NYBROOKLYN-L Archives

From: "Miriam Medina" <>
Subject: [Bklyn] Part 9 Immigration/Emigration #21 Gen. Hist. Info. prior to 1900
Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2001 07:28:40 -0400

_____________________________________________

IMMIGRATION / EMIGRATION
(As discussed under United States and Other Countries)
General Historical Information prior to 1900
Part 9
_____________________________________________

Volume: 8 BEM/BONF Page:1443

BOLIVIA

IMMIGRATION AND COLONIZATION

The lack of population and capital has been and will continue to be
during the coming years, the main "obstacle" for the development and perfect
advantage of the natural wealth of the country. All those that have
exploited the Bolivian territory affirm that it constitutes a true emporium
of wealth to which it only lacks the activity of man, in order to be
properly advantageous. The Indian, indolent and routinist by nature, cannot
be considered as an element for the progress of Bolivia, and the white race
population, even with the immigrants included, is not sufficiently numerous
to
communicate a vigorous impulse to the industry. There does not exist in the
country a single department that will not offer the immigrant means in
abundance to be established and procure a living with little effort, thanks
to the fertility of the soil and excellent conditions of the climate.
On the other hand, the government facilitates immigration. The foreigner
in a short time can become a Bolivian citizen and a large landowner in the
country, and the one that contributes a small amount of capital, achieves
without great difficulty a rapid increase, employing it in the exploitation
of rubber or in any of the native industries.
In recent times the government has tried to make immigration permanent
by means of a series of widely liberal dispositions that nevertheless did
not give the results that was hoped for. With the object of facilitating the
information on the advantages granted to the immigrants, the National Office
of Immigration, Statistics and Geographical Propaganda was created in 1896,
whose active works will be known very soon in Europe.
Several attempts have been made with the intention of establishing
colonies in Bolivia, but because of the initiators not disposing the idea of
sufficient capital or lacking the required knowledge to the circumstance,
have not prospered.
The government has always been generous in its concessions to the
colonizing companies. Of these the "Arming Company" and "L' Africaine,
actually exist. They have in project several railway lines and the
exploration of the eastern and southern regions of the country, to extend in
them its action.
The territories most suitable for the immediate development are those
where the rubber grows in abundance, and the establishment in them of
industries derived from agriculture and live-stock, would necessarily have
to be very productive. The territories of Guarayos y Otuquies in the SE. do
not have a rival for colonization, due to their proximity to the Paraguay
river, which facilitates traffic. In the department of Beni and the Province
of Caupolican, department of La Paz, there are two regions that can be
truthfully called the region of gold and of rubber and the region of the
pastures. In the departments of La Paz, Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija,
also exist great land extensions that only awaits colonization, and where
the agriculture, live-stock, exploitation of the forests and other
industries can be established on a large scale rendering important benefits.
Some of the following data may be useful to the immigrant:
Calculate in 635,000 kms (kilometers), the surface of uncultivated land
whose acquisition can be effected by any resident, national or foreign, up
to 20,000 hectares, paying ten cents for each one if they are appropriate to
agriculture and cattle-raising, and one "boliviano" per hectare of rubber
producing tree forrest. The request must appear in a sealed paper, stamps of
10 bolivians, before the prefect or delegate of the corresponding
jurisdiction. There are lands called 'of colonization '(270,600 kms.) which
the government reserves with a purpose of colonizing with the immigrant or
native element of the country that lends itself to the promotion and
development of certain wealth of the soil.

Translated by Miriam Medina

Source: Enciclopedia Vniversal Ilvstrada Evropeo-Americana
Publisher: ESPASA-CALPE, S.A. Madrid, Barcelona, Spain.
Copyright: 1910
_____________________________________________

Volume: II Page: 293-294

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
(Officially, The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy)

Its coast-line comprises the greater part of the eastern shore of the
Adriatic, the bulk of the country receding to a great distance from the sea.
It is irregularly bounded on the north by Saxony, Prussia and Russia: on the
east by Russia and Rumania: on the south ( including Bosnia and Herzegovina)
by Rumania, Servia, and Montenegro; on the southwest by the Adriatic Sea and
Italy, and on the west by Switzerland and Bavaria. The former Turkish
provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, though, in an official sense, merely
occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary, and not reckoned as an
integral part of the Empire, must be regarded now as virtually incorporated
in it.

NATIONALITIES

The population of Austria-Hungary embraces a greater number of races,
distinct in origin and language, than that of any other European country
except Russia. The Slavs are the most numerous race, amounting to over 46
per cent. of the whole population. Next in order come the Germans, then the
Magyars, while the Wallachs (Rumans) occupy the fourth place. The Slavs form
the bulk of the population of Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia, Carniola, Dalmatia,
Croatia, Slavonia, and the north of Hungary. The Slavs are split up into a
number of nationalities differing greatly in language, religion, culture,
and manners; so that their seeming preponderance in the monarchy is lost.
These nationalities include the Czechs (the most numerous of all) in Bohemia
and Moravia, the Poles in Galicia, the Ruthenians in Galicia and Northern
Hungary, the Croats and Serbs in Croatia and Slavonia, the Slovaks mainly in
northwestern Hungary, the Slovens in Carniola, Styria, etc., the Morlaks in
Dalmatia, and some Bulgarians. The Slavs constitute more than half of the
population of Cisleithania. The Germans number only about 25 per cent. of
the total population. They are dispersed over the monarchy, predominating
numerically in Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg, Tyrol, Styria and
Carinthia. The Magyars, or Hungarians proper, constitute only about
one-sixth of the population of the monarchy and less than 43 per cent. of
that of the Kingdom of Hungary. One-seventh of the population of
Transleithania consists of Rumans, who constitute the bulk of the people of
Transylvania. The Rumans are also numerous in Bukowina. The other Romanic
peoples of Austria-Hungary are the Italians, inhabiting the south of Tyrol,
Istria, Trieste, and Dalmatia; the Ladins (Latins), occupying some valleys
in Tyrol; and the Friauls about Gortz, north of Triest. The number of Jews
in the monarchy is not far from 2,000,000 which is about one-fifth of the
total Jewish population of the globe. The Gypsies are estimated to number
about 100,000. There are more than 10,000 Armenians scattered over the
eastern half of the monarchy.

ARMY AND NAVY

Military service is obligatory on all citizens in Austria and in
Hungary. The military system is organized on identical lines in both halves
of the monarchy, and the common army is under the head of the common
ministry of war. Austria and Hungary have their own national guards ( the
Landwehr in one, the Honvedseg in the other) and the general levy
(Landsturm, Nepfolkeles) of the nation. The common army and the special
armies are reinforced by a supplementary reserve (Ersatzreserve,
Pottartalek). The terms of service are, for the common army, 12 years, of
which 3 years are spent in the line, 7 years in the reserve, and 2 years in
the Landwehr; for the special armies, 12 years likewise, of which 2 or 3
years are passed in the line and 9 or 10 years in the Landsturm. All
citizens between the ages of 19 and 42 who do not serve in the common army,
the national guards, the supplementary reserve, or the navy, belong to the
Landsturm, or general levy. Persons possessing certain educational
qualifications are subject to only one year's active service in the military
forces. The Austro-Hungarian navy is maintained chiefly for purposes of
coast defense.


RELIGION

As to religion, the great bulk of the nation is Roman Catholic. By the
census of 1890 there were 27,754,000 Roman Catholics; of Greeks and
Armenians in union with the Church of Rome, 4,485,000; of Orthodox Greeks,
3,178,000. The Protestants of all denominations numbered 3,933,000; and of
Israelites there were 1,868,000. The monarchy is divided into
archbishoprics, bishoprics, Protestant superintendencies, and parishes. The
statutes regulating the relations of State and Church insure the sovereign
certain rights arising from the dignity of his office, but the law insures
religious liberty and the independence of the Church from the State. There
is no religious test as a qualification for the possession of civil and
political rights and liberty of conscience is secure. The religious bodies
have a legal right to manage their own affairs and to possess funds,
estates, or endowments for the purposes of worship, instruction, or charity.
But they must first secure their legal recognition from the minister of
ecclesiastical affairs, which is granted to all sects whose doctrines and
practices are not inimical to the laws of the State.

EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION

In the twenty-year period of 1878-1898 about 900,000 people emigrated
from Austria-Hungary to North and South America, of which 818,310 went to
North America, 41,210 to Brazil, and 25,000 to Argentina. According to the
report of the United States Commissioner-General of Immigration, the number
of immigrants coming to the United States from Austria-Hungary increased
from 62,491 in 1898-99 to 114,847 in 1899-1900, the most numerous
nationalities in order of importance in the latter year being Slovaks
(29,000), Poles (22,000), Croatians and Slavonians (17,000), Jews (17,000),
Hungarians (14,000), Germans (7,000), and Czechs or Bohemians (3000).
Immigration is very small, and principally comes from Germany, Rumania, and
Servia.

Source: The New International Encyclopaedia
Publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company...New York
Copyright: 1902-1905 Total of 21 Volumes.
_____________________________________________

Researched and Transcribed by Miriam Medina


To be continued: Part 10 of the Immigration/Emigration series #21 General
Historical Information prior to 1900, as discussed under United States and
other Countries.
NEXT ARTICLE: September 7, 2001.

This thread:

• [Bklyn] Part 9 Immigration/Emigration #21 Gen. Hist. Info. prior to 1900 by "Miriam Medina" <>