Switzerland is a small, mountainous country with little agricultural land which, until fairly recently, was unable to feed all its inhabitants. Major famines occurred in 1816/1817, 1845-1855 and 1880-1885. but local authorities subsidized transportation to the Americas and 500,000 people (20% of the population) left the country.
- Most went to Uruguay and Argentina where farmers had been invited to settle given areas.
- Many others went to the US.
A 2014 survey, at left, shows the results 150 years later.
- We find 20% of Swiss Vauchers living in the Americas with over half in Uruguay (237), followed by the USA (108), Brazil (91) and Argentina (36).
The Uruguayan Vauchers are descendants from those farmers emigrating in the mid 1800s.
The Brazilians are mainly descendants of single family, that of Clovis Vaucher who left Neuchâtel, in 1861 with his whole family for the Swiss colony of San José, Argentina. But soon, he moved with his family across the river to Paysandu in Uruguay. And later still, his descendants moved north-east into Brazil.
- The Vauchers now in the USA appear to have come individually later, many in the 1900s.
Swiss background
To have fewer mouths to feed, many local councils offered financial incentives to leave (typically 400 Swiss francs, or 6 months wages for a working man). The money was given on the condition that emigrants never returned. Rumour has that authorities sometimes took advantage of the situation to get rid of the local undesirables, by placing them on a boat with the emigration subsidy in their pocket.Advertisements appeared regularly in Swiss newspapers, placed by travel agencies catering to the demand for emigration. The more reliable of these agencies offered organised crossings of the Atlantic from Le Havre for 80-100 Swiss francs, depending on the number of passengers. Food on board cost about 40 Swiss francs, and typically consisted of biscuits, flour, butter, ham, salt, potatoes and vinegar. With this the emigrants prepared their own meals. In 1857, the agency of André Zwilchenbart at Basle advertised regular packet-boat sailings for New York, and 3-mast American ships sailing to New Orleans.
Links
Mexico: So far I've found no trace of Vauchers there.
Immigration to South America
Whereas the USA has always been a magnet for immigration, the context was different in the South.In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal. This prompted the Iberian colonies to follow the US example.
These new countries needed settlers to develop the land and establish sovereignty. Free land was made available and recruitment negotiated with Swiss and other overcrowded European countries.
Brazil.
Brazil was the first to act. As early as 1818, the Portuguese King John, (in exile from Napoleon) negotiated with Fribourg to establish a Swiss colony in the mountains 80 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. In the next 2 years, the region, named Nova Friburgo, was settled by 265 Swiss families, a total of 1,458 immigrants. [ Wikipedia ]Note: The Brazilian Vauchers in our database were not part of that first migration. They came 30 years later and settled near the Uruguay Border.
Argentina
Swiss immigration to Argentina began in 1856 with 200 farming families arriving in Santa Fe, 300 Km up the Parana river from Buenos Aires. This first colony, called Esperanza, remained the main and largest Swiss colony in Argentina.In addition, the province of Entre Ríos, adjoining Uruguay, also received immigrants, mainly French-speaking, from Switzerland and France. They set up several agricultural colonies. The first, San José was founded in 1857 on the Argentinian side of the the river which serves as the border with Uruguay. Special rules applied to these settlements; in particular, secret suffrage was allowed for the first time in Argentina's history.
Most of our Vauchers are descended from a single family arriving the next year (1857) in San José on the Argentinian side of the river which serves as the border with Uruguay.
Note: Most of the Vauchers in our database are descendants of one family, that of Clovis Vaucher, which were part of the 1857 San Jose group but didn't stay. At some point, they moved across the river to Paysandu in Uruguay side. Over the years, their descendants spread north and drifted into Brazil as far as Pelotas and Porto Alegre.
Uruguay
Uruguay is reputed to have most immigrants from Switzerland. Most came in the 1860S, founding the colony of Nueva Helvecia which survives to this day with its preserved Swiss-style architecture and cultural traditions. [ Wikipedia ]The following Video, The Swiss Colony of Uruguay, begins by describing the hardships and famines that drove massive waves of emigration out of Europe into the New World then gives a visual tour of Nueva Helvecia: VIDEO .
As noted previously, many of our South American Vauchers in our