Latin Americans in the United Kingdom
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Est. number of Latin Americans in the United Kingdom 186,500 |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| London, Liverpool, Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh and Milton Keynes | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish · Portuguese · British English · American English | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Spanish Britons · Portuguese Britons · Hispanics |
Latin American migration to the United Kingdom dates back to the early 19th century. However, up until the 1970s, when political and civil unrest became rife in many Latin American countries, the United Kingdom's Latin American community was not particularly large. Latin Americans in the UK are now a rapidly growing group consisting of immigrants from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. Large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers moved to the UK during the late 20th century, however, since the turn of the millennium, Latin Americans have been migrating to the UK for a wide range of reasons and at present the community consists of people from all walks of life. The UK is also home to British-born people of Latin American ancestry, as well as some Hispanic and Latino Americans. In recent years, Britain has also become one of the favorite European destinations for some of Spain's hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans who have acquired Spanish citizenship, seeking to escape their adopted country's prolonged economic crisis.
Latin Americans have inhabited what is now the United Kingdom for centuries, albeit in much smaller numbers than there are currently. The earliest migrants date back to the late 18th century/ early 19th century, these were politicians and writers who were living largely in London in hope of raising funds for weapons to help free Latin America from Spanish and Portuguese rule. The reason for London being a prime choice for such individuals to temporarily reside in is that Britain was quite happy to support them and see the Spanish Empire weaken as the British Empire continued to grow across the world.Simón Bolívar who played a key role in the Spanish–American War of independence visited London for six months in 1810 as leader of a diplomatic mission. Bolívar's forerunner Venezuelan-born Francisco de Miranda spent fourteen years of his life as a political exile in the British capital, originally a member of the Spanish Navy he made a decision to help free Latin America after witnessing the American War of Independence. de Miranda was a close ally of British Prime Minister William Pitt, and after several meetings between the two Pitt pledged money from the British government to help Latin America in their war of independence. Within a matter of years many Latin American countries gained independence and many Latin American political figures remained in London in a bid to search for loans to aid the development of their respective new nations. It wasn't only political figures who took advantage of London's welcoming and safe environment, many Latin American writers who would most likely have been executed or imprisoned for their work in their native lands, published their work in the UK, good examples of this being the Brazilian Hippolyto da Costa and the Colombian Juan Garcia del Rio.
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Wikipedia