Mestizo Colombian

Mestizo Colombians are the Colombian descendants of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry. According to the 2005 census, 49% of the population is Mestizo. They constitute the largest ethnic group in the country with a share of 49%^[1] or 58%^[2] of the whole country.

Miscegenation in Colombia began shortly after the establishment of the first settlers in the territory. It is a direct result of the shortage of European women in some sectors of the kingdom during the conquest, because during the colonial period most European immigrants were male. The Spanish then joined mainly with native women of different ethnic groups, indigenous or African. Mestizos are found almost everywhere in the country and is the largest population in Colombia, European contribution being almost exclusively on the paternal side, since more than 80% of Mestizo Colombians descended from a European paternally while 85% of Mestizo Colombians come from an indigenous via materna.^[3]

Numbers and distribution

Mestizo Colombians make up 49% (+23 million) of the Colombian population, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics.^{[citation needed]}

The various racial groups exist in differing concentrations throughout the nation, in a pattern that to some extent goes back to colonial origins. However, they can be found throughout the country, mainly in the Caribbean coast, Orinoquia region, Andean region, and intermediate cities.

See also

• Race and ethnicity in Colombia
• Afro-Colombian
• White Colombian
• Lebanese Colombian
• Mestizo
• White Latin American
• White American

References

1. ↑ Colombia a country study, 2010 (pag 86,87) (Spanish)
2. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html Colombia
3. ↑ http://www.fungamma.org/madres_colombianas.htm