Agricultural colonies in Argentina

Starting in 1853, President Justo José de Urquiza encouraged the establishment of agricultural colonies in the Littoral region (western Mesopotamia and north-eastern Pampas, the area of influence of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers).

The first formally organized agricultural colony was Esperanza, Santa Fe, formed by 200 families from Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg who arrived during January and February 1856.

Starting in 1880, Argentine governments had a policy of massive immigration, and the liberal tendencies of the Roca administration were instrumental in making Jews fleeing pogroms in Europe feel welcome.

In the 1880s and 1890s, France's Baron Maurice de Hirsch organized a campaign to relocate two-thirds of Jews in the Russian Empire.

The Zionist records attest to the fact that Herzl did consider Argentina, as well as present-day Kenya, as alternatives to Palestine.

Copy of a colonization contract, in the history museum of San José, Entre Ríos .