Confederate colonies



Confederate colonies were made up of emigrants from the Confederate States of America who fled the United States after the Union won the American Civil War (1861–1865). They settled in many Latin American countries like Brazil and Mexico.

Background
Many Southerners had lost their land during the war and were unwilling to live under the government of the United States of America. They did not expect an improvement in the South's economic position. Most of the emigrants were from the states of Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina.

No one has determined how many American southerners emigrated to Latin America. As noted in unpublished research, Betty Antunes de Oliveira found in port records of Rio de Janeiro that some 20,000 Americans entered Brazil from 1865 to 1885. Other researchers have estimated the number at 10,000. An unknown number returned to the United States after the end of Reconstruction. Most immigrants adopted Brazilian citizenship.