Immigration to Colombia

Colonial period

European immigration in Colombia began in 1510 with the colonization of San Sebastián de Urabá. In 1526, settlers founded Santa Marta, the oldest Spanish city still in existence in Colombia. Many Spaniards began their explorations searching for gold, while others Spaniards established themselves as leaders of the native social organizations, teaching natives the Christian faith and the ways of their civilization. Catholic priests would provide education for Native Americans that otherwise was unavailable. Within 100 years after the first Spanish settlement, nearly 95 percent of all Native Americans in Colombia had died. The majority of the deaths of Native Americans were the cause of diseases such as measles and smallpox, which were spread by European settlers. Many Native Americans were also killed by armed conflicts with European settlers.

White European (Spanish and French colonist) settlement focused mainly in the Andean highlands and Lebanese for the Caribbean coast, but little European settlement took place in the Choco region of the Pacific coast and the Amazonian plains. Out of all Spanish nationalities, the Castilians and the Basques were the most represented. Over time, white Europeans intermarried often with indigenous peoples (i.e. the Chibchas), and to produce a mixed-race population which are the majority of people in Colombia today.

Spanish

Spanish immigration in what is now Colombia was massive and continuous throughout the colonial period. Spanish descendants, a majority of which mixed to varying degrees with indigenous peoples over the centuries, form the bulk of the Colombian population. After a brief period in which it stopped abruptly following independence, immigration slowly resumed albeit at a much lower level. In the 20th century there was another wave of Spanish immigrants fleeing persecution from the Franquistas during and after the Spanish Civil War. Migration also spiked as a result of economic hardships in Spain during the 50s. Due to high unemployment in Spain, several hundreds of Spaniards have immigrated to Colombia for better working prospects in recent years (2008 onwards). Furthermore, several thousands of Colombians who emigrated to Spain from 1990 to 2010 (about 280,000 people) now return to Colombia, and sometimes have dual citizenship.

German

Particularly in the 19th century, but also in the 20th century. Many Colombians of German heritage arrived in Colombia via Venezuela, where 19th-century German settlements have existed. They traditionally settled as farmers or professional workers in the states of Boyacá and Santander, but also in Cali, Bogotá and Barranquilla. One famous German immigrant of the 19th century was German-Jewish entrepreneur Leo Siegfried Kopp who founded the brewery Bavaria. Other German groups arrived in Colombia later: after World War I (many opticians and other professional businesses in Bogotá were founded by German immigrants in the 1910s), and after World War II, some of them Nazis or on the black list. Many of them changed their surnames for common surnames of the region. Many Germans left Colombia during the 80's.

Italian

Italian immigration in Colombia has had place in the XIX and XX centuries. The Italian immigrant population in Colombia, is mostly located in cities such as Cartagena, Barranquilla, Cali, Medellin and Bogotá. There are currently more than 17,000 people of Italian descent.

Basque

Colombia was one of early focus of Basque immigration; it is estimated that around 40% of the Paisa region's population have full or partial Basque origin (around 4,500,000), which makes this region one of the places with the highest concentration of Basque descendants in the world, surpassing even the Basque Country itself. In addition, between 1640 and 1859 18.9% of residents in Colombia were of Basque origin.

French

There is a French community in Colombia, mainly concentrated in the coastal cities of Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Santa Marta, as well as in Bogotá. French immigration began in a regular pattern during the 19th century and highly influenced the country's economic and political systems (the Betancourt family is of French descent) and entertainment industry. Some WWII refugees from France came to Colombia, but often for a temporary time. Nowadays, Colombia has also become a cheap tourist or retirement destination for French citizens. Contrary to common perceptions, the frequent Colombian surname Betancourt does not signal French descent but rather descent from the Canary Islands (Spain), where it is common since the islands were conquered and submitted by Frenchman Juan de Betancourt for the Spanish crown in the 16th century.

Irish

During the independence of Colombia, many Irish soldiers were recruited from Dublin, London and other cities to fight with Simón Bolívar's troops to liberate Colombia from Spain. Some soldiers established themselves in Colombia and formed families. In the first half of 20th century, Irish people arrived in Colombia for a new life and as missionaries to expand the Catholic faith in the country. In the last years of the 20th century and first years of 21st century, some Irish people came to Colombia. Some came to work in the many multinational companies but a few of them were involved with terrorist groups like the FARC.^[2]

Russian

In the 19th and 20th centuries many Russians went to Antioquia and Risaralda, escaping from communism and the Soviet government. The former USSR (1917-1991) included other nations like Lithuania and Ukraine.

Greek

The first wave of Greek emigrants arrived during World War I, when they arrived as Greek Jews to escape from occupation of Greece from the Nazis. Then they later came after World War II intermarrying with the people in the country.^[3]

Other European groups

Similar to Brazil and Argentina, Colombia has other Europeans which includes: Portuguese, Hungarian, Belgian, British, Croatian, Czech, Serbian, Swiss, Scandinavian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Montenegrin, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, Dutch, Albanian, Austrian, and Macedonian.

Chinese

The city of Cali has the largest Asian community because of its proximity to the Pacific Coast. they also live around the nation in other cities such as Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Bogotá and Medellín. The DANE say the Chinese population is growing 10% every year. In recent years, particularly Chinese restaurants have experienced a surge and have become popular businesses in nearly every Colombian city. There is a large gap in knowledge of the Chinese diaspora in Colombia in the period from the beginning of the 20th century until 1970–1980. The century began with the political upheavals in China that led to the creation of two political factions among the Chinese in and outside China, and eventually caused the communist revolution and the founding of the two separate Chinese states, one on the mainland and one in Taiwan. The effect for the Chinese diaspora was the creation not only of political but also more differentiation between migrants and distinguished by locality of origin, language and history of migration. Thus, until today, in terms of organization, they are, on the one hand, the "Overseas Chinese Association", founded by Chinese who migrated to Colombia in the 1980s, and on the other, the Chinese Cultural Centre in Bogotá, founded in 1988 by a Taiwanese government institution (Zhang 1991).

Moreover, it is known that in 1970 there were over 6,000 Chinese living in Colombia, which means that they kept coming to this country. It can be assumed that the anti-immigrant atmosphere in many countries was the major cause of continued Chinese immigration to Colombia. The migration did not come from China, because during the first three decades of the People's Republic of China, emigration was severely restricted. In fact, it is known that in the early 20th century, due to xenophobia in the United States, a large number of Chinese migrated to Colombia. Restrepo (2001) states that at that time various groups of immigrants settled in Barranquilla.

The end of Chinese anti-immigration laws in the United States during the 1980s allowed many Chinese to emigrate from Colombia to the United States. As a result, of the 5,600 people of Chinese origin reported in 1982 (Poston and Yu 1990) in the 1990s were only 3,400, most of whom live in Bogota, Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin, Santa Marta, Manizales, Cucuta and Pereira. All these movements, flows of people around the world support the notion that the "Chinese diaspora" is far from staying in a country, take an identity, or "assimilate". Political, economic, social and personal issues contributed to the circulation of the Chinese movement between various locations. These factors also have an important influence in the forms of residence and, more recently, in human trafficking.^[4]

Japanese

The first large group of Japanese settlers moved to Colombia in 1929 to work as farmers. They comprised people from the southern Japanese prefecture of Fukuoka, whose migration was sponsored by the Compañía de Fomento de Ultramar. After this first wave of migration, two more groups of Japanese families arrived in the Pacific coasts of Colombia: one in 1930 and another in 1935. They settled a region in the southwest of Colombia in the province of Cauca, cleaning the land and building a small village to grow beans, soy and rice in a plantation called El Jagual. When World War II began, they were discriminated and harassed by the Colombian government. Many of them were put into concentration camps near the capital of Colombia. Finally they had to abandon El Jagual and restart small plantations around the provinces of Cauca and Valle del Cauca. By the end of the 1950s, the community had accumulated an approximate of 50.000 hectares of cultivated land. After the war ended, Japanese refugees were warmly invited by the original colony to join the community. Marriages and job contracts were arranged with people in Japan wanting to escape from the post-war crisis. After the decade of 1980's, fewer Japanese have joined the traditional community of Nikkei. They have moved to urban settings and have devoted to economic activities other than agriculture, still performing an important role of social leadership in the city of Cali.^[5][6]

Korean

The Korean community is one the largest Korean diaspora in Latin America, However their history of arrival is unknown but the estimate is 120,000 citizens of Korean origin.

Lebanese

During the 19th and 20th century, The Lebanese fled from the Ottoman empire to Colombia seeking political, economic, and religious reasons and were they were once classified as turks due to their country being part of the Ottoman empire.

Syrian

The wave of Syrian immigration to Colombia seems to have begun in the 1880s. This was perhaps its peak during the first three decades of this century and declined after 1930, but Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians continued since then settled in Colombia. Due to the limited information available, it is impossible to know exactly how many Syrians and Lebanese have immigrated into the country. It has been estimated that, during the busiest period (1880-1930), a figure between 5,000 and 10,000 could be reliable. Whatever the figure, there is no doubt that, perhaps next to the Spanish, the Syrian-Lebanese are the largest immigrant group in Colombia since independence.

Americans in Colombia

About 3,000 North Americans arrived in Barranquilla during the late 19th century. By 1958, American immigrants comprised 10% of all immigrants living in Colombia. There are now 30,000–40,000 United States citizens living in Colombia, many of whom are Colombian emigrants to the United States who chose to return to Colombia. The barrios El prado, Paraiso and some others were created by Americans, also schools and universities were built by American architects such as the Universidad del Norte, the American School and many more.