Greek Mexican

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Greek Mexican
Total population
1,000-25,000 (est.)
Regions with significant populations
Mexico City, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Aguascalientes
Languages
Mexican Spanish, Greek
Religions
Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Greeks, Greek American

A Greek Mexican is a Mexican person of Greek descent. The Greek community in Mexico numbers somewhere between 1,000 and 25,000 people.^{[citation needed]} The community is located mostly in Mexico City, but large communities also exist in the states of Jalisco and Sinaloa. In 2007, Eleni Stamatiadou, president of the Comunidad Helenica de Mexico, estimated that there were at least 1,500 Greek families living in Mexico. In her search for Greek descendents, she found that most families were made up of second and third-generation Greeks from the island of Euboea.^[1] The Joshua Project[1] estimates that there are 8,500 Greeks in Mexico.^[2] The General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad estimates that only 1,000 Greeks live in Mexico.^[3] Greece has an embassy in Mexico City, as well as honorary consulates in Merida and Monterrey.^[4]

Contents 1 Communities 1.1 Greater Mexico City 1.2 Jalisco 1.3 Sinaloa 2 Notable Greek-Mexicans 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Communities

[edit] Greater Mexico City

Greeks have settled in Mexico City since the post-World War I era.^[5] Today, the Greek community of the Greater Mexico City area is centered around the Greek Orthodox Church of Santa Sofia in Naucalpan, Mexico State.^[6] Mexico City also has the Greek Community of Mexico (Spanish: Comunidad Helenica de Mexico). As of 2007, more than 230 Greek-Mexican families lived in Mexico City.^[7]

[edit] Jalisco

The Greek community of Guadalajara is most evident by the Greek House (Spanish: Casa Helenica de Guadalajara). There is also a Greek community in the municipality of Colotlán.^[8]

[edit] Sinaloa

As early as the 1940s, the Mexican government invited Greek immigrants to Sinaloa to improve the harvest of olives.^[9] Soon the Greek community became so large that the area around the Tamazula, Humaya, and Culiacan rivers became known as the Valley of Greece (Spanish: Valle de Grecia).^[10] Most immigrants to Sinaloa married into Mexican families. Today, Sinaloa has a heavy Greek presence, and the cities of Culiacan and Guamuchil have important Greek communities. Many of the families came from Cyprus and other mainland Greek immigrants, and after sending letters to their friends and families about how well they were making it, more came. Greek surnames are very common in this state. In Culiacan, there is the Comunidad Helenica of Culiacan.^[11]

[edit] Notable Greek-Mexicans

• Homero Aridjis, writer and diplomat
• Los Chicharrines, comedians (El Circo de Los Chicharrines)^[12]
• Crisantes (born Héctor Crisantakis), singer^[13]
• Plotino Rhodakanaty, anarchist
• Sofía Stamatiades, telenovela actress (Pecados Ajenos)

[edit] See also

• Greek people
• Greek diaspora
• Mexican-Greek relations

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Greek community of Mexico
• Comunidad Helenica de Mexico: "The Greek Side of Mexico"
• (Spanish) Casa Helenica de Guadalajara, AC

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