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 Spanish Brazilian  Hispano brasileño · Hispano-brasileiro |
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| Total population |
|
15,000,000 Spanish Brazilians |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Brazil:
Mainly Southeastern Brazil |
| Languages |
| Portuguese Language, Spanish |
| Religion |
| Predominantly Roman Catholic · Protestant · Jewish minority |
| Related ethnic groups |
| White Brazilian, Spanish people, Portuguese Brazilians, Arab Brazilians |
Spanish-Brazilian (Spanish: hispanobrasileño, Portuguese: hispano-brasileiro) is a Brazilian person of full, partial, or predominantly Spanish ancestry, or a Spanish-born person residing in Brazil.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal. Although some Galicians and other Spaniards had followed the Portuguese settlers to Brazil since the 16th century, Spanish immigration began, officially, in the 1880s with Galician smallholders who settled mainly in urban areas of Brazil. Starting in the early 20th century, most Spanish immigrants were Andalusian peasants who worked in the coffee plantations, mainly in rural areas of São Paulo State.
Like other immigrants, they brought their entire families, including children. After working in coffee farms, they became permanent residents and worked as scrap metal merchants or restaurant employees. They eventually diversified into other professions. Spanish immigrants numbered approximately 14% of the foreign settlers in Brazil — 700,000 Spaniards immigrated to Brazil between 1880 and 1950, especially the time of Spanish Civil War — being the third largest immigrant group, after the Portuguese and Italians, and 78% of them settled in São Paulo State. The movement of Spanish Brazilians to cities and towns continues. Brazilians with Spanish ancestry from neighboring and other Ibero-American nations live in border areas or main Brazilian urban places. Although the vast majority of the Spanish immigrants initially established themselves in rural areas, where they set up on small or medium-sized farms, they also made their presence felt in urban areas. At the outset, the Spaniards were mostly scrap-metal merchants or else employed in restaurants. They then gradually diversified their activities.
There are an estimated 15 million Brazilians of Spanish descent, the States with the largest number of Spanish descent are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Bahia.[2] They are totally integrated into Brazilian society and nowadays most of them only speak Portuguese. Nonetheless, Spanish is the second most important foreign language taught in Brazilian schools, after English. Spanish and Portuguese are the main languages of Ibero-America. A mixed language based on Portuguese and Spanish called Portuñol, is used on the Brazilian borders with Spanish-speaking countries. Most Spanish Brazilians are Roman Catholic, with some communities adhering to Protestantism and Judaism.[3]
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Numbers of immigrants
| Spanish settlement in Brazil Source: (IBGE)[4] |
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| Ethnic group | 1884-1893 | 1894-1903 | 1904-1913 | 1914-1923 | 1924-1933 | 1945-1949 | 1950-1954 | 1955-1959 | ||
| Spaniards | 113,116 | 102,142 | 224,672 | 94,779 | 52,405 | 40,092 | 53,357 | 38,819 | ||
Notable Spanish-Brazilians
B
C
D
E
F
G
J
M
N
O
P
S
V
See also
References
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