Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Throughout Uruguay | |
Languages | |
Rioplatense Spanish · Galician · Catalan · Basque | |
Religion | |
Roman Catholicism · Others | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Spanish Argentines |
Part of a series on the |
Spanish people |
---|
![]() Rojigualda (historical Spanish flag) |
Regional groups |
Other groups
|
Significant Spanish diaspora |
Languages |
Other languages |
![]() ![]() |
Spanish settlement in Uruguay, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in the country known today as Uruguay, took place firstly in the period before independence from Spain and again in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This includes that a large proportion of Uruguayans are of Spanish ancestral origin.
Between the 15th and early 19th centuries, the Spanish Empire was the sole colonial power in the Banda Oriental. Thus, before 1811, a great part of the European settlers in Uruguay were from Spain and they carried the Spanish colonial administration, including religious affairs, government and commercial business. A substantial Spanish-descended Criollo population gradually built up in the new cities, while some mixed with the indigenous populations ( mestizos ), with the Black slave population ( mulattoes ) or with other European immigrants.
Spanish settlement along with the Italians, formed the backbone of today's Uruguayan society. Like its neighbour country Argentina, the culture of Uruguay exhibits significant connections to Spanish culture; in terms of language, customs and traditions.
Many Uruguayans who have a Spanish lineage include those of post-independence Spanish immigrant descent, as long as they have retained a Spanish cultural identity. Large proportions are of Galician descent. During the Spanish Civil War, thousands of Spaniards fled from Spain to Uruguay. The Spanish republicans fled Franco's regime as well, seeking to escape retribution from the new government.
The Spanish immigrants arriving between 18th and 20th century have different origins, but a significant number of them are from the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country.
There was a sizable inflow of Basque migrants in the 19th century in Uruguay. Various reasons drew them to the country: to look for new opportunities, to escape from debt, wars and population growth in homeland. Many of the Basque migrants were from the opportunity-deprived rural areas of the Basque Country, who in most of the time could only choose between migrating to cities or migrating abroad.
The first Canarian migrants arrived in Uruguay in 1724 and settled themselves around a small fort built by order of Bruno Mauricio de Zabalatwo, the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires, in attempt to keep the Portuguese troops away from the mouth of Rio de la Plata. Men, women and children were among the first 34 migrants and they formed the basis of the early settlement. Two French from Nantes who had previously served the garrison of Buenos Aires were also found among this group.
Two years later, in November 1726, 25 Canarian families arrived. They organised themselves quickly upon their arrival and made substantial contributions to the development of Montevideo. Apart from naming streets and places of the settlement, they also founded the local civil government, allowing Montevideo to gain the status of city in the same year.
Another wave of Canarian settlers consisted of 30 families arrived in Montevideo on 27 March 1729, joined by a few families from Buenos Aires.
The next wave of Canarian migration did not happen until at least 1808, when the Canarian merchant Francisco Aguilar y Leal from Lanzarote sent an expedition of around 200 from the eastern Canary islands to Montevideo. From then on, thousands of Canarians (mostly from Lanzarote and Fuerteventura) had emigrated to Uruguay throughout the 19th century, and in the early 20th century to a lesser extent. More than 10,000 Canarians in total had settled in Uruguay. Accompanying the extensive emigration to Uruguay, a drastic fall in population was recorded across the eastern Canary islands: half of the island of Lanzarote became depopulated as a result of the continuous outward migration.
The majority of around 8,200 arrived in the South American country between 1835 and 1845, constituting 17% of all migrants and 65% of Spanish migrants. However, only 5,749 remained in Uruguay by the end of the 19th century. During this century, Canarians went beyond Montevideo and settled in other parts of the country, namely Maldonado, Canelones, Colonia, San José and Soriano.
Although the specific number of Canarians arriving in Uruguay during the 20th century is not known, it was probably not too large, but enough for specific Canarian organisations to form in the country.
Nowadays, Canarians and their descendants are scattered around the country.
Catalans formed one of the most numerous migrant communities in Uruguay along with Canary Islanders, and were known to have made significant contribution and influences on the Uruguayan society. The Batlle family, originated from Sitges, was a prominent political family of the country. Lorenzo Batlle, born to Catalan parents, was the father of the president José Batlle y Ordóñez and the ancestor of presidents Luis Batlle Berres and Jorge Batlle, all of them from the liberal conservative Colorado Party. José Battle y Ordóñez was responsible for church-state separation, the approval of women's suffrage and the establishment of eight-hour work day.
The 2011 Uruguayan census revealed 12,776 people who declared Spain as their country of birth. [1] Thousands of Uruguayan nationals are holders of Spanish passports. [2]
The history of Uruguay comprises different periods: the pre-Columbian time or early history, the Colonial Period (1516–1811), the Period of Nation-Building (1811–1830), and the history of Uruguay as an independent country (1830-present).
This is a demography of the population of Uruguay including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 in an area of 201 square kilometers (78 sq mi). Montevideo is situated on the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata.
Isleños are the descendants of Canarian settlers and immigrants to present-day Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Texas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and other parts of the Americas. In these places, the name isleño was applied to the Canary Islanders to distinguish them from Spanish mainlanders known as "peninsulars". Formerly used for the general category of people, it now refers to the specific cultural identity of Canary Islanders or their descendants throughout Latin America and in Louisiana, where they are still called isleños. Another name for Canary Islander in English is "Canarian." In Spanish, an alternative is canario or isleño canario.
Argentina has a racially and ethnically diverse population. The territory of what today is Argentina was first inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples. The first white settlers came during the period of Spanish colonization, beginning in the 16th century. The Spaniards imported African slaves, who would go on to become the first Afro-Argentines. Following independence from Spain in the 19th century and well into the 20th century, numerous migration waves took place, with Argentina being the second most popular destination for migrants in the early 20th century, after the United States. Most of these migrants came from Europe.
Spanish settlement in Argentina, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina, took place first in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain, and again in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the Spanish Empire was the sole colonial power in the territories that became Argentina after the 1816 Argentine declaration of independence. Thus, before 1850, the vast majority of European settlers in Argentina were from Spain and they carried the Spanish colonial administration, including religious affairs, government, and commercial business. A substantial Spanish descended Criollo population gradually built up in the new cities, while some mixed with the indigenous populations (Mestizos), with the Black African-descended slave population (Mulattoes) or with other European immigrants.
Foreign relations between the Argentine Republic and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay have existed for over a century. Both countries were part of the Spanish Empire until the early 19th century.
French Uruguayans are Uruguayan citizens of full or partial French ancestry. French Uruguayans form the third largest ancestry group after Spanish Uruguayans and Italian Uruguayans. Until 1853, France constituted the main source of immigrants to Uruguay. The country received the largest number of French immigrants to South America after Argentina (239,000) and Brazil (100,000), with almost 25,000 persons registered between 1833 and 1843.
Spanish immigration to Cuba began in 1492, when the Spanish first landed on the island, and continues to the present day. The first sighting of a Spanish boat approaching the island was on 27 October 1492, probably at Bariay on the eastern point of the island. Columbus, on his first voyage to the Americas, sailed south from what is now The Bahamas to explore the northeast coast of Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola. Columbus came to the island believing it to be a peninsula of the Asian mainland.
Francisco Aguilar y Leal (1776–1840) was a soldier and Spanish merchant, that became one of the main leaders of Uruguayan independence.
Uruguayans are people identified with the country of Uruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and their allegiance to Uruguay. Colloquially, primarily among other Spanish-speaking Latin American nations, Uruguayans are also referred to as "orientals [as in Easterners]".
The Italian Hospital of Montevideo, whose official name is Ospedale italiano Umberto I, is a clinic and sanatorium founded in 1890 near Parque Batlle, Montevideo. It lies just to the north of the 1830 obelisk and the Hospital Pereira Rossell. The building, of the late neoclassical style, is the work of architect Luis Andreoni.
The Spanish diaspora consists of Spanish people and their descendants who emigrated from Spain. In the Americas, the term may refer to those of Spanish nationality living there; "Hispanic" is usually a more appropriate term to describe the general Spanish-speaking populations of the Americas together with those in Spain. The diaspora is concentrated in places that were part of the Spanish Empire. Countries with sizeable populations are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, and, to a lesser extent, Brazil, Belize, Haiti, United States, Canada, the Philippines and the rest of Europe.
European Argentines belong to several communities which trace their origins to various migrations from Europe and which have contributed to the country's cultural and demographic variety. They are the descendants of colonists from Spain during the colonial period prior to 1810, or in the majority of cases, of Spanish, Italians, French, Russians and other Europeans who arrived in the great immigration wave from the mid 19th to the mid 20th centuries, and who largely intermarried among their many nationalities during and after this wave. No recent Argentine census has included comprehensive questions on ethnicity, although numerous studies have determined that European Argentinians have been a majority in the country since 1914.
British Uruguayans are British nationals residing permanently in Uruguay or Uruguayan citizens claiming British heritage. Unlike other waves of immigration to Uruguay from Europe, British immigration to Uruguay has historically been small, especially when compared to the influxes of Spanish and Italian immigrants. Like their counterparts in Argentina, British immigrants tended to be skilled workers, ranchers, businessmen and bureaucrats rather than those escaping poverty in their homeland.
Spanish Costa Rican are people from Costa Rica with Spanish ancestry from both the conquerors of the colonial period as immigrants who arrived after independence and the Central American Federation of disunion. Historically this part of the population was called Criollo and were privileged but did not have equal rights with the Spaniards, some of them were mixed with Mestizos. Approximately 16,482 Spanish citizens living in Costa Rica for 2009.
Isleños are a Spanish ethnic group living in the state of Louisiana in the United States, consisting of people primarily from the Canary Islands. Isleños are descendants of colonists who settled in Spanish Louisiana between 1778 and 1783 and intermarried with other communities such as French, Acadians, Creoles, Hispanic Americans, Filipinos, and other groups, mainly through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Canarian Americans are Americans whose ancestors came from the Canary Islands, Spain. They can trace their ancestry to settlers and immigrants who have emigrated since the 16th century to the present-day United States. Most of them are descendants of settlers who immigrated to Spanish colonies in the South of the modern US during the 18th century. The Canarians were among the first settlers of the modern United States; the first Canarians migrated to modern Florida in 1569, and were followed by others coming to La Florida, Texas and Louisiana.
Spanish settlement of Puerto Rico began in the early 1500s shortly after the formation of the Spanish state in 1493 and continues to the present day.
Irma Avegno was a Uruguayan woman of Montevidean high society who devoted herself to financial affairs.