Italian immigration to Mexico
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   
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| Total population |
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| Official population numbers are unknown. Estimate 850,000. |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Baja California, Distrito Federal, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Quintana Roo, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz. |
| Languages |
| Religion |
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Christianity (mostly Roman Catholic) |
| Related ethnic groups |
An Italian-Mexican or Italo-Mexican (Italian: italo-messicano, Spanish: ítalo-mexicano) is a Mexican citizen of Italian descent or origin. Most people of Italian ancestry living in Mexico arrived in the late nineteenth century, and have become generally assimilated into mainstream society.
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[edit] History
Italo-Mexican identity rests on the common experience of migration from Italy in the late 1800s, a period characterized by a more general Italian diaspora to the Americas (under the pressures of economic transformation and the process of unification into a nation-state in 1871), and the establishment of communities, primarily in central and eastern Mexico[citation needed]. Only about 3,000 Italians emigrated to Mexico during this period, and at least half of them subsequently returned to Italy or went on to the United States[1]. Most Italians coming to Mexico were farmers or farm workers from the northern districts. Most of these immigrants were from northern Italy, especially from the north-east regions of Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol[2]. Others arriving in the early 19th c. included many from Southern Italy. Significant numbers of Italian settlers arriving in the late 1800s and early 1900s received land grants from the Mexican government.
Today, many Italo-Mexicans continue to reside in towns founded by their ancestors[citation needed]. Among these is Chipilo, in the state of Puebla, where a derivative of the Venetian dialect is still spoken by its residents. Other towns founded by Italian immigrants lie in the states of Veracruz (Huatusco), San Luis Potosí, and the Mexican Federal District[citation needed]. In the state of Aguascalientes there is a large population of Mexicans of Italian decent - the result of the invasion of the French and the creation of the Second Mexican Empire. Smaller, but also notable, numbers of Italo-Mexicans can be found in Guanajuato, Estado de Mexico, and in the towns of Nueva Italia and Lombardia in the state of Michoacán, which were founded by wealthy Italians who immigrated to Mexico after the 1880 diaspora and established large agricultural estates known as haciendas[citation needed]. Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo has also received a notable amount of immigrants from Italy[citation needed].
[edit] Society
Although many Italo-Mexicans now live in urban centers such as Mexico City and Monterrey, many others live in, and strongly identify with, one of the original or spin-off communities that are almost entirely of Italian origin[citation needed]. These individuals still stridently claim an Italian ethnic identity (at least to a non-Mexican outsider), but generally note that they are Mexican as well. In the late 20th century, there were an estimated 30,000 Italian Mexicans in the original eight Italian communities.[1] The total population, however, is uncertain due to the national census not gathering information on any specific ethnicity, as it is done in other countries. Despite this, Italian surnames are not uncommon in parts of Mexico[citation needed].
The majority of Italian Mexicans speak Spanish, but in Italian communities derived Italian languages (usually mixed with Spanish) are used to communicate among themselves.
[edit] Derived Italian languages
Since most Italian immigration occurred by way of the establishment of colonies, derivatives of Italian languages exist in Mexico. Besides the best known Chipilo Venetian dialect, derivatives of the Venetian language may also exist in Huatusco and Colonia Gonzalez, Veracruz.
To this we can also add other Italian immigrant languages and dialects:
- Lower Bellunese, dialect of the Venetian language from the Province of Belluno (in Colonia Diez Gutierrez in San Luis Potosi),
- Lombard (in Sinaloa and Colonia Manuel Gonzalez too, but mainly in Nueva Italia and Colonia Lombardia in the state of Michoacan)
- Trentino dialects of the Lombard and Venetian languages (like in Colonia Manuel Gonzalez, Veracruz and Tijuana, Baja California),
- Piedmontese language (in Gutierrez Zamora, Veracruz which remains the oldest Italian colony in Mexico as such which was called the Model Colony, and in La Estanzuela, Jalisco another Italian colony),
- Sicilian language (mainly in Mexico City).
[edit] Notable Italo-Mexicans
- Juan Bottesini, maestro
- Jared Borgetti, all-time leading goal scorer for the Mexican national football team
- Caesar Cardini, inventor of Caesar salad
- Manuel Neri, artist (Italo-Mexican-American)
- Rodolfo Neri Vela, Engineer and astronaut
- Maite Perroni, actress
- Sergio Pitol Demeneghi, writer
- Bernard Stasi, French politician (Italo-Mexican-French)
- Betty Zanolli Fabila, pianist
- Aldo de Nigris, soccer player
- Antonio de Nigris, soccer player
- Uberto Zanolli, composer and writer
- Martinez del Rio family, Piedmont and Milan
- Victoria Ruffo, actress
- Luis Miguel, pop singer
- Father Kino priest during New Spain
- Samuel Castelán Marini participated in the Mexican reality show La Academia and got fifth place in his season. Originally from Zentla in Veracruz
- Dante Cusi creator of the agricultural colonies in the state of Michoacan (Nueva Italia and Lombardia).
- Felipe Colombo Mexican actor, more popular in Argentina but also participates in Mexican films. Started out in 1991 as a child actor along fellow Mexican actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Ludwika Paleta.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (Spanish)/(Italian) Early Italian immigration to Mexico
- (Spanish)/(Italian) Trentini nel Messico
[edit] References and notes
- ^ a b http://www.everyculture.com/Middle-America-Caribbean/Italian-Mexicans-Orientation.html Italian Mexicans Orientation
- ^ http://www.italmex.vze.com/ Italianos en México
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