Somali Americans are Americans of Somali ancestry. The first ethnic Somalis to arrive in the U.S. were sailors who came in the 1920s from British Somaliland. They were followed by students pursuing higher studies in the 1960s and 1970s, by the late 1970s through the late 1980s and early 1990s more Somalis arrived. However, it was not until the mid and late 1990s when the civil war in Somalia broke out that the majority of Somalis arrived in the United States. The Somali community in the U.S. is now among the largest in the Somali diaspora.
Former Somali embassy in Washington, D.C.
This strip mall in the Northland neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio has several Somali businesses: a funds transfer company, grocery store, entertainment center, and restaurant.
Somali cultural event hosted by the Somali Student Association at the University of Minnesota.
Member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Ilhan Omar
History of Somalis in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Somalis are an ethnic group in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area that makes up the largest Somali diasporas in the United States. By 2018, approximately 43,000 people born in Somalia were living in Minnesota, and approximately 94,000 Minnesotans spoke Somali language at home.
A Somali grocery store in Minneapolis.
A recycling sign in Minnesota with instructions in English, Hmong, Spanish, and Somali.
