German Memoirs - Latin American-germans & Their Early Migration To Brazil

Birget, a student on city planning was telling hertheir families and colonize the region. In fact, these
experiences in Cuba. Her experiences in the Caribbeanlands were in the middle of big forests and the first
Island were quiet strange. While she was narratingGermans had been abandoned by the Brazilian
some of her observations, my discussion with walkerGovernment. The first years were not easy. Many
came to mind.Germans died of tropical diseases, others left the
Walker had a marvelous experience in Belize andcolony to find a better life elsewhere.
other Latin American countries with GermanIn fact, the German colony of Sao Leopoldo was a
descendant Latin Americans.disaster. Nevertheless, in the next years another wave
There are German descendant minorities in almostof 8, 000 Germans arrived to Sao Leopoldo, and then
every South American and Central Americanthe colony started to develop, and the immigrants
countries including Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,established the town of Novo Hamburgo (New
Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, UruguayHamburg). From Sao Leopoldo and Novo Hamburgo
and Venezuela.the German immigrants spread into other areas of Rio
In the eighteenth century some isolated and smallGrande do Sul, mainly close to spring of rivers. All the
groups of German immigrants came to Latin Americaregion of Vale dos Sinos has been populated by
mainly from Germany, but also from Switzerland,Germans.
Austria and Russia. Though the US was the mainDuring the 1830's and part of 1840's German
destination for immigration in the 19th century, theimmigration was interrupted due to the "War of the
immigration to Latin America also was significant forFarrapos" in Brazil. The immigration restarted after
various other political and economic reasons. Ninety1845 with the creation of new colonies. The most
percent of them came to Latin America mainly forimportant ones were Blumenau in 1850 and Joinville in
Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.1851, both in Santa Catarina state and attracted
When the first group of Germans arrived in 1824 tothousands of German immigrants to the region. Some
Sao Leopoldo, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul in theof the mass influx was due to Revolutions of 1848 in
southern Brazil, after 4 months of traveling, there werethe German states.
39 people, being 33 Lutherans and 6 Catholics. TheyIn the last third of the nineteenth century immigration to
found a country with a climate, vegetation and cultureBrazil became so difficult with the "Heydtschen
very different from those of Germany. Southern BrazilReskript" (1859) and they started to migrate towards
was a land of gauchos, the cattle herders who used,Argentina. In the 1880's and 1890's German immigration
and still live, in the Pampas region of Southern Cone.to Latin America once again increased with the thirty
In the next decades, however, waves of Germanicpercenatage of the total emigration from Germany
immigrants arrived to many areas of the Southerntowards Latin America.
Brazil. They mostly settled in rural areas called colonies.Until the end of the 19th century 122 German colonies
These colonies had been created by the Brazilianwere created in Rio Grande do Sul, and many others
government, and the lands were distributed betweenin Santa Catarina, Parana, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and
the immigrants. They had to construct their ownRio de Janeiro. Germans had established the first
houses and cultivate the land.middle-class population of Brazil, in a country divided
Germans came to Brazil to work as farmers becausebetween slaves and their masters. Germans
there were many lands and job opportunities. Theimmigrants in Brazil were the fourth largest immigrant
Brazilian government had promised large lands tocommunity to settle in the country, after Portuguese,
attract the immigrants, where they could settle withItalians and Spaniards.