Italian Uruguayan - History

History

The first Italians arrived in Spanish and Portuguese colonies of South America in the 16th century. In the area of what is now Uruguay the first Italians were primarily from the Republic of Genoa and worked in the business and commerce related to the transoceanic shipping between "old and new world". The Italian population continued to grow into the 19th century and by the time the constitution of Uruguay was adopted in 1830, there were thousands of Italian-Uruguayans - mostly in the capital, Montevideo.

Immigrants from other areas of Italy followed, e.g., Lombardi exiles, craftsmen, farmers, the followers of Garibaldi, Southern Italians of various trades, and even those active in variety of other ways, including a minority of adventurers.

During the period 1875 to 1890 Italians were the larger part of a wave of immigration to Uruguay from Spain and Italy. This continued through the twentieth century until the early 1970s, and was followed by a sharp reduction, coinciding with economic and political upheavals in both Uruguay and Italy. Afterwards, Italian immigration continued to decline because of greater attraction exerted by Argentina, Brazil and the United States. By the end of the 20th century, the trend finally began to run out. As of 2003 there were only 33,000 first generation Italians in the South American country, but many Uruguayans were well aware of their Italian ancestry. By 1976 Uruguayans of Italian descent numbered over one million and three hundred thousand (i.e. almost 45% of the total population, including Italian-Argentine residents in Uruguay). High concentrations are found in Montevideo, and the city of Paysandú (where almost 65% of the population is of Italian origin).