History
In 1845 Sweden formally recognized Argentine sovereignty and shortly afterwards the warships Lagerbjelke and Eugenie paid a visit to the new country while also checking out trade routes on the South American continent. They happened to arrive in Buenos Aires just in time for the rebellion against Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas. But the travel accounts written by two naval officers aboard were as much, if not more, about the beautiful porteña women of Buenos Aires, as they were about the dramatic political events taking place.
Misiones Swedes
Swedes were drawn to the province Misiones at the beginning of the 20th century, at the prospect of growing yerba mate, used to make the herbal tea that is Argentina's national favourite drink. They moved from Brazil, where they had been lured by German-based recruitment offices.
The new arrivals to Brazil soon discovered that the recruitment officers propaganda was nothing more than empty promises. Around 1913 word started going around that across the border, in the Argentinian territory of Misiones, the land was more fertile and the government was providing incentives for farmers to grow a profitable cash crop known as the green gold – yerba mate.
Two contingents of emigrants made the voyage south. In 1890–91, most of the 2 000 were workers and families from the crisis-ridden industries in Stockholm and Sundsvall. In 1909–11, most of the 700 were miners from the far north who left after the failure of a nationwide strike. The first Swedes to cross the border to Argentina found not only Brazilian, Paraguayan and German colonists, but also a group of Finnish intellectuals who had fled their country in 1906 for political reasons. After the town of Oberá was officially founded in 1928, the Swedes soon became a minority, but as they had come first there are today neighbourhoods that carry the names of those pioneering farmers – Villa Kindgren, Villa Fredriksson, Villa Erasmie.
In 1914 ten men cleared a 20-kilometre path (picada) through the jungle between the first Swedish settlement, Villa Svea and a German colony. The road is still known as the Picada Sueca. Around 500 Swedes were estimated to have settled in the area by the 1920s and they organized a school, an ethnic-based association and a congregation.
Argentine cuisine is described as a blending of cultures, from the Indigenous peoples of Argentina who focused on ingredients such as humita, potatoes, cassava, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and yerba mate, to Mediterranean influences brought by the Spanish during the colonial period. This led to cultural blending of criollos, Indigenous, and sub-Saharan African in the cuisine. Later, this was complemented by the significant influx of Italian and Spanish immigrants to Argentina during the 19th and 20th centuries, who incorporated plenty of their food customs and dishes such as pizzas, pasta and Spanish tortillas.
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.
Axel Evert Taube was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians and the foremost troubadour of the Swedish ballad tradition in the 20th century.
The Casa Rosada, literally the Pink House, is the president of the Argentine Republic's official workplace, located in Buenos Aires. The palatial mansion is known officially as Casa de Gobierno. Normally, the president lives at the Quinta de Olivos, the president of Argentina's official residence, located in Olivos, Greater Buenos Aires. The characteristic color of the Casa Rosada is baby pink, and it is considered one of the most emblematic buildings in Buenos Aires. The building also houses a museum, which contains objects relating to former presidents of Argentina. It has been declared a National Historic Monument of Argentina.
Florentino Ameghino was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especially on Patagonia, rank with those made in the western United States during the late 19th century. Along with his two brothers – Carlos and Juan – Florentino Ameghino was one of the most important founding figures in South American paleontology.
Oberá, formerly Svea, is a city in the interfluvial province of Misiones, Argentina, and the head town of the Oberá Department. It is located 96 km east of the provincial capital Posadas, on National Route 14, and about 1,150 km north of Buenos Aires. It has 63,960 inhabitants according to the 2010 census [INDEC].
Immigration to Argentina began in several millennia BCE with the arrival of different populations from Asia to the Americas through Beringia, according to the most accepted theories, and were slowly populating the Americas. Upon arrival of the Spaniards, the native inhabitants of Argentine territory were approximately 300,000 people belonging to many Indigenous American civilizations, cultures, and tribes.
Ukrainian Argentines are Argentine citizens of Ukrainian descent or Ukraine-born people who reside in Argentina. Ukrainian Argentines are an ethnic minority in Argentina. Estimates of the Ukrainian and/or Ukrainian-descended population range from 300,000 to 470,000 people. Many Ukrainian Argentines are of Jewish descent. Currently, the main concentrations of Ukrainians in Argentina are in the Greater Buenos Aires area, with at least 100,000 people of Ukrainian descent, the province of Misiones, with at least 55,000 Ukrainians, and the province of Chaco with at least 30,000 Ukrainians. In Misiones Province Ukrainians constitute approximately 9% of the province's total population. In comparison to Ukrainians in North America, the Ukrainian community in Argentina tends to be more descended from earlier waves of immigration, is poorer, more rural, has less organizational strength, and is more focused on the Church as the center of cultural identity. Most Ukrainian Argentines do not speak the Ukrainian language and have switched to Spanish, although they continue to maintain their ethnic identity.
German Argentines are Argentines of German ancestry as well as German citizens living in Argentina. They are descendants of Germans who immigrated to Argentina from Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Some German Argentines originally settled in Brazil, then later immigrated to Argentina. Although Germany as a political entity was founded in 1871, the German language and culture have traditionally been more important than the country of origin, as the basis of the ethnic and national consciousness of Germans. Today, German Argentines make up the fifth-largest ethnic group in Argentina, with over two million citizens of Volga German descent alone.
The Bahía Blanca and North Western Railway was a British-owned railway company that operated in Argentina. The original project was the rail line to run through the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba and San Luis, tracks were only extended to Toay in La Pampa and Huinca Renancó in Córdoba. The BB&NWR was also the first railway line to reach La Pampa.
Foreign relations between Argentina and France, have existed nearly a century. Both states are members of the G-20.
David Emanuel Wahlberg was a Swedish sports writer and editor who covered the 1912 Summer Olympics. He became president of the sports organization LAIF from 1937 to 1939. Later in life he was the Lutheran minister in Långsele, Sweden.
Campo Grande (Misiones) is an Argentine locality in the province of Misiones, the head of the Cainguás department. It borders the municipality of Aristóbulo del Valle, of the same department, and the municipalities of Ruiz de Montoya in the Libertador General San Martín department, Jardín América in the San Ignacio department, Campo Viera and Campo Ramón in the Oberá department, and those of 25 de Mayo and Alba Posse in the 25 de Mayo department.
The history of yerba mate stretches back to pre-Columbian Paraguay. It is marked by a rapid expansion in harvest and consumption in the Spanish South American colonies but also by its difficult domestication process that began in the mid 17th century and again later when production was industrialized around 1900.
The Argentine tea culture is influenced by local and imported varieties and customs. The country is a major producer of tea, but is best known for the cultivation and consumption of mate, made with the leaves of the local yerba mate plant.
Finnish Argentine is an Argentine person of full, partial, or predominantly Finnish ancestry, or a Finnish-born person residing in Argentina.
Patricia Ocampo is an Argentine activist involved in community development and creation of libraries in Misiones Province. By 2014, she had worked with community organizers and celebrities to found 20 libraries. The organization she co-founded provides basic assistance to those in poverty and with disabilities and attempts to empower people through education and access to books and libraries. She is also involved in trying to stop child labor in Argentina, specifically in the yerba mate regions.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina is a conservative, confessional Lutheran synod that holds to the Book of Concord. It has about 27.890 members. The IELA is a member of the International Lutheran Council.
The Embassy of Sweden in Buenos Aires is Sweden's diplomatic mission in Argentina. The ambassador since 2019 is Anders Carlsson. The embassy is located in Puerto Madero and its staff consists of three people from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and six local employees. In addition to Argentina, the embassy's area of activity also includes Paraguay and Uruguay. The embassy's activities include trade promotion, culture and Sweden promotion, migration and consular affairs, as well as reporting on politics, human rights and the economy.
