page_title: Greek Americans
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Greek Americans / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: A young Greek-American immigrant on Ellis Island, New York late 19th-20th century - Hulton Archive
context_page_description: Greek Americans are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. Over 1.4 million Americans are of Greek descent. 321,444 people older than five spoke Greek at home in 2010.
  Greek Americans have the highest concentrations in the New York City, Boston, and Chicago regions, but have settled in major metropolitan areas across the United States. In 2000, Tarpon Springs, Florida, was home to the highest per capita representation of Greek Americans in the country. The United States is home to the largest Greek community outside of Greece, ahead of Australia, Cyprus, Albania, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: The first Greek known to have been to what is now the United States was Don Doroteo Teodoro, a sailor who landed in Boca Ciega Bay at the Jungle Prada site in present-day St. Petersburg, FL with the Narváez expedition in 1528.   He was instrumental in building the rafts that the expedition survivors built and sailed from present-day St. Mark's River in Florida until they were shipwrecked near Galveston Island, Texas. Teodoro had been captured by natives as they sailed along the Gulf coast shoreline toward the west, and was never seen again. 
  In 1592, Greek captain Juan de Fuca (Ioannis Fokas or Apostolos Valerianos) sailed up the Pacific coast under the Spanish flag, in search of the fabled Northwest Passage between the Pacific and the Atlantic. He reported discovering a body of water, a strait which today bears his name: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which today forms part of the Canada–United States border.
  About 500 Greeks from Smyrna, Crete, and Mani settled in New Smyrna Beach, Florida in 1768. The colony was unsuccessful, and the settlers moved to St. Augustine in 1776. The St Photios Greek Chapel exists as a remnant of their presence, and is believed to be the oldest still standing Greek Orthodox religious structure in the United States.
caption: A young Greek immigrant on Ellis Island, New York City, late 19th century
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