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Immigration to Chile
Over the centuries, Chile has received immigrants from Europe, the Americas, and Asia but not in a large scale wave compare to other countries in Latin America such as its neighbor Argentina. Today, millions of their descendants still live in the country and can be found working in different industries. The immigrants and their descendants are important to the evolution of Chilean society and the Chilean nation.
The immigration in Chile corresponds to the displacement of diverse foreign communities to the country, chiefly during the 19th and 20th. centuries. These groups of immigrants have origins and diverse motivations. The Chilean population, formed chiefly by the crossbreeding between the Spanish colonizing groups and the native population, was seen modified later by the participation of these groups in the company.
Historically, the main groups of immigrants correpond to the originating of the frontier countries due to the interaction of its relations with Chile. The most numerous colony is the Peruvian, followed by Argentina. One of the main factors that have produced this immigration has been the important growth of the Chilean economy during the last decades. Of equal form, the immigration since other Latin-American countries has also been of great importance.
Also, during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century important colonizing immigrations of European origin came from Spain, Croatia, Germany, and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. Maritime commerce prompted the establishment of British, French and Italian settlements. In the late 20th century Palestinian refugees formed the largest colony from the Middle East.
The reaction of Chile to immigration is similar to that of citizens of other countries. Large-scale immigration has caused resentment by increasing the supply of labor and reducing wages, while in some urban areas it has led to an increase in crime. On the other hand, others consider immigration beneficial as a way of diversifying the existing culture.
European immigration
An important ethnic group in the construction of the Chilean company has been the immigration originating from Europe. The Chilean society was born exactly of the crossbreeding between the native communities and the conquerors and Spanish colonizers, but after their independence and along the 19th century, new immigrant groups arrived at the Spanish, Basque, Catalan, German, Swiss, Irish, British, French, Polish, Croatians, Ashkenazi Jews, Greeks and Italians. As opposed to what has happened with the American immigrants that tended to be endorsed with the remainder of the population, the main communities of European origin were maintained forming diverse colonies. Thus, those of origin German have great influence in Los Lagos Region, the Croatians in Antofagasta and Magallanes and the British and Irish in Santiago and the coastal cities due to their narrow relation with the Chilean Navy.
Asian immigration
It is estimated that near the 4% of the Chilean population is Asian origin immigrants descendant, chiefly of the Middle East although in recent years have enlarged considerably the communities of China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Latin American immigration
Though during all its history, Chile has received to Latin-American origin immigrants groups, the economic and political stability of the last decade has been one of the determinant factors in the growing entrance of immigrants of said origin to the country. Although the major number corresponds to that of Argentines, Bolivian and Peruvians by their proximity with the country, has also entered a good number of Ecuadorians, Colombian, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Caribbean islanders, and Central Americans that have found reception in the country, being performed in diverse branches of the Chilean economic task.
See also
Asian Chilean
Basque Chilean
British Chilean
Catalan Chilean
Croatians in Chile
French Chilean
German-Chilean
Greeks in Chile
Irish Chilean
Italian-Chilean
Lebanese Chilean
List of Chilean Jews
Palestinian Chilean
Polish Chilean
Spanish-Chilean
Swiss Chilean
Syrians in Chile
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Immigration to Chile
