THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC-INTEGRATION OF SPANISH IMMIGRANTS IN BRAZIL

This essay surveys the available statistical data on the experience of Spanish immigration to Brazil. The 700,000 Spanish immigrants were mainly attracted through subsidized passage for work in the coffee plantations of Sao Paulo; they were the most family oriented, least educated and most agricultural of the immigrants arriving in the period 1880-1960. They, along with the Japanese, were the group most concentrated in the state of Sao Paulo. Within a generation of arrival, the Spaniards were becoming landowners, and by the 1940s had achieved a substantial place as producers of coffee and all other major agricultural products in the state of Sao Paulo. Unlike the other Europeans, however, the Spaniards were less well represented in the cities and did not do as well in commerce and industry. Though initially the most highly endogamous in marriage, they were marrying more native born Brazilians by the 1940s. Less wealthy and less concentrated, the Spaniards had the least developed social institutions among the major immigrant groups. They were also subject to high rates of out-migration, with most Spaniards initially traveling to other Spanish American countries rather than to Spain. A final specialized immigration of skilled workers came to Spain after World War II, but had little impact on the older community and was subject to much higher repatriation rates to Spain.