Portuguese Americans (Portuguese:portugueses americanos), also known asLuso-Americans (luso-americanos), are citizens and residents of theUnited States who are connected to the country ofPortugal by birth, ancestry, or citizenship.

Americans and others who are not native Europeans from Portugal but originate from countries that wereformer colonies of Portugal do not necessarilyself-identify as "Portuguese American", but rather as their post-colonial nationalities, although many refugees (referred to asretornados) from former Portuguese colonies, as well as manywhite Brazilians, are ethnically or ancestrally Portuguese. In 2017, an estimated 48,158Portuguese nationals were living in the United States.^[2]

SomeMelungeon communities in ruralAppalachia have historically self-identified as Portuguese. Given their complex ancestry, individual Melungeons may descend from Portuguese people, but not all do.

Bilateral ties date from the earliest years of the United States. Following theAmerican Revolutionary War, Portugal was the first neutral country to recognize the United States.^[3]

Portuguese people have had a very long history in the United States, since 1634. The first documented Portuguese to live in colonial America wasMathias de Sousa, possibly a Sephardic Jew of mixed African background.^[4] The oldest synagogue in the country, theTouro Synagogue, is named after one of these early Portuguese Jews,Isaac Touro.

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Some of the earliest European explorers to reach continental North America in theAge of Discovery werePortuguese explorers, such asJoão Fernandes Lavrador. Navigators, like theMiguel Corte-Real family, may have visited theNorth American shores at the beginning of the 16th century.^[5]João Rodrigues Cabrilho was a Portuguese navigator who became the first European to reachCalifornia in 1542.

There is a historic landmark, theDighton Rock, inSoutheastern Massachusetts, that a small minority of scholars believe testifies their presence in the area. Portuguese explorerJoão Rodrigues Cabrilho explored theCalifornia coast for the first time.

During theColonial period, there was a small Portuguese immigration to the present-day U.S., especially to the islands ofMartha's Vineyard andNantucket.

Peter Francisco, the giant soldier in theContinental Army, is generally thought to have been born Portuguese, from the Azores.

In the late 19th century, many Portuguese, mainlyAzoreans andMadeirans, emigrated to the eastern U.S., establishing communities inNew England coastal cities, primarily but not limited toTiverton,East Providence,Valley Falls, andPawtucket inRhode Island,^[6] andTaunton,Brockton,Fall River, andNew Bedford inSoutheastern Massachusetts.

In the 1840s,whaling ships were the way to get to America, after a slow voyage of two to three years.^[7] In the early 1700s, Massachusetts dominated the whaling industry withNantucket,Cape Cod andNew Bedford. By the early 19th century, New Bedford had become the center of whaling in America. When whalers were out at sea, they would frequently stop in the Azores to recruit crew members for help.^[7] At the end of their voyage, they docked inNew England, where crew members often settled as immigrants. Today, one can visit theWhaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts and encounter authentic Portuguese whaling history.^[7]

Another part ofMassachusetts that attracted many Portuguese immigrants was Northern Massachusetts, most notablyLowell andLawrence. In addition, Many Portuguese immigrants also went to nearby SouthernNew Hampshire. Massachusetts was a key location for Portuguese immigrants due to the availability of low skill jobs. Many migrants came to the United States with little knowledge of the English Language, and textile jobs were frequently available in these areas. Portuguese migrants had to seek out low skill jobs because of education in Portugal and the lack of job availability in the nineteenth century.

A number of Portuguese immigrants settled in the city ofBoston. These Portuguese immigrants mainly settled inEast Boston andNorth End. In addition, many Portuguese immigrants also went toCambridge andSomerville.

A Portuguese community existed in the vicinity of the Carpenter Street Underpass inSpringfield, Illinois, one of the earliest and largestPortuguese settlements in theMidwestern United States. By the early twentieth century, the project area represented the western extension of a neighborhood known as the "Badlands." The Badlands was included in the widespread destruction and violence of the Springfield Race Riot in August 1908, an event that led to the formation of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Carpenter Street archaeological site possesses local and national significance for its potential to contribute to an understanding of the lifestyles of multiple ethnic/racial groups in Springfield during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.^[8]

On the West Coast inCalifornia there are Portuguese communities inSan Francisco,Oakland,San Jose,Santa Cruz, as well as indairy farming areas in theCentral Valley, theLos Angeles Basin, andSan Diego, in connection to Portuguese fishermen and settlers emigrating to California from the Azores. There are also connections with Portuguese communities in thePacific Northwest inAstoria, Oregon, andSeattle,Washington, andBritish Columbia, Canada as well.

Many of the Portuguese communities on the west coast were farming towns. Portuguese who moved to California often saved money to buy land to start farming. Portuguese farmers in California and along the west coast of the United States often hired other Portuguese migrants as farm hands. Aside from farming Portuguese migrants also were able to secure jobs as fishermen in port cities.^[9]

Portuguese migration to Hawaii occurred often in the late nineteenth century due to the availability of labor contracts on the islands. Labor contracts paid for the migration of entire families. This was enticing for families looking to migrate without the means or the desire to migrate in stages. This led to families having to work off debt before they could move off of the island. Often times Portuguese migrants decided just to remain in Hawaii despite there being little opportunity for improving their lives.^[9]

The San Diego Portuguese Community is filled with a rich history, affecting San Diego as we know it. In 1876, the earliest Portuguese community members immigrated to Point Loma San Diego, California. A blend of Portuguese immigrants moved from the mainland of Portugal, along with the Azorean and Madeira Islands, moving toward the United States. The community landed on the West Coast along with several areas on the East, producing new and diverse mixes of traditions and faiths. In 1908, the Portuguese began fishing for tuna, which before this, was never considered a fish to be commercially marketed.  By 1911, the first tuna canneries had opened and the community continued to grow. By the 1920s, the Portuguese and Italians dominated the fishing industry.^[2] The fishing industry has a huge importance within the history of the Portuguese community and the history of San Diego because it is the way that the Portuguese had their start in America, along with shaping the way we see the food industry in San Diego. The growth in the food industry has had a big impact on San Diego’s history because it helped bring in money and progress the city into what it is today. The fishing industry was a huge part of the growing Portuguese community, and as the fishing industry developed, the center of the Portuguese community moved two miles east of La Playa to the Roseville area. Throughout this time, it was clear that the fishing industry was not only a business, but a lifestyle that included the whole family.^[3]

AfterWorld War II, there was another wave of Portuguese immigration to the country, mainly in thenortheastern United States (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maryland), and also inCalifornia. Many were fleeing theright-wing dictatorship ofAntonio Salazar. There are Portuguese clubs, principally in the larger cities of these states, which operate with the intention of promoting sociocultural preservation as venues for community events, athletics, etc.

Many Portuguese Americans may include descendants of Portuguese settlers born in Africa (likeAngola,Cape Verde, andMozambique) and Asia (mostlyMacanese people), as well Oceania (Timor-Leste). There were around one million Portuguese Americans in the United States by 2000.

A general contribution the Portuguese people have made to American music is theukulele, which originated inMadeira and was initially popularized in theKingdom of Hawaii.^[10]John Philip Sousa was a famous Portuguese American composer most known for his patriotic compositions.

A large amount of mingling took place between Chinese and Portuguese in Hawaii.^[11] There were very few marriages between European and Chinese people with the majority being between Portuguese and Chinese people.^[12][13] These unions between Chinese men and Portuguese women resulted in children of mixed parentage, called Chinese-Portuguese. For two years to June 30, 1933, 38 of these children were born; they were classified as pure Chinese because their fathers were Chinese.^[14] Curiously, these marriages are in marked contrast to the situation in Macau, where very fewHan Chinese married Portuguese settlers; instead, the Portuguese mixed with indigenousTanka people, leading to the Macanese people.^[15]

As with other immigrants that arrived in America, several Portuguese surnames have been changed to align with more American sounding names, for exampleRodrigues toRogers,Oliveira toOliver,Martins toMartin,Pereira toPerry,Moraes or Morais toMorris,Magalhães toMcLean, Souto toSutton,Moura toMoore, Serrão to Serran,Silva toSilver or Sylvia,Rocha toRock (orStone), Madeira or Madeiros toWood, Pontes toBridges,Fernandes to Frederick,Costa toCharlie,Emo or Emos toEmma andSantos toStan.

In 1957–58, theCapelinhos volcano erupted on the Azorean island ofFaial, causing massive destruction from lava and smoke. In response, then SenatorsJohn F. Kennedy andJohn Pastore co-sponsored an Azorean Refugee Act.^[16]

PresidentDwight Eisenhower signed the legislation in 1958, making 1,500 visas available to the victims of the eruption.^[17] An extension was enabled in 1962, providing opportunities for even more immigrants. According to theUnited States Census from 2000, there were 1,176,615 Portuguese-Americans, the majority being of Azorean descent.

This led to the passing of the 1965Immigration Act, which stated if someone has legal or American relatives in the United States, they could serve as asponsor and, therefore could be alegal alien. This act dramatically increased Portuguese immigration into the 1970s and 1980s.^[7]

There are four anthologies of Portuguese-American literature:Luso-American Literature: Writings by Portuguese-Speaking Authors in North America edited by Robert Henry Moser and António Luciano de Andrade Tosta and published in 2011,The Gávea-Brown Book of Portuguese-American Poetry edited by Alice R. Clemente and George Monteiro, published in 2013,Writers of the Portuguese Diaspora in the United States and Canada: An Anthology edited by Luís Gonçalves andCarlo Matos, published in 2015, andBehind the Stars, More Stars: The Tagus/Disquiet Collection of New Luso-American Writing edited by Christopher Larkosh and Oona Patrick, published in 2019 by Tagus Press.

A list of accomplished writers include:Katherine Vaz,Frank X. Gaspar,Millicent Borges Accardi,Sam Pereira,Nancy Vieira Couto, Alfred Lewis,Charles Reis Felix, Michael Garcia Spring andJohn dos Passos.

In recent years, the Portuguese in the Americas Series at Tagus Press at UMass Dartmouth has been particularly active in publishing works by Portuguese-American authors, the most recent of these beingThe Poems of Renata Ferreira, byFrank X. Gaspar, published in 2020.

Portuguese-Americans are the fourth largest ethnic group in the state ofHawaii, fifth largest group inRhode Island and the eighth largest group inMassachusetts.^[18]

Portuguese-American communities in the U.S. according to the 5 Year Estimates of the (2016American Community Survey):^[19][20]

U.S. by Ancestry: 1,367,476
U.S. by Country of Birth: 176,286

Top CSAs by Ancestry:

1. Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH CSA: 393,457
2. New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA: 141,522
3. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA: 124,652
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA CSA: 49,465
5. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA-NV CSA: 40,972
6. Modesto-Merced, CA CSA: 38,031
7. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL CSA: 21,842
8. Hartford-East Hartford, CT CSA: 21,599
9. Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA: 14,245

Top CSAs by Country of Birth:

1. Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH CSA: 68,875
2. New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA: 47,964
3. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA: 10,570
4. Modesto-Merced, CA CSA: 5,841
5. Hartford-East Hartford, CT CSA: 3,873
6. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL CSA: 3,493
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA CSA: 3,153
8. Springfield-Greenfield Town, MA CSA: 3,105
9. Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA: 2,610

Top States by Country of Birth:^[1]

1. California: 350,011
2. Massachusetts: 265,455
3. Hawaii: 91,003
4. Florida: 84,486
5. Rhode Island: 83,414
6. New Jersey: 82,964
7. New York: 58,093
8. Connecticut: 50,077
9. Texas: 40,688
10. Washington: 28,048

Top Cities by Country of Ancestry:

1. Fall River, Massachusetts: 37,350
2. New Bedford, Massachusetts: 30,390
3. New York City: 13,837
4. Taunton, Massachusetts: 13,825
5. East Providence, Rhode Island: 13,295
6. Dartmouth, Massachusetts: 12,907
7. San Jose, California: 11,712
8. Newark, New Jersey: 9,764
9. San Diego: 9,307
10. Pawtucket, Rhode Island: 7,077
11. Honolulu: 6,328
12. Sacramento, California: 6,007
13. Boston: 5,948
14. Turlock, California: 5,007
15. Tiverton, Rhode Island: 4,838
16. Elizabeth, New Jersey: 4,558
17. San Francisco: 4,518
18. Providence, Rhode Island: 4,486
19. Tulare, California: 4,046
20. Somerville, Massachusetts: 3,435
21. Kearny, New Jersey: 3,958
22. Philadelphia: 3,366
23. Las Vegas: 3,233
24. Hanford, California: 3,071

• Portugal–United States relations
• Portuguese Australians
• Portuguese Canadians
• Portuguese Brazilians
• Portuguese in the United Kingdom
• Portuguese New Zealanders
• Portuguese Argentine

• Barrow, Clyde W. (2002).Portuguese-Americans and Contemporary Civic Culture in Massachusetts.
• Cardozo, Manoel da Silviera Soares (1976).The Portuguese in America, 590 B.C.–1974: A Chronology & Fact Book
• Hoffman, Frederic L. (1899). "The Portuguese Population in the United States".Publications of the American Statistical Association.6 (47): 327–336.
• Leal, João, and Wendy Graça (2011).Azorean Identity in Brazil and the United States: Arguments about History, Culture, and Transnational Connections. Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Tagus Press.
• Norden, Ernest E. "Portuguese Americans." inGale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2014), pp. 493–508.online
• Pap, Leo.The Portuguese-Americans (Twayne Publishers, 1981).
• Warrin, Donald, and Geoffrey L. Gomes (2013).Land, as Far as the Eye Can See: Portuguese in the Old West. Dartmouth, Massachusetts: Tagus Press. 376 pages. Traces the experiences of Portuguese immigrants as frontier settlers.
• Williams, Jerry R. (2007).In Pursuit of Their Dreams: A History of Azorean Immigration to the United States (2nd ed.). North Dartmouth, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
• Wolforth, Sandra (1978).The Portuguese in America.

• Bentson, Ines (Dolly).Hello Dolly – Growing up in the late 1930s in Fall River, Massachusetts (2007), memoir of growing up in the city's Portuguese immigrant community.online
• "Azoreans to California: A History of Migration and Settlement"(PDF).California State University Stanislaus. – Compiled by Robert L. "Bob" Santos –HTML version
• "Stories of California Azorean Immigrants An Anthology of Personal Life Sketches"(PDF).California State University Stanislaus. – Compiled by Robert L. "Bob" Santos –HTML version

• Portuguese-American Historical & Research Foundation
• Portuguese Americans. – Culture, History & People
• UMass-Dartmouth Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives
• Portuguese-American Federation
• Portuguese American Journal Portuguese American Journal