Malaga province marks its ties with Hawaii during conference in California

The first conference on emigration from Malaga to Hawaii has been held in California in the USA. Rincón de la Victoria historian Miguel Alba participated in the event, which is the result of research he published in 2016 about people from Malaga province emigrating to the American archipelago. The conference was held at the University of California, Davis, from 5 to 7 September and was organised by the Spanish Hawaiian Heritage Association.

Alba's research, which he has published in his book SS Heliópolis: the first emigration of Andalusians to Hawaii. 1907, has shown that 50 per cent of passengers arriving in Hawaii between 1907 and 1913 came from Malaga out of around 8,000 Spaniards, most were Andalusians.

The book, which has been translated into English, was followed by “La Odisea del Orteric” (The Odyssey of the Orteric), in which Alba recounts a second, tragic voyage in which 58 children died. "Thanks to this, many descendants of those emigrants, now Americans, were able to understand the reasons why their ancestors, four or five generations ago, left their homeland," explained Alba.

The findings allowed anthropologist Manuel Trinidad to find that some 600 passengers were from Extremadura. "Reconstructing this history led him to organise the first conference on this emigration in Spain, which was attended by nearly 50 Americans of Andalusian and Extremada descent," Alba explained.

After arriving in Hawaii nearly 90 per cent of the group moved to the mainland and in particular California. They settled in San Francisco, Rocklin, San Jose, Woodland, Fairfield or Vacaville. The fact that they were farmers allowed them to settle in a land they described as a place "similar to our beloved Andalucía".

The Spanish Hawaiian Heritage Association brought together specialists from Malaga and universities including Hawaii, Monterrey, the Basque Country and Extremadura, along with independent researchers. Also present were the Spanish consul in San Francisco, mayors from the area and prominent political figures from both Spain and the USA.

"There were emotional family reunions: people who, unexpectedly, were able to embrace relatives with whom they had lost contact more than a century ago," Alba, who spoke at the conference, said.

A small museum was set up for the occasion with photographs, paintings, letters and even musical instruments that the emigrants took with them on the ships. All of these objects had a story to tell, as Alba points out: "One of the many unique stories was that of a man from Malaga who used a van to deliver goods to different towns in California. He always carried his guitar with him and at each stop he would play 'verdiales', for which he received an extra tip."

"Many people asked me for information about surnames and families from Grazalema, Salares, Ronda, Benagalbón, El Borge, Estepona and many others. What I take away from the whole experience is the kindness and affection that the attendees showed my wife and me. It was, without a doubt, a series of encounters filled with shared emotions," said Alba, who hopes that the next conference, planned for 2027, will take place in Malaga.

"Malaga has begun to learn about and recover a part of its forgotten history. Thousands of Malaga residents, victims of poverty, were forced to emigrate to Hawaii. Today, more than a century later, their descendants, now American citizens, are seeking to recover the family ties that time and distance have failed to erase," he said.

Alba added, "Without question, the commitment and collaboration of institutions is needed, as Malaga must be at the forefront of this story, a story that began here and more than a century later, continues to beat strongly on the other side of the ocean."