British Communities in Chile

Abstract

Bernardo O’Higgins considered the possibility of bringing British colonists to Chile to contribute to economic development but did not pursue the idea in the face of the opposition of certain priests who feared this would open the door to Protestantism in Chile (see Prain 2007). However, once independence for Chile was secured, the government’s early policy was to facilitate selective immigration, and with this in mind a law was passed in 1824 to encourage Europeans to establish businesses in urban centers and to settle in the sparsely populated regions in the south. Those who came were mainly German, Swiss, and British. Other laws followed. In 1845, a decree was passed aimed at enticing settlers from Europe by providing, under certain conditions, the passage to Chile and an allotment of land with seed and tools on their arrival. This was the Law of Selective Immigration, passed during the presidency of Manuel Bulnes, and it focused on colonizing lands south of Valdivia toward modern-day Puerto Montt.

English tailors, shoemakers, saddlers, and inn-keepers, hang out their signs in every street; and the preponderance of the English language over every other spoken in the chief streets, would make one fancy Valparaiso a coast town in Britain.

—Maria Graham, Journal of a Residence in Chile, May 23, 2822