Portuguese immigration into the United States was minor before 1860 and consisted mainly of Portuguese men from the Portuguese Atlantic Islands (the Azores, Madeira, and the Cape Verdes) who worked on whaling ships. They signed on as deck hands when the whalers, sailing out of southeastern Massachusetts, stopped for provisions at these islands. Immigration grew substantially in the late 1800’s as the demand for textile workers grew in southern New England. These new immigrants, both men and women, settled mainly in existing areas of Portuguese settlement. Immigration slowed after immigration quotas were imposed in the early 1900’s and then dropped to a trickle during the great depression as textile mills shut down. Immigration increased again in the 1960’s when the quota system was revised to favor relatives of immigrants already in the USA and when a special relaxation of the quota was allowed for refugees of severe volcanic activity in the Azores.