Belgians in Argentina

[Tannhauser]

Belgians in Argentina
Belgas en Argentina
Belges en Argentine
Belgen in Argentinië

According to official statistics, 18,677 Belgian immigrants arrived between 1857 and 1897, of which about 6,000 are believed to have returned to the country. The first Belgians arrived at the beginning of the 19th century, in connection with the fur trade and the new maritime relations between the port of Antwerp and Buenos Aires. One figure who stood out from these bilateral relations was Adolfo Van Praet (1803-1875), one of the founders of the Stock Exchange and the Western Railway.

Around 1832, after the Belgian independence was proclaimed, a consul of this community was appointed to the Buenos Aires City. Diplomatic activity grew notably during the 19th century, which reflected a great exchange between the two countries. One of the most outstanding aspects in this regard was the assistance and support to important residents in both States.

[Tannhauser]

Villaguay / Belgian Colony, Entre Ríos Province

In October 1881 the first group of Belgians formed by families left the port of Antwerp: accompanied by Eugenio Scheppens, considered the founder of the colony.

Eugenio Schepens

At the end of that year, they arrived in Buenos Aires, and they stayed at the "Hotel de Inmigrantes", one and the other, at the "Hotel del Globo." Once the immigration procedures were completed, they embarked again for the port of Colón. They crossed the Río de la Plata, the Uruguay River and in the first days of January 1882 they came ashore. On January 5 they began to travel the last section of their trip, in slow wagons heading to Villaguay.

The beginnings of the company in his native country They were not easy, especially it was difficult to convince the Belgians, who were a people not used to adventure, to leave their land for another, however, they held several meetings in their native village and others, to explain the conditions and bases it offered the province.

In October 1881 the first group of Belgians made up of the families left the port of Antwerp: Van Hauvart, Van Haezevelde, Rossier, Declercq, Verbauwede, Van Cauwenberghe, Willems, Den Dauw, Don Velde, Van Den Dooren, Devetter, Van Humbeecq , Lagneau.

At the end of that year, they arrived in Buenos Aires, and they stayed at the "Hotel de Inmigrantes" each other, at the "Hotel del Globo". The Belgian consul and fellow citizens took them to tour the main neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Once the immigration procedures were completed, they embarked again for the port of Colón. They crossed the Río de la Plata, the Uruguay River and in the first days of January 1882 they came ashore. While they waited for the wagons that would take them to the final place, they contacted foreigners already installed in Colón and San José, who showed their achievements and advised on premises to take into account in the new lands.

On January 5, they began to travel the last section of their trip, in slow carts heading to Villaguay.

Their arrival on January 13, 1882, to Santa Rosa de Villaguay, drew the attention of its few inhabitants, and the authorities were waiting for them at the Police Headquarters with a sign that read "Welcome to the pilgrims from work." present their documentation and the corresponding lots would be assigned to each family.Once these instances were concluded, the effort and daily work began: making the water well, building their homes, fencing farms, forming cutwaters, learning how to make adobe, burn bricks etc.

Later, they hired Italian brick makers to build the Van Hauvart flour mill, the Van Humberck alcohol factory and the Crespi y Cuesta flour mill, north of the colony to capture production from the Santa colonies. Juana, Nueva Alemania and others.
From the beginning of their arrival, there were two issues that preoccupied the settlers: having a chapel, where they could channel their spiritual concerns, and a school, where their children learned the Spanish language correctly.

For the first, they joined forces and in a joint effort they built a small chapel in the corner given for this purpose in the Van Hauvart farm. Years later, a larger church was built nearby, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Lourdes Chapel

The primary education of the children was initially taught by private teachers, hired by the group of settlers until the government entities fulfilled the commitment to create and sustain a school.

In each of the colonies of the more than five hundred that were established in the province, the immigrant gave the best he had and could to his fellow men, so Don Pedro Declercq and Don Julio Van Hauvart were in charge of reading about the events of the world and discuss them with their peers in the meetings they held after religious services; Doña Matilde Van Hauvart de Declercq assisted women in labor or helped sick people who resorted to her in pain with home remedies.

The Creoles taught them to handle animals, drink mate, eat stews and locro, but the newcomers also taught them ways to work the land, grow fruit trees, build corrals or replace mate with coffee with milk.
Some time later Italian and German settlers settled. The first twenty kilometers from Villaguay in what was called “Colonia Santa Juana” and the second in another called “Nueva Alemania” in the Lucas district. These presences originated an important commercial movement in Villaguay.

After some time, they realized that they had to group together to defend their interests, especially for the sale of crops and the purchase of goods for consumption. After many meetings and exchanges of criteria, it was decided to establish a cooperative "La Cosmopolita" which located its headquarters in Villaguay. He built sheds to store wheat, flax and corn crops near the railway station, since from there, they were shipped by means of this transport mainly to the port of Buenos Aires. The movement that originated the activities of the cooperative determined in a few years the formation of an urban nucleus around its facilities and later, with loans from the Banco de la Nación, they acquired a silos plant that they installed on the railroad grounds.

The crisis of 30, the presence of locusts, poor harvests and the delivery of credits to members who never paid the benefits obtained, brought the cooperative to an end.

At the beginning of the 1940s, most of the farms were expropriated to install barracks and houses for the members of the battalion, currently the No. 01 Cavalry Tank Regiment, forcing many families to settle in Villaguay or to emigrate to other cities.

The descendants of these hard-working settlers, today, are part of the thriving city of Villaguay where it is common to observe the compound surnames of Belgian origin, in shops and professionals.

[Tannhauser]

FAMILIAS BELGAS - BLEGISCHIE FAMILIES

The majority coming from the Oudenaarde region, towards Argentina. They settled in Villaguay, province of Entre Ríos, where they formed a Belgian colony considered one of the most successful colonies.

[Tannhauser]

Sunchales, Santa Fe Province.

The Belgian Carlos de Mot was responsible for the second colonization of Sunchales, Santa Fe province. Roxana Lusso evokes this in a work that I partially transcribe, in which she states:

"The governor of Santa Fe, Mariano Cabal, with his work of governing by populating, sought out businessmen to carry out his projects, among them was Carlos de la Mot or de Mot, of Belgian nationality , of noble origin, whom they commissioned him to colonize the Sunchales. De Mot conceived the company of bringing farmers from Europe and settling them around the Fort, in the same lands of the previous colonization ".
"On May 18, 1868, the colonization contract was signed with Carlos de Mot, and on July 16 of that year the second colonization of Los Sunchales was established."

"After signing the contract with the government of the province of Santa Fe, Carlos de Mot went to Europe to look for the farming families. After a year, he appeared with the first settlers, Italians, French, Swiss, English, Spanish , Germans and some Belgians ".


"However, Carlos de Mot, as the technical organizer of the colony, was more concerned with the details than with the main needs of the colony. He felt the new colonizer, owner of almost a country, becoming a noble lord, with subjects that they would work for him. He asked to have plans drawn up for a palace, so that everything would look like a feudal castle. "

"In the town, around the fort, nestled in the center of the plaza, about 178 ranches had been built for settlers and workers; in the concessions, about 18 ranches; that is, most of the people lived in the town. town, dedicated to the garden, to the commerce or crafts. There was little agricultural enthusiasm ".

"Everything planted and built in this second colonization of Los Sunchales, made suppose an emporium of wealth and an extraordinary source of production . But at the head of the administration was De Mot, who went little to Los Sunchales and in his place had left the Dr. Flabet to whom, oblivious to everything related to agriculture , any performance seemed extraordinary ".

"Several factors influenced so that, in Los Sunchales, people did not agree, ethnic factors, languages, customs and the lack of adequate laws that governed colonial life prevailed , having difficulties in commercial transactions due to the variety of measurements of weight, surface and values . All this added to the inexperience of De Mot, could not give the results that were expected ".

"The Justice of the Peace, who watched all this confusion among the settlers, considered that only public instruction could organize the lives of these people. For this he spoke with a villager, Eugenio Meert, interested him in opening a school.He got support. a government official and managed to open the school, appointing Eugenio Meert as tutor in 1871 ".

[Laly]

Very interesting my dear! Do you personally know people of Belgian descent in Argentina?

[Tannhauser]

Very interesting my dear! Do you personally know people of Belgian descent in Argentina?

Yep, Bertholet a very good friend from my college times, Mertens, Van Hoov...

[Dandelion]

It's a history I never heard about. About Belgian diaspora you rarely read unlike of other diaspora like Polish or Czech for instance, who neither had colonies in the Early Modern Period.

[Tannhauser]

It's a history I never heard about. About Belgian diaspora you rarely read unlike of other diaspora like Polish or Czech for instance, who neither had colonies in the Early Modern Period.

Well, it is not one of the most numerous communities that has arrived here.

Now you are subscribed to know more.

From Belgian sources I only found a temporary exhibition 2017/18 in the Antwerp museum, Red Star Line Museum:

https://www.redstarline.be/en/activi...le-bit-belgian

Photo: Belgian-French fair in Rosario, Argentina, 1914. Hazebrouck family archives

Jorgelina Hazebrouck's great-grandparents came from Ghent. They raised their children like real Argentinians and resolutely severed their ties with Belgium. Yet Jorgelina’s father delved into the family's past because he was very proud of his Belgian roots. In his eyes, a Belgian was a good, honest and decent person. Jorgelina grew up in a house filled with Belgian flags, postcards and photos. That fascination was temporarily tempered when Jorgelina’s father dug deeper into the family history and discovered why his grandparents left Belgium

Photo: The Bockaert family on the way to Argentina. Bockaert family archives

[Laly]

Yep, Bertholet a very good friend from my college times, Mertens, Van Hoov...

Nice! Do they form a "Belgian community" in Argentina, or did they totally blend in with the population?

[Laly]

It's a history I never heard about. About Belgian diaspora you rarely read unlike of other diaspora like Polish or Czech for instance, who neither had colonies in the Early Modern Period.

Yes, you're right, we don't hear much about the Belgian diaspora.

I just knew about the epic stories of some rich Belgian families who left everything behind and settled in Patagonia (but in Chile), near the Land of Fire, after WW2. There's a film on them, which is really moving and poetic, Le rêve de Gabriel (The Dream of Gabriel), in French with Spanish subtitles: