Sikhism in Argentina.

[Jacques de Imbelloni]

One of the forgotten destinations is South America, specifically Argentina, where a tiny Indian Sikh community is fighting to hold on to its customs and culture ...

[turbosat]

One of the forgotten destinations is South America, specifically Argentina, where a tiny Indian Sikh community is fighting to hold on to its customs and culture ...

Simmar Pal Singh – Peanut Prince in Argentina


Simmar Pal works for Olam, the 5.6 – billion dollar Non-Resident Indian company headquarterd in Singapore. It is a leading global supply chain manager of agricultural products and food ingredients. Their 9000 employees worldwide operate an integrated supply chain for 20 products in 60 countries. It is a global leader in many of these businesses including Cocoa, Coffee, Cashew, Sheanuts, Sesame, Rice, Cotton and Teak Wood. Olam has a turnover of 500 million dollars in Brazil and employs 930 Brazilians. In their operations in Colombia and Peru they have sixty employees.

http://www.sikhfoundation.org/featur...-in-argentina/

[turbosat]

One of the forgotten destinations is South America, specifically Argentina, where a tiny Indian Sikh community is fighting to hold on to its customs and culture ...

We know some people who were going to migrate to Argentina in the 1990s. I think they were planning to buy farmland, but then decided not to go there.

[turbosat]

http://www.sikhglobalvillage.com/dow...0Argentina.pdf

The Sikh Global Village - Argentina
It is well known that at the end of 19th and in the early 20th century, Sikhs started looking outward, mainly towards South East Asia, China (including Hong Kong) and even Australasia, followed soon by North America. However, it is less known that at the same time, they also started to migrate to Argentina. Be it because besides USA and Canada, it was the only other prosperous country in the Americas, or because although not English-speaking, Argentina had British influence, especially in the industry, commerce and business. Whatever the reason, it was a fascinating journey and Argentina remains one of the few countries in the world (apart from California and Canada), where out of the total number of Indian immigrants, Sikhs formed an overwhelming majority. Trust a Sikh to choose the farthest possible country from Punjab to emigrate to!

In his book “Unfole Warke”, written in Punjabi, the famous Baba Bhagat Singh Bilka writes that Sikhs came to Argentina in 1910-11 and started working in the sugar mills and railway workshops of Buenos Aires and Rosario up North. The economic conditions, though poorer than North America, were better than other Latin American countries and employment was available. So no wonder that by 1925, Argentina became the last destination for many Punjabis.

The Subsequent Arrivals
Immigration continues till today but in smaller numbers. There is a case of several Sikh youths who were dumped by the Travel Agents in Buenos Aires a few years ago telling them that Argentina was in fact America, so true but so very misleading. Most of them are waiting to migrate to the real America vis USA or Canada. They are now running small retail outlets to be able to survive. A second generation Sikh lady is helping them out. A typical immigrant story is of a young man from Ludhiana, who went on a tourist visa, took off his turban on arrival in Argentina, married the grand daughter of a well established Singh in 1992 in the local Home Gurdwara. The couple returned to India end-1999 for family reasons but have now migrated to North America.

The newer arrivals maintain Punjabi identity much more, which prods the others to keep the connection as well. Balbir Singh from the Guemes village in Salta Province, is passionately Sikh and Punjabi, helping out others to migrate to Argentina. Although clean-shaven himself, his son of 8 years or so keeps “joora”. He has a couple of other turbaned Sikh immigrants working with him.

[Jacques de Imbelloni]

http://www.sikhglobalvillage.com/dow...0Argentina.pdf
[B]

Immigration continues till today but in smaller numbers. There is a case of several Sikh youths who were dumped by the Travel Agents in Buenos Aires a few years ago telling them that Argentina was in fact America, so true but so very misleading. Most of them are waiting to migrate to the real America vis USA or Canada.

Odd enough, in the1900s the concept of America was way more ambiguous than today, the italians that came here aso were dreaming of coming to America, same for people from asia, but in that time that word was used to refer to the whole americas.
Nowadays many chinese and africans come to Argentina to get an argentine citizenship , and in that way become more applicable for a work visa in the USA.

[Drusilla]

Thank you for this interesting thread about Sikhism in Argentina. In most studies of Sikh Diaspora, Latin America has been grossly neglected.

Latin America was not their destination by choice but by default. Latin American governments were not as hostile to Sikhs as other white dominated countries such as the USA and Canada.

The Sikhs in Argentina have been substantially assimilated into the local society and the third and even second generations may not call themselves Sikhs. The names of second generation Sikhs are usually local. But emotional bonds exist and a Gurdwara was commissioned in the early 1990s. Fresh immigrants keep coming in small numbers but turbaned Sikhs are a rarity.