against Muslims. When Santa Elena fell, its inhabitants, including the converted Jews and Muslims, escaped into the mountains of North Carolina. They survived, often marrying Native Americans, and then joining a second group that came to American shores in 1587, the same year that Santa Elena fell. However, until the second half of the 20th century, most of the North African people who emigrated to the United States came from the Canary Islands which belong to Spain. They came to some of the Spanish colonies south of United States with the objective to found and repopulate regions for Spain. In 1539, Hernando de Soto recruited some expeditionaries in this archipelago to explore La Florida, and in 1569 embarked another group of Canarian farmers (known in the Americas as Isleños) with this destination. During the 18th century, other groups of Canarian people arrived in what is now the United States and established themselves in several southern areas of the country. In 1731 arrived 16 Canarian families to San Antonio, between 1757 and 1780, arrived more of 984 Canarian families to Florida, although they promoted the agriculture of the state, most of the settlers in Florida emigrated to Cuba when Florida was sold to the UK in 1763, well as after being recovered by Spain, was ceded to the United States in 1819. Between 1778 and 1783 emigrated about 2,000 Canarians to Louisiana. Thus, more than 3,000 Canarians emigrated to the Spanish colonies in North America during the 18th century. However they are Spanish subjects. A small community of Moroccan expatriates existed in post-independence South Carolina (then referred to as "Moors," cf. the Moors Sundry Act of 1790). Continental North Africans have emigrated to the United States in significant numbers only since the 1960s. Until this time, very few continental North Africans arrived in the United States, numbering less than 100 people in the first half of the 19th century. Many of the North African emigrants during the first half of the 20th century were Jews. Many Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians began to arrive significantly in the 1970s. Sudanese did not start arriving in significant numbers until the 1980s, mostly to escape the civil war in their country. Most North Africans emigrate due to economic, religious, educational, or political reasons. Demography North Africans in the United States include Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, and Libyan immigrants to the United States. The largest such communities