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History of Immigration in Brazil |
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Immigrant on board, watching the city, moments before disembarking in Santos, SP, s/d Museu da Imigração collection - SP
The arrival of immigrants to Brazil, except for the presence of the Portuguese – the colonizers of the Country – may be outlined as of the opening of the ports to the “friend nations" (1808) and the independence of the Country (1822). Aside the voluntary population moves it is worth remembering that millions of negroes were compelled to cross the Atlantic ocean, along the 16th to 19ty centuries, with destination Brazil, constituting the slave labor. The Brazilian monarchs started to attract immigrants to the southern region of the Country, offering them lots of land so that they may establish as small farmers. The Germans were the first to come and, as of 1870, the Italians, two ethnic groups that became a majority in the states of Santa Catalina and Rio Grande do Sul. However, the huge immigration levy started in the mid 1880’s with features quite different form those pointed above. The state of Sao Paulo became the region of more attraction and the basic objectives of the immigration policy were changed. Attracting families that would become small landowners was now out of consideration and the policy was to get labor for coffee farming, in full expansion in Sao Paulo. The option for massive immigration was the way of replacing the slave negro worker, due to the crisis in the slave system and the abolition of slavery (1888). However, this option was well fitted on the frame of a huge transoceanic move of populations that took place in all Europe, as from the half of the 19th century that lasted until the start of First World War The immigration wave was levered, by one side, by the socio-economic changes occurring in some countries in Europe and, by the other side, by a greater ease of transports, arising out of the generalization of steam navigation and dropping of ticket prices. As of the first levies, immigration chain, or rather, the attraction of people established in the new lands, calling their relatives or friends, had a relevant role. In the Americas, by order, the United States, Argentina and Brazil were the main countries receiving immigrants. In the Brazilian case, the data indicate that around 4.5 millions of people immigrated to the country between 1882 and 1934. From these, 2.3 millions entered the state of Sao Paulo as third-class passengers by the port of Santos, and thus, entries under other conditions are not included therein. It is worth reminding, though, that at certain times, the number of people going away was huge. In Sao Paulo, for example, during the coffee crisis, (1903-1904) liquid migration reached negative numbers. One of the distinctive signs of the immigration to Sao Paulo, up to 1927, was the fact that it was many times subsided, especially in the first days, unlike what happened in the United States, and, to a certain extent, in Argentina. The subsidy should provide maritime tickets to the family group and transportation to the farms and it was a way to attract poor immigrants to a country whose climate and sanitary conditions were not attractive. As of the 30’s the massive chain immigration decreased. The nationalist policy of some European countries – a typical case was Italy after Mussolini’s rise – had the trend to place obstacles to immigration to Latin America. In Brazil, the demand for labor, needed to the industrial development, was more and more supplied by internal migrations. People form the Northeastern part of the Country and the Minas Gerais state abandoned their regions in the search for the "el-Dorado of Sao Paulo". In the 30’s, only the Japanese, connected to small farms, kept on coming in huge numbers to Sao Paulo. In more recent years, immigration to Brazil was quite diversified, qualitatively. New ethnical groups joined the previous ones, likewise the immigration in the neighboring countries - Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia etc. – both for professional and political reasons.
Koreans became a part of scenario of the city of Sao Paulo, multiplying restaurants and sweatshops. After the first years of extreme difficulties, not quite different from those suffered in other countries; the immigrants were able to integrate into Brazilian society. Most of them ascended socially, thus changing the socioeconomic and cultural landscape of Brazil’s center-south. In the South, they were bound to produce wheat, wine, and to industrial activities, in Sao Paulo, levering the industrial development and trade. In those regions, they transformed the cultural scenario as well, evaluating work ethics, introducing new food standards and modifications to the Portuguese languages, which was enriched with new words and a particular accent. The European, Middle East and Asiatic immigrants (Portuguese, Italians, Spanish, Germans, Jews, Syrians and Lebanese, Japanese) influenced the ethnical formation of the Brazilian population, above all in the Center-south and South regions of the Country. Taking into account the contributions of the Indians and Negroes, the outcome is an ethnically diversified population, whose values may vary from one segment to another, in the scope of a common nationality.
Spanish immigrant in the junkman trade in Sao Paulo, in the 1950’s The Museu da Imigração collection - SP The Spanish started to immigrate to Brazil by virtue of problems in their country of origin and the possibilities of work that, in a way, were offered to them. Many farmers, small landowners, left Galicia; others came from Andalusia, where they were mainly, farm workers. In the first days, or rather, as of the 80’s of the 19th century, the Spanish were above all directed to work in the coffee farms in the state of Sao Paulo. The other European groups are characterized for being the ones that, in a higher degree, arrived as a family group and those who brought the greatest proportion of children. They were the third largest ethnical group that immigrated to Brazil, after the Portuguese and Italians, between 1880 and 1972, representing around 14% of the total of immigrants in that period. Among the large groups of immigrants, the Spanish were those more concentrated in the state of Sao Paulo. The 1920 census, for example, revealed that 78% of the Spanish resided in that state. Although most of the Spanish settled, at first, in the countryside, where they achieved positions as small and medium sized owners, the urban presence of the ethnical group should not be despised. In their first days, the Spanish were bound to the junkman trade and to the restaurant sector, thus diversifying lately their activities.
Family of Italian immigrants in the Colonial Nucleus Jorge Tibiriçá, at Rio Claro, in the countryside of São Paulo, in1911 The Museu da Imigração collection - SP
Italians started to immigrate to Brazil in significant numbers as of the 70’s of the 19th century. They were levied by the socio-economic transformations occurring in the Northern Italian peninsula, affecting above all land ownership. Up to the changing of the century, Italians coming form that region were predominant in the immigratory chain. Thereafter, Italians from the Center-south or South were dominant. A very peculiar feature to the massive Italian immigration is that it started to occur after Italy’s unification (1871), reason why the national identity of these immigrants was greatly molded in Brazil. The areas that most attracted Italian immigrants were the states of Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais. Considering the period 1884-1972, it was verified that almost 70% of the Italians entered the Country by the state of Sao Paulo. The conditions of the Italian settlement were quite diverse. Southern immigration was practically not subsidized and the newcomers settled as rural or urban owners. In Sao Paulo, they were first attracted to work in the coffee farms, through the subsidized immigration scheme. In the cities of Sao Paulo, they worked in several activities, especially as building workers and at the textile industry. Italian immigrants have heavily influenced the food habits in regions they established and they gave an important contribution to the Rio Grande do Sul and Sao Paulo industrialization. Most of the first large industrialists in Sao Paulo - the Matarazzos, the Crespis – constituted the group of the so called "Italian counts", whose prominence was only surpassed as years went by.
Japanese immigrant children at the Colonial Nucleus Barão de Antonina, in Itaporanga, SP, 1933 The Museu da Imigração collection - SP
The first levy of Japanese arrived in Brazil in 1908, through the subsidized immigration scheme. There was an initial opposition to the immigration of this ethnical group, that ended up to be accepted as an alternative to the difficulties imposed by the Italian government to subsidized immigration of Italians to Brazil. The Japanese were concentrated in the state of Sao Paulo, corresponding to 92.5% the number of Japanese entering that state between 1909 and 1972. The Japanese immigratory flow gained momentum in the period after 1930, when the Italian and Spanish immigration decreased considerably. Between 1932 and 1935, around 30% of the immigrants entering Brazil had Japanese nationality.
The Japanese were first destined to the coffee farms, but
gradually they became small and medium sized rural owners.
Within the immigrant groups, they were the ones to
concentrate for the longest period in rural activities,
where they stood out for diversifying the production of
vegetable and fruit farming. In recent years, there was a
strong migration of Japanese-descendants to the urban
centers, where they started to have important positions in
several activities encircling the service area
Jewish immigrant family in Sao Paulo, in the 1920’s The Museu da Imigração collection - SP The arrival of Jewish people in Brazil becomes gradually significant as form the mid-20’s, in the 20th century. The arrival of Israelis in the Country was inserted tardy in the massive immigration flow and gains a greater momentum in the 30’s, as a result of the Nazi persecutions. Between 1936 and 1942, over de 14 thousand people entered the Country. Although this number seem quite reduced, it is worth remembering that it represents 12, 1% of the total immigration in those years. Jewish populations entered mostly through the ports of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Jewish from Central Europe – the so called Russian – were the first to come and then, the Germans, after the rise of Nazism. The Jews established in the cities, placing themselves, at first, at ethnical neighborhoods, such as Bom Retiro, in Sao Paulo. The first generation was concentrated in trade activities. Their children and grandchildren diversified their initiatives, becoming industrialists, liberal professionals, etc.
Portuguese immigrant family in photo for passport, Portugal, 1922 The Museu da Imigração collecion - SP As the "discoverers" of Brazil, they came to the colony since the first times of existence. Even if only the period after the Independence is considered (1822), Portuguese represent the most numerous ethnical group. They were attracted by economic difficulties in their country of origin and by linguistic affinities. However, it is worth remembering that in comparison to the 1877-1972 period the entry flow of Portuguese and Italian was alike, corresponding respectively to something around 31% of the total of entries. They dedicated to both rural and urban activities and, more than any other ethnical group they were spread in several regions of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is the largest urban center concentrating the Portuguese and their descendants. IN the past, they controlled as of food detail trade up to large newspapers. During the period as of the Independence of Brazil up to the end of the 19th century, the Portuguese were teased by the nationals, with prejudice, above all in Rio de Janeiro.
Such critics resulted in resentment to the colonizers and
gained momentum by the activity exerted by the Portuguese
in the capital of the Country. Since the later controlled
there the food trade, many times they became the escape
goat for problems of the population, arising out of
elevation of prices.
Lebanese Family in Sao Paulo, n/d The Museu da Imigração collection - SP Syrians and Lebanese started to immigrate to Brazil at the end of the 19th century, running away form economic difficulties in their regions of origin. They were concentrated mainly in the state of Sao Paulo, but some of them settled in the North of the Country, in the states of Para, Amazonas and the then Territory of Acre, characterized by a low immigration flow. Everywhere, Syrians and Lebanese dedicated to commercial activities, with a relevant role in the rubber trade, during the summit of the period of production and exportation of that product (1890-1910), in the northern states. In Sao Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro in a lower scale, Syrian and Lebanese dedicated to commerce, at the beginning as hawkers, traversing with their merchandise the streets of the large urban centers, the farms and the small towns in the countryside. Gradually, they started to open commercial establishments, became industrialists, climbing the steps of social mobility. The descendents of that and teacher by the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), where he got a degree in Law (1953) and History (1967), Boris Fausto is a professor of the Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences of the USP. Among his main works are: A Revolução de 1930. Historiografia e História (São Paulo, Braziliense, 1970), Trabalho Urbano e Conflito Social (São Paulo, Difel, 1975), Crime e Quotidiano. A Criminalidade em São Paulo, 1880-1924 (São Paulo, Braziliense, 1984), Historiografia da Imigração para São Paulo (São Paulo, Sumaré/Idesp, 1991) e História do Brazil (São Paulo, Edusp, 1994). He published four volumes of the General History of the Brazilian Civilization (Rio de Janeiro, Bertrand Brazil), related to the republiccan period..
German immigrant family at the Colonial Nucleus Nova Europa, at Ibitinga, SP, 1941 the Museu da Imigração collection - SP
The first German immigrants arrived in Brazil just after the Independence, within a colonization program idealized by the Brazilian government, which aimed to the development of agriculture and the occupation of territory in the south part of the Country. The first German colony was founded in 1824, and called Sao Leopoldo, in Rio Grande do Sul, in an area of public lands of the Vale do Rio dos Sinos. Previous attempts of settling German colonies at the Northeast region had failed, and 1824 is the landmark of the start of the immigration chain coming form several German states. Along more than 100 years approximately 250 mil immigrants entered Brazil – at a low annual flow, but steady, that had its moment of highest intensity in 1920, at the summit of the economic-social crisis of the Weimar Republic. During almost all the period of duration of the immigratory flow (between 1824 and 1937), German immigration was characterized by a steady participation in the colonization process, in pioneer fronts – shared with other European immigrants, above all Italians – which resulted in the formation of a reunion of farmers of small owners. In this process, the Germans and their descendants helped to occupy the public lands of the three states in the South through the foundation of several colonies, concentrated in the Northeast region of Santa Catarina, on the septentrional plateau of Rio Grande do Sul up to river Uruguay, on the plateau of Parana and in some valleys and rivers, such as Sinos, Jacuí, Taquari and Caí, in Rio Grande do Sul, and Itajaí, in Santa Catarina. Among the most known colonies are those that went through an economic development process with industrialization - like Blumenau, Joinville and Brusque, in Santa Catarina, and Sao Leopoldo, Novo Hamburgo and Ijuí, in Rio Grande do Sul – just to quote some examples. There were further German settlements in some colonies in Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo – all slightly expressive. On the other hand, part of the immigrants – above all after the First World War – settled in largest cities such as Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Sao Paulo. The concentration in some regions in the South, in addition to the maintenance of the language and other features of the original culture and the stressing presence of a Germanized press, school and associations, set the foundations for the emersion of a Teutonic-Brazilian ethnical group, whose landmark is the prime belonging to an ethnical group bounded by the German origin. This gave rise to a long story of attritions with the Brazilian society, ending up with a nationalization campaign during the Estado Novo (1937-1945) –an attempt to accelerate the assimilation process. The prime ideals of a an ethnical belonging, although not stressed, did not disappear after World War II and may be sensed in the main regions of German colonization until today.
Text by Giralda Seyferth: Source: Site of the Foreign Relations Office Master in Social Anthropology by the Post-Graduation Program in Social Anthropology of the National Museum of the Federal University Federal of Rio de Janeiro, Giralda Seyferth is a doctor in Human Sciences by the University of Sao Paulo and professor of the Department of Anthropology of the National Musuem - UFRJ. Among her main publications are the books A Colonização Alemã no Vale do Itajaí-Mirim (Porto Alegre, Editora Movimento, 1974), Nacionalismo e Identidade Étnica (Florianópolis, Fundação Catarinense de Cultura, 1982) e Imigração e Cultura no Brazil (Brasilia, Editora da Universidade de Brasilia, 1990), in addition to several articles in sepcialized magazies.
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