Spanish settlement in Argentina

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Spanish settlement in Argentina, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina, took place in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain and again in large numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Spain was the colonial power in Argentina before the 1816 declaration of Argentine independence. Before 1816 almost all European settlers in Argentina were from Spain, relating to religious, government and commercial business. A substantial Spanish population built up in the new cities, and mixed with the indigenous populations.

Between 1857 and 1940 more than 2 million Spanish people emigrated to Argentina, mostly from Galicia and the Basque Country in northern Spain.

Today, around 10% of the Argentine population descend from Basque people, both Spanish and French, and are described as Basque Argentines. They gather in several Basque cultural centres installed in most large cities in the country.

The city with the second greatest number of Galician people is Buenos Aires, where immigration from Galicia was so important that today all Spaniards, regardless of their origin within Spain, are often referred to as gallegos (Galicians) in Argentina.