12.10 America

12 · The Assyrians of Urmi: a background · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar

Chicago was the first main centre of Assyrian immigration, but the large Urmi community grew up in California — the San Joaquin Valley, above all the town of Turlock. The first settlers arrived in 1910 and the numbers climbed quickly, in waves peaking around the two world wars and again after 1979.

They chose it for a reason that is hard not to like: the climate and the farmland felt like the Urmi plain.

About 15,000 Assyrians live in the San Joaquin Valley today, mostly from Urmi families. The older generation raised in Iran still know the language well, and those who grew up in villages still carry their village's features and much of its vocabulary. The rest of the community scattered across North America, Europe and Australia.

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