Galician associations in the Americas can be traced back to networks of natives of the “Kingdom of Galicia” in Mexico (1740), Buenos Aires (1790), Veracruz (1795) and Havana (1804). These usually took the shape of religious brotherhoods dedicated to St James the Apostle. Galician societies boomed with mass transatlantic emigration in the closing decades of the 19th century. In Buenos Aires, Galician associations emerged at a later stage than the large Hispanic cooperative institutions and almost at the same time as the mutual aid associations of Basque, Catalan and Asturian emigrants. In Cuba, these Galician associations emerged before the island’s independence from Spanish control.

The earliest Galician society in the Americas of this type was the Sociedad de Beneficencia de Naturales de Galicia (“Charitable Society of Naturals of Galicia”) in Havana (1871). There soon followed, in 1879, the Galician centres of Havana, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, which were joined by that of Corrientes in the same year, Córdoba in 1889, Rosario de Santa Fe in 1892, Barracas al Norte in 1895 and Barracas al Sur (now Avellaneda) in 1899. In the early decades of the 20th century, other Galician centres emerged in different Latin American cities, from São Paulo (1903) to Río Gallegos (1927), Mexico City (1911) or Santiago de Chile (1915). Wealthy Galician emigrants and intellectual and political activists played a role in the foundation of these societies, whose main purpose was the provision of mutual protection and charitable assistance.

In the first decades of the 20th century the Centro Gallego of Havana grew in size and importance thanks to its care services. The centre deployed a network of delegations across the island and built its own clinic, reaching the figure of 50,000 members in 1919. In addition to the Centro Gallego, other charitable and mutual aid institutions were created in the first third of the century, such as Hijas de Galicia (“Daughters of Galicia”, 1917), intended to provide health care and protection to Galician women, and Naturales de Ortigueira: Asociación de Beneficencia y Protección Mutua (“Naturals of Ortigueira: Charitable Association for Mutual Protection”), founded in 1928. In Montevideo, it was the new Casa de Galicia (“House of Galicia”), founded in 1917, that experienced the greatest growth following its provision of welfare services.

The Centro Gallego of Buenos Aires functioned by fits and starts owing to political disputes among its promoters, which led to its disappearance in 1892. From then on, various recreational and cultural associations – choral societies among them – were established, and several attempts were made to refound a large mutual aid association. The second Centro Gallego was established in 1907 out of the merger of the three existing choral societies; it experienced various setbacks until in 1911 it assumed a charitable and mutual aid mission that would become the linchpin of its subsequent expansion. By 1932 it counted 39,118 members and became the figurehead institution of Galicians in Argentina. Its significance was unchallenged by the foundation, in 1918, of the Casa de Galicia and other mutual aid institutions.

A characteristic of Galician emigration was the proliferation of ethnic associations at local level. These could be found in the homeland, at the level of the parish, district or town. Several hundreds of Galician societies drawing on shared parish, town or district origins emerged in Buenos Aires, Havana and Montevideo between 1904 and 1936, peaking between 1907 and 1925 (the time of greatest Galician migrant influx). These societies were intertwined with the parallel establishment of agricultural societies within Galicia, sharing the dynamics of social mobilization, sociopolitical initiatives and the common aim of regenerating civil society. This also transpires from their support of various political campaigns, the promotion of public works in their places of origin and, more particularly, in the expansion of the primary school network in several regions of European Galicia.