The Monte Grande Colony, 1825: Scots in Argentina

Each major claim carries one of three labels. established means supported by primary records, official bodies or several independent reliable sources. shared means the core fact is sound but sources disagree on details, dates or interpretation. traditional means widely repeated but not traceable to a primary or independent source.

Passenger numbers vary slightly between sources. The historian Marjory Harper, in Adventurers and Exiles (2003), gives 220 Border Scots in one chapter and 250 in another. The colony's history is documented in contemporary letters and later community histories; some settlers' memories, such as Jane Rodger's, were recorded decades later and may be embellished.

The Robertsons' scheme

established John Parish Robertson and his brother William, Scottish merchants who had traded in Paraguay and Argentina, believed the newly independent country offered great opportunities for European settlers. They organised a colony and recruited Scottish emigrants, mainly farmers and craftsmen from the Lowlands.

established The historian Marjory Harper, in Adventurers and Exiles (2003), places the scheme among the investment ventures of ambitious Scots overseas. The Robertsons, from Kelso, signed a colonisation contract with the government of Bernardino Rivadavia, which wanted European settlers and institutions, promising to introduce at least 200 European families in return for land. By May 1825 they had recruited their colonists, mostly from the Borders. They rejected the poor-quality land the government offered and bought 16,660 acres from two Scottish ranchers, George and John Gibson. Harper judges that the promises made were exaggerated and the planning scanty.

Monte Grande

established About 220 settlers sailed from Leith on the Symmetry in 1825. They settled on land the Robertsons had bought at Monte Grande, south of Buenos Aires, and began farming and dairying with Scottish methods, building houses, a school and a church.

Collapse

established Argentina's war with Brazil (1826–28) and the civil conflict that followed brought economic hardship and insecurity. The Robertsons ran into financial difficulties, and the colony broke up around 1829. Most of the settlers stayed in Argentina, many moving into sheep farming on the pampas, where Scots became prominent estancia owners and managers, or into trade in Buenos Aires.

established Rivadavia's liberal government gave way to the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas. Harper notes that Rosas valued trade with Britain and did not mistreat the Scots as such, but civil unrest in 1829 drove many to Buenos Aires, and those who stayed faced harassment from marauding soldiers for two decades. Jane Rodger, who arrived aged four, recalled eighty years later that her father prospered in a dairy partnership with pigs imported from home, until intruders hacked the family dog to death in their house; the family fled to Buenos Aires and returned a year later to find their home ransacked and burned.

A community

established Scots founded St Andrew's Scots Church in Buenos Aires in 1829, and Scottish schools and societies followed. The Scottish-Argentine community grew through the nineteenth century as more Scots arrived. In 1862 the Church of Scotland sent the Rev. Martin Ferguson from Inellan in Argyll to Chascomús, south of Buenos Aires, where "a large and influential Scotch population" had built a church and manse.

Football

established Alexander Watson Hutton, born in Glasgow, arrived in Buenos Aires in 1882 to teach at St Andrew's Scots School. He founded the English High School, where he promoted football, and in 1893 founded the Argentine Association Football League, forerunner of the Argentine Football Association. He is widely called the father of Argentine football.

• The Symmetry sailed from Leith in 1825.
• About 220 Scots settled at Monte Grande.
• The colony broke up around 1829, but the Scots stayed.
• St Andrew's Scots Church was founded in Buenos Aires in 1829.
• A Glasgow-born teacher is called the father of Argentine football.
• The Robertsons bought the colony's land from two other Scots, the ranchers George and John Gibson.

• Myth: Monte Grande was the first European settlement in Argentina. It was one of the first organised European settlements in the country after independence.
• Myth: The Monte Grande settlers introduced football. Alexander Watson Hutton, who is widely called the father of Argentine football, arrived in 1882 and founded the Argentine Association Football League in 1893, long after the colony broke up around 1829.
• Disputed: How many settlers sailed. About 220 is the usual figure, but some accounts give 250, and Marjory Harper gives both. Some settlers' memories, such as Jane Rodger's, were recorded decades later and may be embellished.