Southern roots abroad: The long-run impact of the Confederate migration to Brazil
Abstract
This paper examines the long-term economic and cultural impacts of the postbellum migration of Southern white individuals to Brazil. Following the U.S. Civil War, thousands of individuals from the former Confederacy settled in a relatively poor region of São Paulo, contributing to its transformation into one of Brazil’s wealthiest areas. I show that these migrants, though a small group, played a significant role in regional industrialization, particularly in cotton and textile industries, and in the mechanization of agriculture. Some of the migrants’ cultural traits, such as Protestantism and English language use, persisted over time, largely due to the physical infrastructure they established. Unlike similar migrations within the U.S., I find no evidence of persistent legacies in terms of politics or racial inequality, emphasizing the role of local infrastructure in shaping the economic and cultural outcomes of immigration.