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Nordic Venezuelans

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Nordic Venezuelans
Regions with significant populations
Caracas
Languages
Predominantly Spanish
Religion
Protestantism (especially Lutheranism)
Related ethnic groups
Venezuelans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Icelanders, Faroe Islanders

A Nordic Venezuelan is a Venezuelan person with full or partial Nordic ancestry, or a Nordic-born person living in Venezuela. Nordic settlement in Venezuela is little-known, due to a lack of information about its colonization.

Swedish colonization attempt in Esequibo

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During the 18th century, Swedes attempted to colonize the Essequibo region between the lower Orinoco and Barima rivers in Guyana's present-day Barima-Waini region.[1][2][3] The Swedes, settled in the area since July 1732,[4] were expelled in 1737 by forces led by Major Sergeant Carlos Francisco Francois Sucre y Pardo (grandfather of Venezuelan independence leader Antonio José de Sucre).[5] A century later, about 50 Swedes[6][7] and Norwegians lived in central Venezuela.

Evangelical Free Churches and missionaries

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Scandinavian Alliance Mission in western Venezuela

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Red brick church with a Celtic cross on top
The Nordic-architecture Cristo Vive Evangelical Church (1917) in Rubio, better known as the Celtic Cross Church

It is believed that some of the first Nordic people to arrive in Venezuela were Danish Protestant missionaries from the Scandinavian Alliance Mission (SAM) in 1890.[8][9] An additional small group of Nordic missionaries arrived in the country during the early 20th century; most were Scandinavian by birth or ancestry, and had previously immigrated to the United States.[10] Several Nordic families moved to Maracaibo, and Rubio, remaining for at least 20 years; family names include Bach-Anderson, Christiansen-Gundersen, Eikland-Undheim, and Holmberg-Noren.[11] Other individuals arrived as teachers. They established evangelical schools in the cities in which they settled:[12][13] Colegio Evangélico Americano, Christiansen Academy (1951-2002) and the Juan Christiansen private school, named for Johann Christiansen Christensen (the first Danish Protestant in Táchira).[citation needed]

In Maracaibo, the missionaries founded Libertador American Evangelical School (now Peniel Private School)[14] and a Bible college directed and staffed by Scandinavians;[15][16] teachers included Astrid Erickson, Rose Erlandberg, and Harriet Handlogten.[17]

Christiansen Academy

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Christiansen Academy was an international private boarding school in Rubio which was founded in 1951 to serve missionaries' children in South America and the Caribbean. It was operated by the Evangelical Alliance Mission, the former Scandinavian Alliance Mission.[18]

Free Swedish Church in central Venezuela

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The first Free Swedish Church missionary arrived in Venezuela by 1898: the Swedish-American David Eduard Finstrom, from Kerkhoven, Minnesota. The Free Swedish Church is unrelated to the Scandinavian Alliance Mission. Finstrom later returned to the US, married Carrie Falk from Dalarna, Sweden, returned to La Victoria, Aragua, and founded Ebenezer Church.[19] They helped establish the Emmanuel - Gott Mit Uns Church in Colonia Tovar,[20] a German settlement. Other Swedish Americans, such as Wilford Anderson and Alford Bjurlin, developed congregations in the states of Aragua, Carabobo, and Guárico.[21]

Olson family

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During the early 1940s, an American family from the Swedish Baptist Church moved to Barquisimeto.[22] Ingve Olson[23] joined the German-American Assemblies of God missionary Bender-Schwager Kopittke (a former Independent Holiness Church missionary). They moved to Caracas two years later, establishing Las Acasias Pentecostal Church.[24]

Danish settlement in Esequibo

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A red, steeply-pitched roof
Danish architecture in Bejuma

In 1938, Venezuelan president Eleazar López Contreras created the Technical Institute of Immigration and Colonization to regulate European immigration to Venezuela. Among the first beneficiaries of López Contreras' policy were 48 Danish families: 2,780 people who were settled in Chirgua [es; fr; pl] (Carabobo State) with 26 Venezuelan families.[25][26][27][28] The settlement was unsuccessful, and 38 of 40 families were sent back to Denmark. Only two families and a few individual Danes preferred to stay in Chirgua.

After World War II

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After World War II, some emigration from Finland to Latin America continued. According to Finnish statistics, about 500 emigrants left for Latin American countries; Venezuela was among them. Small Finnish colonies have developed in major South American cities, including Caracas.[29]

Religion and culture

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In October 1954, the Scandinavian community founded the Scandinavian Congregation (Spanish: Congregación Escandinava) in Caracas with the help of Bishop Åke Kastlund. They later founded the Lutheran Church of La Resurrección in La Castellana district with members of the German, Hungarian and Latvian Protestant communities.

Some celebrate Midsommar, which coincides with the Venezuelan Fiesta de San Juan. It is celebrated with a traditional campfire, songs and dances around the midsommarstång.[30]

Notable people

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References

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  1. ^ "Arbitramiento sobre los límites entre Venezuela y la Guayana Británica: Alegato y contra-alegato". 1981.
  2. ^ "Biblioteca de la Academia Nacional de la Historia: Fuentes para la historia colonial de Venezuela". 1966.
  3. ^ "The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly". 1960.
  4. ^ "The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly". 1960.
  5. ^ "CRONOLOGÍA DE VENEZUELA / Américo Fernández: Carlos de Sucre, gobernador de Nueva Andalucía y Guayana". 6 June 2013.
  6. ^ "Anuario". 1971.
  7. ^ "Anuario". 1971.
  8. ^ Ayala Mora, Enrique (2008). Historia general de América Latina: Los proyectos nacionales latinoamericanos : sus instrumentos y articulación. 1870-1930. UNESCO. p. 262. ISBN 978-9233031562. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  9. ^ Ayerra Moreno, Jacinto (1980). Los protestantes en Venezuela. Quiénes son. Qué hacen. Caracas, Venezuela: Trípode.
  10. ^ La minoría protestante en el Táchira: (Dos publicaciones, "La verdad" y "El porvenir", Rubio, 1920-1935). 1998. ISBN 9789803291679.
  11. ^ Christiansen, John (1932). "Under the Southern Cross: Pen Pictures of Pioneer Mission Work in South America During Twenty-five Years".
  12. ^ "San Cristóbal: 450 años de historia: Llegaron los primeros evangélicos en la década de los 20". 12 January 2011.
  13. ^ La minoría protestante en el Táchira: (Dos publicaciones, "La verdad" y "El porvenir", Rubio, 1920-1935). 1998. ISBN 9789803291679.
  14. ^ Grauer, Otto Christopher (1940). "Fifty Wonderful Years, Missionary Service in Foreign Lands".
  15. ^ La minoría protestante en el Táchira: (Dos publicaciones, "La verdad" y "El porvenir", Rubio, 1920-1935). 1998. ISBN 9789803291679.
  16. ^ "Iglesias Cristianas de Venezuela: La Primera Iglesia Evangélica de Maracaibo". 3 February 2011.
  17. ^ Grauer, Otto Christopher (1940). "Fifty Wonderful Years, Missionary Service in Foreign Lands".
  18. ^ "Christiansen Academy". Christiansen Academy.
  19. ^ "Ebenezer La Victoria" (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Municipio Tovar (Aragua)". 3 May 2011.
  21. ^ "EFCA Yearbook 1969". Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  22. ^ Burgess, Stanley M. (3 August 2010). The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements: Revised and Expanded Edition. ISBN 9780310873358.
  23. ^ http://www.prolades.com/encyclopedia/countries/spanish/rel_venezuela09spn.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  24. ^ "Nosotros | IEPLA".
  25. ^ Betancourt, Rómulo (2007). Venezuela, política y petróleo (6º ed.). Caracas, Venezuela: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. p. 497. ISBN 978-9800111482. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  26. ^ La Inmigración en Venezuela [película]: llegando de los inmigrantes daneses. Caracas, Venezuela: Instituto de Educación Audiovisual. 1940. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  27. ^ Montero Alcalá, Germán. "Chirgua". Pueblos de Venezuela. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  28. ^ Lameda Luna, Hernán (2014). Foundational Cycles of cities in Venezuela. Urban settlements from the colony to the twentieth century (in Spanish). Maracaibo: Revista Arbitrada de la Facultad de Arquitectura y Diseño de la Universidad del Zulia. p. 24. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  29. ^ Kero, Reino. "Migration from Finland 1866-1970". Genealogia. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  30. ^ "Congregación Escandinava". Aves de Palmas (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2015.
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