It is August 11, 1883, and the merchant ship 'Mendoza' is entering the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina. On board, hundreds of passengers read over the railings with a mixture of curiosity, fear, and hope.

They left Naples a month ago and, upon arrival at the port, they complete the relevant registration: Francesco Scola, 23, day laborer; Nicoleta Calafiori, 31, seamstress; Giovanni Quaranta, 27 years old, blacksmith,… and so on, an endless number of newcomers.

The data on Francesco, Nicoleta, and Giovanni, which we know thanks to the Center for Latin American Migration Studies (CEMLA), are just three examples of the hundreds of migrants arrived every week, for eight decades who, in the Argentine capital from the other side of the Atlantic.

But the case of Buenos Aires was not an isolated one, since, from the mid-19th century to the first decades of the 20th century, millions of Europeans crossed the ocean to a multitude of cities along the Latin American coast.

“The use of the passport as an instrument of border control came about in the wake of the First World War. Before, it was a world with great freedom of migration and movement,” Chiara Pagnotta, a historian at the University of Barcelona, ????tells BBC Mundo.

The first decades of the 19th century brought with them the formation of numerous republics throughout Latin America in territories that until then had been part of the Spanish and Portuguese.

Once established, these new states laid their political, economic, and social foundations. However, several of them faced an obstacle: they did not have enough population to realize their full growth potential.

“To govern is to populate”

In places like Argentina and Uruguay, which had the raw materials needed to become much more prosperous countries, there was not enough labor to do so. Therefore, the solution for these nascent countries was to import population.

An example is the famous expression “To govern is to populate,” by the intellectual, Argentine politician and diplomat Juan Bautista Alberdi,who was key in shaping the Argentine Constitution of 1853.

This is how, from the mid-19th century, countless ships like the 'Mendoza' began arriving at ports throughout Latin America loaded with migrants in search of a better future.

“There were great facilities for migrants from Europe to settle in these countries, but there were far fewer options and possibilities for migrants from neighboring countries, especially indigenous and mestizo people, to settle,” says Carlos Malamud, professor of American History at the UNED.

More specifically, the profile sought by most Latin American governments were migrants from Central and Northern Europe. That is, those from countries like France, Germany, or the United Kingdom, which were considered more advanced by the standards of the time.

However, precisely because of the better living conditions in those places, their citizens had less incentive to migrate. So the occupants of those ships that crossed the Atlantic ended up being mostly Southern Europeans... that is, Spanish, Italians, or Portuguese.

Although they were the most numerous, it was not only Europeans who arrived on the shores of Latin America during those decades. On the Pacific coast of the Americas, thousands of Chinese went to work on plantations, in mines, or in construction in countries like Peru, Chile, or Mexico.

Or thousands of Syrians or Lebanese, who until the First World War arrived in Latin America carrying Ottoman passports and who were commonly known as "Turks."

Young People and Swallows

Beyond nationalities, the profile of the newcomers had a common denominator: young people of working age, many of them single—although some also arrived with their entire families—and mostly of rural origin, basically peasants.

Given today's reality, it may surprise many that, for some eight decades, millions of people left Europe to seek a better life in Latin America. But there were reasons for this.

With the advance of the Industrial Revolution, the European peasantry became impoverished, especially in the countries of the South. In their search for better wages and working conditions, Latin America became a very attractive option for these farmers.

"Latin American countries entered the global system as primary countries, primarily for agricultural products, livestock-derived products..." explains Pagnotta. As Europe demanded these products, Latin America became an important exporting region.

The same industrial revolution that disadvantaged the European peasantry, however, facilitated their journey across the Atlantic. During that time, transportation developed enormously, which accelerated arrival times in Latin America.A merchant ship with passengers took just over a month to cross from Europe.

Some arrived with their families in tow, determined to settle in the nascent Latin American countries. Others, however, traveled seasonally and were known as migrant migrants. They were generally Italians and Spaniards who went to Latin America for the harvest season, earned good money, and then returned to Europe. And some repeated this round trip several times.

Another variable that influenced the newcomers was whether they knew someone at their destination or, on the contrary, they were alone. The former were fortunate enough to have a friend or relative who had already immigrated to that place and could take them in for the first few days or weeks.

Those who didn't have this advantage often received support from the local government. One example was the so-called Hotel de Inmigrantes in Buenos Aires, which assisted thousands of immigrants during the first decades of the 20th century.

This served as accommodation for newcomers while they found employment and a place to move to. Some migrants even received training there for agricultural work, which was the most common destination for those who couldn't provide they had another trade.

Multiplying the workforce

Although European migrants were spread throughout Latin America, certain countries were the most common destination.

The most notable case is surely that of Argentina. In the eighty years covered by this great migratory process we are talking about - the second half of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century - some four million Europeans settled in Argentina.

The influence of their arrival was such that if in 1850 it had a population of 1.1 million, by 1930 it had reached almost 12 million.

A similar case is that of Uruguay, where some 600,000 Europeans settled, increasing in this same period from 132,000 inhabitants to almost 1.6 million.

Or in Brazil, where 2 million Europeans settled and its population increased from 7 to 33 million. Not to mention countries like Cuba, the Dominican Republic or El Salvador, where the migratory influence was also very significant.

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Cuba required a lot of labor, because they had a great export potential for raw materials. Sugar and tobacco in Cuba, coffee in Brazil, or cereals and meat in Argentina and Uruguay.

However, other exporting countries, As was the case in Mexico or Peru, they did not need as much labor. Experts attribute this to the fact that these states had a large indigenous population.

Furthermore, "the policy of attracting European labor took place at a time when slavery was being abolished throughout Latin American countries. For example,the Italians in the state of Sao Paulo (Brazil) went primarily to replace the newly freed slave labor," explains Pagnotta.

As mentioned before, the largest groups were Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.

The preference of the first two for Latin America has much to do with the shared language, which made their integration easier. However, the case of Italians is more unusual, since although many also emigrated to the United States, they were also the largest group of migrants in countries like Argentina and Brazil.