Emigration to Brazil

In the 19th century, dozens of people from Aalten emigrated to Brazil in search of a new life. They were part of a wider wave of emigration from the Achterhoek, during which thousands of people left their native region for religious or economic reasons.

This wave of emigration began around 1844. Among the first groups of emigrants were many Afgescheidenen (Seceders) who left their homeland because of their religious convictions. In the following decades, others followed, primarily driven by economic motives, partly due to crop failures and increasing poverty.

Between 1844 and 1894, an estimated six to seven thousand people emigrated from the Achterhoek — nearly a third of the rural population. Most of them chose the United States. Nevertheless, between 1835 and 1880, 204 people from Gelderland also departed for Brazil, mainly to the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

From Aalten too, dozens of people packed their bags to try their luck in Brazil. Those currently known to us are listed below.”