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Swiss Argentines are Argentine citizens of Swiss ancestry or people who emigrated from Switzerland and reside in Argentina. The Swiss Argentine community is the largest group of the Swiss diaspora in South America.
Approx. 44,000 Swiss emigrated to Argentina until 1940, who settled mainly in the provinces of Córdoba ,Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and, to a lesser extent, in Buenos Aires. In 1856, 200 families of immigrants from Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg founded Esperanza City, the forerunner of agricultural colonies in Argentina, thus kickstarting a long process of European colonization and immigration. In Río Negro, swiss settlement began in the early 19th century in the village Colonia Suiza ("Swiss Colony").
Swiss immigration to Argentina began in february 1856 when the first group with a total of 421 European immigrants arrived in Santa Fe and by june there were already established about 200 farming families, about 1400 people, of which more than 50% were French and German-speaking Swiss. The first colony founded by these Swiss settlers was called Esperanza, this being the main and largest Swiss colony in Argentina.
French-speaking Switzerland.
Many of these Franco-Swiss along with French immigrants contributed to the founding of several colonies in the province. The first agricultural and livestock production colony in Entre Ríos was founded in 1857: San José under the auspices of then President Justo José de Urquiza. Its inhabitants spoke French, Italian and/or German and some were catholic while others were protestant. Democratic coexistence rules were introduced and secret suffrage was performed for the first time in Argentina's history. Another colony was Villa Urquiza, made up of Swiss families that had Corrientes as their original destination but ended up settling in Entre Ríos.
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