Immigration to Chile

Immigration to Chile has contributed to the demographics and the history of this South American nation. Chile is a country whose inhabitants are mainly of Spain (mostly of Andalusian and Basque origin)Pedro Oyanguren (2000): De los vascos en Chile y sus instituciones. Centro Vasco Euzko Etxea. Vasco Euskonews & Media, año 2000. Consultado el 20 de diciembre de 2019. and Native American, mostly descended from Mapuche peoples. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Europeans, mainly Spanish, Germans, British, French, Southern Slavs, and Italians, immigrated to Chile. The inflow was much smaller than those to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, meaning that it was significantly less impactful. At the same time, some separate cultural aspects, such as German cakes, British afternoon tea, and Italian pasta, were preserved. The fusion is also visible in the architecture of Chilean cities. This intermarriage and mixture of cultures and races have shaped the present society and culture of Chile.

Settlers from Europe came from France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and Croatia, among others. Although significant numbers of Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese also arrived. Today, most immigrants come from other American countries. The largest immigrant group comes from Venezuela, followed by Peru, Haiti, Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina. One of the main factors that has driven this migration has been the country's relatively stable political history, compared with the rest of Latin America and the significant growth of the Chilean economy in recent decades.

Immigration and diasporas in Chile Country of origin Recent immigrants,(INE-DEM, 2019)Estimación de Población Extranjera en Chile, al 31 de diciembre de 2019, del Departamento de Extranjería y Migración (DEM) del Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas de Chile (INE), pp. 21. Retrieved 29 Juny 2020. Descendantsof old immigrants Time of greatestimmigration Reference:Immigrants or descendants 700,000 — S.21 Ministerio del Interior, 2024. 235,165 — S.20—S.21 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 185,865 — S.21 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 161,153 — S.21 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 120,103 — S.20—S.21 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 79,474 — S.19—S.21 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 41,403 — S.20—S.21 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 22,524 — S.16—S.18 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 20,080 — S.21 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 19,980 — — Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 18,477 — — Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 16,253 — S.20 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 10,380 — — Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 5,987 6,500 — Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019), y Secretaría de Repatriados de Paraguay.Other countries 51,918 — — Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019). 10,520 800,000 S.19—S.20 R. Parvex, Hommes and Migrations, 2014.Parvex R. (2014). Le Chili et les mouvements migratoires, Hommes & migrations, Nº 1305, 2014. doi:10.4000/hommesmigrations.2720. — 700,000 S.19—S.20 Embajada Británica en Chile, según Proyecto Biografía de Chile, 2012. 6,075 600,000 S.19—S.20 R. Parvex, Hommes and Migrations, 2014. 9,689 500,000 S.19—S.20 Cámara Chileno-Alemana de Comercio, según DW. — 500,000 S.19—S.20 Up to 61% of chilean-arabs. International Business Times, 2013. — 400,000 S.19—S.20 Corporación Cultural Chileno-Croata Domovina, 2015. — 200,000 S.19—S.20 25% of chilean-arabs. Datos cruzados de EPOA, 2001; en J. Córdoba-Toro, 2015; e International Business Times, 2013. Jewish — 175,000 S.19—S.20 Presidencia de la Comunidad Judía en Chile, según EFE, 2010; H. Harvey, 2012.H. Harvey (2012): Las relaciones entre Chile e Israel, 1973-1990. La conexión oculta. RIL Editores, 317 pages: pp. 193. .Los judíos residentes en Chile. Agencia EFE, 23 December 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2019. — 174,000 S.16—S.18 1% of chilean surnames. L. Thayer, 1989. — 120,000 S.19—S.20 O'Higgins Tours, 2010. — 100,000 S.19—S.20 R. Parvex, Hommes and Migrations, 2014. — 100,000 S.19—S.20 Embajada Suiza e Inst. Cultural de Providencia, 2010; J. Córdoba-Toro, 2018; Swiss Federal Council, 2019.Relaciones diplomáticas de Suiza con América Latina, Embajada Suiza en Perú. Retrieved 18 July 2020.La inmigración suiza a Chile se desarrolló entre los años 1883 y 1900 y sus protagonistas se situaron particularmente en las emergentes ciudades sureñas de Victoria y Traiguén, estimándose en 8.000 familias las que recibieron concesiones de tierras en dicha zona donde constituyeron 31 colonias que alcanzaron inicialmente a sumar 22 700 personas y cuya descendencia actual supera los 100.000 ciudadanos, la mayor de América Latina". Cassis en Uruguay, Chile y Brasil, Swiss Federal Council (Le Conseil Fédéral, Portail du Gouvernement Suisse), 18 April 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2020. — 50,000 S.19—S.20 — — 32,000 S.19—S.20 4% of chilean-arabs. EPOA, 2001; e International Business Times, 2013. — 30,000 S.19—S.20 5% of Yugoslav immigration, in relation to the remaining 95% corresponding to Croatian immigration. Romani — 20,000 S.20 H. Marsh, University of East Anglia, 2016. 15,696 20,000 S.20 Departamento de Extranjería y Migración, (INE-DEM, 2019), y La Tercera. — 10,000 S.19—S.20 Stowarzyszenie Wspólnota Polska, 2007.Polska Diaspora na świecie, Stowarzyszenie Wspólnota Polska, 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2020. — 5,000 S.21 Svenskar i Världen, 2022. — 3,000 S.20 Gobierno de Japón, 2017. — 2,700 S.20 Diario La segunda, 2014.Cómo vive la creciente colonia coreana en Chile. La Segunda, 2 May 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2019. — 2,000 S.20 Nemzetpolitikai Kutatóintézet, según Programa Kőrösi Csoma Sándor, 2015.Total 1,625,074 (2022) — — Ministerio del Interior, 2024.

Immigration from Europe

Spaniards were the most relevant group among European immigration to Chile.De los Vascos, Oñati y los Elorza "DE LOS VASCOS, OÑATI Y LOS ELORZA" Waldo Ayarza Elorza. Page 59, 65, 66 The largest ethnic group in Chile arrived from Spain during the colonial age, prior to 1810. Too, until the 18th century, the country experienced massive immigration from the Basque Country and Navarre, reaching 27% of the total Chilean colonial population,Ainara Madariaga: Imaginarios vascos desde Chile La construcción de imaginarios vascos en Chile durante el siglo XX. Administración General de la Comunidad Autónoma de Euskadi y Gobierno Vasco (euskadi.eus). as well as Portuguese and Italian immigrants who accompanied the Spanish Empire. The situation changed for the early 20th century Chile was not a particularly attractive destination for migrants simply because it was far from Europe, and reaching such a remote place was difficult. A situation recognized in the census of 1907, census which recorded the percentage of Europeans versus the total population of Chile (2.2%).Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas: 1907 Population Census, Page XVII (Page 14/1277 in the PDF document) In other counts, with only immigrants born in their countries of origin, and without counting their descendants, came to represent 4.1% of the national population,Síntesis histórica de la migración internacional en Chile . OEA-SICREMI. Retrieved 20 December 2019. with the exception of Magallanes Region, where 1/4 people had been born abroad, mostly on the European continent.Sergio Lausic Glasinovic (2005): Migraciones del Archipiélago de Chiloé hacia la Patagonia (Chile-Argentina), y participación en el sindicalismo obrero. Centro de Estudios Miguel Enríquez (CEME). Retrieved 25 December 2019.

However, some relevant groups arrived anyway, especially for the colonization of Araucanía, and in search of luck in mining activity in the north of the country. In any case, this immigration does not compare to that of the South American Atlantic countries. Between 1851 and 1924 Chile only received the 0.5% of the European immigration flow to Latin America, against 46% of Argentina, 33% of Brazil, 14% of Cuba, and 4% of Uruguay. This was because most of the migration occurred across the Atlantic, not the Pacific, and that this migration occurred mostly before the construction of the Panama Canal. Also, Europeans preferred to stay in countries closer to their homelands instead of taking that long tour across the Straits of Magellan or crossing the Andes.

Although the majority of European immigrants during the first half of the 20th century came from Spain and Italy, others came in smaller numbers from other European countries including the Caucasus. Jews arrived in the early part of the 20th century, fleeing pogroms in Russia and in the mid-20th century from Poland, Hungary, Romania, and the former nations of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, also Germany, fleeing the Nazis in the 1930s and Communism in the 1950s.

Spain

Clearly, Spanish immigration was the most important during the colonial period. Since Chile became an independent republic, Spanish immigration is estimated at 40,000 people settling between 1880 and 1940. The Spanish Civil War spurred some 3,000 people to immigrate to Chile at the end of the 1930s, primarily being Catalan and Basque. The majority embarked for Chile on the ship Winnipeg thanks to Pablo Neruda, the Chilean delegate sent to France to take care of the pertinent negotiations. Almost 11,000 Spaniards also arrived in Araucanía between 1883 and 1901, after the Occupation of Araucanía.Etapa de la emigración alemana en Chile. These colonists were given lands in the Chilean Central Valley and their descendants are principally found in Temuco, Concepción, and Ercilla. In 1903, a fleet of 88 Canarian families—400 persons—arrived in Budi Lake, Chile, that currently have more than 1,000 descendants, as a response to the government's call to populate this region and signed contracts for the benefit of a private company. While many Canarians obeyed their service, some of those who disobeyed the provisions of repopulation tried to escape their service and were arrested, and the indigenous Mapuche people took pity on the plight of these Canarians who were established on their former lands. The Mapuches welcomed them and joined their demonstrations in the so-called "revolt of the Canarians", and many Canarians integrated into Mapuche population to add the large mestizo population that exists in Chile.

Today, the Spanish colony continues to be the most significant in the country, having its own football (soccer) club, Unión Española and more than 80 institutions of varying purpose throughout Chile (charitable, sports, philanthropic, social, etc.). It is estimated that some 400,000 Chileans are descendants of Spanish immigrants who came to Chile during the 20th century, more than 100,000 descending from the Spanish who settled in Araucanía.

Basque

Estimates of the number of Chileans with Basque ancestry currently range from 10% (1,600,000) to as high as 27% (4,700,000).Diariovasco.entrevista al Presidente de la Cámara vasca. vascos Ainara Madariaga: Autora del estudio "Imaginarios vascos desde Chile La construcción de imaginarios vascos en Chile durante el siglo XX". Basques au Chili.