Total population | |
---|---|
3,000 (2007 estimate) [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Bogota, Medellin, Manizales | |
Languages | |
Spanish, Polish | |
Religion | |
Roman Catholicism |
Polish Colombians (Spanish : polaco-colombianos) are Colombian citizens of full or partial Polish ancestry, or Polish-born person residing in Colombia. Most of the Polish immigrants that fled from the Holocaust to Colombia were Polish Jews.
The first Polish immigrant to arrive in Colombia was Estanislao Zawadzki, who was the son of Szymon Zawadzki and Balbina Broniska. [2] In 1830, his family was removed from their land property by the Russian authorities and began with a very difficult time of emigrating to Europe for the members. In 1846, Estanislao immigrated to Colombia for the invitation from General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.[ citation needed ]
The Polish engineer created roads and railways in Popayán, Cali, Buenaventura and Tumaco which dedicated to the opening of economic development. Between 1908 and 1918, ethnic Poles immigrated to Colombia with Russian, Austrian or German passports since Poland was partitioned between these countries for 123 years.[ citation needed ]
Until World War II, Polish citizens of Jewish origin fled from Nazi invasion of Poland and from economic difficulties of the war. [3] Most Poles settled in the port of Barranquilla. [4]
Most of the Polish immigrants that fled from Nazi concentration camps, went to South American countries that received a large number of Polish immigrants including Brazil and Argentina, although Colombia was also a destination despite political instabilities. [5]
Polish people, or Poles, are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Central Europe. The preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland defines the Polish nation as comprising all the citizens of Poland, regardless of heritage or ethnicity. The majority of Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism.
The Poles come from different West Slavic tribes living on territories belonging later to Poland in the early Middle Ages.
The Polish diaspora comprises Poles and people of Polish heritage or origin who live outside Poland. The Polish diaspora is also known in modern Polish as Polonia, the name for Poland in Latin and many Romance languages.
The history of the Jews in Latin America began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those who refused to do so. However, the vast majority of conversos never made it to the New World and remained in Spain slowly assimilating to the dominant Catholic culture. This was due to the requirement by Spain's Blood Statutes to provide written documentation of Old Christian lineage to travel to the New World. However, the first Jews came with the first expedition of Christopher Columbus, including Rodrigo de Triana and Luis De Torres.
Polish Brazilians refers to Brazilians of full or partial Polish ancestry who are aware of such ancestry and remain connected, to some degree, to Polish culture, or Polish-born people permanently residing in Brazil. Also, a Polish Brazilian may have one Polish parent.
Emigration from Colombia is a migratory phenomenon that started in the early 20th century.
Immigration to Colombia during the early 19th and late 20th Century, is what makes it one of the most diverse countries in the world, above other countries in the Latin region. Colombia inherited from the Spanish Empire harsh rules against immigration, first in the Viceroyalty of New Granada and later in the Colombian Republic. The Constituent Assembly of Colombia and the subsequent reforms to the national constitution were much more open to the immigrants and the economic aperture. However naturalization of foreigners, with the exception of those children of Colombians born abroad, it is still difficult to acquire due 'Jus soli' law is not allowed by the government, and only 'Jus sanguinis' law is accepted. Immigration in Colombia is managed by the "Migración Colombia" agency.
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 Iberian, mostly of Andalusian and Basque origin, and Native American, mostly descended from Mapuche peoples. A moderate numbers of European immigrants settled in Chile during the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly Spanish, as well as Germans, British, French, Southern Slavs, and Italians who have made additional contributions to the racial complex of Chile. However, this immigration was never in a large scale, contrasting with mass migrations that characterized Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil, and therefore, anthropologically, its impact with lesser consequence. 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.
Polish Argentines are Argentine citizens of full or partial Polish ancestry or Poland-born people who reside in Argentina. Poland was the fourth largest net migrants contributor after Italy, Spain and Germany. Although it is hard to give an exact number of Polish immigrants to Argentina, as those who immigrated before 1919 carried German, Austrian or Russian passports, it is estimated that between 1921 and 1976, 169,335 Poles permanently settled in the country. Today there are 2 million Argentines of Polish descent. The Polish minority in Argentina is both one of the most significant minorities in Argentina and one of the largest groups of Polish diaspora.
Russian Argentines are people from Russia living in Argentina, and their Argentine-born descendants. The estimates of the number of Argentines of Russian descent vary between 170,000 and 350,000. They are mostly living in Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires.
Poles in France form one of the largest Polish diaspora communities in Europe. Between 500,000 and one million people of Polish descent live in France, concentrated in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, in the metropolitan area of Lille, the coal-mining basin around Lens and Valenciennes and in the Ile-de-France.
Belarusian Australians refers to Australians of full or partial Belarusian national background or descent, or Belarusian citizens living in Australia.
Polish Venezuelans are Venezuelan citizens of full or partial Polish ancestry. The Polish colony in Venezuela is well dispersed throughout the country, but most of the Poles and their descendants live in big cities like Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia.
The History of the Jews in Colombia begins in the Spanish colonial period with the arrival of the first Jews during the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Poles in Spain or Polish-Spaniards are citizens and/or residents of Spain whose ethnic origins lie fully or partially in Poland.
At the 2011 census, the number of immigrants in Costa Rica totaled about 390,000 individuals, or about 9% of the country's population. Following a considerable drop from 1950 through 1980, immigration to Costa Rica has increased in recent decades.
In the contemporary English language, the noun Polack is a derogatory term, mainly North American, reference to a person of Polish origin. It is an anglicisation of the Polish masculine noun Polak, which denotes a person of Polish ethnicity and typically male gender. However, the English loanword is considered an ethnic slur.
White Paraguayans or European Paraguayans are Paraguayan people whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe, most notably Spain, Italy and Germany, and to a lesser extent, Ukraine and Poland.
Polish Peruvians are Peruvian-born citizens who are of fully or partially of Polish descent, whose ancestors were Poles who emigrated to Peru as part of the Polish diaspora or Polish-born people in Peru.