Cuban Americans ( or cubanoamericanos) are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or to someone who has emigrated to the United States from Cuba. Cuban Americans are the third largest Hispanic American group in the United States. Many communities throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations. Florida (1.53 million in 2017) has the highest concentration of Cuban Americans in the United States, standing out in part because of its proximity to Cuba, followed by California (110,702), New Jersey (99,987), Texas (86,183) and New York (78,478). South Florida is followed by New York City; Tampa, Florida; Union County and North Hudson, New Jersey areas, particularly Union City, Elizabeth, West New York, Houston, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois. With a population of 141,250, the New York metropolitan area's Cuban community is the largest outside Florida. Nearly 70% of all Cuban Americans live in Florida. Immigration Early migrations Before the Louisiana Purchase and the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Spanish Florida and other possessions of Spain on the Gulf Coast west of the Mississippi River were provinces of the Captaincy General of Cuba. Consequently, Cuban immigration to regions that would eventually form the United States have a long history, beginning in the Spanish colonial period in 1565 when the settlement of St. Augustine was established by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and hundreds of Spanish soldiers and their families moved from Cuba to St. Augustine to establish new lives. Thousands of Cuban settlers also immigrated to Louisiana between 1778 and 1802 and Texas during the period of Spanish rule. Since 1820, the Cuban presence was more than 1,000 people. In 1870 the number of Cuban immigrants increased to almost 12,000, of which about 4,500 resided in New York City, about 3,000 in New Orleans and 2,000 in Key West. The causes of these movements were both economic and political, which intensified after 1860, when political factors played the predominant role in emigration, as a result of deteriorating relations with the Spanish metropolis. 1869 marked the beginning of one of the most significant periods of emigration from Cuba to the United States, again centered on Key West. The exodus of hundreds of workers and businessmen was linked to the manufacture of tobacco. The reasons are many: the introduction of more modern techniques of