Romanian immigration to the US began in the 1880s. Following independence from the Ottoman empire, the government of King Carol I ruled with a heavy hand, and worsening economic conditions meant that work was scarce. Most of the immigrants to America were landless young males, though some families went as well. Many Romanian Jews also fled to escape persecution, settling into the larger Jewish community in New York City, NY; other Romanians moved west to centers like Chicago, IL and Detroit, MI, in search of work. Romanian refugees also came to America during the Cold War, and others fled following the collapse of the Ceaucescu regime in 1991. The most famous Romanian American is probably the Olympian gymnast Nadia Comeneci, who emigrated in the early 1990s.