Polskie projekty kolonialno-osadnicze w krajach Ameryki Łacińskiej w okresie międzywojennym

Latin American countries represented a region of interest to the Polish pre-war government in terms of their potential as colonies and immigration settlement potential. The relevant premise determining Poland’s policy in this respect was the existence of an emigration potential estimated at 3 to 5.5 million people. Aware of the social and political consequences of such a vast number of “redundant” people in the country, the government sought to work out ways to solve or at least alleviate the problem. Notwithstanding this basic aim , emigration was considered by the Polish authorities also as means of solving other, equally important matters. These included stimulating Polish sea ports’ activities, the development of the sea passenger fleet, boosting foreign trade, improving the balance of payment through increase of money transfers, and finally, the highly important need of reshaping the country’s nationality structure. Such tendencies were evident in the government’s legislative and diplomatic policies as well as programmes. The interest of the Polish government authorities, state organizations and societies was not confined to traditionalimmigration-absorbing countries such as Argentina and Brazil but covered also Peru, Chile and Mexico.