Inmigrantes en una tierra de emigración: extranjeros en Galicia en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII

Abstract

Galicia, an emigration land, was in the second half of the XVIIIth century an area of oportunities for same people from other countries. A few of them -slighty over 700 in 1791, the highest- French, Portuguese, Italian, German, English, Irish and people from Flanders among others, were settled in Galicia, specially in the most crowed towns such as Ferrol, A Coruña, Santiago and Vigo. Relatively qualified, they could profit the oportunities in fields like marketing, encouraged by the opening of an American market and the new role given to A Coruña and Ferrol by the Crown. Under the protection of the urban grown and the demand in naval construction and in the army, other activities like iron, flour and shoes industries -where inmigrants had an important presence- were developed. Moreover, foreing people's occupations were very different and they were in all areas, which included the agriculture, where only Portuguese worked. The foreign people were not refused by Galician people; this fact is shown by the high rate of marriages with Spanish women, higher than the one of other areas of the country.