Galician People - Emigration

Emigration

Like other Iberian regions, Galicia's history has been affected by emigration. There was significant Galician emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries to other parts of Spain, Portugal, and to the American continent.

Unlike the Basque and the Catalan regions which were rich, urbanized, and industrialized, Galicia remained relatively poor, agricultural village society, as large scale industry, and apart from ship building, had yet to make its appearance. Moreover, its agricultural sector continued to be among the most backward in Spain, and farm productivity was severely hampered by the tiny size of the individual farmsteads known as minifundios. The minifundio was the product of an attempt to distribute land plots in a closed rural system to a growing population by requiring that equal shares be bequeathed to each heir. After just a few generations, the land had been subdivided so much that most of the plots were too small to support a family or to be economically viable. On the positive side, the system ensured that there were relatively few who were completely without means and the rich seas and large fishing industry provided alternative sources for a living.

For these reasons, Galicia was a net exporter of population to the rest of Spain. Between 1900 and 1981, the net outflow of people from Galicia was more than 825,000. During the Franco years, there was a new wave of emigration out of Galicia to other European countries, most notably to France, Switzerland, Germany and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom. The biggest concentration of Galicians is hold by South America. Several million people are descendants from people of Galicia, mostly in Brazil and Argentina. In northeastern Brazil, people with light eyes and hair tend to be called galegos. In Argentina, the term gallegos (Galicians) is commonly used for Spaniards from this part of Spain. There, the immigration from Galicia was so large that all Spaniards came to be called so. In fact, Buenos Aires is the city with the second highest population of people of Galician descent.