A
French Argentine (French: Franco-Argentin,
Spanish:
franco-argentino) is an Argentine
citizen of full or partial French ancestry. French Argentines form
the third largest ancestry group after
Italian Argentines and
Spanish Argentines. Between 1857 and 1946,
261,020 French people immigrated to Argentina.Today around 6.8
million Argentines have some degree of French descent (up to 17% of
the total population).
While Argentines of French descent make up a substantial percent of
the Argentine population, they are less visible than other
similarly-sized ethnic groups. This is due to the high degree of
assimilation and the lack of substantial French colonies throughout
the country.
French immigration to Argentina
Between 1857 and 1946 Argentina received 239,503 French immigrants
- out of which 105,537 permanently settled in the country. Until
1976, 116,032 settled in Argentina. France was the third source of
immigration to Argentina before 1890, constituting over 10% of
immigrants, only surpassed by Italians and Spaniards. From 1890 to
1914, immigration from France, also reduced, still was
significative.
Half of
French immigrants came from southwestern France, especially from
the Basque Country, Béarn (Basses-Pyrénées
accounted for more than 20% of immigrants),
Bigorre and Rouergue. Other important groups came from Savoy and the Paris
region.
In 1810, Buenos Aires had a population of 28,528 inhabitants,
including 13 French citizens. In 1839, it was estimated that 4,000
Frenchmen were living in the province of Buenos Aires, this figure
increased to 12,000 in 1842 and to 25,000 in 1859. In 1861, 29,196
Frenchmen were registered in Argentina, including 14,180 living in
the city of Buenos Aires where they represented the third largest
foreign community and made up 7.5% of the population. In 1869,
32,383 Frenchmen lived in the country, or about 1.7% of the total
population. In 1887, there were 20,031 Frenchmen living in Buenos
Aires, 4.6% of the 433,421 inhabitants. In 1895, after the largest
wave of French immigrants had settled in Argentina, they were
94,098, i.e. 2.3% of the total population (33,185 of them were
living in the city of Buenos Aires where they represented the third
largest foreign community and made up 4.9% of the population). Only
the United States had a higher number of French expatriates, with
over one hundred Frenchmen having immigrated there. At the turn of
the century figures started to decrease as immigration from France
declined and previously established immigrants merged within the
population. It was estimated that 100,000 Frenchmen were living in
Argentina in 1912, 67% of the 149,400 Frenchmen living in Latin
America and the second largest community worldwide after the United
States (125,000). In 1914, 79,491 Frenchmen were registered,
accounting for 1% of the Argentine population.
In the 1960s, around 4,000
Pieds-Noirs
immigrated to Argentina from the newly-independent Algeria.
Today it is estimated that up to 17% of Argentineans have partial
French ancestry.
French Argentines formed a large portion of the elite of the
country. In 1959 it was estimated that 7% of the upper-class of
Buenos Aires was of French background, their ancestors having
settled in the country between 1840 and 1880.
While
found throughout the country, they are most numerous in Buenos
Aires
, Santa Fe,
Entre Ríos, Córdoba, Mendoza and Tucumán
provinces. According to the national census of 1895,
37.3% of Frenchmen settled in Argentina lived in the province of
Buenos Aires, 35.2% in the city of Buenos Aires
, 10.9% in Santa Fe
and 5.1% in Entre Ríos.
French colonies in Argentina
In 1857, an immigrant from
Béarn,
Alejo Peyret, founded the first farming
colony in
Entre Ríos,
San José. In 1864, out of 380
families living in San José, 125 were from
Savoy.
The town
of Pigüé
, founded by
165 Occitan-speaking French immigrants from Rouergue in 1884, is considered a focal center of
French culture in Argentina. It is estimated that 30% to 40% of Pigüé's
modern inhabitants can trace their roots to Aveyron
and they
still speak Occitan.
According to the 1869 census, a quarter of immigrants to the
province of Mendoza were from
France. In 1895, they made up 15% of immigrants of the province,
right after Italians and Spaniards (26.1% and 17.3% respectively).
Frenchmen were particularly numerous in the wine-producing
departments of
Maipú,
Luján and in the
French colony of
San Rafael,
founded by engineer Julio Gerónimo Balloffet.
In 1904,
the governor of Tucumán founded a town carrying his name, Villa Nougués, as
a replica of Boutx
in Haute-Garonne
, a French village where his family traces its roots
back to.
Legacy
250 px
French immigration has left a significant mark on Argentina, with a
notable influence on the
arts,
culture,
science and society
of the country.
In particular, many emblematic buildings in
cities like Buenos
Aires, Rosario
, and
Córdoba
were built following French Beaux Arts and neoclassical styles, such as the
Argentine National Congress, the
Metropolitan Cathedral
, or the Central Bank
building. In particular, landscape architect Carlos Thays, in his position as 1891 Director
of Parks and Walkways, is largely responsible for planting
thousands of trees, creating the Buenos Aires
Botanical Garden
and giving the city much of its parks and plazas
that are sometimes compared to similar designs in Paris.
Important contributions to the arts include the works of
Eugène Py, considered the founding pioneer of
Argentine cinema, as well as the
development of new literary genres by writers like
Paul Groussac or
Julio Cortázar. In the field of science,
two Argentine
Nobel Prize laurates were
of French descent,
Bernardo
Houssay,
1947 laurate in Medicine, and
Luis Federico Leloir,
1970 laurate in
Chemistry.
Argentine localities with French names
Buenos Aires Province
Córdoba Province
Corrientes Province
Entre Ríos Province
La Pampa Province
Misiones Province
Santa Cruz Province
Santa Fe Province
Tucumán Province
Figures
| Yearly French immigration to Argentina from 1857 to
1897 |
| Year |
French immigrants |
Total immigrants |
% French immigrants |
| 1857 |
276 |
4,951 |
5.6% |
| 1858 |
193 |
4,658 |
4.1% |
| 1859 |
251 |
4,735 |
5.3% |
| 1860 |
385 |
5,656 |
6.8% |
| 1861 |
148 |
6,301 |
2.3% |
| 1862 |
203 |
6,716 |
3% |
| 1863 |
397 |
10,408 |
3.8% |
| 1864 |
426 |
11,682 |
3.6% |
| 1865 |
513 |
11,797 |
4.3% |
| 1866 |
609 |
13,696 |
4.4% |
| 1867 |
991 |
13,225 |
7.5% |
| 1868 |
1,223 |
25,919 |
4.7% |
| 1869 |
1,465 |
28,958 |
5% |
| 1870 |
2,396 |
30,898 |
7.7% |
| 1871 |
1,988 |
14,621 |
13.6% |
| 1872 |
4,602 |
26,208 |
17.6% |
| 1873 |
7,431 |
48,382 |
15.4% |
| 1874 |
5,654 |
40,674 |
13.9% |
| 1875 |
2,633 |
18,532 |
14.2% |
| 1876 |
2,064 |
14,532 |
14.2% |
| 1877 |
1,996 |
14,675 |
13.6% |
| 1878 |
2,025 |
23,624 |
8.6% |
| 1879 |
2,149 |
32,717 |
6.6% |
| 1880 |
2,175 |
26,643 |
8.2% |
| 1881 |
3,612 |
31,431 |
11.5% |
| 1882 |
3,382 |
41,041 |
8.3% |
| 1883 |
4,286 |
52,472 |
8.2% |
| 1884 |
4,731 |
49,623 |
9.5% |
| 1885 |
4,752 |
80,618 |
5.9% |
| 1886 |
4,662 |
65,655 |
7.1% |
| 1887 |
7,036 |
98,898 |
7.1% |
| 1888 |
17,105 |
130,271 |
13.1% |
| 1889 |
27,173 |
218,744 |
12.4% |
| 1890 |
17,104 |
77,815 |
22% |
| 1891 |
2,915 |
28,266 |
10.3% |
| 1892 |
2,115 |
39,973 |
5.3% |
| 1893 |
2,612 |
52,067 |
5% |
| 1894 |
7,107 |
54,720 |
13% |
| 1895 |
2,448 |
61,226 |
4% |
| 1896 |
3,486 |
102,673 |
3.4% |
| 1897 |
2,835 |
72,978 |
3.9% |
| Total |
154,554 |
1,698,654 |
9.1% |
| French immigrants to Argentina from 1857 to
1909 |
| Year period |
French immigrants |
Total immigrants |
% French immigrants |
| 1857-1870 |
2,789 |
178,883 |
1.6% |
| 1871-1890 |
126,560 |
1,107,201 |
11.4% |
| 1891-1909 |
56,400 |
2,086,339 |
2.7% |
| Total |
185,749 |
3,372,423 |
5.5% |
| French immigration to Argentina from 1857 to
1924 |
| Entrances |
Departures |
Balance |
| 226,894 |
120,258 |
106,623 |
| French immigrants to Argentina from 1915 to
1953 |
| Year period |
French immigrants |
| 1915-1920 |
9,800 |
| 1921-1930 |
13,000 |
| 1931-1935 |
5,200 |
| 1936-1939 |
7,800 |
| 1944-1948 |
2,700 |
| 1949-1953 |
3,300 |
| French immigration to Argentina from 1857 to
1946 |
| Entrances |
Departures |
Balance |
| 239,503 |
133,966 |
105,537 |
| French net migration to Argentina from 1857 to
1976 |
| Year period |
French immigrants |
| 1857-1860 |
578 |
| 1861-1870 |
4,292 |
| 1871-1880 |
10,706 |
| 1881-1890 |
69,363 |
| 1891-1900 |
11,395 |
| 1901-1910 |
11,862 |
| 1911-1920 |
-1,352 |
| 1921-1930 |
739 |
| 1931-1940 |
626 |
| 1941-1950 |
5,538 |
| 1951-1960 |
934 |
| 1961-1970 |
1,266 |
| 1971-1976 |
85 |
| Total |
116,032 |
See also
References
- La République Argentine by Charles Beck-Bernard, page 205. "Au
31 décembre 1863, la colonie de San-José comptait 2211 habitants,
formant 380 familles, dont 190 sont suisses, 125 savoisiennes, 54
piémontaises et 11 allemandes."
- El mes de Francia en la ciudad de Pigüé
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