Why did many educated Greek men fled to Italy?
Answers
about thirty-five million people, mainly from southern and eastern Europe, arrived on U.S. shores between 1880 and 1920, changing forever the nature of American civilization. In southern Europe, the rise of the modern world made life difficult for some, particularly for the struggling farmers and workers. Two southern European countries responsible for a significant portion of the mass migration were Italy and Greece.
Between 1880 and 1920, an estimated four million people left Italy for the United States, making Italians the single largest European national group to move to America in the era when people throughout eastern and central Europe were making a similar voyage. The Italians were not simply pursuing dreams of economic prosperity; they were also bringing with them a culture and traditions that became a central part of American culture and tradition. Establishing outposts called Little Italy in cities like New York City; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts, it often seemed that Italian immigrants were not leaving Italy so much as bringing Italy with them to America in their search for a better life.
Most Greek Americans today are descended from immigrants who came to the United States during the migration of 1880 through 1920. The majority of Greek immigrants were young men from the southern peninsula of Greece, known as the Peloponnesus region. The young men hoped to work hard in the United States, save up a sizeable amount of money, and then return to Greece. By 1925 one out of every four Greek men between the ages of fifteen and forty-five had gone to the United States. About 40 percent of those who immigrated between 1908 and 1931 did return to Greece, but the rest stayed in America.
In 2000 the U.S. Census reported 15,725,555 people of Italian heritage, although these figures are low due to the intermarriage of Italian Americans with Americans of other ancestry. The estimated number of people in the United States with at least one Italian grandparent may be as high as 26 million. The census also revealed that Italian Americans are the nation's fifth largest ethnic group. In 2000 there were 1,153,307 people of Greek heritage.
The roots of Italian emigration
The large-scale emigration from Italy to the United States had deep roots in the physical features of the country, in Italian history, and in the nature of Italian society. About 75 percent of Italy is covered by mountains, ranging from the Alps in the north, where Italy adjoins Switzerland and Austria, to the Apennines, a mountain range that runs southeast down the spine of the Italian peninsula in the shape of a backwards C. Only about a fourth of Italian land area, primarily in the northern part of the country in the valley of the Po River, is flat, making it suitable for raising wheat (the source of flour used to make bread and pasta) and a variety of other food crop.