Българите в аржентинската провинция Чако
The Bulgarians Living in the Argentine Province of Chaco

Summary/Abstract: The mass emigration of Bulgarians to Argentina began in the years following the First World War. It has been assumed that 10 000 to 15 000 Bulgarians lived in Argentina in the 1930s. They have formed more compact groups in the capital Buenos Aires, in Berisso (Province of Buenos Aires), Comodoro Rivadavia (in the region of the Chubut River) and in the Chaco Province. The Bulgarian colony in Chaco took shape in the 1922—1937 period. The greatest number of Bulgarians lived in the small towns of Las Brenas, Villa Angela, San Bernardo and Santa Pena. Between 3500 and 4500 Bulgarians are thought to have lived in Chaco on the borderline between the 1930s and 1940s. The Province of Chaco in Argentina is the greatest producer and exporter of cotton, thereby having earned the name "a land of cotton". About 80 per cent of the members of the Bulgarian colony in Chaco have been engaged in the cultivation of cotton. The article deals with the most important aspects and features of the Bulgarian emigrants' life in the Argentine Province of Chaco along two basic lines. An attempt has been made to outline which traditions acquired at home continue to be observed in the new Argentine homeland, as well as what new traditions of economic activities and way of life have been acquired by the Bulgarian emigrants in the altered natural, lifestyle, economic and sociocultural relations in Chaco, which turn into specific values of the newly established Argentine society.

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