Salvadoran Australians ( es, Salvadoreño-australiano) are

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

Salvadoran Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvad ...

descent. Salvadoran immigration to Australia was caused principally by economic and political turmoil in El Salvador.

History

The largest flow occurred when refugees left El Salvador during the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War ( es, guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front The Farabundo Ma ...

in the 1980s. The first wave were former political prisoners whose immigration was facilitated by the Special Humanitarian Program in 1983. After this first group, which consisted of 75 people, another 10,000 Salvadorans arrived in Australia by 1986. Subsequent groups came—not directly from El Salvador—but from countries like

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Costa Rica that housed Salvadoran refugees. Most Salvadoran-born Australians came prior to 2001; little followed after the civil war. The majority of Salvadorians that live in Australia are of white and mestizo ancestry. The majority of Salvadorans in Australia reside in Melbourne,(32%), followed by Brisbane, (21%), and Sydney, (18%). Census data records showed 25% of Salvadoran Australians work in managerial or professional roles. A further 23% work in production, transport and trades; 20% are labourers. Many migrants from El Salvador are skilled workers, but their lack of fluent English forced them into unskilled jobs. Over 92% speak Spanish at home, and the majority are Catholic. Evangelical born-again Christians of Salvadoran descent exist in increasing numbers. A 2006 estimation placed the Salvadorian population as high as 18,755.

Ethnicity

Many of the Salvadoran immigrants are of mixed

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

(mestizo) ancestry, with a smaller minority of people with predominant or full European ancestry. Many can trace their roots back to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

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, and other

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an countries. In northern departments like the

Chalatenango Department Chalatenango () is a department of El Salvador, located in the northwest of the country. The capital is the city of Chalatenango. The Chalatenango Department encompasses 2,017 km² and contains more than 204,000 inhabitants. ''Las Matras ...

, it is well known that residents in the area are of pure Spanish descent. The governor of San Salvador,

Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet y Bosoist, 5th Baron of Carondelet, (born 1748, Noyelles-sur-Selle, Flanders – died 1807 Quito, Ecuador) was a Spanish administrator of partial Burgundian descent in the employ of the Spanish Empire. He ...

, ordered families from northern Spain ( Galicia and

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

) to settle the area to compensate for the lack of indigenous people to work the land; it is common to see people with blond hair, fair skin, and blue or green eyes in municipalities like

Dulce Nombre de María Dulce Nombre de María is a town and municipality in the Chalatenango Department Chalatenango () is a department of El Salvador, located in the northwest of the country. The capital is the city of Chalatenango. The Chalatenango Department en ...

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

, and El Pital. However, the majority of Salvadorans of full Spanish descent possess Mediterranean racial features: olive skin and dark hair and eyes (black or dark brown) and identify with the mestizo majority. A majority of

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

an settlers in El Salvador arrived during World War II as refugees from the

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, and Switzerland, most of them stayed in Chalatenango. Many Jews emigrated to El Salvador during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as refugees with the help of

José Castellanos Contreras José Arturo Castellanos Contreras (23 December 1893 — 18 June 1977) was a Salvadoran army colonel and diplomat who, while working as El Salvador's Consul General for Geneva during World War II, and in conjunction with a Jewish-Romanian bus ...

. Indigenous Salvadorans make up less than one percent of the population and are mostly of Pipil and

Lenca The Lenca or Lepawiran "people of the jaguar" are from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke many Dialects such as Chilanga, Putun, Kotik etc. Although there were different dialects, they un ...

ancestries; some are

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

Notable people

* Carlos Barrios, artist

History

Ethnicity

Notable people

See also