A Continent of Immigrants: Postcolonial Shifts in the Western Hemisphere

Abstract

Latin Americans usually conceive the Western Hemisphere as a single continent. Geographically, the notion is no more, or less, arbitrary than Anglo-Americans’ mapping of two continents separated by the Panamanian isthmus. But the Latin American viewpoint highlights the most basic and distinctive historical commonality of the Americas: they are a “New World,” a continent populated by arrivals from all the other continents. Its “indigenous” population came from Asia long after the rest of the globe had been settled by hominids, including Homo sapiens. About 15,000 years later, others began to arrive from the opposite direction. Close to three million came from Europe between the beginning of the colonial enterprise in the Americas in 1492 and its near end in 1820. Three times as many were brought against their will from Africa during the same period.1Although humans have been moving across continents ever since our direct ancestors came out of Africa about 100,000 years ago, the transatlantic wave that came next was historically unprecedented in its dimension. This movement began modestly after the end of the Napoleonic/Latin American wars of independence, gathered steam after midcentury, reached massive proportions after the 1870s, and lasted — with a pause during World War I — until the Great Depression. In the process, more than 51 million Europeans (and about 2 million Asians) arrived in the New World.2 Nothing remotely resembling this massive movement had ever happened before anywhere on the planet. By the outbreak of World War I, more people had come to the New World during the preceding decade than had done so, from both Europe and Africa, during the entire colonial period. Indeed, by then more Europeans had disembarked in the port of Buenos Aires alone during the previous three years (1.1 million) than had arrived in all of Spanish America during more than three centuries of colonial rule. Nothing like it would happen again until a second wave of global migrations began in the last decades of the twentieth century, when the intensity of the pre – World War I years was matched in absolute numbers, but not proportionately to the world’s population.Historians on both sides of the “pond” (and the contributors to this issue are no exception) have normally dealt with this vast transnational phenomenon from a national perspective. At one point, this may have reflected visions of national (particularly North American) exceptionalism. These notions have not disappeared, although they are increasingly more likely to originate in scholarly parochialism than in nationalist visions. But today, the principal reason for the persistence of national perspectives is more mundane, having to do more with academic institutional inertia than with ideological blinders. Despite the postmodern fascination with the transnational, we continue to be trained not as historians of social processes (in this case migration) but as historians of countries, or at best “areas” (e.g., Latin America). This disciplinary particularity (not shared by the social sciences or cultural studies) has its virtues. It makes historians particularly sensitive to local specificities. We would not presume to study, say, the political economy of two dozen countries where we have never been and whose languages, cultures, and histories we are not familiar with (a common practice in other disciplines).The approach, however, has many drawbacks. It focuses exclusively on the receiving country as if immigrants were tabula rasae whose began after they the or a This to a of that to in to the the cultural and the of both of the of arrivals to their as a when in it a of that and between and receiving and from one to the of of in political and in the last two decades has to the of the to Latin in is to the of the and the national they the century, and in during the of after the to Europeans a from to But had to do with the of all of — from to — to Europeans as to In their of the to the arrivals and the more Europeans arrived in the in a than arrived in during the entire for the and their to Europeans were by from to But all of countries immigrants in a of national than a single in a most of the to the country arrived when its political had long to the is to and other about the of and had and of Latin American has more to do with the of the — not a particularly — than with the and of its like is and than in national to the three case in the issue in the of and vast that during the and Indeed, the of the in between the and the rest of the or the Western most of had to do with the from a of and to one of and in Europe during the long This — as than — the population in population from million in to million in and its of the world’s from to This was not a of previous whose be in It was unprecedented phenomenon in the and of our the century, had been and more than two not than in Europe during the but for the in by or — as long as the — This the massive transatlantic It that by a vast for New World that had not in the colonial period. and Europe people to the from it later, Indeed, of the million Europeans their continent during this for and massive after the the as the of transatlantic and of a that a of other one the in a of its it more than it It and as a to in the for American as people their the of that the of the It direct for a of American for and for and from the of the in the from the from had the in the by the after the of in the from the after the same from from and the for and from the and the of out by a of and particularly the would the principal of transatlantic in Europe with the on this — on the and their for and of and for and other of the (a that in the across Europe from to transnational social but it not have and and in of the the and the that the the — the most in since the of years the a in that the movement of people then and not the it during a to most was not the of that and but and the and the of that the the and the the of in and for the of of people moving of the by the to the countries where the were These and in the receiving countries, in more to and more from It is no that the most of immigrants in the and the most of and the in the Western however, to not and but of the for long as and the of the and the and with a of to or as or the of in the of a that the the increasingly the the and (and the of the steam and both and the of and North American and to had been to the of from a port the then across the American continents. In both the of the like and of this the to the second of in the with most of that across the the same and in the same that brought the would in and were a of both massive transatlantic and massive transatlantic that were between and were and at times in countries during the century, to — the of the in a in the of transatlantic after the would not have been a of political to would have the massive been a of political to of the of the the ideological for the that the in by colonial the other the in one country after in has and the of and the of in the in transatlantic in It a for New World as It as a of to in the It in and in the — that normally and in this to population movement across the and across the processes of transatlantic and the of the North in the and the of the population from to during the century, and proportions from to and from to the the Americas began in one of the world’s was in the In of the were in By of the were in the North and Buenos Aires would that was In and the for than of the world’s alone By the of the three North countries had to of the world’s had to a and other historians of the have the in between the North and the other of the as the in and in in the and the from and colonial to and the and political of the Western the colonial had been on a of and or and of and had and the in the of a Spanish that from the to the — the the never Spanish American had a of in languages, as when in this is a and had one of the in the in the century, many times more to the than the of or had been that of the in and in was more for the than all the and the the was than the this its transatlantic as it and — although — political and from it the end of the a country that was more in the than it would be in the and in had been the most and of the North and between and the is most of the colonial the was than the By But the in the By the had times than its a that to this the colonial to and its in the during the Indeed, although the was one of the in the Americas and had been at the of since the beginning of its it a the of the century, it had been between the of New and the with a settled by Spanish and of and particularly after the of the economy in during that – a of during the that the that had come to the of and in the political of the and with to lasted in the the than anywhere in the than in other country But after midcentury, the of immigrants in the and the of of to of the of the and of and a economy was not to in the and the most of the the before the American however, is for the of its and the it the the At the of the century, was the most in that the and and three times as as the By the end of the century, it was the most country in the of the steam in and its in the the of the of the world’s reached the in two years after had in and a dozen years before they were in the later, the in Latin America and a dozen years after the of between New and in a dozen years after its after its in the and a dozen before it would the It was the in Latin America and the in the came to in years after had and the may have been three decades before by would the of from and to and reached the in America than in North America and — after the of the But it was as by and had for of the colonial a of the By it had the most of Latin In Europeans were a or as to By in and had been with as the By the that of and the and it not that of countries like and but that of countries like and American had by then the country in the on the the on the of and and the of the of the country the second most of immigrants in the after the as most of its By it had the of in the after the Its It more than other country in the with the of as and the would not have been in and a of the by the of the in the In Europe had not or to in of global and and population not have the that the populated of the New World for it a for the of the American if they on the of people and on both sides of the would have if political had not would have in the and not have of people and of of and from the to the port and then across the have been the or — the that had been to where had but had to in the of the and their and both with the of the were in the of people had no or to their for the of the however, were of the the and national after the of the the of the last in the Western Hemisphere of and and the in the this the of of and the of and of the its the of and the of on and as we many of the other to by in the Western Hemisphere in during the be the the until the had been the in the as the by the and population of the and In the to the colonial economy of the one of the in the by In the from the to the and of in the century, to the in the and the three of the population of in the and and in in the colonial of and had been not by but by and the of had after and by the of By the of and in the not have in a if the colonial had their — if it were — not have that had been and not by but by political and the more and not have the when the had been by and In the of political of the were and by and But the or of the colonial the by of and In the colonial one have the population in the three countries as people in the that had or but people in a of of on the of social and social — in the World or and in the New — in during the World War I, most of the population of in and the in had the of their immigrants were the most at a when was and and and moving to or Buenos Aires after World War I and the Great last — in a — and of during the the between and population of to be immigrants increasingly the New World that their to the of the Western Hemisphere the of on the of this in the and of the to the of in the In one of the in the with 100,000 was in the Americas By the the of and came to end with the Great the Western Hemisphere of the world’s with 100,000 Its of the had from to the continent to a This the of the Western in the Americas had in the of the Spanish of the had the and were the colonial with on by or by and This was a when and were more than New and Buenos Aires and when all other than and New were by would as as and the reached its alone had a population than the of Europeans would this By the New had the in the By a of the the in the New World and In that same had more than times the population of as as the of the had been than the end of the Buenos Aires — had been a for most of the colonial and as as the — had the in Latin America by during the colonial had the second most country in the after colonial that were to their and of immigrants as and were to during the But most of the in that had been in the colonial or had not In one of the most from a of about in to a of a later, in the all the of the Buenos if more it from to the of the during the same period. in of a of people in a of to a million by the outbreak of World War as the of the of its it had by then the in the the it had all the of the that had during the colonial as to the other of as and in the the most case since the the on the of from a of in to a of by the of the to a of million by when it as the in the had at the end of the century, had to by the of the and would to by the end of the the in the Western Hemisphere during the the in would from the by of the in were not the in they not then or were This a In Latin America had of the in the New and the By Latin America had of the and the had with the In the not have a single the by it had including the New had more than times the population of had to in or North was by By the in the and of the were of the most countries the and were the with the of immigrants in their as its is in one that the of in the Western Hemisphere during the century, from the and colonial to the of the that had been its and to the of the before the principal of be not in or but in like and (in of the and of or and (in of and other cultural the most of the to like New Buenos and that during the not its but its it — in the of in the Americas — from to to the by of the colonial had been on and the of This the most of in with in but no in social had been social and to a for or a the of in the In this the colonial of — as the and and to a and of — to be a in than by colonial social they were These to the of and the of the of and — like the and is a country with a of and — had of the in the Western Hemisphere during the in were times than in were in the and and the that with had on the and of of the colonial had been a that a social it more than a of and from and the that a of the New the of was and the as and in many of the Americas it and the In however, it and the to of by the of as a of and a political that has been by is that it not the of a of that from the to the from to from to from to had if been for a movement before the to the with to the Spanish American movement with to and and to of the many other and three decades after more than the previous three of the and in this of had not the and of that but the that Indeed, in to and to by in its the the and the the than to and its processes it from a of from to from ideological to the of the to and in the of New or These and other of the Americas to the by the massive of institutional and and and from for to for In of the of and the of the population that it this was a from the colonial of and and of people and and cultural like New and Buenos Aires the two most of the the of the local and the and — in a the of — the that most the of from that of the colonial and the of the may be the most of this in the New but the notion that the was to the of the of more than of that and of the of were both more and more to during the than most in the and more and people from Europe the than the By of — and of to the and in and and and cultural in — the in the twentieth separated not from Latin America but the of from the of and It was this than or that separated the from the at the the and most countries were the that had the and to the countries on that they on a for the three in the that in was by that and in the same phenomenon was by and By the outbreak of the were about in for two out of in the About the same were in a of the immigrants in for one of three in about one of three in to was not a movement but a of people with or would not in of to a country where was and than in their like other immigrants in were at the of the the massive of their the in including and as the where they were In by and other immigrants were at the of the and in the in a of that was in where it had during the a of for the and that Spanish had come to in the political of the and the of the same Spanish has than and was a more phenomenon that not but against not against but against their of in a country where of the population was or In massive had a that was populated to with a country where of the population was of the social of in the Spanish on as not most of the immigrants came from the not the of by their in but the against by the local by other immigrants in and the the of the of in with the outbreak of the had the to a and to cultural In a country with of and all the social of a of for and that the and In — a country with and one that was to than with its — and had and was more likely to the than the a as and in to the and as — or as the of by — and in to the the that they to In it was from and were as In it came from and was immigrants and the of the by of people from a is But the of on the of — as to the of the of to or as of from or — is a phenomenon that during the of the in a single a of than during the – about a immigrants between and the after and and the after World War I, of These however, were out from by the — and with — from the and all of were Indeed, the and normally to the of in But the of the not a of that of the for came from in the of social by and In this the be as a of a of the political that was in the more countries In the were and political in the in the in a of and one of the in the by the outbreak of World War I, and a of other in this about the of the in that not a but a and the that with and from Europe to then to the and of the and to the were for the same reason that and were the last to the transatlantic they began however, the the most in the the Americas from to and North Africa, and and New as their in is a of that in of other during the of their the the the and the of the second the to be a anywhere from to and to the to a and to their that in the of — has been for a in the and in in be to that of the in the same country and to that of the in other I of the immigrants not to or other countries in the to on their or for with a to in are not of that the they to be of social and than But in the case of to countries, the of may be more These were not for a they or to or at and to for where as a for was a in a out of this of the — the and But a to as Africa, and where others the the for the that other as the in the in and in of their in the of the the other on the of the These were not but had social or and from other in by not of a economy but of its and and in where had from their and the that this for of their in the of in Latin America has been the War the had and to of to they however, was in to the and of the local and of or other the country the the of the in the was likely to to the between the and their are not likely to with as the in the But one has to about many of would in the of the population in of and however, that the would be than say, and and than in and the has to about many of the of and that to th

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