They gathered at Plaza Croata, next to the port where their ancestors began arriving at the end of the 19th century in search of work.
“With great effort, sacrifice and hope, they helped build our city, leaving a deep mark on the community,” said Amanda Beban, president of the local Croatian association in Argentina, during the commemoration.
Beban noted that in many families of Croatian descendants, objects and memories of deep emotional significance are still preserved, such as old photographs, recipes passed down from generation to generation, or fragments of the Croatian language that survive in family memory.
“There are still small keepsakes that may seem simple, but carry enormous emotion. A handwritten recipe, an old photograph, or those family gatherings where people spoke about the sea, the islands, and the land they left on the other side of the ocean,” she said.
Ushuaia, with around 82,000 inhabitants, lies opposite Antarctica and is therefore known as the “end of the world”. Croats came there in search of gold, worked on building the railway, and were traders and sailors.
Beban said they learned to love the local Tierra del Fuego as their own and built a shared life based on mutual respect, particularly recognising indigenous peoples as the first inhabitants of the region.
“Croats learned to love this land as their own and also deeply respected indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of this beautiful south we share,” she said.
Today, around 200 Croats and their descendants live there, while a further 400 live in the wider Tierra del Fuego region. In Argentina, where many Croats also emigrated in large numbers after the Second World War, around 300,000 people of Croatian descent live.