Irish Uruguayan

Irish Uruguayans are Uruguayan people with Irish ancestry. There are an estimated 120,000 Irish Uruguayans in Uruguay, many of them living in the capital of Montevideo.

Many Irish people migrated to Uruguay starting in the 1700s, and especially during the 19th century, arriving in neighboring Argentina as well.

In 1762, Irish captain John McNamara led a British force to occupy Colonia del Sacramento, previously a Portuguese or Spanish stronghold. It failed, but in February 1807, Brigadier-General Samuel Auchmuty occupied Montevideo with a British and Irish force and ruled in the city for seven months, during which a mass of merchants from Britain and Ireland arrived in the city and would contribute to its emerging cultural identity. Irish soldier Peter Campbell (1780-c1832) of the 71st regiment remained on the River Plate and later founded the Uruguayan navy, becoming deputy governor of Corrientes province.

At the peak of its "economic miracle", thousands of Irish immigrants came to live in Uruguay, many of them being professionals or middle managers who formed the bourgeoisie in Montevideo. Many however, were Irish farmers who settled in rural areas. A significant number of Irish farmers reached the Port of Montevideo by ship in 1836, which led to a boom in sheep-farming and wool production. Sheep farmers from Kilrane parish in County Wexford were known to have moved into Rio Negro district, and Paysandú in the same district was settled by immigrants from Westmeath and Longford. Immigration by the Irish into Uruguay continued in the 1840s as the country, struck hard by the Irish potato famine, caused masses of people to emigrate all across the world. Juan Manuel de Rosas, the dictator of Argentina at the time was favorable to British settlement, which led to many Irish farmers moving across into Argentina; prominent landowners such as James Gaynor (1802–1892) and John Maguire (d. 1905) operated land in both Uruguay and Argentina. One Irish rancher, William Lawlor (1822–1909), originally from Abbeyleix in County Laois was documented as owning land and a ranch named "Las Tres Patas". Harper's magazine, commenting in 1891, evaluated the typical dwelling of the Irish farmer immigrant, "The cabins of the Irish peasantry give some idea of the Uruguayan rancho. It is a comfortless, unhealthy, rheumatic dwelling, less civilized than that of the Esquimaux, and more carelessly built than the most ordinary bird's nest." There are many blue-eyed Uruguayans with Irish or English ancestry.

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