Latin America city hall, in
Santa Catarina,
Brazil Nowadays, at least one million German speakers live in
Latin America. There are German-speaking minorities in almost every Latin American country, including
Argentina,
Belize,
Bolivia,
Brazil,
Chile,
Colombia,
Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic,
Ecuador,
Guatemala,
Mexico,
Nicaragua,
Paraguay,
Peru,
Uruguay, and
Venezuela. Initially, in the eighteenth century, only isolated or small groups of German emigrants left for Latin America; however, at the start of the nineteenth, this pattern was reversed as a tidal wave of German emigration totaling some 200,000 people began. These included groups such as land-hungry peasants, political refugees known as
Forty-Eighters, and religious minorities such as
Russian Mennonites fleeing religious persecution at home. During the 1880s, during the wave of mass emigration, this figure was reached annually. The
Handbuch des Deutschtums im Ausland (
The Germans Abroad Handbook) from 1906 puts a figure of 11 million people in North and South America with a knowledge of the German language, of which 9 million were in the US. Although the US was the focal point for emigration in the 19th century, emigration to Latin America was also significant for differing economic and political reasons. The majority of German emigrants to Latin America went especially to Brazil, but also to Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. The three countries with the biggest ethnic German populations in Latin America to this day are Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. Starting in 1818, when King D. João VI brought the first German and Swiss immigrants to Brazil, German immigration continued a constant flow with an average of 25 to 30 thousand immigrants per decade entering the country since 1818. It peaked in the years following World War I, to around 90 thousand, and again in the 1940s to around 50,000. In the 1880s and 1890s, German emigration to Latin America grew and in some years was the destination of up to 30% of German emigrants. During the
Nazi period which lasted from 1933 to 1945, some 100,000
Jews from Central Europe, the vast majority of which were German-speaking, moved to South America, with 90% of these moving to the Cono Sur or Southern Cone. This ended when the ban on emigration came into effect in 1941, which was roughly also the beginning of the
holocaust. From the start of the 20th century until 1946, 80% of
Jews lived in Europe; but by the end of
World War II this was reduced to 25%. However, after the war over 50% of Jews lived in
the Americas. This change was aided by
Jewish emigration groups such as the
Hilfsverein deutschsprechender Juden (later to become
Asociación Filantrópica Israelita) which was based in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina. The majority of
German minorities in
Latin America – as well as elsewhere around the world – experienced a decline in the use of the German language, with the exception of Brazil, where the dialect Riograndenser Hunsrückisch is being taught in schools and in some media, totaling over 200 thousand speakers spread over the Brazilian southern states. The main cause of this decrease is the integration of communities, often originally sheltered, into the dominant society, and as well as the invariable pull of societal assimilation which confronts all immigrant groups. German migration to colonial Mexico is less accounted for due to the geopolitical isolation following independence from Spain, as well as the deterrents of Mexico's ensuing civil wars. Despite these obstacles and lack of documentation, however, over 200,000 Prussian/German nationals have been registered entering the country between 1860 and 1960. The first wave of Germans immigrated from northern Prussia under the reign of Princess Carlota during the 2nd French Mexican empire. Of special interest is the settlement
Villa Carlota: that was the name under which two German farming settlements, in the villages of
Santa Elena and Pustunich in Yucatán, were founded during the
Second Mexican Empire (1864–1867). Villa Carlota attracted a total of 443 German-speaking immigrant families, most of them were farmers and artisans who emigrated with their families: the majority came from
Prussia and many among them were Protestants. The second wave was during Porfirio Díaz's open settlement policy in the Yucatán Peninsula that favored and attracted many Europeans. Most German-speaking or self identifying German-Mexicans today are descended from these two events as well as around 20,000 ethnic Germans from Russia and around 100,000 Mennonites from Canada. Specific reasons for language change from German to the national language usually derive from the desire of many Germans to belong to their new communities after the end of World War II. This is a common feature among the German minorities in Latin America and those in
Central and
Eastern Europe: the majority of countries where German minorities lived had fought against the Germans during the war. With this change in situation, the members of the German minorities, previously communities of status and prestige, were turned into undesirable minorities (though there were widespread elements of sympathy for Germany in many South American countries as well). For many German minorities, World War II thus represented the breaking point in the development of their language. In some South American countries the war period and immediately afterwards was a time of massive
assimilation to the local culture (for example during the
Getúlio Vargas period in
Brazil). Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Paraguay show some clear demographic differences that affect the minority situation of the German language: Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are massive countries and offer large amounts of land for immigrants to settle. The population density of the
Southern Cone countries is relatively low (Brazil has 17 inhabitants/km2, Chile has 15/km2, Argentina and Paraguay both have 10/km2, data from 1993), but there are major differences in the areas settled by Germans:
Buenos Aires Province, which was settled by
Germans, has a far higher population density than that of the
Chaco in northern Paraguay (with 1 inhabitant/km2). While Argentina and Chile have a far greater proportion of city dwellers (86% and 84% respectively); in contrast, Brazil and Paraguay are 82% and 47%
urbanized, respectively. Most of the German immigrants that arrived in Brazil and Mexico went on to live in small inland communities. The original 58 German communities of the early 19th century Brazil, grew today to over 250 towns where Germans are a majority, and German-speaking is encouraged.
Argentina There are about 500,000 German speakers and around 320,000 Volga-Germans alone, of which 200,000 hold German citizenship. This makes Argentina one of the countries with the largest number of German speakers and is second only in Latin America to Brazil. In the 1930s there were about 700,000 people of German descent. Regional concentrations can be found in the provinces of
Entre Ríos and
Buenos Aires (with around 500,000 to 600,000) as well as
Misiones and in the general area of the
Chaco and the
Pampas. However, most German-descended Argentinians do not speak German with native fluency (that role has been taken by
Spanish). The 300,000 German speakers are estimated to be immigrants and not actually born in Argentina, and because of this they still speak their home language while their descendants who were born in Argentina speak primarily Spanish.
Brazil According to
Deutsche Welle, there are some twelve million people of German ancestry in Brazil. Nevertheless, the number of people speaking any sort of German (Standard German,
Hunsrückisch or
East Pomeranian) is on the decrease, with 3 million speaking German as a first language today. The main variety of German in Brazil is
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch which is found in the southern states. This version of German there has changed over 180 years of contact with Portuguese as well as the
languages of other immigrant communities. Such contact has led to a new dialect of German concentrated in the German colonies in the southern province of
Rio Grande do Sul. Although Riograndenser Hunsrückisch has long been the most widely spoken German dialect in southern Brazil, like all other minority languages in the region, it is experiencing very strong decline – especially in the last three or four decades. The vast majority of German-descended Brazilians speak
Portuguese as their mother tongue today. German is known only as a second or third language, if at all, to the point of initiatives to preserve the language being started recently in areas with strong German-descended presence, with government-sponsored Gemeindeschulen. This is especially true for younger German-Brazilians. Another place where the German language continues alive is in some of the more of 4,000 Brazilian Lutheran churches, in which some of the services continue to be in German. The German language is co-official in the municipality of
Pomerode, besides being cultural patrimony of the State of
Espírito Santo. In Rio Grande do Sul, the
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German is an integral part of the State's historical and cultural heritage.
Chile Chile (with a population of 19 million) has an estimated 40,000 German-speakers. About 30,000 ethnic Germans arrived in Chile. Included in the
ethnic German immigration to Mexico is the immigration from
Austria,
Switzerland, and the French region of
Alsace which was part of France since the end of
World War I, as well as that from
Bavaria and
High German regions of Germany. As of 2012, about 20,000 Germans nationals resided in Mexico. The number has risen to almost 40,000 in 2020. Despite groggy heritage claims to the language, German is slightly ahead of French as the second most studied foreign language in Mexico, behind only English. Mexico is home to over 3,000 German language schools, second only to Brazil. The Colegio Humboldt campuses in Mexico are the biggest German language K-12 schools in the Americas, with each of the 3 branches graduating over 2,000 students per year.
Northern America Canada In
Canada, there are 622,650 speakers of German according to the most recent census in 2006, with people of German ancestry (
German Canadians) found throughout the country. German-speaking communities are particularly found in
British Columbia (118,035) and
Ontario (230,330). German geographical names can be found throughout the
Midwest region of the country, such as
New Ulm and many other towns in
Minnesota;
Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital),
Munich,
Karlsruhe, and
Strasburg (named after a town near Odesa in Ukraine) in North Dakota;
New Braunfels,
Fredericksburg, Weimar, and
Muenster in Texas; Corn (formerly Korn), Kiefer and Berlin in Oklahoma; and
Kiel,
Schleswig,
Berlin, and
Germantown in Wisconsin. Between 1843 and 1910, more than 5 million Germans emigrated overseas, mostly to the United States. German remained an important language in churches, schools, newspapers, and even the administration of the
United States Brewers' Association through the early 20th century, but was severely repressed during
World War I. Over the course of the 20th century, many of the descendants of 18th century and 19th century immigrants ceased speaking German at home, but small populations of speakers are still found in
Pennsylvania (approximately 115,000 speakers;
Amish,
Hutterites,
Dunkards and some
Mennonites historically spoke
Hutterite German and a
West Central German variety of German known as
Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch),
Kansas (Mennonites and
Volga Germans), North Dakota (Hutterite Germans, Mennonites,
Russian Germans, Volga Germans, and
Baltic Germans),
South Dakota,
Montana,
Texas (
Texas German),
Wisconsin,
Indiana,
Oregon,
Oklahoma, and
Ohio (72,570). A significant group of German
Pietists in
Iowa formed the
Amana Colonies and continue to practice speaking their heritage language. Early twentieth century immigration was often to
St. Louis,
Chicago,
New York City,
Milwaukee,
Pittsburgh, and
Cincinnati. The dialects of German which are or were primarily spoken in colonies or communities founded by German-speaking people resemble the dialects of the regions the founders came from. For example, Hutterite German resembles dialects of
Carinthia.
Texas German is a dialect spoken in the areas of Texas settled by the
Adelsverein, such as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. In the
Amana Colonies in the state of Iowa,
Amana German is spoken.
Plautdietsch is a large
minority language spoken in
Northern Mexico by the
Mennonite communities, and is spoken by more than 200,000 people in Mexico.
Pennsylvania German is a
West Central German dialect spoken by most of the
Amish population of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, and resembles
Palatinate German dialects.
Hutterite German is an Upper German dialect of the
Austro-Bavarian variety of the German language, which is spoken by Hutterite communities in Canada and the United States. Hutterite is spoken in the U.S. states of
Washington,
Montana,
North Dakota,
South Dakota, and
Minnesota; and in the Canadian provinces of
Alberta,
Saskatchewan and
Manitoba. Its speakers belong to some Schmiedleit, Lehrerleit, and Dariusleit Hutterite groups, but there are also speakers among the older generations of Prairieleit (the descendants of those Hutterites who chose not to settle in colonies). Hutterite children who grow up in the colonies learn to speak Hutterite German before learning English, the standard language of the surrounding areas, in school. Many of these children, though, continue with German Grammar School, in addition to public school, throughout a student's elementary education. ==Australia==