The first Asturian immigrants came to North America as soldiers, officers and settlers with the Spanish Army in the wake of Spain's conquest of what is today Florida, Mexico and the southwestern US. Some came directly to areas that would eventually become American territory, while others came to the present-day US via Mexico or Cuba.
Saint Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European-founded city anywhere in the continental United States, was founded by the Asturian Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. His expedition consisted of 2,000 settlers; at least forty of them were Asturians, mostly soldiers and from various areas of Asturias (mainly from Avilés, Ribadesella and Villaviciosa).[2]
In the early decades of the 20th century, thousands of Asturians left Spain and Cuba and came to work, either in the zinc and coal mines of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, or in the thriving tobacco industry of Tampa, Florida. These Asturian immigrants organized themselves in tight-knit communities, setting up clubs and welfare organizations to provide and care for its members.
On Asturian immigration, the "Asturian-American Migration Forum" states:
Asturias, a northern Spanish region on the Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay), has been a center of mining and metallurgy for thousands of years. Between 1900 and 1924, thousands of Spaniards emigrated from Asturias to the United States. Many of those immigrating were skilled workers who followed the zinc, coal, and other heavy industry to the New World. Others were led by family ties, a desire to avoid military service, or the promise of adventure.
These Asturian immigrants established an informal but lively network which connected Spain, Cuba, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, California, and other locations within the US.
2010 US Census
The 2010 US Census failed to include an Asturian category, leaving Asturian-Americans with the only choice of checking the Hispanic category, unlike Basques or Scotch-Irish Americans, who, even though they do not come from independent countries, are recognized by the US Census with their own categories.
Jason Molina (December 30, 1973 – March 16, 2013), musician and singer-songwriter. Founder of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.[3]
Lawyers, historians and writers
Alfred-Maurice de Zayas (born May 31, 1947), American lawyer, writer, historian, a leading expert in the field of human rights and international law.
Military
Baldomero Lopez (August 23, 1925 – September 15, 1950), first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War.
Miscellanea
Martín de Argüelles (1566–1630), first known child of European descent born in what is now the continental US.
Manuel A. Gonzalez (1832–1902), Asturian-born steamship captain who was one of the first permanent settlers of Fort Myers, Florida.
Politicians
Bob Martínez (born December 25, 1934) 40th Governor of Florida from 1987 to 1991 and the mayor of Tampa from 1979 to 1986. Martínez was the first person of Spanish ancestry to be elected to the state's top office.
Bill Richardson (November 15, 1947 – September 1, 2023), 30th Governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011.
Severo Ochoa (September 24, 1905 – November 1, 1993), Asturian-born doctor and biochemist, joint winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Arthur Kornberg.
Luis Walter Alvarez (June 13, 1911 – September 1, 1988), experimental physicist and inventor, who spent nearly all of his long professional career on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968.
Walter Alvarez (born October 3, 1940), professor in the Earth and Planetary Science department at the University of California, Berkeley. He is most widely known for the theory that dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid impact, developed in collaboration with his father, Nobel Prize–winning physicist Luis Alvarez.
Sports
Lou Piniella (Louis Victor Piniella, born August 28, 1943), former Major League outfielder and manager; nicknamed "Sweet Lou".
