page_title: Mennonites in Bolivia
hierarchical_section_title: Mennonites in Bolivia
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Ein Altkoloniermennonit in der "Colonia Del Norte", Bolivien
context_page_description: The Mennonites in Bolivia are mostly Russian Mennonites descended from Friesian, Flemish and North German people who came to South America from 1927 onwards. In 2012, there were about 70,000 Mennonites living in Bolivia.
  In the 16th century, groups of Mennonites started to migrate from what is today the Netherlands and Belgium to Danzig and the Vistula delta region. There they lived among Germans and adopted the dialect of the area, even though they retained the Dutch language as sacred language until the middle of the 18th century. There they were joined by Mennonites from other German regions, but mainly from the north. Starting in 1789 they moved to what is today Ukraine. In the years after 1874 parts of them moved to the Western provinces of Canada and starting in 1922 to Paraguay, to Mexico and other Latin American countries. In the 1950s small groups migrated from Paraguay to Bolivia and in 1960s and 1970s larger groups from Mexico, Paraguay, Canada and other countries followed. All these migrations were motivated by their search for religious freedom.
  Mennonites in Bolivia speak Plautdietsch, an East Low German dialect with some Dutch and Friesian elements.
context_section_description: The Mennonites in Bolivia are mostly Russian Mennonites descended from Friesian, Flemish and North German people who came to South America from 1927 onwards. In 2012, there were about 70,000 Mennonites living in Bolivia.
  In the 16th century, groups of Mennonites started to migrate from what is today the Netherlands and Belgium to Danzig and the Vistula delta region. There they lived among Germans and adopted the dialect of the area, even though they retained the Dutch language as sacred language until the middle of the 18th century. There they were joined by Mennonites from other German regions, but mainly from the north. Starting in 1789 they moved to what is today Ukraine. In the years after 1874 parts of them moved to the Western provinces of Canada and starting in 1922 to Paraguay, to Mexico and other Latin American countries. In the 1950s small groups migrated from Paraguay to Bolivia and in 1960s and 1970s larger groups from Mexico, Paraguay, Canada and other countries followed.  All these migrations were motivated by their search for religious freedom.
  Mennonites in Bolivia speak Plautdietsch, an East Low German dialect with some Dutch and Friesian elements. Since coming to Bolivia, a number of other people  from other ethnic backgrounds have converted to Mennonite Christianity, mostly through missionaries of more liberal forms of Mennonitism. The "Russian Mennonites” in Bolivia are among the most traditional and conservative of all the Mennonites denominations in South America.
caption: A Mennonite boy in Colonia Del Norte, Bolivia
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