Dutch Mexicans

Dutch Mexicans (Nederlandse Mexicanen) are Mexican citizens of Dutch descent. Mexican citizens of Dutch descent who identify themselves as such would be considered Dutch Mexicans. It is not a category that INEGI measures in its Population Census so the number is unknown. The concept is related to two other, partially overlapping, concepts namely Dutch immigrants to Mexico and residents of Mexico born in the Netherlands. The number of Dutch immigrants to Mexico is measured through immigration statistics and totalled 1,509 living persons in 2009. The Population Census asks for the place of birth of a person. In 2020 there were 1,221 residents of Mexico who were born in the Netherlands. People from what is now the Netherlands emigrated to Mexico as early as the 16th century. One of the first may have been Enrico Martinez who was a Spanish-Dutch interpreter in the trial of Simon Pereyns. In the early 17th century, Dutch military engineer Adriaan Boot designed the Fort of San Diego in Acapulco to defend it from attacks by his countryman Joris van Spilbergen, among others. The Porfiriato, because of its political stability and its growing financial credibility, and the incipient Dutch industrialization spurred investments and trade. The Netherlands sent diplomats to Mexico to conclude new treaties that were signed between 1899 and 1909, but relations with the nation continued to be dispatched from the Dutch legation in Washington. Muller (1905) and De Veer (1910) tell that some Dutch started tobacco and coffee plantations in Mexico, but Dutch immigration was generally scant, although the Mexican government was interested in attracting good farmers and dairy farmers to Mexico and made it clear that there was room for Javanese workers on the sugar and cocoa plantations. The Dutch Association in Mexico was created in 1907 with 18 people in attendance. Dutch trade in Mexico was carried out mainly from the port of Rotterdam and reflected the increasing modernization of industry and the Mexican railway.