ZARATHUSHTIS IN NORTH AMERICA: EARLY HISTORY AND DEMOGRAPHICS

1. ZARATHUSHTIS IN NORTH AMERICA:EARLY HISTORY AND DEMOGRAPHICS ZARATHUSHTI IDENTITY ROSHAN RIVETNA

2. EARLY EPISODES Trade relations between Bombay and Salem, MA “The business was carried on by Parsees, some of the most intelligent people I have ever known, rich and very honorable in their dealings. The merchant with whom I did business, Nasser Vanji Monackjee, was a very fine man.” - George Nichols, 1799, collection of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem MA

3. EARLY EPISODES 1851. Possibly the first Zoroastrian to visit the US. “… a friend brought a real live Parsee, with a tall headdress, to take tea with us. It was a revelation to me that a fire worshipper could take tea like ordinary mortals. “ …He drank his tea and ate his bread and butter quite like other folks … He spoke in a very low, cultivated, refined voice, using much better English than we did!” - Caroline King’s memoirs about Ardeseer Cursetjee Wadia’s visit to Salem, MA in 1851, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA Ardeshir Cursetjee Wadia came to Boston area in 1851 to set up trade with the Americans.

4. EARLY EPISODES 1852. President Ullyses Grant appoints Parsi as US vice consul. • “Reposing special trust and confidence in the ability and integrity of Dossabhoy Merwanjee of Bombay… President of the US appoints him Vice Consul of the USA at Bombay …” • Edward Ely, Consul of the USA • 1852 So revered was his name that President Ullyses Grant honored Dossabhoy Merwanjee with a visit to his firm at 6 Parsi Bazaar Street, Bombay, in 1879.

5. EARLY EPISODES 1866. Gold Rush. Possibly the first Zoroastrian to visit Canada. • In 1866, the Gold Rush was on. Maneckji Faramji Javeri came to California prospecting for gold. • Javeri also visited Barkerville, north of Vancouver, making him possibly the first Zoroastrian to visit Canada.

6. EARLY EPISODES 1876. From Baroda to the New World • “Many enterprising and intelligent Parsis are desirous of emigrating to the New World … to found a separate colony of Parsis in a land which is the fostering nurse of many an enterprising adventurer and capitalist … where they can, without the slightest impediment, preserve and follow the religion of their forefathers … A settlement in America has become the subject of our grave considerations …” • - Letter to US Consul by Parsis of Baroda, 1876.

7. EARLY EPISODES 1878. First “fire temple” in the USA • Charles Poston (b. 1825) ‘Father of Arizona’ • Became a Zoroastrian after travels to India. • Wrote “The Sun Worshippers of Asia” in 1877. • Built a ‘fire temple’ at ‘Parsee Hill’ (now Poston’s Butte) in Florence, Arizona, in 1878.

8. PIONEER SETTLERS 1861. Served in US Civil War 1866. First settler in San Francisco • 1860. Conjee Rustomjee Cohoujee Bey of Lahore came to New York and served in US Civil War. Changed name to Antonio Gomez. • 1866. Settled in San Francisco. Possibly the first South Asian to settle in San Francisco. • 1911. Interned in The Presidio with full military honors.

9. PIONEER SETTLERS Prior to 1900s First Zarathushti born in NA 1885. Eduljee Sorabjee, god-son of Sir Dinshaw Manockjee Petit, came to Los Angeles and became a naturalized US citizen. “Mr. Sorabjee was a thorough man of the world, there was little in his manner or speech to distinguish him from a cultured Englishman or American.” [H. D. Barrows, Historical Society of Southern California, 1912]. 1892. Pestonji Framji Davar settled in San Francisco. His son Jamshed was the first Zoroastrian born in North America. After Jamshed’s death in 1982, Pestonji’s estate of Rs. 5.6 million went to the BPP.

10. PIONEER SETTLERS 1900 - 1920 1900.Bhicaji Balsara came to settle in New York and became the first naturalized US citizen, after courts opined that “Parsees do belong to the white race .. are intelligent and well-to-do, principally engaged in commerce.” 1904.Phiroze Saklatwala ‘Parsi Oil King’ came to New York and became part owner of an oil company on the Big Board. The first Zoroastrian Association of New York was born in his living room on West 11th Street, in 1929.

11. 1900 - 1920 1911.Dinshaw Ghadiali, inventor and medical healer, author and aviator came to New York. In 1919, dressed in Jama and Pichori, he led a parade in NYC carrying a banner which read: “Parsi Zoroastrian American Forever.” 1905.Dastur Dr. Maneckji Dhalla came to Columbia for Avestan studies and noted: “The Parsi population does not exceed 12 to 15 at any time.”

12. ELLIS ISLAND RECORDS 1900 - 1920s 22-year-old Jamshed Irani Arrived at Ellis Island in 1920. His name is on the American Immigrant Wall of Honor. • 1903. Merwan Irani, 35 on the Philadelphia,Southampton. • 1905. Phiroize Sethna, 38 on the Cedric from Liverpool • 1909. Nanabhoy Sethna, 25 on the Adriatic Southampton. • 1910 Pestorg Patel, 40 on the Lusitania, Liverpool. • 1914. Maneckji Dhalla, 39, and Cuvarbai Dhalla, 36, on Carmania, Liverpool. • 1923. Minochie Irani, 25, on Canopic, from Bremerhaven.

13. 1920s - 1940s 24 year old Rustom Wadia came to New York in 1923. Navroze dinner, Wadia’s Rajah Restaurant, Manhattan, 1947. Letter from Wadia, 1988

14. 1920s - 1940s Furrokh Bamji, 19, came to Chicago World’s Fair, 1934. Jehangir Mobed (below), Keikhosrow Guiv and Manoucher Sirouzi, arrived in New York on board a freighter in 1945. Keikhosrov Irani and six other Zarathushtis came on board an American Liberty ship, Marine Lynx, in 1946. Jehangir Medora came to New York in 1946, and facilitated immigration to Canada with an ad in Jame Jamshed in the 1960s.

15. 1940s Mehli Mehta (shown below with Zarin, Tehmina and Zubin)came to New York to study the violin in 1945. Students at International House, NY in 1947. Mehraban and Paridokht Zartoshty came to New York in 1947 to set up an import-export business.

16. 1950s 1959. Mary Mehrabi’s 18th birthday party at Hotel Taft in New York. 1955. Jehan Bagli (shown with family in 1966) came to John Hopkins in Baltimore. 1958. Rhoda and Jamshed Pavri arrived on a P&O liner, with 24 crates of belongings.

17. 1960s and 70s. 1960. Send-off for Dara Rivetna on the Strathnaver at Ballard Pier, Pervin and Jimmy Mistry depart from Bombay airport for Canada 1973. Dolly Dastoor and family immigrated to Canada in 1973.

18. PROMOTING THE VISION Arbab Rustom Guiv and Morvarid Guiv came to the USA in 1977 with the vision to establish dar-e-mehers across North America. Their generosity bore fruit with dar-e-mehers in New York (1977), Toronto (1978), Chicago (1983), Vancouver (1985), San Jose (1986), Los Angeles (1987) and Washington, DC. 1956: Farangis Shahrokh came to Universitiy of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1956. 1958. Dr. Rostam Sarfeh came as a surgeon in a Long Island hospital. Worked to promote Arbab Guiv’s vision.

19. “DEMOGRAPHICS DETERMINES DESTINY” • 2004. FEZANA World Zarathushti population Survey. Population and intermarriages. • 2012. Repeated 2004 survey, Added data on children/seniors, Parsi/Iranian and male/female breakdown. NOTE: This is not an official, statistically correct census. Data may be inconsistent, inaccurate and incomplete and our estimates may be incorrect. We present the raw data here, as gathered, to get a flavor of the Zarathushti World.

20. THE ZARATHUSHTI WORLDA Demographic Picture Grateful Thanks to: • All the sources and contact persons from 25 countries, 50 US States and 10 Canadian provinces. • FEZANA Administrator Zenobia Damania for data collection. • Parsiana (Roxana Driver) and FEZANA Journal (Aban Vazifdar). • My family and friends for help in making these fancy slides.

21. Intermarriages: Canada: 5.6% USA: 9.9% Children: Canada: 16.9% USA: 18.6% Seniors: Canada: 15.8% USA: 12.0% Origin Parsi - Iranian: Canada:72.0%, 28.0% USA: 67.8%, 32.2% Male - Female: Canada: 51.4%, 48.6% USA: 51.3%, 48.7% • 2004 Estimated (Recorded) • 2012 Estimated (Recorded) CANADA & USA Canada5,975 (5,341) 6,422 (5,985) 7.5% (12.1%) USA10,794 (9158) Total NA16,769 (14,499) 14,306 (10666) 32.5% (16.5%) 20,728 (16,651) 23.6% (14.8%)

22. TOP STATES BY POPULATION LARGEST GROWTH Washington 304 +171% California 5481 +101% Alberta 220 +59% Florida 409 +44% Br. Columbia 1675 +41% Arizona 192 +34% California 5481 +101% Ontario 4179 -3% NY,NJ,CT 2694 +23% Br. Columbia 1675 +41% Texas 1320 +23% DC, MD, VA 910 -43%

23. IRAN • Population is between 13,000 and 15,000 • Intermarriages: < 1% • Family size: 3.5 persons • Male-Female ratio: 51.2%, 48.8% Concerns: • Census data unreliable • Emigration to the west • Late marriages and fewer children. 1986 32,589 1996 27,930 (-14.33) 2006 19,823 (-29.0%) 2012 13-15,000 (-29.1%)

24. INDIA & SRI LANKA Intermarriages: 39% of marriages in Mumbai in 2011 were intermarriages. Children: 17.6% in 2001. Seniors: 24% were 65 or over in 2001. Males - Females: 48.8% - 51.2% in 2001. Concerns: • Low fertility rate = 0.9. Replacement level is 2.1. • Deaths outnumber births. 1961 100,772 (-10%) 91,266 (-9%) 86,013 (-7%) 77,353 (-10%) 2001 69,601 (-10%) 2011 61,000 (projected) 66 2012 37

25. Intermarriages: 2.6% (10 men and 33 women) are married outside. These women and their offspring are not counted in the totals. Students. Also not included are 47 students studying abroad. “None are expected to return.” Children and Seniors: “No doubt the majority are old. In last six months, 7 more have died.” Origin: All are Parsis. Males- Females: 45.6%, 54.4% 1995 2831 2001 2378 (-16%) 2004 2121 (-11%) 2012 1675 (-21%)

26. GREAT BRITAIN 2004 DATA: ----------------------------------- GREAT BRITAIN 5,000 England 4,900 Scotland 65 N. Ireland 25 REP OF IRELAND 10 ----------------------------------- 2012: “Static at around 5,000” Intermarriages: In 2004, percentage of non Zarathushti spouses in a sampling of ZTFE directory was estimated to be 5.2%. Age distribution: “Average age is coming down. More deaths than births is balanced by a small inflow of new immigrants.”

27. EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIA Note: Work is in progress to collect accurate and consistent data. • Parsi-Iranians • 2004:About 1,000. • 2012: (In progress) • Zarathushtis by Choice. 2004: 125 officially initiated. 2012: (In progress) • Dr. Khosro Khazai, European Centre for Zoroastrian Studies, Belgium: “1,832 initiated in past 10 years.” • Mobed Kamran Jamshidi, Sweden. “2,000 initiated and 20,000 want to be initiated.”

28. MIDDLE EAST Intermarriages: 4.1%. Children (under 21): 25% Seniors: 13.2%. “Not many above 65 are able to stay, unless sponsored or have special visas.” Origin: Almost all Parsis. Data not available on Iranians. Male - Female: 55.0%, 45.0% Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, UAE 2004:2,200 2012: 2,030 (-7.7%)

29. FAR EAST Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam Intermarriages: Hong Kong: 15.5% Singapore: 13.0% Children: Hong Kong: 27.2% Singapore: 39.4% Seniors: Hong Kong: 16.3% Singapore: 9.3% Origin: Almost all are Parsis Male-Female: Hong Kong: 46.7%, 53.2% Singapore: 51.9%, 48.1% Hong Kong 2004:210 2012: 204 (-3%) Singapore 2004:162 2012: 372 (130%)

30. AFRICA Intermarriages: S. Africa: 20.1% E. Africa: “Of the 15 in Mombasa, 7 are unmarried, 3 married (1 to non-Z), 2 widows, 1 separated.” Children - Seniors: S. Africa: 8.2% children and 25.4% seniors. E. Africa: 60% over 65. “In Mombasa no one is below 40.” Origin: Almost all (but 1 or 2) are Parsis. Male - Female: S. Africa: 44.0%, 56.0% E. Africa: 53.3%, 46.7% EAST AFRICA Kenya (Mombasa, Nairobi) Tanzania (Dare Salam, Zanzibar) 2004: 78 2012: 37 (-53%) SOUTH AFRICA (Jo’burg, Durban) 2004: 114 2012: 134 (+17%)

31. Intermarriages: Australia: 4.1% New Zealand: 2.6% Children: Australia: 9.3% New Zealand: 40.1% Seniors: Australia: 29.6% New Zealand: 3.2% Origin (Parsi - Iranian): Australia: 71.1%, 28.9% New Zealand: 98%Parsis Male - Female: Australia: 50.3%, 49.7% N. Zealand: 48.8%, 51.2% AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND Australia2004: 2601 2012: 2577 (-1%) New Zealand 2004: 900 2012: 1231 (+37%)

32. INTERMARRIAGES Percentage of non-Zarathushti spouses in the Zarathushti population, 2004 and 2012

33. INTERMARRIAGES

34. AGE DISTRIBUTION

35. BIRTHS AND DEATHS NUMBER OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS PER YEAR N. America (FEZANA Jr) Mumbai (Parsiana)

36. BIRTHS AND DEATHS NUMBER DEATHS PER 100 BIRTHS FOR NORTH AMERICA (FEZANA JR) AND MUMBAI (PARSIANA) In North America: In 21 years: 1,022 births and 706 deaths In Mumbai: In 20 years: 3456 births and 17,715 (!) deaths

37. ORIGIN - PARSIS, IRANIANS PERCENTAGE OF PARSIS AND IRANIANS

38. MALE-FEMALE DISTRIBUTION PERCENTAGE OF MALES AND FEMALES

39. ZARATHUSHTI POPULATION 2012. Countries with population less than 100 are not shown. CANADA (6422) GR.BRITAIN (5000) EUROPE/C.ASIA (1000) USA (14306) IRAN (14000) PAKISTAN (1675) GULF (2030) HONG KONG (204) INDIA (61000) SINGAPORE (372) S. AFRICA (134) AUSTRALIA (2577) NEW ZEALAND (1231)

40. WORLD POPULATION THE ZARATHUSHTI WORLD POPULATION TOTALS 2004 TOTAL = 124,953 2012 TOTAL = 110,202 In 2012, we estimate 14,751fewer Zarathushtis in the world than in 2004.

41. WORLD POPULATION GROWTH/DECLINE OF POPULATION BY COUNTRY 2004 - 2012 How can we sustain a loss of 14,751 Zarathushtis in less than a decade?

42. WE NOW HAVE A FLAVOR OF THE ZARATHUSHTI WORLD…. • Where we have come from, and • Where we are today. • In the session to follow we will collectively explore the best paths for the future. HERE IN NORTH AMERICA WE HAVE AN AWESOME RESPONSIBILITY

43. AFTER A 1000 YEARS OF SEPARATION

44. AFTER A 1000 YEARS OF SEPARATION WE HAVE COME TOGETHER IN NORTH AMERICA

45. WE HAVE THE RESOURCES DO WE HAVE THE WILL?