Italian Migration To Latin America

What were the push/pull factors that brought them here? How did the various immigrant groups differ from each other? Provide plenty of examples to support your essay.

Southern- Italian was the largest group to migrate to the US during the late 19th century and early 20th century follow by the Portuguese and Spanish. More than 5 million Italians from Sicily and poor southern Italian province settle on the east coast in the US. They created their own little town called little Italies due to hostility in America. More than one- quarter people migrated from Spain since 1820 and settle in California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona Florida and Louisiana. The other half migrated to the Us in the 19th century due to economic depression.

Latin American immigrants are not just concentrated to one area of the country. Cubans mostly live in Florida, while Puerto Ricans live in the northeast, and Mexicans mostly live in the southwest (Chavez, et al, 2005: 508). Their main destinations in the United States could be based on the geographic locations of their home countries. They settle in the area of the United States that is the closest to their country of origin. The formation of ethnic enclaves is common among immigrants because it connects them to their home country. They are able to livie among people who speak the same language, or in this case the same dialect, prepare the same food, and have the same cultural values. This spatial distancing is further proof of separate ethnic identities. Immigrants tend to live within groups of people from their own countries, not just with people who identify as Latino. By living with people from their home countries, immigrants maintain connections with where they came from.

The book Harvest of Empire offers many examples of the factors leading to migration, which include economic and political persecution. The book has a direct connection between the hardships Latinos faced economically and military in their perspective countries. By reading this book it is clearly stated that Latinos are on the verge of becoming the largest minority group in America. Juan Gonzalez presents a devastating perspective on U.S. history rarely found in mainstream publishing aimed at a popular audience. Few of those countries were immigrants from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Central Americans.

During the period between 1700 to 1900 there were many changes in long distance migration patterns across the globe as well as aspects of migration that remained the same. Throughout this time period, long distance migrations from eastern regions such as Europe and Africa to the America’s remained a consistent trend, as well as the motivation for migrating. While these things remained constant, changes during the time period occurred in diversity of the peoples migrating due to slave trade across the Atlantic being banned and indentured servitude becoming an opportunity for people from places other than Africa to immigrate to the Americas.

The reasons for immigration to the "land of opportunity" called America in the early years of this country are explicit. America was seen as a place where an individual could start over with an equal chance of success or failure, provided jobs requiring arduous labor and it did not matter what country that person came from. However, this was not the same for many of the Japanese immigrants. One of the many challenges that Japanese

Also during this time, Italian labourers that arrived in Australia worked in the cane fields

The immigration patterns of the Central and South American nations have been labeled as sporadic. The immigration pattern has been dictated by both the U.S. Immigration laws and social forces within the homelands of these immigrants. Many of the immigrants made their move based on what they perceived to be better economic opportunities in the US during the 1960’s.

Therefore, between the early 1950s and the mid-1960s, around 20,000-30,000 Italians immigrated to Canada each year. Over 75 percent of Italian immigrants to Canada came from Italy’s rural south; especially from the regions of Calabria, Abruzzi, Molise and Sicily in which three-quarters of these immigrants were small-scale farmers or peasants. Many Italians came to Canada on government-sponsored one-year contracts to work in industries with labor shortages, however, the majority of Italian immigrants during this period arrived through the process of chain-migration in which family members already in Canada sponsored their relatives from abroad. In fact, more than ninety percent of Italians that entered Canada between 1946 and 1967 were sponsored

For South Americans, when they arrived ar the states, due to their higher educational levels, they were able to earn higher wages in the U.S. workforce, which often times were compatible to the wages of upper classes in society. Due to this, South Americans tended to fit into a social category that was ideal in relation to social norms, and because most societies, and individuals, are influenced by income levels, the prestige that followed the economic class allowed many South Americans to be perceived more highly within society as a whole. Moreover, as a result of most South Americans immigrating legally into the states, it provided them access to the community and allowed them to not only have citizenship, but also to be accepted as citizens.

Migration of Japanese people to America began in mid-1800s as they searched for peace and a mode of payment to improve their family conditions, and escape from unstable home conditions in Japan. Migration resulted in a life of great hard work and severities of hostility in the workplace. In addition, Japanese immigrants had to face multiple legislative attacks from Americans and endure poor working conditions because of their presence in a foreign land.

The migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States occurred in two major waves. The first wave was in the 1910s-1940s and the second wave was from the 1960s to the 1990s. Each wave of migrants brought new generations of Puerto Ricans to the United States. Both waves of migrants believed that they were going to live a better life in America and migrated to major cities such as New York City, Chicago, Hartford, etc. The early migrants looked for industrial jobs such as in cigar factories while the later migrants found agricultural work such as in tobacco fields. The communities in which they lived grew larger and larger due to chain migration and because of this, the need for politics evolved.

In this respect, it is worthy of mention that such a situation with the migration is the result of the recent trend in the world economy which is characterized by processes which are generally called globalization. The process of globalization is overwhelming and involves practically all countries of the world with rare exceptions which

Although Immigration is a complex topic with many different factors, the most common reason for immigration is poverty and the hopes of building a new future elsewhere. In the past migration was largely caused by the fore-mentioned issue of poverty, social strife, war, or other political conflicts. As of today these things are still issues and in some cases political asylum does play part in immigration decisions. Globalization is defined as the tendency for business, technologies, or philosophies to spread throughout the world. Globalization is also a major factor in the decisions made before immigration, often times families and friends will eventually re-unite in one region in order to remain together. Living in a more technical world with an advanced society has brought us to the point we are at today, a nearly global community with more in common than in any century before. With the beginning of modern technology in the 1900’s came a more closely knit world, with more communication than what was seen in the past.

The majority of Spanish people who settled in Latin America were looking for a way to