Emigration of Korčulans to Brazil

Abstract

One of the most massive migrations of Croats in the period of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was the emigration of inhabitants from the island of Korčula to Brazil in 1925. This was reported by Franko Mirošević, who described the circumstances that generally encouraged the emigration of the population from Dalmatia, and indicated his suspicion that this emigration was the result of recruitment on part of shipping agencies in conjunction with corrupt officials. Consequently, this paper will address the question of whether this emigration was really the result of severe privation or was it recruitment that induced the population of Korčula to emigrate. Hitherto unused archival sources were analyzed to shed more light on this question. Furthermore, previous allegations regarding the date and number of emigrants, as well as the attitude of the state authorities towards the phenomenon of recruitment in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes will be re-examined.