Although Asturians have been migrating to the Americas since Spaniards first explored the region, modern Asturian emigration took place throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, peaking in the early decades of the 1900s.
This large statue stands on the oceanside boulevard of Gijon, a port city on the Cantabrian coast. It depicts the image of a sad woman waving goodbye, presumably to a ship carrying her children to a new world. Children that she knows she will probably never see again.
Cangas de Onis, a small town near Picos de Europa National Park is famous for its centuries old Roman Bridge.
Just a few steps from this bridge sits another emigration related sight, the statue to the Asturian emigrant.
How many Hispanic Americans can look at this statue and imagine their ancestor leaving everything they know, with all their possessions in a little pressed cardboard suitcase, their eyes focusing on what they hoped is a promising future in the Americas.
There was actually a surprising amount of traffic between the Americas and Asturias. Many of the emigrants to the Americas stayed in their adopted countries. Others treated the Americas as a place to make their fortune and return home.