HeWinippeg, the vessel that aided Pablo Neruda, the renowned Chilean poet, facilitated the exile of 2,078 Spanish Republicans in 1939. This was not the first instance; the steamship Orellana transported 88 families from the archipelago to repopulate the sparsely populated Araucanía in the southern region of the Andean country, a harsh area still inhabited by their descendants. These areThe Canaries of Lake Budi.
Emigration
There was no notable Canarian emigration to Chile as seen in other regions such as Venezuela, or to a lesser extent Cuba, Uruguay, and Argentina, primarily due to the significant physical and psychological barrier posed by the Andes mountains. However, there exists a strong connection that has persisted, with roots extending back to the dawn of the last twentieth century.
Repopulation
The Chilean government considered the Canaries as a viable option for repopulating the deserted Araucanía, the Great South Region. Several expeditions were dispatched to Tenerife, their ships returning with emigrants while offering certain concessions, most of which were largely unmet.
Adjustment
Numerous individuals struggled to adjust to the remote locale and diverse customs and felt misled. Ultimately, they relocated to Santiago or Argentina. Conversely, others chose to remain and integrate into that community, establishing a unique presence. Their legacy endures, as showcased in the doctoral research of Professor Álvaro Villalba at the University of Temuco, a descendant of Canarians, which recounts his forebears’ stories, alongside historical writings by author Maribel Lacave in The Canaries of Lake Budi, which highlights the specific location where those compatriots settled.
Destination
The Canaries of Lake Budi (Ediciones Idea, 2006) is the scholarly work of Maribel Lacave Bautista (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1951), a poet and storyteller now based in Chile, particularly in the Chiloé islands, who conducts a thorough historical inquiry into real events. It should be clarified that this is not a novel. It narrates, highlighted through an extract from her essay, the oceanic passage Orellana that in 1903 conveyed a group of 88 Canary families to Chile in response to the Chilean government’s plea to inhabit the southern territories. After two protracted months at sea, they arrived at Lake Budi, previously the southern boundary of national sovereignty until the late nineteenth century. South of the Bío-Bío River, the indigenous Mapuches and Pehuenches “held full dominion over their lands.”
Aspiration
This narrative, as Lacave articulates, “reflects the hopes and disillusionments of those 88 Canary families that traversed the ocean to reach the furthest southern expanse of the world in pursuit of paradise.” It encompasses “the struggle they faced to regain their own liberty.” The author adds the names that have been forgotten “to the extensive list of islanders in diaspora” and wishes to honour the memory of all Canarians through the symbolic significance of Budi Lake. It also marks the establishment of original relations between them as settlers and the Mapuche peoples of the region, who have largely been dispossessed of their territories. A document that epitomises many years of meticulous research regarding the Canarian migration to Chile at the dawn of the 20th century, with Chileans making the journey back and forth.
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