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Italo-Brazilian

Encyclopedia : I : IT : ITA : Italo-Brazilian

Italo-Brazilian or Italian-Brazilian (Italian: italo-brasiliano, Portuguese: ítalo-brasileiro) is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. According to the Italian government there are 25 million Brazilians of Italian descent, which is the largest population of Italian background outside of Italy itself.

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Citizenship

According to the Brazilian constitution, anyone born in Brazil is a Brazilian citizen by birthright, including all Italo-Brazilians. In addition, many who were born in Italy have become naturalized citizens after settling in Brazil. In recent years, a considerable number of Italo-Brazilians have also acquired Italian citizenship, as they do not lose their Brazilian citizenship by doing so, but become dual citizens. Italian law grants citizenship to those of Italian descent without requiring them to live in Italy or speak Italian.

Italian settlement in southern Brazil

Italian immigration to Brazil was quite significant, especially from 1880 to 1930. The main areas of settlement were in southern Brazil, which enjoys a temperate climate, namely the states of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Espírito Santo, and Minas Gerais.

Italians had been settling in Brazil as single individuals or small groups since the country was discovered in the 16th century. However, the first large groups of Italian pioneers arrived in Brazil in 1870. The Brazilian government, headed by Emperor Pedro II instituted an open-door immigration policy towards Europeans, especially after 1850, when the traffic of African slaves was abolished in Brazil, thus creating potential labor shortages. In the early 19th century, the Brazilian government created the first colonies of immigrants (colônias de imigrantes). These colonies were established in rural areas of the country, being settled by European families, mainly Germans. These German immigrants colonized many areas of Southern Brazil. Following the same project, colonies with Italian immigrants were also created in southern Brazil. The first colonies to be populated by Italians were created in the highlands of Rio Grande do Sul (Serra Gaúcha). These were Garibaldi and Bento Gonçalves. These immigrants were predominantly from Veneto, in northern Italy. After five years, in 1875, the great numbers of Italian immigrants arriving caused the Brazilian government to create another Italian colony, Caxias do Sul. After initially settling in the government-promoted colonies, many of the Italian immigrants spread themselves into other areas of Rio Grande do Sul seeking further opportunities. They created many other Italian colonies on their own, mainly in highlands, because the lowlands were already populated by Germans and native gaúchos. The Italian established many vineyards in the region. Nowadays, the wine produced in these areas of Italian colonization in southern Brazil is much appreciated within the country, though little is available for export. In 1875, the first Italian colonies were established in Santa Catarina, which lies immediately to the north of Rio Grande do Sul. The colonies gave rise to towns such as Criciúma, and later also spread further north, to Paraná.

In the colonies of southern Brazil, Italian immigrants at first confined themselves within their own ethnic group, where they could speak their native Italian dialects and keep their culture and traditions. With time, however, they would become thoroughly integrated economically and culturally into the larger society. In any case, Italian immigration to southern Brazil was very important to the economic development, as well to the culture and ethnic formation of the region.

Italians in coffee plantations of Southeast Brazil

Italian immigrants in Brazil, São Paulo, early 20th century
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Italian immigrants in Brazil, São Paulo, early 20th century

The poverty and political turmoils occurring in Northern Italy in the last quarter of the 19th century brought many immigrants to Brazil (as well as to other countries, such as Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and United States). A part of them settled in the colonies in Southern Brazil, however, the majority of them settled in Southeast Brazil (mainly in the state of São Paulo). After 1888, when the slavery was finally abolished by a decree of the Imperial government, the number of farm workers fell drastically in Brazil, due to the fact that all black slaves, with no lands of their own and no money to buy them, moved to big slums in the cities. Moreover, the coffee plantations were spreading enormously in the region. Coffee became the main export product of Brazil and there were few workers for planting and harvesting it. Furthermore, contrariwise to sugarcane and cotton plantations, coffee required better trained and intelligent rural workers, and Europeans decidedly would be up to the job, since most of the Italian immigrants were peasants in their own country. Therefore, the Brazilian government started to attract more Italian immigrants to the coffee plantations. In the beginning, the government was responsible for bringing the immigrants (in most cases, paying for their transportation by ship), but later the own farmers were responsible to make contracts with immigrants or specialized companies in recruiting Italian workers. Many posters were spread in Italy, with pictures of Brazil, selling the idea that everybody could become rich there by working with coffee, which was called by the Italian immigrants as the green gold. Most coffee plantations were in São Paulo, and in a smaller proportion also in Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.

Italians used to immigrate to Brazil in families. The colono, as rural immigrants were called, had to sign a contract with the farmer and was obliged to work in the coffee plantation during a minimum period of time. However, the situation was not easy. The Italian immigrants were substituting the African slaves, so many Brazilian farmers used to treat the immigrants as such, by imposing indentured labor. The boom of Italian immigration in Brazil happened in the late XIX century, between 1880 and 1900, when more than 1 million Italians immigrated. Most of them were Northern Italians from the regions of Veneto, Trentino-South Tyrol, Marche, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna. In the other hand, during the XX century, Southern Italians predominated in Brazil, coming from the regions of Abruzzo, Lazio, Campania, Calabria and Sicily.

While in Southern Brazil the Italian immigrants were living in relatively well-developed colonies, in Southeast Brazil the situation of semi-slavery in the coffee plantations were hard. Many rebellions against Brazilian farmers occurred, which caused great commotion in Italy and forced the Italian government to establish difficulties and barriers to further immigration. In consequence, the number of Italian immigrants in Brazil fell drastically in the beginning of the XX century.

Despite the problems, most Italians in Brazil, after some years working in the coffee plantations, earned enough money to buy their own lands and become farmers themselves. Some of them became big owners and very rich in the process and attracted more Italian immigrants to their possessions. Others left the rural areas of Brazil and moved to Brazilian urban centers, mainly São Paulo, Campinas, Ribeirão Preto, etc. In the early 20th century, São Paulo was known as the city of the Italians, because 30% of its inhabitants were Italians (even today, is one of the largest "Italian" cities in the world, second only to Rome...). In Campinas, street signs in Italian were frequent, a large commercial and services sector owned by Italians developed, and more than 60% of the population had Italian surnames. In 1907, Belo Horizonte had nearly 60% of its population composed of Italians and first-generation descendants. Italians and their descendants were also quick to organize themselves and establish mutual aid societies (such as the Circolo Italiano), their own hospitals, schools (such as the Instituto Dante Alighieri, in São Paulo), syndicates, newspapers (such as La Fanciulla), magazines, radio stations, and even soccer teams (such as Palestra Itália, later renamed Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras in São Paulo, and Cruzeiro in Belo Horizonte after World War II.)

Italian immigrants were very important to the development of many big cities of Brazil, such as São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Belo Horizonte.

Italians getting into a ship to Brazil, 1910
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Italians getting into a ship to Brazil, 1910
Bad conditions in rural areas of Brazil made thousands of Italians move to these big cities. Most of them became laborers and participated actively in the industrialization of Brazil in the early XX century. Others became investors, bankers and industrialists, such as Andrea Matarazzo, whose family became the richest industrialists in São Paulo, with a holding of more than 200 industries and businesses.
Italians were divided in two groups in Brazil: those living in Southern Brazil were closed in rural colonies, in contact only with other Italians, where they were able to create a New Italy. In the other hand, Italians living in Southeast Brazil, the most populated region of country, were quickly integrated into Brazilian society.

Italo-Brazilians in other parts of Brazil

Although the majority of Brazilians of Italian descent live in the South and Southeast part of the country, in recent decades (1960s-present), people from southern Brazil, many of Italian descent, have played a vital role in settling and developing the vast cerrado grasslands of central and northern Brazil. These areas, once economically neglected and almost uninhabited, are fast becoming one the world's most important agricultural regions.



 
Italian immigration to Brazil, by nationality, decenal periods from 1884-1893, 1924-1933 and 1945-1949
Source: Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE)		




 

Decade





Nationality
1884-1893
	1894-1903
1904-1913
	1914-1923
1924-1933
1945-1949
1950-1954
1955-1959




Italians
510,533
	537,784
196,521
	86,320
70,177
15,312 
59,785 
31,263 






Language

Virtually all Italo-Brazilians today speak Portuguese as their native language. Italian (literary and vernacular) was widespread in Brazil until the mid-1960s. Some Italo-Brazilians still speak Italian (Talian dialect) as first language in some areas of Rio Grande do Sul. But the Italian language in Brazil is in severe decline among the younger generations.



Italian as a Brazilian ethnic group


The Italian ethnicity became the 4th most important ethnic group of Brazil, just behind the Portuguese, Africans and Amerindians. Italian surnames are common among Brazilians since 25 million Brazilians have Italian ancestors.


Although victims of some prejudice in the first decades (and in spite of the persecution during the World War) Italo-Brazilians managed to mingle and to incorporate seamlessly into the Brazilian society. Many Brazilian artists, politicians, footballers, models and personalities are or were of Italian descent; including three Presidents: Emilio Garrastazu Medici, Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli and Itamar Franco, several senators, many deputies and even ambassadors. 


Italo-Brazilians tend to be very participant in local politics and their influence is acknowledged to have improved the economy of the places where they settled.



Italian influence in Brazil


The remaining Italian influence is noticeable to the naked eye:





List of famous Brazilians of Italian descent





External links












 





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