Irish immigration to Mexico

Irish Mexican
Anthony Quinn · Alvaro Obregon · Margo Albert
Total population
300,000-600,000
Regions with significant populations
Mexico City, followed by Chihuahua, Sorona, Durango, Nuevo León, Jalisco and Baja California.
Languages

Mexican Spanish, Irish, English, Spanglish
Religion

Christianity (mostly Roman Catholic)
Related ethnic groups

Irish, Irish Americans, Irish Argentines, Irish Brazilians, Irish Chileans, Irish Uruguayans

Irish Mexicans (Spanish: Irlandés-mexicano or Hibernomexicano; Irish: Gael-Meicsiceach) are inhabitants of Mexico that are immigrants from or descendants of immigrants from Ireland. The majority of Irish immigrants to Mexico were Catholic and arrived during the time when Ireland was under British rule.[1]

Contents

History

Many Mexican Irish communities existed in Mexican Texas until the Texas Revolution. Many Irish then sided with Catholic Mexico against Protestant pro-U.S. elements.[2] The Batallón de San Patricio was a largely (ethnically) Irish battalion of U.S. troops who deserted and fought alongside the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848.[3] In some cases, Irish immigrants or Americans left from California (the Irish Confederate army of Fort Yuma, Arizona during the American Civil War in 1861) and blended into Mexican society instead.[4]

Álvaro Obregón (O'Brien) was president of Mexico during 1920-24 and Ciudad Obregón and its airport are named in his honor. Actor Anthony Quinn is another famous Mexican of Irish descent. There are also monuments in Mexico City paying tribute to those Irish who fought for Mexico in the 1800s.[5]

Today, there are roughly between 300,000 and 600,000 Irish-descendants living in Mexico City, and the Northern region of the country, where Irish last names such as Bay, Lamport, Byrne, Walsh, Foley, Hayes, and O'Leary are very common, especially in the states of Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, and Durango.

Notable Irish Mexicans

See also

References

Coogan, Tim Pat (20002). Wherever Green is Worn. Arrow Books. ISBN 0099958503. 

  1. ^ http://www.securitycornermexico.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=578
  2. ^ Marshall, Tom (2010-06-17). "World Cup 2010: France are the common enemy for Mexico and Ireland". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jun/17/world-cup-france-mexico-ireland. 
  3. ^ Coogan page 609
  4. ^ http://www.the-tidings.com/2006/0317/irish.htm
  5. ^ "Beneath an Emerald Green Flag: The Story of Irish Soldiers in Mexico". Society for Irish Latin American Studies. September 2005. http://www.irlandeses.org/sanpatriciosA.htm. Retrieved 13 July 2008. 
  6. ^ "Actor Anthony Quinn Dies". Reuters in Wired. June 3, 2001. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/06/44264. Retrieved 2009-06-19. "Anthony Rudolph Oaxaca Quinn was born on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, where his half-Irish father Francisco (Frank) Quinn had married a Mexican girl of Aztec Indian ancestry, Manuela, while fighting for revolutionary leader Pancho Villa." 
  7. ^ "Rediscovering our man in Mexico City". The Irish Times. June 6, 2007. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2007/0621/1181771485558.html. Retrieved 2009-06-20. "Few Irish people know the work of Mexican architect Juan O'Gorman - despite his Irish heritage. Gary Quinnwent to Mexico City to see the home he built for Mexico's most famous artists, Diego Rivera and Frida KahloIT'S incredible how successful the offspring of our diaspora can be without the Irish batting an eyelid. One of Mexico's most famous architects, Juan O'Gorman, was the eldest son of an Irishman, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman, who had moved to Mexico from Ireland in the late 1890s. ..." 
  8. ^ "Edmundo and Juan O'Gorman". Society for Irish Latin American Studies. http://www.irishargentine.org/ogormans.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-19. "Historian Edmundo O'Gorman (1906-1995) and architect Juan O'Gorman (1905-1982) were sons of the painter and mining engineer Cecil Crawford O'Gorman (1874-1943), who arrived in Mexico from Ireland in 1895, and Encarnación O'Gorman. Cecil was the grandson of Charles O'Gorman, who in the 1820s was the first British consul to Mexico city. Charles O'Gorman and his Mexican wife returned to the British Isles with their son John, who was to attend Eton and to go back to Mexico." 
  9. ^ es:Joaquín Meade

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