Argentines of European descent

Source: Dirección Nacional de Migraciones: Infografías., that information was modified – figures there are by nationality, not by country.

Origin of the immigrants between 1857 and 1940

Source: National Migration, 1970.

Second wave of immigration

During and after the Second World War, many Europeans fled to Argentina, escaping the hunger and poverty of the post-war period. According to the National Bureau of Migrations, during the period 1941–1950 at least 392,603 Europeans entered the country: 252,045 Italians, 110,899 Spaniards, 16,784 Poles, 7,373 Russians and 5,538 French. Among the notable Italian immigrants in that period were protest singer Piero De Benedictis, actors Rodolfo Ranni and Gianni Lunadei, publisher César Civita, businessman Francisco Macri, lawmaker Pablo Verani, and rock musician Kay Galiffi.
Argentina also received thousands of Germans, including the humanitarian businessman Oskar Schindler and his wife, hundreds of Ashkenazi Jews, and hundreds of Nazi war criminals. Notorious beneficiaries of ratlines included Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Erich Priebke, Rodolfo Freude, and the Ustaše Head of State of Croatia, Ante Pavelić. It is still matter of debate whether the Argentine government of President Juan Perón was aware of the presence of these criminals on Argentine soil or not; but the consequence was that Argentina was considered a Nazi haven for several decades.
The flow of European immigration continued during the 1950s and afterward; but compared to the previous decade, it diminished considerably. The Marshall Plan implemented by the United States to help Europe recover from the consequences of World War II was working, and emigration lessened. During the period 1951–1960, only 242,889 Europeans entered Argentina: 142,829 were Italians, 98,801 were Spaniards, 934 were French, and 325 were Poles. The next decade, the total number of European immigrants barely reached 13,363.
European immigration was nearly non-existent during the 1970s and the 1980s. Instability from 1970 to 1976 in the form of escalating violence between Montoneros and the Triple A), guerrilla warfare, and the Dirty War waged against leftists after the March 1976 coup, was compounded by an economic crisis caused by the 1981 collapse of the dictatorship's domestic policies. This situation encouraged emigration rather than immigration of Europeans and European-Argentines alike, and during the 1971–1976 period at least 9,971 Europeans left the country. During the period 1976–1983 thousands of Argentines and numerous Europeans were kidnapped and killed in clandestine centers by the military dictatorship's grupos de tareas ; these included Haroldo Conti, Dagmar Hagelin, Rodolfo Walsh, Léonie Duquet, Alice Domon, Héctor Oesterheld and Jacobo Timerman. CONADEP, the commission formed by President Raúl Alfonsín, investigated and documented the existence of at least 8,960 cases, though other estimates vary between 13,000 and 30,000 dead.

Recent trends

The principal source of immigration into Argentina after 1960 was no longer from Europe, but rather from bordering South American countries. During the period in between the Censuses of 1895 and 1914, immigrants from Europe comprised 88.4% of the total, and Latin American immigrants represented only 7.5%. By the 1960s, however, this trend had been completely reversed: the Latin American immigrants were 76.1%, and the Europeans merely 18.7% of the total.
Given that the main sources of South American immigrants since the 1960s have been Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru, most of these immigrants have been either Amerindian or Mestizo, for they represent the ethnic majorities in those countries. The increasing numbers of immigrants from these sources has caused the proportion of Argentines of European descent to be reduced significantly in certain areas of the Greater Buenos Aires, as well as the Buenos Aires neighbourhoods of Flores, Villa Soldati, Villa Lugano and Nueva Pompeya. Many Amerindian or Mestizo people of Bolivian/Paraguayan/Peruvian origin have suffered racist discrimination, and in some cases, violence, or have been victims of sexual slavery and forced labor in textile sweat shops.

Latin American immigrants of European origin

Latin Americans of predominantly European descent have arrived from countries where there is a relevant proportion of white population Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and in particular, Uruguay. Uruguayan immigrants represent a very distinct case in Argentina, for they may pass unnoticed as "foreigners". Uruguay received a great part of the same influx of European immigrants that changed Argentina's ethnic profile, so most Uruguayans are of European origin. Uruguayans and Argentines also speak the same Spanish dialect, which is heavily influenced by the intonation patterns of the Italian language's southern dialects.
The official censuses show a slow growth in the Uruguayan-born community: 51,100 in 1970, 114,108 in 1980, and 135,406 in 1991, with a decline to 117,564 in 2001. Around 218,000 Uruguayans emigrated to Argentina between 1960 and 1980, however.

Third immigratory wave from Eastern Europe (1994–2000)

Following the fall of the Communist regimes of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the governments of the Western Bloc were worried about a possible massive exodus from Eastern Europe and Russia. President Carlos Saúl Menem – in the political framework of the Washington Consensus – offered to receive part of that emigratory wave in Argentina. Accordingly, Resolution 4632/94 was enacted on 19 December 1994, allowing "special treatment" for all the applicants who wished to emigrate from the former Soviet republics. A total of 9,399 Eastern Europeans emigrated to Argentina from January 1994 to December 2000, and of the total, 6,720 were Ukrainians, 1,598 were Russians, 160 Romanians, 122 Bulgarians, 94 Armenians, 150 Georgians/Moldovans/Poles and 555 traveled with a Soviet passport.
Around 85% of the newcomers were under age 45, and 51% had a university education, so most integrated quite rapidly into Argentine society, albeit with some initial difficulties finding gainful employment. These also included some 200 Romanian Gypsy families that arrived in 1998, and 140 more Romanian Gypsies who migrated to Uruguay in 1999, but only to enter Argentina later by crossing the Uruguay river through Fray Bentos, Salto or Colonia.
European immigration in Argentina has not stopped since this wave from Eastern Europe. According to the National Bureau of Migrations, some 14,964 Europeans have settled in Argentina during the period 1999–2004. To this figure, many of the 8,285 Americans and 4,453 Uruguayans may be added, since these countries have European-descended majorities of 75% and 87% in their populations.

Influences on Argentine culture

The culture of Argentina is the result of a fusion of European, Amerindian, Black African, and Arabic elements. The impact of European immigration on both Argentina's culture and demography has largely become mainstream and is shared by most Argentines, being no longer perceived as a separate "European" culture. Even those traditional elements that have Amerindian origin – as the mate and the Andean music – or Criollo origin – the asado, the empanadas, and some genres within folklore music – were rapidly adopted, assimilated and sometimes modified by the European immigrants and their descendants.

Tango

Argentine tango is a hybrid genre, result of the fusion of different ethnic and cultural elements, so well intermingled that it is difficult to identify them separately. According to some experts, tango has combined elements from three main sources:
1) The music played by the Black African communities of the Río de la Plata region. Its very name might derive from a word in Yoruba -a Bantu language- and its rhythm appears to be based on candombe.
2) The milonga campera, a popular genre among the gauchos that lived in the Buenos Aires countryside, and later moved to the city looking for better jobs.
3) The music brought by the European immigrants: the Andalucian tanguillo, the polka, the waltz and the tarantella.
They heavily influenced its melody and its sound by adding instruments such as piano, violin and -especially- bandoneón.
In spite of this tripartite origin, tango mainly developed as urban music, and was assimilated and embraced by European immigrants and their descendants; most icons of the genre were either European or had largely European ancestry.

Argentine Folk music

When the Spaniards arrived in what is now Argentina, the Amerindian inhabitants already had their own musical culture: instruments, dances, rhythms and styles. Much of that culture was lost during and after the conquest; only the music played by the Andean peoples survived in the shape of chants such as vidalas and huaynos, and in dances like the carnavalito. The peoples of Gran Chaco and Patagonia -areas that the Spaniards did not effectively occupied- kept their cultures almost untouched until the late 19th century.
is a prestigious composer and accordion player; his grandparents were Ukrainian immigrants who settled in Misiones.
The major Spanish contribution to music in the Río de la Plata area during the colonial period was the introduction of three instruments: the vihuela or guitarra criolla, the bombo legüero and the charango. Once the Criollos obtained their independence from Spain, they had the chance to create new musical styles; dances like pericón, triunfo, gato and escondido, and chants such as cielito and vidalita all appeared during the post-independence period, primarily in the 1820s.
European immigration brought important changes to Argentina's popular music, especially in the Litoral; where new genres appeared, like chamamé and purajhei. Chamamé appeared in the second half of the 18th century -though it was not named as such until the 1930s- as a result of the fusion of ancient Guaraní rhythms with the music brought by the Volga German, Ukrainian, Polish and Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants that settled in the region. The newcomers added the melodic style of their polkas and waltzes to the native rhythmic base, and played it with their own instruments, such as accordions and violins.
Other genres -like chacarera and zamba- developed as an integral fusion of Amerindian and European influences. While traditionally played on guitars, charangos and bombos, they also began to be played with other European instruments, such as piano; one notable example is Sixto Palavecino's use of the violin to play the chacarera. Regardless of the origin of the different rhythms and styles, later European immigrants and their descendants rapidly assimilated the local music and contributed to those genres creating new songs.

Sports

Many sports that nowadays are very popular in Argentina were introduced by European immigrants -particularly by the British- in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
was an F1 racer of Italian parents, born in Balcarce.
Football is by far the most popular sport in Argentina. It was brought by the British railway businessmen and workers, and it was later embraced with passion by the other collectivities. The first official football match ever played in Argentina took place on 20 June 1867, when the "White Caps" beat the "Red Caps" by 4–0. A look at the list of players -eight by team- shows a collection of British names/surnames. "White Caps": Thomas Hogg, James Hogg, Thomas Smith, William Forrester, James W. Bond, E. Smith, Norman Smith and James Ramsbotham. "Red Caps": Walter Heald, Herbert Barge, Thomas Best, Urban Smith, John Wilmott, R. Ramsay, J. Simpson and William Boschetti. The development of this sport in Argentina was greatly boosted by Scottish teacher Alexander Watson Hutton. He arrived in Argentina in 1882 and founded the Buenos Aires English High School in 1884, hiring his countryman William Walters as coach of the school's football team. On 21 February 1893 Watson founded the Argentine Association Football League, the historical antecedent of the Asociación de Fútbol Argentino. Watson's son Arnold continued the tradition playing during the amateur age of Argentine football.
Tennis was also imported by the British immigrants; in April 1892 they founded the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. Among the founding members, we find all British surnames: Arthur Herbert, W. Watson, Adrian Penard, C. Thursby, H. Mills and F. Wallace. Soon their example was followed by British immigrants who resided in Rosario; F. Still, T. Knox, W. Birschoyle, M. Leywe and J. Boyles founded the Rosario Lawn Tennis.
is a football player of Italian & Spanish ancestry. He is considered one of the best football players in the world.
The first Argentine tennis player of European descent to achieve some international success was Mary Terán de Weiss in the 1940s and 1950s; the sport, however, was considered an elite men's sport and her efforts to popularize this activity among women did not prosper at the time. Guillermo Vilas, who is of Spanish descent, won the French Open and the US Open both in 1977, and two Australian Open in 1978 and 1979, and popularized the sport in Argentina.
Another sport in which Argentines with European ancestry have stood out is car racing. The greatest exponent was Juan Manuel Fangio, whose parents were both Italian. He won five Formula One World titles in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957; his five-championships record remained unbeaten until 2003, when Michael Schumacher obtained his sixth F1 trophy. Another exponents are Carlos Alberto Reutemann, who reached the second place in the World Drivers' Championship of 1981.
was a professional boxer born in Tunuyán, Mendoza from Italian parents. He was nicknamed "the Untouchable".
Boxing is another popular sport which was also brought by the British immigrants. The first championship ever organized in Argentina took place in December 1899, and the champion was Jorge Newbery, one of the pioneers of boxing, car racing and aviation in the country. A list of Argentine boxers of European descent should include: Luis Ángel Firpo, Nicolino Locche, etc.
Golf was brought to Argentina by Scottish Argentine Valentín Scroggie, who established the nation's first golf course in San Martín, Buenos Aires in 1892. The Argentine Golf Association was founded in 1926 and includes over 43,000 members.
Hockey was another sport imported by the British immigrants in the early 20th century. It was initially played in the clubs founded by the British citizens until 1908, when the first official matches between Belgrano Athletic, San Isidro Club y Pacific Railways took place. That same year the Asociación Argentina de Hockey was founded, and its first president was Thomas Bell. In 1909 this Association allowed the formation of female teams. One of the first feminine teams was Belgrano Ladies; they played their first match on 25 August 1909, against St. Catherine's College, winning by 1 to 0.
Cycling was introduced by Italian immigrants in Argentina in 1898, when they founded the Club Ciclista Italiano. One of the first South American champions in this sport was an Argentine of Italian descent, Clodomiro Cortoni.
Rugby was also brought by British immigrants. The first rugby match ever played in Argentina took place in 1873; the teams were Bancos against Ciudad. In 1886, the Buenos Aires Football Club and Rosario Athletic Club played the first official match between clubs. The River Plate Rugby Championship was founded on 10 April 1889, and was the direct antecedent of the Unión Argentina de Rugby, created to organize local championships; the founding clubs were Belgrano Athletic, Buenos Aires Football Club, Lomas Athletic and Rosario Athletic. Its first president was Leslie Corry Smith, and Lomas Athletic was the first champion that same year.