Chilean people

Chileans
Chilenos

From top to bottom; Chilean youth in the streets of Santiago, women and men from Carahue and Chilean expatriates in East Germany, 1973
Total population
c. 18,000,000 Chileans
Regions with significant populations
Chile        16,763,470
Argentina 229,708[citation needed]  United States 113,934  Brazil 65,000  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.

Chilean people constitute the nationality and ethnic group of natives and long-term immigrants of Chile. Chileans are mainly of Spanish and Amerindian descent^[1] with signicant degrees of 19th and 20th century European immigrant ancestry. Although not always the case, there is a strong correlation between Chileans people's ancestry and socioeconomic situation,^[2][3] existing in the society a smooth continuum^[3] between the lower classes of high amerindian ancestry and the upper classes of mainly European ancestry. Chilean people share a relatively homogeneous culture, mostly inherited from Spain. Indigenous cultural and genetic inheritage is most visible on rural areas and on many aspects of Chilean culture such as Chilean cuisine and Chilean Spanish. Albeit post-independence immigrants never made up more than 2% of the population there is now 100 of thousands of Chileans with German^[4], Croatian, Italian or Palestinian^[5] ancestry.

Chile has been traditionally an immigrant country, but since the 1973 coup d'etat a large number of Chileans have settled in Argentina and the United States among other countries.

Present racial and ethnic structure

Studies on the racial and ethnic structure of Chile are non-conclusive and might vary significantly from one study to the next.

UNAM professor of Latin American studies, Francisco Lizcano, believes Chile has an estimated 52,7% of white european, with mestizos estimated at 44%.^[6]

A study conducted by the University of Chile found that within the Chilean population 30% are white, the mestizos component of predominantly white ancestry is estimated at 65%.^[7]

Another genetic study of the University of Chile, found a white majority that would exceed 60% to 64% of the Chilean population.^[8][9]

Some publications such as the CIA Worldfact book cassify Chile's population as a combined percentage of 95.4% whites and mestizos.^[10]

Indigenous peoples

Depiction of a Mapuche man. Chile's indigenous people.

The 1907 census reported 291,118 Araucanian Indians, or 7.1% of the total country population. Only those that practiced their native culture or spoke their native language were considered, irrespective of their "racial purity."^[11]

At the 2002 census, only indigenous people that still practiced a native culture or spoke a native language were surveyed: 4.6% of the population (692,192 people) fit that description; of these, 87.3% declared themselves Mapuche.^[12] although most show varying degrees of mixed ancestry.

Some native peoples of Chile disappeared product from acculturation and miscegenation, as is the case of peoples Picunches, Diaguitas and Chonos, whereas a large number of Selknam or Onas disappeared by the extermination carried out by settlers Croatian in Tierra del Fuego in the early twentieth century. Other factors that contributed to their extinction, was the disease brought by white man as the smallpox.

Immigration after independence

French immigrants

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).^{[13][14][15] [16][17][18][19][20]}

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.^[21]

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.^[22] 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.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

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.^[28][29] Other authors claim, on the other hand, that close to 4.6% of the Chilean population must have some Croatian ancestry.^[30] Over 700,000 Chileans may have British (English, Scottish and Welsh) origin. 4.5% of Chile's population.^[31] Chileans of Greek descent are estimated 90,000 to 120,000.^[32] Most of them live either in the Santiago area or in the Antofagasta area, and Chile is one of the 5 countries with the most descendants of Greeks in the world.^[33] The descendants of Swiss add 90,000^[34] and it is estimated that about 5% of the Chilean population has some French ancestry.^[35] 600,000 to 800,000 are descendants Italians. Other groups of European descendants have followed, but are found in smaller numbers. They did transform the country culturally, economically and politically.

European emigration in Chile and to a lesser extent, the arrival from Middle East, produced during the second half of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, was the most important^{[citation needed]} in Latin America after that occurred in the Atlantic Coast of the Southern Cone (ie, Argentina and southern Brazil).^{[citation needed]} 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.

Miscegenation

The Chileans are ethnically a mixture of Europeans and Indians.^[36] The first miscegenation occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries between the indigenous tribes, including the Atacameños, Diaguitas, Picunches, Mapuches, Huilliches, Pehuenches, and Cuncos, and the conquistadores from Spain. Freed from slavery or servitude, those Mestizos underwent a process of hispanization of their culture, religion and language. Because of the colonial privileges, the Mestizos of good socioeconomical situation married Spanish (criollo) women.^[3] In very few cases Spanish women did marry, or were kidnapped by, an Indian or mestizo.^[3] Basque families who migrated to Chile in the 18th century vitalized the economy and joined the old Castilian aristocracy to become the political elite that still dominates the country. ^[36] The lower classes, on the other hand, are more markedly Mestizo and Amerindian. During the thirty years after independence from Spain, Chile received a few European immigrants from different countries. After this period, about 50,000 Europeans emigrated to Chile, compared to the 3 million that went to Argentina. These immigrants were largely absorbed by the rich class of Chilean society. This explains why many public men, businessmen and diplomats from Chile have non-Spanish surnames. This European immigration, however, did not affect the racial composition of the Chilean people in general.^[37]

Religions

Catholic Church in Achao, Quinchao Island

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) ^[38]

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.

Culture

Picture of a huaso and a country girl in a wheat field.

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, Chilote, Croatian 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.

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.^[39] 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 1980s 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.^[40]

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.^[41][42]

See also

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

Notable Chileans

• José María Caro
• Alberto Hurtado
• Arturo Prat
• Claudio Arrau
• Cristián de la Fuente
• Diego Portales
• Fernando González
• Gabriela Mistral
• Jorge Alessandri
• Manuel Pellegrini
• Maricarmen Arrigorriaga
• Marlene Ahrens
• Marta Brunet
• Nicolás Massú
• Pablo Neruda
• Santiago Cabrera
• Sebastián Keitel
• Vicente Huidobro
• José Arraño

References