Dutch Mexicans (; ) are Mexican citizens of

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

descent.

The concept and the numbers

Mexican citizens of Dutch descent who identify themselves as such would be considered Dutch Mexicans. It is not a category that

INEGI The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI from its former name in ) is an autonomous agency of the Government of Mexico, Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information ...

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.

History

People from what is now

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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 Simon Pereyns (c. 1530–1600) was a Flemish painter. He moved to Lisbon, Portugal in 1558 and later to Madrid, Spain. In 1566, he moved to Mexico where he gained fame as a painter of numerous works, most of which have not survived. He creat ...

. In the early 17th century, Dutch military engineer Adriaan Boot designed the

Fort of San Diego The Fort of San Diego (), formerly also known as the Fort of San Carlos () is a star fort in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. It was built by the Spanish Empire, and it was one of the most important Spanish fortifications along the Pacific coast. The ...

in Acapulco to defend it from attacks by his countryman

Joris van Spilbergen Joris van Spilbergen (1 November 1568 in Antwerp – 13 January 1620 in Bergen op Zoom) was a Dutch naval officer. His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa. He then left for Asia on 5 May 1601, from Veere, a seapor ...

, among others. The

Porfiriato The Porfiriato or Porfirismo (, ), coined by Mexican historian Daniel Cosío Villegas, is a term given to the period when General Porfirio Díaz ruled Mexico under an Authoritarianism, authoritarian military dictatorship in the late 19th and e ...

, 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 Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

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. The Netherlands exports, for example, rails, coal and coke. But the total Dutch export to Mexico was less than half a million guilders a year.

Royal Dutch Shell

In 1910, the Netherlands was number five in the list of countries of origin of foreign investments in Mexico, after the United States and the three great European powers. At that time, the Holland-Mexico Mortgage Credit Society and the Dutch Transatlantic Commercial Association existed in Mexico City. It was not surprising that the small Dutch colony in Mexico City, still dependent on the Netherlands Legation in Washington: four days by train - insisted several times after 1900 on a diplomatic representation in Mexico, because Belgium already had it for years. The first Dutch ambassador, based in Washington D.C., to visit Mexico was John Loudon in 1910 on occasion of the 100 year independence of Mexico and the 80th birthday of its President. Mr. Loudon was the brother of Hugo Loudon, one of the founders of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company that merged in 1907 into

Shell plc Shell plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and second ...

. In 1919, Shell took control of

Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company Compañía Mexicana de Petróleo El Águila SA, (''El Águila'' for short, called in English the Mexican Eagle Oil Company or Mexican Eagle Petroleum Corporation, was a Mexican petroleum industry, oil company in the 20th century. The company, esta ...

. In the 1920s, the Dutch community in Mexico of a few hundred souls consisted mostly of staff of this company. Some of them stayed in Mexico and had descendants. Actresses

Ariadne Welter Ariadna Gloria Rosa Welter Vorhauer (June 29, 1930 – December 13, 1998), known as Ariadna Welter (also spelled Ariadne Welter), was a Mexican film actress of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. She appeared in the Luis Buñuel film ''The Crimina ...

and

Linda Christian Linda Christian (born Blanca Rosa Henrietta Stella Welter Vorhauer; November 13, 1923 – July 22, 2011) was a Mexican film actress who appeared in Mexican and Hollywood films. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara ...

were daughters of a Dutch staff member of Shell.

Mennonites

The first group of immigrants of Dutch descent to settle in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

were

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

between 1922 and 1925. Under the protection of

Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (born Francisco Plutarco Elías Campuzano; 25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a Mexican politician and military officer who served as the 47th President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. After the assassination of Ál ...

, religious Mennonites of German and Dutch immigrants settled in the states of the north and the southeastern Mexico where

Plautdietsch Plautdietsch () or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "fl ...

is still spoken today, a German dialect called "Niederdeutsch" or "Plattdeutsch" in Low-German terminology that is spoken along the border between the Netherlands and Germany.

Post-World War II

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Dutch-Mexican relations intensified quickly following the visit of

Prince Bernhard Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; 29 June 1911 – 1 December 2004) was Prince of the Netherlands from 6 September 1948 to 30 April 1980 as the husband of Queen Juliana. They had four daughters to ...

to Mexico in 1950. KLM established a direct flight from Amsterdam to Mexico in 1952 and the first Dutch embassador to Mexico arrived in 1954. The number of Dutch Mexicans increased steadily.

Dutch residents in Mexico

A. A. M. Stols A. A. M. Stols (usually called Alexander or Sander, 1900–1973) was a Dutch printer and publisher, known best for his limited bibliophile editions of Dutch poetry. Biography Stols was born in Maastricht, 28 January 1900. He was a son of Ludovicu ...

, printer and publisher * Bob Schalkwijk, photographer *

Carla Stellweg Carla Stellweg, born in the Dutch East Indies where she lived as well as in the Netherlands, Mexico and New York. Stellweg began her career in 1965 working as an assistant curator to Fernando Gamboa, the renowned museum builder who organized a plet ...

, art critic *

Frans van der Hoff Frans van der Hoff (16 July 1939 – 13 February 2024), or Francisco VanderHoff Boersma as he is called in Latin America, was a Dutch missionary who, in collaboration with Nico Roozen and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad, launched Max H ...

, missionary * Frans Stoppelman, photographer *

Fred Mulders Freerk Johannes Mulders (Amsterdam, 1911 – Mexico City, 1960), also known as Freek, Frederic or Fred Mulders, was a Dutch guitar player and journalist. He was also a brigadist in the Spanish Civil War, member of the Dutch resistance, and victim ...

, guitarist and journalist * Gerard Hylkema, footballer and hockey player * Giovanni Korporaal, actor, editor, screenwriter and film director *

Jan Hendrix Jan Hendrix (born 1949) is a Dutch-born artist who has lived and worked in Mexico since 1978. Hendrix received the Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican government for his work in art and architecture. Art All projects start with drawing a ...

, artist * Martijn Kuiper, actor *

Nancy van Overveldt Nancy van Overveldt, born Nancy Wilhelmina Scheffer (February 2, 1930 – June 7, 2015) was a Dutch-Mexican artist. Van Overveldt worked with Mathías Goeritz, Pedro Friedeberg and Angela Gurría, among other ''modernistas solitarios'' from the ...

, artist *

Roberto Vander Roberto Vander (born Frans Robert Jan van der Hoek; September 20, 1950) is a Dutch-Chilean actor and singer. Biography After living in different Latin American countries such as Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil, he settled in Mexico in 19 ...

, actor *

Oussama Idrissi Oussama Idrissi (; born 26 February 1996) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for Liga MX club C.F. Pachuca, Pachuca. Born in the Netherlands, he represents Morocco national football team, ...

, footballer

Mexicans of Dutch descent

* Allan Van Rankin, footballer *

, actress * Gastón Luken Garza, businessman and politician * Jorge Van Rankin, actor and television host * Josecarlos Van Rankin, footballer *

, actress

Mexicans living in the Netherlands

Gabriela Schloesser Gabriela Schloesser ( Bayardo, born 18 February 1994) is a Mexican-born Dutch recurve archer from Tijuana who represented Mexico before 2016, and has represented the Netherlands since 2017. In 2021, Schloesser and Steve Wijler won the silver ...

, recurve archer