Regardless, Russia possesses the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia proper, making it home of the largest community in the Armenian diaspora.

Armenians populate various regions, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai in the North Caucasus and as far as Vladivostok in the East.

Russian government is encouraging Armenians to immigrate and settle in Russia under Compatriots program and is providing financial and settlement incentives[3]. By some estimates Armenian population in Russia may now exceed the population of Armenia.

There has been an Armenian presence in Russia since the Late Middle Ages, when various artisans, merchants and traders ventured north to the Crimea and the northern Caucasus in order to set up trade ties and conduct commerce.

Distribution

Number of Armenians in Russia by federal subjects and by years.

Rank Federal subject 1959[4] 1970[5] 1979[6] 1989[7] 2002[1]
1 Krasnodar Krai 78,176 98,589 120,797 182,217 274,566
2 Stavropol Krai 25,618 31,096 40,504 72,530 149,249
3 City of Moscow 18,379 25,584 31,414 43,989 124,425
4 Rostov Oblast 49,305 53,620 56,902 62,603 109,994
5 Moscow Oblast 5,353 5,683 7,549 9,245 39,660
6 Volgograd Oblast 2,898 4,229 6,784 26,974
7 Saratov Oblast 1,046 1,815 3,531 6,404 24,976
8 Samara Oblast 1,027 1,629 2,216 4,162 21,566
9 City of Saint-Petersburg 4,897 6,628 7,995 12,070 19,164
10 North Ossetia 12,012 13,355 12,912 13,619 17,147

Armenian pioneers

The first Armenian known to have immigrated to America was Martin the Armenian. He arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1618, when the colony was only eleven years old. A few other Armenians are recorded as having come to the United States in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but they mostly came as individuals and did not form a community. A number of Armenians were known to have served for the side of the Union during the Civil War. Three Armenian doctors, Simeon Minasian, Garabed Galstian, and Baronig Matevosian, worked at military hospitals in Philadelphia.The only Armenian known to have participated in hostilities was Khachadour Paul Garabedian, who enlisted in the Union Navy as Third Assistant Engineer and attained officer rank. A naturalized citizen who hailed from Rodosto, Garabedian served aboard the blockade ships USS Geranium and USS Grand Gulf from 1864 until his honorable discharge from the Navy in August 1865.

First wave of immigration

In 1870, the number of Armenians living in the United States stood only at 69.[4] The first Armenians to arrive to the United States in the nineteenth century were students from Western Armenia coming in search of a higher education. The pioneer of this movement is noted to be Khachadour Vosganian, who stayed in the US and later became president of the New York Press Club.

Armenians began to arrive in the United States in higher numbers in the late nineteenth century, most notably after the Hamidian Massacres of 1894-1896.The largest communities were founded in Fresno and other towns in the San Joaquin Valley and Worcester, Massachusetts. Discrimination was widespread and many Armenians struggled against the overt racism and housing restrictions (the Armenians living in central California were often referred to by natives as “Fresno Indians” and “lower class Jews”). This first wave of immigration lasted until the mid-1920s, when the new immigration quotas decreased the number of Armenians who were allowed to immigrate into the US. This wave of immigrants established Armenian communities and organizations in the United States, most notably the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Split within the Armenian community

As the first wave of immigrants was arriving in America, the dust was settling from World War I. By the 1920s, Western Armenia, the homeland of most Armenian-Americans, was depleted almost entirely of its Armenian population, and Eastern Armenia, which had enjoyed a short-lived period of independence as the First Republic of Armenia, was incorporated into the Soviet Union as Soviet Armenia. Armenians in the United States had many different viewpoints on their future. Some wished to stay in America, some wished to return to Soviet Armenia, some wished to liberate their lost homeland from the new Turkish Republic, and some wished to liberate Soviet Armenia from the Soviet Union. The strongest Armenian political organization in the Diaspora, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, was active in the United States and was pushing for the liberation of Soviet Armenia as an independent state.

Most other Armenian political or social organizations opposed this viewpoint and generally supported the status quo of the Armenian political situation. The people themselves were split down the middle. This political divide spilled over into the Armenian Apostolic Church as Armenians who viewed the church as the mouthpiece of the Armenian people tried to force church leaders to promote their political agendas. Events in 1933 led to the separation of the Armenian Church of America into two rival factions, the “Diocese of the Armenian Church of America” and the “Prelacy of the Armenian Church of America.” The Diocese pledged loyalty to the Armenian Catholicos of Echmiadzin while the Prelacy renounced Echmiadzin’s leadership as being controlled by the Soviets. This split meant that since 1933 the Armenian community in the U.S. has on many levels developed as two parallel communities, since bitter rivalries meant that many Armenians refused to associate with those from the “other side.”

During the Second World War, many Armenians served in the armed forces of the United States. A great number were decorated for their service, including Sgt. (later colonel) Ernest Dervishian, a native of Virginia, who was awarded with the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Second wave of immigration 

There was some Armenian immigration to the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, notably the Soviet Armenian prisoners of war who immigrated to the west after being freed from Nazi German camps (known as D.P.’s or Displaced Persons). However, the true second wave of immigration did not begin until the immigration reforms of the 1960s allowed for it. Armenians once again began immigrating to the United States from various parts of the Old World diaspora or from now-Soviet Armenia.

Especially due to the Iranian revolution of 1979 and various other political upheavals in countries of the Middle East where Armenians were then living, Armenian immigration to America boomed into a Second Wave in the 1970s and 1980s. Starting around the same time and continuing after the breakup of the Soviet Union, waves of Armenians from the former Soviet Union arrived for ideological freedom and economic opportunities and settled in older established Armenian communities across the country. Most of the early Armenian immigrants who came from Soviet Armenia actually lived pretty comfortably in their former country but sought freedom from Communist repression. However, later, in the early 1990s, many Armenians arrived in the United States following the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Armenian Americans are often heavily involved in politics involving promotion of ties with Armenia. During the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Armenian Diaspora in the US was a crucial provider of resources to the country of Armenia, and many Armenian Americans, in fact, volunteered to fight on the side of their homeland. With regards to recognition of the Armenian Genocide, many Armenian American groups have organized to promote legal recognition, and partly as a result, 43 states now recognize (although the federal government does not).

The Armenian-American community consists largely of descendants of the survivors of the Armenian massacres in the 1890s and the subsequent Armenian genocide.

Armenian Demographics

Armenian-Americans are one of the most educated ethnic groups in the United States with a high school graduation rate above 88%. Also, second-generation Armenian-Americans have the highest rate of earning Bachelor’s degrees at around 70%.

Distribution

California and Western US

California hosts the largest Armenian-American population. The first Armenian to arrive in California was Ruben Minasian, also known as Normart, which means new man in Armenian. He settled in Fresno in 1874. The first Armenians, who came as residents were members of the family Serobian. They arrived to Fresno in 1881, although after 16 years (in 1897) the number of Armenians in the city of Fresno has reached 329. In the 1920s, Armenians began to move from rural regions to cities, such as Los Angeles. By 1930, the Armenian population of Los Angeles was the largest in California. The largest concentration of Armenian-Americans is located in Glendale, where 26.2% of residents identified themselves as Armenian on the 2000 US Census. The eastern part of the Hollywood district of Los Angeles was named “Little Armenia” on October 6, 2000.

The first Armenian arrived in Fresno in 1876. He expected a “paradise,” as it had been represented to him, but he thought the hot, bleak desert was more like Hell. He went back to Philadelphia two years later. Nevertheless, he was the first Armenian to set foot in California. His real name was Mardiros Yanikian, but supposedly he told the inspector at Ellis Island in Armenian, “Nor mart em!” (“I am a new man!”) So he became Frank Normart.By the count of Hagop Nishigian, there were 329 Armenians in Fresno in 1897.
Cities of California with the largest Armenian communities are (according to the 2000 U.S. Census)1. Los Angeles 64,997
2. Glendale 53,840
3. Burbank 8,312
4. Fresno 6,024
5. Pasadena 4,400
6. Montebello 2,736
7. San Francisco 2,528
8. Altadena 2,134
9. San Diego 1,839
10. La Crescenta-Montrose 1,382
11. San Jose 1,197

In recent years, Armenian communities outside of California developed in:
Denver, Colorado
Las Vegas, Nevada
Phoenix, Arizona
Salt Lake City, Utah
Seattle, Washington
Tucson, Arizona

Eastern and Central United States

Metropolitan areas in Eastern and Central States with the largest Armenian communities are (according to the 2000 U.S. Census):

Rank Metropolitan area State(s) Armenian population
1 Greater New York NY, NJ, CT 31,867
2 Greater Boston MA, NH, RI 21,709
3 Metro Detroit MI 11,986
4 Greater Philadelphia PA, NJ, DE MD 7,562
5 Greater Chicago IL, IN 6,991
6 Providence RI 6,575
7 Greater Miami FL 3,357
8 Greater Worcester MA, CT 3,256
9 Greater Albany GA 1,958
10 Greater Atlanta GA 1,662

Other important Armenian-American communities include: