Tuscans in Argentina
Since 1810, the year of its independence, Argentina has implemented a policy of immigration incentives although it was not until 1876 that the first, organic piece of legislation on the subject was passed.
Law no. 817 on Immigration and Colonization created, with some articles of the first chapter, the General Department of Immigration, which, among its duties, had that of "requiring from the captains of ships carrying migrants the lists of the latter, their passports documents and other information as may be necessary" and, therefore, to maintain a numerical register in which to record, in chronological order, the arrival of each migrant, his name, surname, age, sex, nationality, marital status, religion, profession, whether he can read and write, place of origin and place of destination."
Since then, albeit with some variations in the criteria for collecting data on each immigrant, the statistics of the phenomenon have had continuity over time. The definition of immigrant has also remained substantially stable: "shall be considered an immigrant, for the purposes of this law, any foreigner, day laborer, artisan, industrialist, farmer by profession, who being less than 60 years of age and giving proof of good conduct and capacity, arrives in Argentina to settle there, by steamboat or sailboat - and, with the passage of decades, also by airplane -, paying second or third class ticket, or with ticket paid for by the State or the provinces or by private immigration and colonization companies."
The CEMLA-Centro de estudios migratorios latinoamericanos in Buenos Aires is using this outstanding source to build a database related to all Italian immigrants in Argentina.
Law no. 817 on Immigration and Colonization created, with some articles of the first chapter, the General Department of Immigration, which, among its duties, had that of "requiring from the captains of ships carrying migrants the lists of the latter, their passports documents and other information as may be necessary" and, therefore, to maintain a numerical register in which to record, in chronological order, the arrival of each migrant, his name, surname, age, sex, nationality, marital status, religion, profession, whether he can read and write, place of origin and place of destination."
Since then, albeit with some variations in the criteria for collecting data on each immigrant, the statistics of the phenomenon have had continuity over time. The definition of immigrant has also remained substantially stable: "shall be considered an immigrant, for the purposes of this law, any foreigner, day laborer, artisan, industrialist, farmer by profession, who being less than 60 years of age and giving proof of good conduct and capacity, arrives in Argentina to settle there, by steamboat or sailboat - and, with the passage of decades, also by airplane -, paying second or third class ticket, or with ticket paid for by the State or the provinces or by private immigration and colonization companies."
The CEMLA-Centro de estudios migratorios latinoamericanos in Buenos Aires is using this outstanding source to build a database related to all Italian immigrants in Argentina.
The Cresci Foundation acquired from CEMLA the list of Tuscans who landed in Argentina from 1906 to 1952, in which there may sometimes be registration errors (reported, accordingly, in the current transcription) especially of foreign surnames.