Confederate exiles

Confederate colonies were made up of refugees from the Confederate States of America who fled the United States after the Union won the American Civil War (1861–1865). They settled in many Latin American countries like Brazil and Mexico.

Many Southerners had lost their land during the war and were unwilling to live under the government of the United States of America. They did not expect an improvement in the South's economic position. Most of the emigrants were from the states of Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Missouri.

No one has determined how many American southerners emigrated to Latin America. As noted in unpublished research, Betty Antunes de Oliveira found in port records of Rio de Janeiro that some 20,000 Americans entered Brazil from 1865 to 1885. Other researchers have estimated the number at 10,000. An unknown number returned to the United States after the end of Reconstruction. Most immigrants adopted Brazilian citizenship.

In Mexico, Emperor Maximilian had encouraged and subsidized foreign colonization with land grants and appropriation of land. After the French withdrew their support of Maximilian and he was defeated in 1867, these colonies ceased to exist. The land titles were not recognized by the victors who had spent years fighting foreign intervention and occupation.

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