The Greek diaspora is called “omogenia” in Greek (diaspora is a Greek term as well!), and refers to the communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands of Greece and Cyprus, but more commonly in other parts of the world, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Belgium, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Russia or other countries around the world. Members of the omogenia can be identified as those who themselves, or their ancestors, migrated from the Greek homelands.
In modern times, in the 20th and 21st century, most Greeks left their homeland mostly for economic reasons. The largest migrations happened during the turn of the 20th century, mainly towards the United States, when after World War I Greeks living in Asia Minor were forced to flee their homes and migrate to mainland Greece or anywhere else in the world. Big immigration spikes also happened during and after World War II, the Greek Civil War (1946-49) and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (1974).
