Los franceses en el Perú en el siglo XIX: retrato de una emigración discreta

Abstract

When we talk about migratory movements to Peru in the 19th Century, it is difficult to imagine that French people formed one of the most important foreign comunities there. They constituted the third largest European colony, after Italians and British people in the census of 1876. Thus, we have to recognize it was a quite discreet inmigration. The purpose of this article is to describe the French community living in Peru, as well as its evolution in history. Not surprisingly, majority of migrants came from the southwest of France (Pyrénées Atlantiques and the region of Bordeaux). An important proportion of migrants declared as coming from Paris can maybe be understood as using Paris as an intermediary provenance, just a step in their move from an undetermined region of origin. French people were mostly involved in the small-scale and luxury commerce, but crafstmen formed a major sector of activity for this colony, whose size began to reduce after the war with Chile.

Keywords

• Peru
• Inmigration
• 19th Century