Jürgen Buchenau, “Small Numbers, Great Impact: Mexico and Its Immigrants, 1821-1973”

How can the impact of foreign immigration to Mexico be described?

“A quantitatively insignificant foreign immigration had an enormous impact in qualitative terms”

Why didn’t Mexico become a “nation of immigrants”?

Mexico never became a ‘nation of immigrants’ because it offered few of the advantages that attracted immigrants elsewhere in the Americas”

What percentage of European immigrants settled in Mexico in the late 19th century?

Only 0.6% of all European immigrants settled in Mexico

What percentage of Mexico's population was foreign-born in 1930?

In 1930, immigrants made up less than 1% of the population — the highest it ever reached

How many Spanish refugees did President Lázaro Cárdenas welcome during and after the Spanish Civil War?

About 20,000 Spanish refugees were welcomed in the 1930s

What was La Casa de España?

A refuge for Spanish republican intellectuals

When was La Casa de España set up?

20th August 1938

What did La Casa de España beome?

El Colegio de México on 8th October 1940

What was El Colegio de México?

A haven for critical, anti-fascist thought

Who was a Spanish exile who helped establish La Casa de España?

José Gaos

What was the purpose of the 1883 “Law of Fallow Land”?

The “Law of Fallow Land” (1883) allowed private investors to claim “public” lands, often taken from Indigenous communities

What strategy did Porfirio Díaz’s regime use to attract European settlers?

Sent agents like Heinrich Lemcke to Europe with pamphlets portraying Mexico as full of “wide open spaces, abundant farmland, and a scarcity of people”