Fernando Magallanes Mato 5º RRII-TI

European migration to Latin America in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries: implications, consequences and push and pull factors

Today, when we watch TV and see in the news the Latin American political
leaders of recent years, such as Mauricio Macri, Michelle Bachellet or Dilma Roussef,
we are struck by the abundance of surnames of multiple origins, which makes us think
about the diversity of nationalities and peoples that converged in Latin America and
gave rise to the current society of Latin American republics, characterized by its
diversity and multiculturalism. Although emigration to this region of the world has
existed for centuries, as since the very moment of discovery in 1492 began to arrive the
first waves of Europeans (Bethel: 2008), and has remained until today, in this essay we
will focus on a specific historical period for several reasons. This period is broadly
framed between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth,
that is, approximately between 1880 and 1914, when the First World War broke out and
the global scenario underwent profound transformations that would also affect the
Americas (Malamud: 2010). We have therefore decided to focus on this historical
phase, which is traditionally identified with the stage of the rise and consolidation of the
power of the Latin American oligarchies, because this constitutes the basis of the
European migrations to Latin America (Malamud: 2010). As we shall see in the
following paragraphs, prior to this period the European migration waves were not
particularly important and, after this period, they started to reduce as a consequence of
the restrictive measures applied by the different governments.

Thus, in this essay, we propose to analyze the meaning and scope of these
migrations in order to understand their relevance in the historical, economic, political
and social development of Latin America. Our main objective will be to study their
causes, as well as the push and pull factors that ended up configuring the above-
mentioned migratory waves. In the same way, we will analyze their implications in the
Latin American area and how the arrival of migrants at the end of the 19th century and
the beginning of the 20th century has important effects in Latin America today. To do
this, we will begin with a theoretical approach to the study of migration and then offer a
detailed explanation of the Latin American historical context at the time in order to
understand the political environment in which the newly arrived European migrants
were immersed. Afterwards, we will proceed to an analysis of the migrations
themselves, with their characteristics, push and pull factors, regional distribution by
origin of the migrants, motives of the oligarchies to favor migration, etc. By way of
conclusion, we will reflect on the implication of European migration in Latin American
history from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.

To begin with, we must make it clear that migration is present at all stages of
history. In the American case, the arrival of Europeans has been taking place, as we
have already mentioned, since the discovery at the end of the 15th century. At first, the
traffic of the Indies was monopolized by the Hispanic Monarchy, which limited its

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subjects' access to the new discovered territories (in the Brazilian case, this right would
correspond to the Portuguese, except in the period of Spanish-Portuguese unity between
1581 and 1640, when it was also opened to Spaniards) (Rodríguez and Castilla: 2011).
Thus, restrictions were imposed on migration in order to control it, so the licencias were
not granted to Jews, Muslims, Protestants or Gypsies (Rodríguez and Castilla: 2011).
However, this monopoly fell by its own weight and new migrants began to reach Latin
American territory, either through illegal smuggling or through English, French and
Dutch enclaves (Bethel: 2008). In this way, an increasingly plural social reality began to
take shape that would give rise to the contemporary societies of this region of the world.
This plurality exploded with the emancipation and independence at the beginning of the
19th century and put an end to the colonial period. From then on, the Latin American
republics were integrated into the global scenario and their borders opened up to new
migratory flows, which we will comment in the following paragraphs.

From a theoretical point of view, the classical framework that is used in social
sciences, in demography in particular, to analyze the migratory phenomenon is the array
of laws established by the German geographer Ernst Georg Ravenstein in the nineteenth
century (Dorigo and Tobler: 1983). Although his studies were based on empirical
evidence obtained from the European context, many of his laws can be applied to
understand the waves of migration to Latin America between 1880 and 1914. Although
the concrete characteristics will be specified later, there are factors that Ravenstein's
theory explains perfectly: for example, he argues that for great distances, there is a
predominance of male over female migration (Dorigo and Tobler: 1983), as was the
case in Latin America, or that the prototypical type of migrant is the male and single
adult (Dorigo and Tobler: 1983), as also happened in America. On the other hand,
Ravenstein also underlines the attraction of cities over the rural environment, a fact that
explains the enormous demographic growth of Latin American cities such as Buenos
Aires, Santiago de Chile or Rio de Janeiro thanks to the arrival of migratory waves
(Azcárate et alii: 2016). In any case, Ravenstein's theoretical framework is general and,
in our case, we must study the example of Latin America from a differentiated point of
view.

We will begin by explaining the Latin American context in which the massive
influx of Europeans takes place. To begin with, it should be pointed out that during the
first half of the 19th century the Latin American population went through a period of
stagnation, a situation that was quite similar to that of the economy (Malamud: 2010).
However, in the second half of the century there was much more vigorous and sustained
growth, which contrasts with the low growth rates of the first fifty years of the century
(Malamud: 2010). This upward trend continued at a somewhat slower pace in the early
decades of the twentieth century. In this way, the Latin American population doubled
between 1850 and 1900 (from 30.5 million to almost 6.2 million), while between 1900
and 1930 growth exceeded 68 per cent (over 104 million) (Haperín: 1985). The strong
growth is related to the increase in demand for labor linked to the economic opening
and export of agricultural products, since exports of mineral products did not require a

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high number of workers. One of the main factors driving this process was immigration,
which particularly affected the countries of the Atlantic area, such as Argentina, Brazil,
Cuba and Uruguay, or Chile in the Pacific, which received the largest influx of
immigrants (Goebel: 2016). In this sense, we can see a clear relation between economic
growth and migration.

Although some Europeans moved to America after independence, as we saw in

the introduction, their amount was not particularly significant. As an example, we can
mention the case of the German or Swiss colonies in southern Brazil and Chile, or in
Venezuela and Peru, as well as Welsh colonies in Argentinian Patagonia (Bethel: 2008).
The massive immigration of Europeans to Latin America began in the 1870s and 1880s
(Malamud: 2010), which is the reason why we chose this period as the starting point of
our study. As a pull factor, immigrants were attracted by the possibility of finding work
and by the marvelous economic conditions offered to them in comparison with those
existing in their places of origin, like the salary level, quite high for the European
averages (Sánchez-Albornoz: 1980). This is, therefore, the main pull factor in Latin
America.

As Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz points out (1980), it was the temperate zone of

South America that experienced the greatest growth in the entire continent. In this
sense, Argentina was the most spectacular case. Another particularly important case was
that of Uruguay, which in the middle of the 19th century multiplied by seven the
number of its inhabitants (Sánchez-Albornoz: 1980). Also at this time, Brazil became
the most populated country in Latin America, displacing Mexico as the region’s most
populated country (Sánchez-Albornoz: 1980).

In terms of specific figures, net immigration to Argentina was around 4 million

Europeans, 2 million in Brazil and around 600,000 in Cuba and Uruguay. In Chile,
immigration is estimated at around 200,000 people (Goebel: 1983). About 300,000
Europeans arrived in Venezuela between 1905 and 1930, but only 10 percent remained
in the country. Immigration to Mexico was quite low, just under 34,000 people between
1904 and 1924, which is due to the great instability caused by the Mexican Revolution
from the second decade of the twentieth century onwards (Goebel: 1983). Below, a
table showing this proportion is provided, although the figures are different because
instead of being limited to specific periods, as we have done, it shows the global figures
for migration from independence (approximately 1820) to the Great Depression that
was felt in the region in the early 1930s (the USA and Canada are also included for
illustrative purposes, although these are not the focus in this essay limited to Latin
America):

European immigrants to American countries, ca. 1820-1932

US Argentina Canada Brazil Cuba Uruguay Mexico Chile
32,564,000 6,501,000 5,073,000 4,361,000 1,394,000 713,000 270,000 90,0000
Source: Moya, Cousins and Strangers, 46 in Goebel, M. (2016, May 09).
Immigration and National Identity in Latin America, 1870–1930. Oxford Research
Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Ed. Retrieved 22 Mar. 2019, from

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http://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.00
01/acrefore-9780199366439-e-288.

However, as Carlos Malamud points out (2010), it must be borne in mind that
the previous figures refer to net immigration, since the number of Europeans who
arrived in those years was much higher, but not all of them decided to stay. Some of
them returned to their places of origin, while others decided to search a better life in
another country. In Argentina, for example, a big number of seasonal workers arrived,
known as inmigrantes golondrinas (Malamud: 2010). This was due to the high wages
paid in Argentina, the low prices of sea transport and the fact that the period of least
activity in the agricultural calendar of the Mediterranean coincided with the period of
most activity in Argentina, which facilitated travel (Brown: 2011). In this way, the
workers traveled in order to work for Argentinian land owners in a specific harvest, or
for two or three years, and at the end of their stay they would return with their savings,
which even allowed them to buy a piece land in their countries of origin (Malamud:
2010). In Argentina, only 34 percent of the immigrants arrived between 1881 and 1930
remained (Malamud: 2010).

As far as push and pull factors are concerned, although we have already pointed
out the importance of good wages and the demand for cheap labour, we can sum them
up by saying that the main attraction, for Europeans, of countries such as Brazil or
Argentina was the upward march of their economies (Sánchez Alonso: 2018). Salaries
were generally higher than in their places of origin, especially for those coming from
southern Europe, and the possibilities of enrichment and social ascent made immigrants
have great expectations (Sánchez Alonso: 2018). In the same way, in most of the
European countries of the time, there was a situation of serious economic hardship, with
a lack of jobs, saturation of internal markets, cities collapsed by the arrival of migrants
from the rural exodus (De la Torre: 2014).

On the other hand, with regard to the origin of the immigrants, they arrived
mainly from the countries of southern and eastern Europe, whose proportion would vary
according to the country of reception (Sánchez Alonso: 2018). In this way, Italians were
the majority among the immigrants to Brazil. Of the nearly 4 million foreigners who
arrived between 1881 and 1930, the Italians were 36%, displacing from first place the
Portuguese, whose importance had been greater in the decades following independence,
which is understandable by the intense relations between Portugal and Brazil during the
colonial period (Malamud: 2010). In the countries of the Cono Sur, Italian immigration
was also the main one (we should bear in mind the Italian origin of important
Argentinians of our time such as Francisco Bergoglio, the current Pope, or Mauricio
Macri), followed by Spanish immigration (Malamud: 2010). Other minorities are also to
be borne in mind: Japanese in Brazil or Russians, Syrians, Lebanese and Armenians
(these last three fleeing from the Ottoman Empire) in Argentina (Malamud: 2010).

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Finally, with regard to the implications of European migrations to Latin

America, the most relevant, as we have seen in the previous paragraphs, is its
demographic dimension. Thus, much of the population growth in the Latin American
republics between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century is
largely due to the arrival of European migrants (Bacci: 2002). In this way, countries
such as Argentina, Chile or Uruguay, which had a much smaller demographic weight
than others such as Mexico or Brazil, were able to see how their respective populations
multiplied (Bacci: 2002). This, as we have also seen, was reflected in the economy of
these countries, which benefited from the abundant labor force arriving from Europe
and would be very useful to meet international demand for Latin American products in
the so-called “era of exports”. However, not everything was limited to the socio-
economic sphere, since immigration also had important political implications. Above
all, it must be pointed out in this last part of our essay that European immigrants did not
arrive alone, but accompanied by innovative political ideas unknown in Latin America
at the time. In this way, the first socialist, communist and anarchist groups were formed
throughout the geography of the region (Funes: 2014). As a consequence, the
oligarchies in power saw their hegemony threatened with the arrival of this
revolutionary thought and this constituted one of their motives for implementing
restrictive migration policies at the end of the First World War and with the serious
situation caused by the crisis of the Great Depression (Funes: 2014).

All in all, in this essay we have tried to approach the European migratory
phenomenon in Latin America from a descriptive point of view, by observing objective
data such as migration figures and the geographical origin of migrants, as well as
critical, by analyzing the push and pull factors that lead them to leave their countries of
origin and travel to the other side of the Atlantic, as well as the social, economic and
political implications of this issue. Finally, it is important to highlight the enormous
relevance of this historical stage, since it was one of the most important phenomena in
the contemporary history of Latin America and whose consequences extend to the
present day.

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