. Kaplan, p.83.
18. Papanikolas, P.409
19. Charles C. Moskos, Jr., "Greek American Studies", in The Greek Community in Transition, ed. Harry J. Psomiades and Alice Scourby (New York: Pella, 1982), p. 37.
20. Greeks, Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethic Groups, p. 432.
21. Ibid.
22. Saloutos, p.33
23. Greeks, Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, p.432.
24. Ibid.
25. Saloutos, p.43 6
26. Moskos, Greek American Studies, p.5O.