http://worldmeets.us/images/columbus-natives_pic.jpg

Columbus meets the natives of Hispaniola: The phenomenon of immigration

to and through the America's is not new, as historian Carlos Marichal Salinas

points out in this look as the history of Spanish migration to the Americas.

 

 

Five Hundred Years of Immigration to America (El Pais, Spain)

 

"Every great financial collapse leads not only to a series of bank and business bankruptcies, but a string of social catastrophes expressed in the loss of jobs, drops in family income for the most affected, and psychological, individual, and collective pain. That is just what happened after the global crisis that broke out in September 2008, which has taken a dangerous path ever since. One of the consequences in Spain was increased migration, especially to other European countries, but also to America. ... The migration of Spaniards to America is by no means new. On the contrary, it is part of a five century history of flows."

 

By Carlos Marichal Salinas*

                                              http://worldmeets.us/images/Carlos-Marichal-Salinas_mug.jpg

 

Translated By Brandi Miller

 

June 15, 2014

 

Spain - El Pais - Original Article (Spanish)

http://worldmeets.us/images/spanish-colonization-americas-text_pic.jpgEvery great financial collapse leads not only to a series of bank and business bankruptcies, but a string of social catastrophes expressed in the loss of jobs, drops in family income for the most affected, and psychological, individual, and collective pain. That is just what happened after the global crisis that broke out in September 2008, which has taken a dangerous path ever since. One of the consequences in Spain was increased migration, especially to other European countries, but also to America.

 

How many Spaniards have migrated since the end of 2008? Despite official agencies minimizing the magnitude of the new migration, recent studies show that the phenomenon of tremendous magnitude.

 

A study by the Fundação Alternativas Econômicas [Economic Alternatives Foundation] states that since the crisis began, the migration of Spaniards abroad (up to the end of 2013) exceeded 700,000 people, a figure far higher than the 225,000 accounted for by sources published by Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estatística [Institute of National Statistics]. Due to the difficulty of registering every person who enters and leaves other countries for professional reasons, the study's author, Amparo González-Ferrer, a researcher at the Conselho Superior de Pesquisas Científicas [Higher Council on Scientific Research,or INE], compared the official records from other countries in relation to the entry of Spaniards, and discovered something surprising: in recent times, the traditional destinations - France and Germany - were displaced by the United Kingdom as the favored destination of Spanish immigrants.

 

After the European destinations, in recent years one has to highlight the increase in Spanish migrants to Latin America, especially Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, although there are few reliable and accurate records for these movements. In the case of Mexico, for example, official records indicate that over 8,000 Spaniards have entered since the 2008 crisis, allows us to estimate that the number of Spanish residents in the country is currently 95,000. In Brazil, between 2008 and 2013, the number of Spaniards registered in the country rose 41.5 percent according to the INE, and officially there are more than permanent 100,000 residents, although this is a downward estimate.

 

However, the migration of Spaniards to America is by no means new. On the contrary, it is part of a five century history of flows, of comings and goings, that constitute a fundamental axis in the history of transatlantic Spain and the countries that receive its people. Historians have established that between the beginning of the 16th century and the end of the 18th, about half a million Spaniards reached American soil, the vast majority on the legendary naval fleets that left Seville and then Cadiz every year.

 

The passengers were merchants, civil servants, military and religious men, and miners, but also artisans and sailors, to say nothing of the tens of thousands of women who also made the voyage. In the 16th century, more than half of the total were from Andalusia and Extremadura, while about 30 percent came from Castilla. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the number from the Basque Country and Cantabria rose, which is apparent from the mining of silver and trade throughout Spanish America. However, for political reasons, there were tight restrictions on the migration of Catalans and Aragonese - a situation that would only change in the last decades of the 18th century.

 

http://worldmeets.us/images/Spain-political-division_graphic.jpg

 

With the wars of independence (1810-1825), America produced a return of thousands of Spaniards, which wouldn't be reversed for several decades, except in the case of Cuba, which attracted many immigrants, especially those from the Canary Islands and Catalan. This was due to the extraordinary peak of the sugar, tobacco, and mercantile era that occurred on the island during a good portion of the 19th century.

 

However, the greatest flood of Spanish immigration occurred at the end of the 19th century, when a large number of Spaniards arrived in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, during an extraordinary economic bonanza in the Southern Cone. It was a time when the wages of workers in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and São Paulo, greatly exceeded those of Spain and Portugal. This continued during the first third of the 20th century, which explains the exit of an average of 40,000 Spaniards every year between 1880 and 1900, when it rose to an average of almost 100,000 per year until the global financial crisis of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression. In all, there were several million migrants, though less than a third returned to Spain because, although many had left for seasonal work, they remained to take advantage of the higher salaries in the Southern Cone, including in the south of Brazil. This story has long been told in a great collection of 16 volumes, edited by Jordi Maluquer de Motes and published by the Fundação Arquivo de Indianos [Indian Archives Foundation] in Colombres. Because it is of such great interest, it should be digitalized and made available online.

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The Spanish Civil War [1936-1939] produced a new mass migration, forced this time, that compelled the departure of more than 400,000 Spanish Republicans to France, of which only about 40,000 were able to migrate to America. Most of the exiles that arrived to America had excellent educational and professional backgrounds: their contributions to the culture and higher education, as well as to the business sector in Mexico and Argentina, is well known, but they were also important in many other countries. It can be said that a good portion of the Spanish university system migrated to American during this time.

 

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Spanish migration gained momentum after the end of World War II, but in this case it was due to the economic depression which characterized the first 20 years of the Franco Government [1936-1975]. To escape starvation, rationing, and low salaries, it once again became attractive to migrate, especially to Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, and Cuba. Between 1950 and 1960, more than a million immigrants left, of which close to a third returned to Spain after several years. Over the two subsequent decades, Spanish migration changed course and was directed almost entirely toward Europe, specifically France, Great Britain, and Germany, while departures to Latin America fell sharply. With the entry of Spain into the European Union, the migration of Spaniards fell markedly, and only after the economic debacle of recent years has it returned to being an important phenomenon.

 

Nowadays, there is no doubt that Spanish migrants going to America have a new profile, since the majority have professional backgrounds valued by companies in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and other countries in the region. It is estimated that in the case of Mexico, half have a university degree and 27 percent have Bachelors or post-graduate degrees. However, despite their great technical and professional qualifications, the arrival of Spaniards does not guarantee their easy insertion into the economies of Latin American countries. This is due both to competition with the many local professionals as well as the official requirements for migrants, which are complicated and, in many cases, time consuming. Nevertheless, it is likely that the situation for Spanish professionals will continue to push more to seek jobs in other lands and to cross the Atlantic, like so many of their ancestors.

 

*Carlos Marichal Salinas is a professor of history at El Colegio de México.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:
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La Jornada, Mexico: 'Not Since Slavery' Has U.S. Treated People Worse than Undocumented
La Jornada, Mexico: Pirates, Puritans and U.S. Immigration
Trouw, The Netherlands: Left and Right: Equal Opportunity Immigrant Killers
La Jornada, Mexico: Illegal Immigration: Cruelty, Xenophobia and U.S. Business
El Universal, Mexico: Influence-Flush U.S. Latinos Must 'Exploit Unprecedented Moment'
La Jornada, Mexico: Pirates, Puritans and U.S. Immigration
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La Jornada, Mexico: Undocumented on Edge Before U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
La Jornada, Mexico: Undocumented are Again Caught in U.S. Power Struggle
Excelsior, Mexico: 'Comprehensive' Mexico-U.S. Integration is the Only Answer
La Jornada, Mexico: NAFTA Should Be Reopened to Protect Mexican Workers
La Jornada, Mexico: Mexicans in the U.S.: A Nation Within a Nation
El Universal, Mexico: Lawmakers Condemn Arizona's 'Racist' Anti-Immigrant Law
Diario Co Latino, El Salvador: Europe and U.S. Equally Cruel to Migrant Workers
El Periodico, Guatemala: Obama is Right: U.S. People Need Spanish Lessons!
El País, Spain: Tea Party 'Endangers Health' of American Democracy
El Universal, Mexico: U.S. Conservatives See Writing On Wall: Immigration Reform is Coming
Le Monde, France: U.S. Immigration Plans Set Example French Politicians Should Heed
La Jornada, Mexico: Clueless Border Patrol Uses Intelligence to Study Recidivism
La Jornada, Mexico: Undocumented on Edge Before U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
La Jornada, Mexico: Undocumented are Again Caught in U.S. Power Struggle
Excelsior, Mexico: 'Comprehensive' Mexico-U.S. Integration is the Only Answer
La Jornada, Mexico: NAFTA Should Be Reopened to Protect Mexican Workers

La Jornada, Mexico: Mexicans in the U.S.: A Nation Within a Nation

El Universal, Mexico: Lawmakers Condemn Arizona's 'Racist' Anti-Immigrant Law

Diario Co Latino, El Salvador: Europe and U.S. Equally Cruel to Migrant Workers

El Periodico, Guatemala: Obama is Right: U.S. People Need Spanish Lessons!
El País, Spain: Tea Party 'Endangers Health' of American Democracy

Estadão, Brazil: The Massacre in Arizona: Will America Ever Learn?

News, Switzerland: The Day Hope Was Shot, in America and Europe

Der Spiegel, Germany: Blaming Sarah Palin for Tucson Attack is 'Wrong'

Rheinische Post, Germany: America's 'Intellectual Instigators' of Hatred

Berliner Morgenpost: Mutual Respect: What U.S. Owes Itself, World

Polityka, Poland: America in Anger's Clutches

Salzburger Nachrichten, Austria: Massacre in Tucson: 'A Sad Day for U.S.

Guardian, U.K.: Arizona Shootings: Left, Right at Odds Over Effects of Toxic Politics

TLZ, Germany: America's Hate-Filled Rhetoric 'Unworthy of a Democratic Nation'  

 

 

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Posted By Worldmeets.US July 15, 2014, 5:59am