the largest influx of european immigrants to brazil occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. according to the "memorial do imigrante" statistics data, brazil attracted nearly 5 million immigrants between 1870 and 1953.<ref name="memorial 1870/1907"></ref><ref name="memorial 1908/1953"></ref> these immigrants were divided in two groups: a part of them was sent to southern brazil to work as small farmers. however, the biggest part of the immigrants was sent to southeast brazil to work in the coffee plantations. the immigrants sent to southern brazil were mainly germans (starting in 1824, mainly from rhineland-palatinate, pomerania, hamburg, westphalia, etc.) italians (starting in 1875, mainly from the veneto and lombardia), austrians, poles, ukrainians, dutch and russians. in the south, the immigrants established rural communities that, still today, have a strong cultural connection with their ancestral homelands. in southeast brazil, most of the immigrants were italians (mainly from the veneto, campania, calabria and lombardia), portuguese (mainly from beira alta, minho and alto trás-os-montes), dutch, spaniards (mainly from galicia and andalusia), lithuanians, french, hungarians and ashkenazi jews.