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Croatian Argentines
Hrvati u Argentini (Croatian); Croata-argentinos (Spanish)
	Celebrations of the Croatian community Buenos Aires (2011)
Total population
	300,000
Regions with significant populations
	In Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Chaco, Mendoza and Argentine Patagonia
Languages
	Argentine Spanish • Croatian
Religion
	Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
	Croats; Croatian Brazilians; Croatian Uruguayans; Croatian Americans; Croatian Canadians; Croatian Australians;

Croatian Argentines are Argentine citizens of Croatian descent or Croatian-born people who reside in Argentina. Croats and their descendants settled in Buenos Aires, the homonymous province, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Chaco, and Patagonia.^[2] Argentines of Croatian descent number over 300,000.^[1]

History

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there were 133 settlements, with some 120,000 Croats in Argentina,^[3] for the most part hailing from the coastal regions of Dalmatia and the Croatian Littoral, who were among the first European immigrants to settle in the Argentine pampas. The pioneers from the island of Hvar were followed by emigrants from other parts of Dalmatia and the other historic Croatian lands, mostly present-day Croatia.^[4]

The most financially successful of all the Croats in Argentina was also almost the first to arrive: Nikola Mihanović came to Montevideo, Uruguay in 1867, and, having settled in Buenos Aires, Mihanović owned 350 vessels of one kind or another by 1909, including 82 steamers. By 1918, he employed 5,000 people, mostly from his native Dalmatia. Mihanović by himself was thus a major factor in building up a Croat community that remains primarily Dalmatian to this day.^{[citation needed]}

The second wave of Croat immigration was far more numerous, totaling 15,000 by 1939. Mostly peasants, these immigrants fanned out to work the land in Buenos Aires Province, Santa Fe, Chaco, and Patagonia. This wave was accompanied by numerous clergy to attend their spiritual needs, especially Franciscans.^{[citation needed]}

If the first two waves had been primarily economic, the third wave after World War II was eminently political. Some 20,000 Croatian political refugees came to Argentina, and most became construction workers on Peron's public works projects until they started to pick up some Spanish.^[5] Argentina today has the third-largest number of Croatian descendants in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Notable Croatian Argentines

Alejandro Spajić – Volleyball player
Alicia Kirchner Ostoić – Politician
Mateo Bajamich – Football player
Daniel Bilos – Football player
Daniel Orsanic – Tennis player
Darío Cvitanich – Football player
Diego Maradona – Football player. His maternal grandmother, Salvadora Kariolic, was of Croatian origin.
Davor Ivo Stier – Croatian Democratic Union politician
Antonio Mohamed Matijevich – Football player
El Trinche - Football player. Both of his parents were of Croatian descent.
Emilio Ogñénovich – Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church
Estanislao Esteban Karlic – Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
Fernando Siro – Born Francisco Luksich, actor and director
Iván Gabrich – Football player
Javier Milei - President of Argentina
Javier Frana – Tennis player
José María Buljubasich – Football player
Juan Vucetich – Anthropologist and police official who pioneered the use of fingerprinting
Juan Yustrich – Football goalkeeper
Leonardo Pisculichi – Football player
Lita Stantic – Filmmaker
Ljerko Spiller – Violinist
Marcos Milinkovic – Volleyball player
Martin Šarić – Football player
Nicolás Mihanovich – Shipping magnate
Nicolás Pavlovich – Football player
Néstor Kirchner – Former President of Argentina
Juan Pablo Krilanovich – Football player
Pablo Vranjicán – Football player
Sandra Mihanovich – Singer/songwriter
Sebastián Crismanich – Taekwondo athlete
Federico Grabich – Swimmer
Maximiliano Stanic – Basketball player
Drago Pilsel – Civil rights activist
Mario Markic – Journalist and writer
Ramón Miérez – Football player. His mother is of Croatian origin.
Roberto Curilovic - Navy pilot awarded with Medal of Valour in Combat

References

^ ^a ^b Ivin, Renée (5 November 2005). "Croatas: Un reportaje a Rene Ivin la nueva Embajadora de la Rep. de Croacia" [Croatians: An interview with Rene Ivin the new Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia]. Ivo Scepanovic (Interview) (in Spanish). Slobodna Dalmacija. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
^ Antić, Ljubomir (1991). Hrvati u Južnoj Americi do godine 1914. Zagreb: Institut za migracije i narodnosti. ISBN 86-7075-094-5.
^ "Croacia y Chile: Dubrovnik, el último baluarte" [Croatia and Chile: Dubrovnik, the last bastion] (in Spanish). hrvatskimigracije.es.tl. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011.
^ Bilić, Danira (5 May 2008). "Vučetić's time and the Croatian community in Argentina". Croatian Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011.
^ Soltys, Michael (1998). "A different kind of multinational: Immigrants to Argentina from Eastern Europe: Croatian Immigrants to Argentina". casahistoria.net. Buenos Aires Herald. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2016.