Demographics of a British Argentina

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Deleted member 109224

Argentina is more than 60% of Italian descent today.

Had Britain captured Argentina in 1806-1807, what would be the demographics of the place today?

I imagine it may be used as a penal colony instead of Australia. A great many Irish fleeing the famine may head to Argentina. English, Scottish, and Welsh settlers would be likely.

Maybe Boer prisoners and Indian laborers would be sent to Argentina as well?

We wouldn't see that same levels of Italian immigration or levantine immigration, but I could be wrong. There may be more maltese and cypriot however.

More political stability in the 19th and 20th centuries likely means more openness to immigration. No civil war(s) means a larger spanish population.
 

Jürgen

I would suspect far more British people.

But beside that I think it would become a more popular destination for North Europeans, the question is where the Italians ends up instead (Brazil?)?
 

Deleted member 109224

Jürgen said:
I would suspect far more British people.

But beside that I think it would become a more popular destination for North Europeans, the question is where the Italians ends up instead (Brazil?)?
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Brazil would be big one. Maybe Uruguay if the British don't grab it along with Buenos Aires.

The USA perhaps? Maybe France and North Africa.

The wave of immigrants was from 1880-1920.
Wikipedia says that of the Italians who went to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay...
53.7% were from the North
14.5% were from Central Italy
32% were from Southern Italy

That's pretty different from the US where 84% came from the former Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Given how immigration patterns were OTL, I'm not sure the US would get too many more Italians than it historically did.
 
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Nik

Would it become part of Commonwealth ? Cricket and Rugby instead of FOOOOTBALL ??

I had an aunt and cousin there, but they 'fell off the map' during one of the military dictatorships' clamp-downs. Could be they changed address several times, burned all reference to us and got through. Sad probability is my cousin inherited our familial 'Foot in Mouth' disease, said the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person, and 'Disappeared' of it...

If Argentina had been 'British', Mum & Dad would have probably moved there in the 1950s...

If Argentina had been British, I've no idea where all those Germans and German sympathisers would have gone after the war. Brazil ??

So, no simmering border war with Chile, no 'Disappeareds', no Falklands stuff...

And I'd probably be posting this from Buenos Aires instead NW UK...
 

Masked Grizzly

Nik said:
If Argentina had been British, I've no idea where all those Germans and German sympathisers would have gone after the war. Brazil ??
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Possibly Chile followed by Brazil and others.

More interested to see how the local automobile and motorcycle industry of a Anglo-ruled Argentina (plus Uruguay) would fare against Brazil (particularly against Volkswagen of Brazil and its classic Beetle / Type 2), though suspect it may have been better than OTL efforts.

Another question would be regarding to what degree this ATL Argentina carries over OTL Argentine/Uruguayan cuisine, along with whether Dulce de Leche catches on in the country.
 

Nik

"how the local automobile and motorcycle industry of a Anglo-ruled Argentina"

Land Rover and variants ??
 

Masked Grizzly

Nik said:
"how the local automobile and motorcycle industry of a Anglo-ruled Argentina"

Land Rover and variants ??
Click to expand...

OTL Uruguay apparently sold BMC cars in CKD form, while Argentina had OTL Siam Di Tella. While the only OTL Argentine motorcycle maker was called Zanella.

It is possible though this ATL Argentina might follow OTL Australia in establishing an analogue of Holden.
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
It would still be European majority just like today but linguistically a but different. English might be an official and a link Language but other Languages like Italian,Spanish,Basque might survive in pockets. But after eventual mixing,English might become the mainstay. It might be more populous and more developed as other Anglosphere countries.
 

profxyz

1) Permanent British control over Argentina will likely require a settlement similar to that of Quebec - structural Spanish political and cultural dominance. So I see Argentina as becoming bilingual, but certainly not English/British-dominated.

2) Argentina under the British Empire would likely economically behave as it did OTL - as a diversified agricultural economy supplying foodstuffs to Europe. The suitability of Argentine land for this would cause demand for labor and wages to rise, which was what OTL drove Italian immigration in the late 19thC. Perhaps incorporation into the British economic system + stable British rule would make Argentine develop faster than OTL, perhaps in time to receive the more economically-oriented of the Irish diaspora in the 1840s.

3) Under a political settlement I don't see how the local Spanish elite would allow the British to set up the sort of immigration policies that would stimulate British immigration and culture change into Argentina. At the same time, I don't think Britain would be happy allowing significant German and Italian immigration into Argentina. What I think could happen is actually a lot of inter-South American immigration into Argentina - Brazilians, Paraguayans, Bolivians/Peruvians, Uruguayans fleeing instability and crossing into stabler Argentina, while Germans and Italians get rediverted into those countries or to the US. So Argentina may actually become more Iberian + mestizo under British rule.

4) If Britain actually allows large-scale German/Italian immigration into Argentina they'd probably allow it for Canada, South Africa, Australia as well, with demographic impacts on those states.
 

manitobot

The conditions that led to the decline of Afro-Argentinian population would be different ATL, so they may still be a sizeable group.
 

Socrates

profxyz said:
3) Under a political settlement I don't see how the local Spanish elite would allow the British to set up the sort of immigration policies that would stimulate British immigration and culture change into Argentina. At the same time, I don't think Britain would be happy allowing significant German and Italian immigration into Argentina. What I think could happen is actually a lot of inter-South American immigration into Argentina - Brazilians, Paraguayans, Bolivians/Peruvians, Uruguayans fleeing instability and crossing into stabler Argentina, while Germans and Italians get rediverted into those countries or to the US. So Argentina may actually become more Iberian + mestizo under British rule.

4) If Britain actually allows large-scale German/Italian immigration into Argentina they'd probably allow it for Canada, South Africa, Australia as well, with demographic impacts on those states.
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Immigration control is largely a 20th century onwards phenomenon. Neither the Brits nor the locals will stop anyone coming in the 1800s.
 
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