Ethnography of Argentina
Encyclopedia
The Ethnography of Argentina makes this country, along with other areas of new settlement like Canada, Australia or the United States, a melting pot of different peoples.
Most Argentines are descendents of colonial-era settlers and of the 19th and 20th century immigrants from Europe
, with about 90 % of the population being of European
descent
The majority of these immigrants arrived from Italy
and Spain
, as well as from other European countries, from 1870 to 1950. The most common ethnic groups in Argentina today are Italian
and Spaniard (mostly Galicians and Basques). There are also significant Germanic, Slavic
, British
and French
populations. Smaller communities of Jewish, Native American
, Arab, East Asian, Gypsy, and African
communities contribute to what has been referred to as a "crucible of races."
, started a campaign to attract European immigration to populate the country. This state policy lasted several decades. At first the number of immigrants was scarce, but in the 1870s, due to the economic crisis in Europe, it started to increase, reaching an extremely high rate between 1890 and 1930. Unofficial records show that, during the 1860s, 160,000 immigrants arrived to Argentina, while in the 1880s the net number increased to 841,000, almost doubling the population of the country in that decade. Between 1857 and 1950, 6,611,000 European immigrants arrived in Argentina.
Immigrants arrived through the port of Buenos Aires
and stayed in the capital or within Buenos Aires Province
, as it still happens today. In 1895, immigrants accounted for 52% of the population in the Capital, and 31% in the province of Buenos Aires (some provinces of the littoral
, such as Santa Fe
, had about 40%, and the Patagonia
n provinces about 50%).
Waves of immigrants from European countries arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The main contributors were Italy
and Spain
. Contingents also arrived from Poland
, Russia
, France
, Germany
, Ukraine
, Croatia
, Sweden
, Syria
, Lebanon
, Armenia
, Portugal
, Greece
, United Kingdom
, Ireland
, Belgium
, the Netherlands
, Luxembourg
, Denmark
, Romania
, Hungary
, Montenegro
, Macedonia
, Japan
(mainly Okinawa), Libya
, Angola
, Cape Verde
, Australia
, South Africa
and the United States
, as well as numerous other European and Middle Eastern nations. Over 30 percent of the country's population born overseas by 1914, and half of the population in Buenos Aires and Rosario
was foreign-born. Over 80% of the Argentine population, per the 1914 Census, were immigrants, their children, or grandchildren.
The Hotel de Inmigrantes
, built in 1906 to accommodate the 100,000 to 200,000 yearly arrivals at the Port of Buenos Aires, was made a National Historic Monument.
Italian immigration to Argentina began in the 19th century, just after Argentina won its independence from Spain. Italian settlement in Argentina, along with Spanish settlement, formed the backbone of today's Argentine
society. Argentine culture has significant connections to Italian culture, also in terms of language, customs and traditions.
Italians became firmly established throughout Argentina, but the greatest concentrations are in the Province, the City of Buenos Aires
, the Province of Santa Fe
, the Province of Entre Rios
, the Province of Córdoba
, the Province of Tucumán
, the Province of La Pampa and, in the nearby country of Uruguay
.
There are many reasons explaining the Italian immigration to Argentina: Italy was enduring economic problems caused mainly by the unification of the Italian states into one nation. The country was impoverished, unemployment was rampant, certain areas witnessed overpopulation, and Italy was subject to significant political turmoil. Italians saw in Argentina a chance to build for themselves a brand new life.
The Italian
population in Argentina is the second largest in the world, by numbers, outside of Italy, some 25 million people. Italians form a majority of the population of Argentina and neighbouring Uruguay
as up to two-third have some Italian background; among the Latin American countries, only Brazil
has more people of Italian descent (28 million, approximately 15 percent of Brazil's total population).
Although most Argentines have Spanish blood and because Argentina and Spain share common cultural aspects (the language, religion which is Roman Catholic Christianity, and traditions), Argentine elites diminished the Spanish culture
from their culture in the newly independent country and created Argentine culture
. Spanish settlement dates back to 16th century and from that, many Spaniards intermarried with people of native or non-Spaniard origin. The result of those mixtures was the criollo
population.
Between 1857 and 1940 more than 2 million Spanish people emigrated to Argentina, mostly from Galicia, Basque Country
, Asturias
, Cantabria
, and Catalonia
in northern Spain
, and also from Andalusia
in southern Spain
.
The city with the second greatest number of Galician people is Buenos Aires
, where immigration from Galicia was so important that today all Spaniards, regardless of their origin within Spain, are often referred to as gallegos (Galicians) in Argentina. Galicians make up 70% of the Spanish population in Argentina.
occurred during 5 main time periods: pre–1870, 1870–1914, 1918–1933, 1933–1940 and post–1945. During the first period till 1870, immigration to Argentina was in general low. Of note are the colonias alemanas, the first one founded in the province of Buenos Aires in 1827. The colonias are a unique and notable phenomenon in Argentina’s immigration history but were also far from an exclusively German practice.
During the second period, from 1870 until 1914, Argentina experienced a massive boom in immigration due to or causing massive economic expansion in the port of Buenos Aires and in the wheat and beef producing pampas. In this time frame, the German speakers of Argentina established themselves and developed several institutions, which are often examined in academic studies, such as newspapers, schools and social clubs. Despite originating from all over German speaking Europe
, once in Argentina, a new, Germanic Argentine identity developed. One example of this can be found in the studies of Das Argentinische Tageblatt (newspaper); it was founded by Swiss immigrants but, by the 1930s, became the primary forum for exiles from Nazi Germany.
in 1806 in small numbers. As the 19th century progressed more. The English founded banks, developed the export trade in crops and animal products and imported the luxuries that the growing Argentine middle classes sought.
As well as those who went to Argentina as Industrialists and major landowners, others went as railway engineers
, civil engineer
s and to work in bank
ing and commerce
. Others went to become whaler
s, missionaries and simply to seek out a future. English families sent second and younger sons, or what were described as the black sheep
of the family, to Argentina to make their fortunes in cattle
and wheat
. English settlers introduced football to Argentina. Some English families owned sugar plantations
.
origins. This segment of the population, who live mainly in the northern provinces, and in some districts within the Greater Buenos Aires
area, experience varying degrees of perceived racism against people of indigenous heritage.
s among others that still maintain their cultural roots, but under continuous pressure for religious and idiomatic integration.
The local natives that speak Quechua adopted that language by the teachings of the Spanish religious missionaries that arrived from Peru
to today's Santiago del Estero Province
; the language is quickly losing importance. Today there are about 400,000 indigenous people, representing 1% of the Argentine population; 3% of the Argentine population is estimated to be of predominatly Amerindian ancestry.
). Argentina's Jewish population is, by far, the largest in all of Latin America
and is the fifth largest in the world. Buenos Aires
itself is said to have over 100,000 practicing Jews, making it one of the largest Jewish urban centers in the world (see also History of the Jews in Argentina
).
people), to 1% in present days (mainly mulattoes, and immigrants from Cape Verde
).
Afro Argentine
s were up to a third of the population during colonial times, most of them slaves brought from Africa
to work for the criollos. The 1813 Assembly
abolished slavery
, and led to the Freedom of Wombs
Law of 1813, which automatically freed slaves' children at birth. During the wars of independence
(1810–21) and the War of the Triple Alliance
(1865–70), the male cohort within this ethnic group was reduced when thousands of black citizens were forcefully recruited and used as front-line soldiers; most of the remainder were absorbed by intermarriage into the general population, a development which, in part, resulted from policy of Blanqueamiento ("white-washing") advanced by President Domingo Sarmiento in the 1870s.
descent, arriving in the 1900s and for most of the 20th Century were the only Asians in Argentina. Japan
ese immigrants were primarily from the island of Okinawa; the majority of dry cleaning
establishments in Buenos Aires were, by the mid 20th century, Japanese businesses. During the 1970s the main Asian influx was from China
, and during the 1990s from South Korea
and Laos
. Unlike most immigrants who arrived earlier in the century, they tended to remain in close social circles and not mix with other local ethnicities. This excluded the Japanese who were the first to arrive and therefore the first to produce a native generation of mixed race Japanese-Argentines, thus integrating more so than the other Asian groups.
The Japanese-Argentine population assimilated well into Argentine society, and nearly 78% of the 4th Generation of Japanese-Argentines (Yonsei
) are of mixed European and Japanese descent, mostly intermixed with immigrants from Italy and Spain, and in lesser number from the United Kingdom, France (mainly Occitania), Germany and Switzerland. The use of Japanese language has declined in Argentina and the Japanese-Argentine citizens speak the nation's national language, Spanish, although a minority of them only speak Japanese when living with a Japanese-born relative at home, but when they are living with Argentine-born relatives they only speak Spanish.
Intermarriage in the Japanese-Argentine community. Proportion of mixed-race in each generation (%):
ns, Peruvians, and in lesser number Ecuadorians and Brazilians.
There have been reports of discrimination to these groups, as well as exploitation; Buenos Aires Police have released Bolivian citizens held in semi-slavery working in textile factories, some run by South Korean immigrants.
Uruguayans represent a special case; many have crossed the Río de la Plata
to live in Argentina, mainly in Buenos Aires
, searching for opportunities in the bigger country. Given their cultural resemblances with the porteño
s, they are rarely discriminated against.
Most Argentines are descendents of colonial-era settlers and of the 19th and 20th century immigrants from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with about 90 % of the population being of European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
descent
The majority of these immigrants arrived from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, as well as from other European countries, from 1870 to 1950. The most common ethnic groups in Argentina today are Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
and Spaniard (mostly Galicians and Basques). There are also significant Germanic, Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
, British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
populations. Smaller communities of Jewish, Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, Arab, East Asian, Gypsy, and African
African people
African people refers to natives, inhabitants, or citizen of Africa and to people of African descent.-Etymology:Many etymological hypotheses that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":...
communities contribute to what has been referred to as a "crucible of races."
The arrival of the European immigrants
The number and composition of the population was stable until 1853, when the national government, after passing a constitutionArgentine Constitution of 1853
The Argentine Constitution of 1853 was the first constitution of Argentina, approved with the support of the governments of the provinces —though without that of the Buenos Aires Province, who remained separated of the Argentine Confederation until 1859, after several modifications to the...
, started a campaign to attract European immigration to populate the country. This state policy lasted several decades. At first the number of immigrants was scarce, but in the 1870s, due to the economic crisis in Europe, it started to increase, reaching an extremely high rate between 1890 and 1930. Unofficial records show that, during the 1860s, 160,000 immigrants arrived to Argentina, while in the 1880s the net number increased to 841,000, almost doubling the population of the country in that decade. Between 1857 and 1950, 6,611,000 European immigrants arrived in Argentina.
Immigrants arrived through the port of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and stayed in the capital or within Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
, as it still happens today. In 1895, immigrants accounted for 52% of the population in the Capital, and 31% in the province of Buenos Aires (some provinces of the littoral
Littoral
The littoral zone is that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to...
, such as Santa Fe
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
, had about 40%, and the Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
n provinces about 50%).
Waves of immigrants from European countries arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The main contributors were Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Contingents also arrived from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(mainly Okinawa), Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as well as numerous other European and Middle Eastern nations. Over 30 percent of the country's population born overseas by 1914, and half of the population in Buenos Aires and Rosario
Rosario
Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....
was foreign-born. Over 80% of the Argentine population, per the 1914 Census, were immigrants, their children, or grandchildren.
The Hotel de Inmigrantes
Hotel de Inmigrantes
Hotel de Inmigrantes is a complex of buildings constructed between 1906 and 1911, in the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to receive and assist the many thousands of immigrants who, at that time, where arriving in Argentina from many parts of the world...
, built in 1906 to accommodate the 100,000 to 200,000 yearly arrivals at the Port of Buenos Aires, was made a National Historic Monument.
Italians
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
society. Argentine culture has significant connections to Italian culture, also in terms of language, customs and traditions.
Italians became firmly established throughout Argentina, but the greatest concentrations are in the Province, the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, the Province of Santa Fe
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
, the Province of Entre Rios
Entre Rios
Entre Rios may refer to:*Entre Rios, Santa Catarina, a city of the Santa Catarina State, Brazil...
, the Province of Córdoba
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
, the Province of Tucumán
Tucumán Province
Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...
, the Province of La Pampa and, in the nearby country of Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
.
There are many reasons explaining the Italian immigration to Argentina: Italy was enduring economic problems caused mainly by the unification of the Italian states into one nation. The country was impoverished, unemployment was rampant, certain areas witnessed overpopulation, and Italy was subject to significant political turmoil. Italians saw in Argentina a chance to build for themselves a brand new life.
The Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
population in Argentina is the second largest in the world, by numbers, outside of Italy, some 25 million people. Italians form a majority of the population of Argentina and neighbouring Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
as up to two-third have some Italian background; among the Latin American countries, only Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
has more people of Italian descent (28 million, approximately 15 percent of Brazil's total population).
Spaniards
Culture of Spain
The culture of Spain is based on a variety of influences.The Visigothic Kingdom left a sense of a united Christian Hispania that was going to be welded in the Reconquista. Muslim influences were strong during the period of 711 AD to the 15th century, especially linguistically...
from their culture in the newly independent country and created Argentine culture
Culture of Argentina
The culture of Argentina is as varied as the country's geography and mix of ethnic groups. Modern Argentine culture has been largely influenced by European immigration although there are lesser elements of Amerindian and African influences, particularly in the fields of music and art...
. Spanish settlement dates back to 16th century and from that, many Spaniards intermarried with people of native or non-Spaniard origin. The result of those mixtures was the criollo
Criollo (people)
The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
population.
Between 1857 and 1940 more than 2 million Spanish people emigrated to Argentina, mostly from Galicia, Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
, Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
, and Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
in northern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and also from Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
in southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
The city with the second greatest number of Galician people is Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, where immigration from Galicia was so important that today all Spaniards, regardless of their origin within Spain, are often referred to as gallegos (Galicians) in Argentina. Galicians make up 70% of the Spanish population in Argentina.
Germans
German immigration to ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
occurred during 5 main time periods: pre–1870, 1870–1914, 1918–1933, 1933–1940 and post–1945. During the first period till 1870, immigration to Argentina was in general low. Of note are the colonias alemanas, the first one founded in the province of Buenos Aires in 1827. The colonias are a unique and notable phenomenon in Argentina’s immigration history but were also far from an exclusively German practice.
During the second period, from 1870 until 1914, Argentina experienced a massive boom in immigration due to or causing massive economic expansion in the port of Buenos Aires and in the wheat and beef producing pampas. In this time frame, the German speakers of Argentina established themselves and developed several institutions, which are often examined in academic studies, such as newspapers, schools and social clubs. Despite originating from all over German speaking Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, once in Argentina, a new, Germanic Argentine identity developed. One example of this can be found in the studies of Das Argentinische Tageblatt (newspaper); it was founded by Swiss immigrants but, by the 1930s, became the primary forum for exiles from Nazi Germany.
British
English settlers arrived in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1806 in small numbers. As the 19th century progressed more. The English founded banks, developed the export trade in crops and animal products and imported the luxuries that the growing Argentine middle classes sought.
As well as those who went to Argentina as Industrialists and major landowners, others went as railway engineers
Railroad engineer
A railroad engineer, locomotive engineer, train operator, train driver or engine driver is a person who drives a train on a railroad...
, civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
s and to work in bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
ing and commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
. Others went to become whaler
Whaler
A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...
s, missionaries and simply to seek out a future. English families sent second and younger sons, or what were described as the black sheep
Black sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness...
of the family, to Argentina to make their fortunes in cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
and wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
. English settlers introduced football to Argentina. Some English families owned sugar plantations
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
.
Mestizos
Around 8-15% of the population is of mestizoMestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
origins. This segment of the population, who live mainly in the northern provinces, and in some districts within the Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires is the generic denomination to refer to the megalopolis comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it, over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative...
area, experience varying degrees of perceived racism against people of indigenous heritage.
Amerindians
There are Amerindian groups like the Tobas, Aymaras, Guaraníes and MapucheMapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
s among others that still maintain their cultural roots, but under continuous pressure for religious and idiomatic integration.
The local natives that speak Quechua adopted that language by the teachings of the Spanish religious missionaries that arrived from Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
to today's Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. Neighbouring provinces are from the north clockwise Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.-History:...
; the language is quickly losing importance. Today there are about 400,000 indigenous people, representing 1% of the Argentine population; 3% of the Argentine population is estimated to be of predominatly Amerindian ancestry.
Jewish
The overwhelming majority of Argentina's Jewish community (about 2% of the population) derives from immigrants of Northern, Central, and Eastern European origin (Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
). Argentina's Jewish population is, by far, the largest in all of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and is the fifth largest in the world. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
itself is said to have over 100,000 practicing Jews, making it one of the largest Jewish urban centers in the world (see also History of the Jews in Argentina
History of the Jews in Argentina
The history of the Jews of Argentina goes back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition, when Jews fleeing persecution settled in what is now Argentina. Many of the Portuguese traders in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata were Jewish, but an organized Jewish community...
).
Africans
The black population in Argentina declined since the early 19th century from 15% of the total population in 1857 (Blacks and MulattoMulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
people), to 1% in present days (mainly mulattoes, and immigrants from Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
).
Afro Argentine
Afro Argentine
The black population resulting from the slave trade during the centuries of Spanish domination of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata had a major role in Argentine history...
s were up to a third of the population during colonial times, most of them slaves brought from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
to work for the criollos. The 1813 Assembly
Asamblea del Año XIII
The Assembly of Year XIII was a meeting called by the Second Triumvirate governing the young republic of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata on October 1812....
abolished slavery
Abolition
Abolish means to put an end to something or to stop something.Abolition may refer to:*Abolitionism *Abolition of death penalty *Abolition of monarchy*Prison abolition movement...
, and led to the Freedom of Wombs
Freedom of wombs
Freedom of wombs was a judicial principle applied in several countries in South America in the 19th century which automatically freed slaves' children at their birth, rather than becoming the property of the parents' owners.-By country:A movement for American freedom from Spain grew in the...
Law of 1813, which automatically freed slaves' children at birth. During the wars of independence
Argentine War of Independence
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown...
(1810–21) and the War of the Triple Alliance
War of the Triple Alliance
The Paraguayan War , also known as War of the Triple Alliance , was a military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay...
(1865–70), the male cohort within this ethnic group was reduced when thousands of black citizens were forcefully recruited and used as front-line soldiers; most of the remainder were absorbed by intermarriage into the general population, a development which, in part, resulted from policy of Blanqueamiento ("white-washing") advanced by President Domingo Sarmiento in the 1870s.
Asians
The first Asian-Argentines were of JapaneseJapanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
descent, arriving in the 1900s and for most of the 20th Century were the only Asians in Argentina. Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese immigrants were primarily from the island of Okinawa; the majority of dry cleaning
Dry cleaning
Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene , abbreviated "perc" in the industry and "dry-cleaning fluid" by the public...
establishments in Buenos Aires were, by the mid 20th century, Japanese businesses. During the 1970s the main Asian influx was from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and during the 1990s from South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. Unlike most immigrants who arrived earlier in the century, they tended to remain in close social circles and not mix with other local ethnicities. This excluded the Japanese who were the first to arrive and therefore the first to produce a native generation of mixed race Japanese-Argentines, thus integrating more so than the other Asian groups.
The Japanese-Argentine population assimilated well into Argentine society, and nearly 78% of the 4th Generation of Japanese-Argentines (Yonsei
Yonsei (fourth-generation Nikkei)
is a Japanese diasporic term used in countries, particularly in North America and in Latin America, to specify the great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants . The children of Issei are Nisei . Sansei are the third generation, and their offspring are Yonsei...
) are of mixed European and Japanese descent, mostly intermixed with immigrants from Italy and Spain, and in lesser number from the United Kingdom, France (mainly Occitania), Germany and Switzerland. The use of Japanese language has declined in Argentina and the Japanese-Argentine citizens speak the nation's national language, Spanish, although a minority of them only speak Japanese when living with a Japanese-born relative at home, but when they are living with Argentine-born relatives they only speak Spanish.
Intermarriage in the Japanese-Argentine community. Proportion of mixed-race in each generation (%):
- Issei (immigrants): 0%
- Nissei (Children): 9%
- Sansei (Grandchildren): 66%
- Yonsei (Great-grandchildren): 78%
Immigration from neighbouring countries
Among the most numerous immigrants from neighbouring countries are Paraguayans (the biggest foreign community), BoliviaBolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
ns, Peruvians, and in lesser number Ecuadorians and Brazilians.
There have been reports of discrimination to these groups, as well as exploitation; Buenos Aires Police have released Bolivian citizens held in semi-slavery working in textile factories, some run by South Korean immigrants.
Uruguayans represent a special case; many have crossed the Río de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
to live in Argentina, mainly in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, searching for opportunities in the bigger country. Given their cultural resemblances with the porteño
Porteño
Porteño in Spanish is used to refer to a person who is from or lives in a port city, but it can also be used as an adjective for anything related to those port cities....
s, they are rarely discriminated against.
See also
- Demographics of ArgentinaDemographics of ArgentinaThis article is about the demographic features of Argentina, including population density, ethnicity, economic status and other aspects of the population....
- Immigration to ArgentinaImmigration to ArgentinaImmigration in Argentina, can be divided in several major stages:* Spanish colonization starting in the 16th century, integrating the indigenous inhabitants ....
- Argentinian people
- Native languages of Argentina
- History of the Jews in ArgentinaHistory of the Jews in ArgentinaThe history of the Jews of Argentina goes back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition, when Jews fleeing persecution settled in what is now Argentina. Many of the Portuguese traders in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata were Jewish, but an organized Jewish community...