Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kusamanic (talk | contribs) at 07:01, 16 September 2009 (Undid revision 314192841 by 71.102.3.86 (talk)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Chileans
Chilenos

Notable Chileans: Arturo Prat, Gabriela Mistral, Fernando González
Regions with significant populations
Chile        16,763,470
Argentina	400,429
Brazil	65,000
United States	118,849
Sweden	42,396
Canada	37,577
Australia	33,626
Spain	23,911
France	15,782
Germany	10,280
United Kingdom	6,957
Languages
Chilean Spanish
Religion
Catholicism, Evangelical Protestantism, a minority are Eastern Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim.
Related ethnic groups
Latin Americans, Spaniards, Mapuche, Italians, Germans, British people, Palestinians, Greeks, Croats and French.

The Chilean population consists predominantly of Whites and Mestizoes. The Mestizos are a mixed racial mixture of colonial Spanish, (mainly Andalusians, Castilians and Basque), and Amerindian tribes, mainly Picunches, Diaguitas and Mapuches (having disappeared the first two groups during the Colonial period). The white population are descended mainly from Spaniards, including Basques, and to a smaller extent Italians, Irish, French, Germans, English, Swiss and Croats. In ethnic identity, the country is relatively homogenous, stemming from a largely cohesive national identity known locally as Chilenidad.

Chile's ethnic structure can be classified as 30% white, with mestizos of predominantly white (castizo) ancestry further estimated at 65%. Another recent study estimates that the white population corresponds to 52.7% of Chileans. The White and Mestizo figures appear combined in some sources, so that Chile's population is classified as 95.4% white and mestizos by the CIA.

According to the Census 2002, 4.6% of the Chilean population was Indian, although most show varying degrees of miscegenation.

Immigration

From Chile's various waves of immigrants Spanish, Italians, Irish, French, Greeks, Germans, English, Dutch Scots, Croats, and Palestinian communities.

The largest ethnic group in Chile arrived from Spain and the Basque regions in the south of France. Estimates of the number of descendants from Basques in Chile range from 10% (1,600,000) to as high as 27% (4,500,000).

In 1848 an important and substantial German immigration took place, laying the foundation for the German-Chilean community. Sponsored by the Chilean government for the colonization of the southern region, the Germans (including German-speaking Swiss, Silesians, Alsatians and Austrians), strongly influenced the cultural and racial composition of the southern provinces of Chile. The German Embassy in Chile estimated 500.000 to 600.000 Chileans are of German origin.

It is estimated that near the 5% of the Chilean population is of Asian origin immigrants descendant, chiefly of the Middle East (i.e. Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese and Middle East Armenians), are around 800,000. Note that Israelis, both Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of the nation of Israel may be included. Chile is home to a large population of immigrants, mostly Christian, from the Levant. Roughly 500,000 Palestinian descendants are believed to reside in Chile.

Other historically significant immigrant groups include: Croatia whose number of descendants today is estimated to be 380,000 persons, the equivalent of 2.4% of the population. Other authors claim, on the other hand, that close to 4.6% of the Chilean population must have some Croatian ancestry . Over 700,000 Chileans may have British (English, Scottish and Welsh) origin. 4,5% of Chile's Population. Chileans of Greek descent are estimated 90,000 to 120,000. Most of them live either in the Santiago area or in the Antofagasta area, Chile is one of the 5 countries with the most descendants of Greeks in the world. The descendants of Swiss add 90,000, an estimated that about 5% of the Chilean population has some French ancestry. And 600,000 to 800,000 Italians. Other groups of European descendants have followed, but are found in smaller numbers. They did transform the country culturally, economically and politically.

European immigration, and to a lesser degree in the Middle East, produced during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (large "waves" in America), after corresponding to the Atlantic coasts of the Southern Cone ( that is, Argentina, Uruguay and South Brazil), was the most significant Latin America is favored mainly by the intense traffic that is produced through extreme south of the country until the opening of the Panama Canal in 1920, although other numbers came from Argentina, across the Cordillera.

Also, the different ethnic groups in Europe intermarried therefore diluting the cultures and separate identities of the home countries and fusing them together with each other as well as with that of the original Basque-Castilian aristocracy of the colonial period while at the same time preserving elements of them, to form the society and culture of the Chilean middle and upper classes. Therefore they enjoy elements of the original European cultures, such as the British afternoon tea, German cakes and Italian pasta. This can be clearly in the architecture of the cities. They also look down on Chilean folk culture, as it is an offshoot of the culture of the Spaniards who settled the country in the colonial period.

Religions

Catholic, 70%

Protestant or evangelical, 15.1%

Jehovah's Witnesses, 1%

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 0.9%

Jewish, 0.4% (75,000)

Atheist or Agnostic, 8.3%

Others, 4.2%.

Less than 0.1% are either Eastern Orthodox (70,000) or Muslim (10,000).

For the precise numbers of declared religions among the population ages 15 and over as indicated by the results of the latest census, see source *2002 Census data.

Folk Culture

The folk culture of Chile has mostly Spanish origins, especially the huaso culture of the central part of the country, as it arose in the colonial period due to cattle ranching. It could therefore be considered an offshoot of Spanish popular culture of the 17th an 18th centuries as are the folk cultures of the rest of Latin America and also, its direct descendents, Andalusian and Castilian folk cultures. The Andalusian forms in the huaso dress is apparent to Europeans and the music and dances show Spanish origins, even though both have been adapted and are distinct to dress, music and dance in Spain today.

The ranches called fundos, where the huasos lived and worked show strong similarity with Spanish vernacular architecture, especially in the canal roofs and the interior courtyards. The fundo is now thought of as traditional Chilean architecture and is associated with the huaso.

As well as the huaso culture of the central part of the country can be seen the German, Mapuche, Chilote and Magallanic culture in the south, and the Andean culture in the north.

Chile's Nueva Canción movement in modern Chilean folk culture is adapted from the folk music of the north, not of the brass bands but of the panpipes and quenas. The traditional Chilean folk music of the huasos were also popularised, particularly the tonadas, folk songs sung with a guitar, mainly on the topics of love. Several folk groups who dress in huaso costume became famous nationwide.

The folk culture that is mainly associated with the Chilean national identity is that of the huasos as that is where the Chilean state was form and it spread northwards and southwards in the late 19th century.

Some historians question the validity of a theory which claims that in the mid 19th century thousands of Cherokee Indians fled the Trail of Tears and settled both in Chile and across South America generally. It was thought that 10,000 Cherokee descendants live in Chile today. Joaquin Murrieta the Spanish Mexican bandit of 1850s California is said to be a Chilean immigrant with Cherokee ancestry.

Emigration of Chileans

Emigration of Chileans has decreased during the last decade: It is estimated that 857,781 Chileans live abroad, 50.1% of those being in Argentina (the highest number), 13.3% in the United States, 8.8% in Brazil, 4.9% in Sweden, and around 2% in Australia, with the rest being scattered in smaller numbers across the globe. Other Chilean refugees settled (not ranked by order of size) in Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

Many pro-Allende refugees in the 1970s fled to East Germany, including current president Michelle Bachelet had also lived in Australia. While anti-Pinochet refugees formed a large expatriate community in Europe and a smaller community in North America (the US and Canada).

Over 100,000 Chileans fleeing from both regimes in the 1970s and 1980's settled in the US, a small number compared to other Latino groups. The highest number settled in Miami, Florida, but smaller enclaves are in Washington, D.C.; New York City; and California (the Los Angeles area - Beverly Hills and Long Beach); and San Francisco (San Mateo County).

Approximately 2,500 Chilean exiles fled to the UK in the early 1970s and by most recent estimates the Chilean British population is in its tens of thousands, and represents a significant proportion of the UK's one million strong Latin American community. By far the largest concentration of Chileans can be found in London with significant other communities being Birmingham, Sheffield and the Manchester-Liverpool Metropolitan area.

Historic emigration took place in the early 19th century when Chilean ranchers went to Mexico after their independence. Thousands of miners from Chile went to California, the U.S. during the 1850s California Gold Rush, as well in other gold rushes in Colorado (1870s) and the Yukon (1890s). Small numbers of Chilean miners also migrated to South Africa and Australia for the same reason.

See also

• Chilean American
• Chilean Australian
• Chilean Brazilian
• Chilean British
• Chilean Greek
• Chilean Spanish
• Chilean Swedes

Notable Chileans

• Alberto Hurtado
• Arturo Prat
• Marlene Ahrens
• Claudio Arrau
• Gabriela Mistral
• Iván Zamorano
• Marcelo Salas
• Maricarmen Arrigorriaga
• Marta Brunet
• Santiago Cabrera
• Pablo Neruda
• Fernando González
• Vicente Huidobro
• Sebastián Keitel
• Nicolás Massú
• Manuel Pellegrini
• Diego Portales

References

1. University of Talca www.atalca.cl
2. ^ www.bartleby.com
3. "5.2.6. Estructura racial". La Universidad de Chile. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
4. "Composición Étnica de las Tres Áreas Culturales del Continente Americano al Comienzo del Siglo XXI" (PDF).
5. El gradiente sociogenético chileno y sus implicaciones ético-sociales.
6. Diariovasco.
7. entrevista al Presidente de la Cámara vasca.
8. vascos Ainara Madariaga: Autora del estudio "Imaginarios vascos desde Chile La construcción de imaginarios vascos en Chile durante el siglo XX".
9. Basques au Chili.
10. Contacto Interlingüístico e intercultural en el mundo hispano.instituto valenciano de lenguas y culturas.Universitat de València Cita: " Un 20% de la población chilena tiene su origen en el País Vasco".
11. German Embassy in Chile.
12. Template:Es Arabes en Chile.
13. Arab.
14. Chile: Palestinian refugees arrive to warm welcome.
15. Template:Es 500,000 descendientes de primera y segunda generacion de palestinos en Chile.
16. Template:Es Diaspora Croata..
17. Splitski osnovnoškolci rođeni u Čileu.
18. hrvatski.
19. "Historia de Chile, Británicos y Anglosajones en Chile durante el siglo XIX". Retrieved 2009-04-26.
20. Template:Es Embajada de Grecia en Chile.
21. Template:Es Griegos de Chile
22. 90,000 descendants Swiss in Chile.
23. Template:Es 5% de los chilenos tiene origen frances.
24. estimaciones para la Población judía 2008.
25. Bachelet is first female Chilean leader New Age (Online Newspaper)
26. Diversity news page
27. Chilean Americans
28. Origins: History of immigration from Chile - Immigration Museum, Melbourne Australia

• Ethnic groups in Chile