Was there anything analogous to the united empire loyalist emigration in Spanish America?

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Did the the wars of independence in Spanish America result in a substantial emigration of those loyal to the Spanish crown, similar to the migration of many from the 13 Colonies to Canada, Britain and the Caribbean?

Did a greater or lesser number of loyalists emigrate from the independent nations formed from Spanish America? If so, where did they generally go? Spain? Cuba? Puerto Rico?

Was there any portion of the American mainland that Spain could have held onto, especially a largely frontier area, where Madrid could have encourage settlement of loyalist refugees from the newly independent states?

What I'm looking for is a Spanish "Canada" that is not just an island or two, but a mainland territory with some room to continue growing.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Let's say the Spanish, while losing the United Provinces of La Plata, hold Bahia Blanca on its southern frontier, and it resettles loyalist refugees from other colonies to there, gradually expanding down the tip of the southern cone to develop Patagonia, much like the way the British settled loyalists in the frontiers of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Upper Canada?

So, despite losing the established colonies, Spain holds onto the Bahia Blanca-Patagonia-Tierra Del Fuego colony until at least the Spanish American War.
 

David T

"The fact that there was no independence movement in Puerto Rico did not mean that the national independence movements and revolutions elsewhere in Latin America had no impact on the island. On the contrary, their effects reverberated throughout the society. Puerto Rico became a haven for Spanish loyalists fleeing the rebellious colonies, as well as a location to which Spanish soldiers who had been defeated in battle were reassigned in an effort to fortify one of the last remaining Spanish possessions against the possibility of revolt and from which they embarked to strike against the armies of Bolivar on the mainland. Spanish loyalists brought with them not only exaggerated tales of carnage but all-too-true reports of the decline of Spanish fortunes that accompanied the revolutions in the New World. This sounded a warning signal for the colonial government in Puerto Rico that it could neither ignore the activities of its creole reformers nor permit them to go on unfettered. Rather, it was necessary to meet the demands for greater participation head-on, with force if necessary, lest this island, too, became embroiled in revolution.

"It was thus precisely those most opposed to independence for the colonies, those most uncompromising in their views on economic liberalism, democracy, and abolition of slavery and on an expanded role for the local elite, and those most subservient to Spain and most willing to defend Spanish claims to dominance who found their way to Puerto Rico during and after the Latin American revolutions.33 The impact of this influx of immigrants is not difficult to imagine. Often forced to escape with only their lives, these privileged refugees brought an extremely conservative impetus to island political life as they actively sought to thwart not only revolutionary change but also legitimate and needed reforms. Emigration of the most reactionary sectors of the Spanish elite, the colonial administration, and the routed military from the other colonies of the Americas to Puerto Rico exerted an extremely pro-Spanish, anti-independence, and anti-autonomy force within the island, with long-lasting effects. The absence of a comparable independence movement in Puerto Rico during the period when the other colonies were openly taking up arms against Spain was at least partly the result of the intransigently conservative influence of the Spanish and other refugees..." https://books.google.com/books?id=7lUqqXjo9csC&pg=PA14
 

Deleted member 97083

@David T do you think it would be plausible if another place in the Spanish Americas became the site of royalist/loyalist immigration, instead of Puerto Rico?
 

David T

Achaemenid Rome said:
@David T do you think it would be plausible if another place in the Spanish Americas became the site of royalist/loyalist immigration, instead of Puerto Rico?
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Well, of course there was also Cuba. As with Puerto Rico, the presence of Spanish loyalists was important, but even more than in Puerto Rico, so was slavery: "Historians and scholars have often asked why Puerto Rico and Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Part of the answer lies with the slave system, particularly in the case of Cuba. The slave system stunted nationalist aspirations in Cuba because local planters feared a Haitian-style revolution and relied on Spanish troops to keep the slave system in place. The flight of Spanish loyalists to Cuba and Puerto Rico also affected the decision to forgo immediate independence." https://books.google.com/books?id=RsNPdvRtT7oC&pg=PA109
 

Deleted member 97083

David T said:
Well, of course there was also Cuba. As with Puerto Rico, the presence of Spanish loyalists was important, but even more than in Puerto Rico, so was slavery: "Historians and scholars have often asked why Puerto Rico and Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Part of the answer lies with the slave system, particularly in the case of Cuba. The slave system stunted nationalist aspirations in Cuba because local planters feared a Haitian-style revolution and relied on Spanish troops to keep the slave system in place. The flight of Spanish loyalists to Cuba and Puerto Rico also affected the decision to forgo immediate independence." https://books.google.com/books?id=RsNPdvRtT7oC&pg=PA109
Click to expand...
In terms of pro-royalist settlement, could something be figured out with the llaneros in Venezuela? (Before Bolivar allied with them).
 
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