Portuguese Americans (), also known as Luso-Americans (luso-americanos), are citizens and residents of the United States who are connected to the country of Portugal by birth, ancestry, or citizenship. Americans and others who are not native Europeans from Portugal but originate from countries that were former colonies of Portugal do not necessarily self-identify as "Portuguese American", but rather as their post-colonial nationalities, although many refugees (referred to as retornados) from former Portuguese colonies, as well as many white Brazilians, are ethnically or ancestrally Portuguese. In 2017, an estimated 48,158 Portuguese nationals were living in the United States. Some Melungeon communities in rural Appalachia have historically self-identified as Portuguese. Given their complex ancestry, individual Melungeons may descend from Portuguese people, but not all do. History Bilateral ties date from the earliest years of the United States. Following the American Revolutionary War, Portugal was the first neutral country to recognize the United States. Portuguese people have had a very long history in the United States, since 1634. The first documented Portuguese to live in colonial America was Mathias de Sousa, a Sephardic Jew. The oldest synagogue in the country, the Touro Synagogue, is named after one of these early Portuguese Jews, Isaac Touro. Some of the earliest European explorers to reach continental North America in the Age of Discovery were Portuguese explorers, such as João Fernandes Lavrador. Navigators, like the Miguel Corte-Real family, may have visited the North American shores at the beginning of the 16th century. There is a historic landmark, the Dighton Rock, in Southeastern Massachusetts, that a small minority of scholars believe testifies their presence in the area. Portuguese explorer João Rodrigues Cabrilho explored the California coast for the first time. During the Colonial period, there was a small Portuguese immigration to the present-day U.S., especially to the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Peter Francisco, the giant soldier in the Continental Army, is generally thought to have been born Portuguese, from the Azores. In the late 19th century, many Portuguese, mainly Azoreans and Madeirans, emigrated to the eastern U.S., establishing communities in New England coastal cities, primarily but not limited to Providence, Bristol, Warwick, and Pawtucket in Rhode Island, and Taunton, Brockton, Fall River, and New Bedford in Southeastern Massachusetts. Another part of Massachusetts that attracted many Portuguese immigrants was Northern Massachusetts, most notably Lowell and Lawrence. In addition, Many Portuguese immigrants also went to nearby Southern New