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SCOTS IN ARGENTINA
History of the community
Since 1806 the Scots are part of our history and left several traces in it: the introduction of the Aberdeen Angus breed; the arrival of soccer in our country and the first Argentine doctor Cecilia Grierson whose origins belonged to this community.
It is often said in a generic way that football came to our country from the hand of the English or, more generically, the British. In reality, football came to Argentina thanks to the Scotsman Alejandro Watson Hutton. But it was not an isolated initiative of a sports promoter, but rather has to do with the influence of the San Andrés school, of Scottish origin, on culture during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The first officially registered arrival of a contingent dates from 1806, when David Spalding and John Carter, the first two Scottish immigrants to Argentina, arrived. From the national registries it is possible to estimate that by 1822 the community had approximately 1,200 members. It is even known that on November 30, 1824, Saint Andrew's Day was celebrated.
That same year, the Immigration Commission set out to carry out John Thomas Barber Beaumont's idea of establishing a British colony. The following year the Simmetry arrived at the port of Buenos Aires, a ship from Edinburgh with 220 Scots on board brought by the expectation of founding a town. But the project did not materialize and these settlers were forced to look for another alternative.
As a result, the majority settled in the Robertson family ranches in Monte Grande. Many who are no longer remembered this time as the most remarkable of the Scottish community. However, the colonies of brothers John and William Parish Robertson did not last for many years, and in 1829 the colonists were adrift. A small part settled in Chascomús, while the great majority returned to the Capital, where they founded the first bases of the Scottish community of Buenos Aires. Although there is no particularly Scottish neighborhood, we can note its influence in the Belgrano area.
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