Armenian diaspora

According to Randall Hansen, "Both in the past and today, the Armenian communities around the world have developed in significantly different ways within the constraints and opportunities found in varied host cultures and countries.

A growing number of Armenians migrated to Cilicia during the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries as a result of the Seljuk Turk invasions.

After the fall of the kingdom to the Mamelukes and loss of Armenian statehood in 1375, up to 150,000 went to Cyprus, the Balkans, and Italy.

[12] The Armenian diaspora is also notable for its historical mercantile communities throughout Asia in the Middle Ages and in the Early Modern Period, in countries such as China, India, and Iran, many of whom rose to high positions within the various Asian royal courts.

[13][14] Although an Armenian diaspora existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, it grew in size due to emigration from the Ottoman Empire, Iran, Russia, and the Caucasus.

Armenians who immigrated to the United States before WWI were primarily from Asia Minor and settled on the East Coast.

[18] The Armenian diaspora grew considerably both during and after the First World War due to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

The 1980 U.S. Census reported that 90 percent of the immigration to the United States was undertaken by Iranian-Armenians during the years from 1975 and 1980.