Rebecca Friedrichs
Independent Study Rough Draft
Professor Marquez
10.29.03
During the migration boom of the late 19th century, over one million Italians immigrated to
Argentina. After the age of mass migration, Argentina was left politically, socially, and economically
altered. How did the Italian immigrants contribute to this permutation? What were the repercussions
shouldered and the benefits gleaned by Argentina from this influx? How did they effect the identity of the
country in the early 20th century? This study addresses these questions and the aspects of Italian
immigration to Argentina between the years of 1880-1914 to form a comprehensive idea of the personality
of this group and how it changed the identity of its host country.
In order to understand why Italians first decided to emigrate from Italy and immigrate to
Argentina, the respective situations of the two countries must first be addressed. From the beginning of the
nineteenth century both countries began a drastic transformation that became conducive to migration. As
the 18th century came to a close, Italy began to feel the social, economic, and political affects of the
European industrial revolution. What was an agricultural country transformed, especially in the North, into
the heart of South European industry. As factories began to rise up throughout the country, urbanization
became prominent, as did wage labor. This was the case for much of Eastern and Southern Europe, the
parts of the continent that provided the majority of the migration boom. At the same time, because Italy
was behind the rest of Europe to feel these reverberations, employment could not keep up with the pace of
population growth. Therefore there was a large unskilled labor supply and not enough demand for all of
them. This unskilled class of laborers provided the majority of immigrants to Argentina. Industrialization
provided employment for many whom had not had the means to emigrate before. Studies show that
“emigration from poor countries increases as economic development takes place in the source country.
This was certainly true of the nineteenth century…poverty constrains migration since financial investment
in a long-distance move is difficult for the very poor.”1
As the lower class became more financially prosperous, many went to the New World seeking
fortunes, and most went with the intent to return to their home country. This was the overwhelming trend
among the unskilled workers of 19th century Italy. Because many went with the intention of returning, the
body of these emigrants was overwhelmingly young and male, and most had no permanent attachments
such as marriages and children. The vast majority was between the ages of 16 and 40 with full intention of
making a small fortune and returning to buy a small plot of land and live out the rest of their lives in Italy.
The temptation of land was the driving force for much of immigration from Italy during this
period. After the unification of Italy in 1860s, there was a fundamental transformation of society as the
country shifted from a feudal system to one dominated by capitalism. With this shift came much more
opportunity for upward social mobility. The way to achieve this was through land ownership, an
opportunity that was not available for the masses before the unification. This competition for land also
influenced which regions sent the most immigrants; those areas where land purchase was possible were the
general providers of migrants, people that were attempting to make the money needed to start their own
private farms.
The social conditions in Italy during the period of the 1880s also greatly contributed to mass
emigration. The standard of living between the years of 1870 and 1900 was terrible, as diseases and
starvation became driving factors in the decision to emigrate. In the North, much of the lower class
suffered from Pellagra as the Southern populations struggled with a vicious malarial strain. Overall, an
average of 2 million Italians died every year as a result of these viruses. 2 Paired with this was the
agricultural crisis of the 1880s. Due to the move the country took towards capitalism, many of the staples
that had originally been domestically produced began to be imported. The price of wheat dropped
drastically and for many the price of food was too high to buy with their meager wages. Unemployment
among Southern farmers soared as the demand for domestic produce fell and it was no longer profitable for
them to trade.
It is easy to see why Italians fled their homeland, but the question remains as to why the
immigrants chose to migrate to Argentina. The history of this country is equally as important to
1
2
Hatton and Williamson 2003 (pg 3)
Magnusson 1999
understanding their motives. Argentina separated from Spain on May 25 th, 1810, and the new ruling party
was presented with a disjointed, underdeveloped land that had to be formed into a nation. Two very
different regions, that of Buenos Aires and the port cities, and that of the interior, a vast, undeveloped land,
with 3/4ths of the population, characterized the country. The nation was split into two pieces along social,
economic, and political lines.
After Argentine independence, Buenos Aires was opened to world trade and the benefits of this
quickly eclipsed those of crop farming and the small industries of the interior, thus shifting all power to the
port city. With the rise to power of Juan Manuel de Rosas, cattle interests began to dominate political
administration, thus furthering the power of the elite in Buenos Aires and widening the divide between the
coast and the interior. The Liberal party of the coast, made up mostly of intellectuals, fought to modernize
the country through trade, immigration, and technology. These men represented a very small fraction of the
population, but because of the inequality that characterized Argentine society, they held most of the
political power. The Conservatives of the interior, who represented the poor agricultural masses, fought to
continue the pastoral economy, and instead of modernizing, simply expand the meat salting factory, or
saladero, and the estancia.