White Colombian

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White Colombian
(White Colombian)
Total population
approx. 17,519,500
(37% of Colombian population[1])
Regions with significant populations
Colombia throughout the nation, Specially in Andean Region, and the Major Cities.
Languages
Colombian Spanish
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic, minorities of Protestant and other Christians, Atheist

White Colombians are the Colombian descendants of European and Middle Eastern people. According to the 2005 census, 37% of the population is white. They constitute the second largest ethnic group in the country with a share of 25%[2]-37%[3][4] of Colombia's population.

Per these figures, whites constitute the second largest racial group in the country, after mestizo.[3][4]

Numbers and distribution

White Colombians make up 37% (+17 million) of the Colombian population, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics.[5]

The various racial groups exist in differing concentrations throughout the nation, in a pattern that to some extent goes back to colonial origins. Paisa Region and Bogotá have the a largest concentration of White Colombians. Whites tend to live mainly in the urban centers, like Medellín or Bogotá, and the burgeoning highland cities.[6]

History

Colonial period

The presence of Whites in Colombia began in 1510 with the colonization of San Sebastián de Urabá. In 1526, settlers founded Santa Marta, the oldest Spanish city still in existence in Colombia.[7] Many Spanish began their explorations searching for gold, while others established themselves as leaders of the native social organizations teaching natives the Christian faith and the ways of their civilization. Catholic priest would provide education for Native Americans that otherwise was unavailable.[7] Within 100 years after the first Spanish settlement, nearly 95 percent of all Native Americans in Colombia had died.[7] The majority of the deaths of Native Americans were the cause of diseases such as measles and smallpox, which were spread by the settlers.[7] Many natives were also killed in armed conflicts with their new neighbours.[7]

Immigration from Europe

Colombia was one of early focus of Basque immigration. Between 1540 and 1559, 8.9% of the residents of Colombia were of Basque origin. It has been suggested that the present day incidence of business entrepreneurship in the region of Antioquia is attributable to the Basque immigration and Basque character traits.[8] Few Colombians of distant Basque descent are aware of their Basque ethnic heritage.[8] In Bogota, there is a small colony of thirty to forty families who emigrated as a consequence of the Spanish Civil War, or because of different opportunities.[8] Basque priests were the ones that introduced handball into Colombia.[9] Basque immigrants in Colombia were devoted to teaching and public administration.[9] In the first years of the Andean multinational company, Basque sailors navigated as captains and pilots on the majority of the ships until the country was able to train its own crews.[9] The first German immigrants arrived in the 16th century contracted by the Spanish Crown, and included explorers such as Ambrosio Alfinger. There was another small wave of German immigrants at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century including Leo Siegfried Kopp, the founder of the famous Bavaria Brewery. In December 1941 the United States government estimated that there were 4,000 Germans living in Colombia.[10] There were some Nazi agitators in Colombia, such as Barranquilla businessman Emil Prufurt,[10] but their majority was apolitical. Colombia invited Germans who were on the U.S. blacklist to leave.[10] SCADTA, a Colombian-German air transport corporation which was established by German expatriates in 1919, was the first commercial airline in the western hemisphere.[11] There had also been Italian immigration of a few thousand persons, however to a much lesser degree than to other Latin American countries such as Venezuela or Brazil.

Immigration from the Arab Middle East

Main article: Arab diaspora in Colombia
Colombian singer Shakira is of Lebanese Christian ancestry on her father's side

The first and largest wave of immigration from the Arab Middle East began around 1880, and remained during the first two decades of the 20th century. They were mainly Maronite Christians from Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, fleeing because of financial hardships and the repressions of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.[12] Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians continued since then to settle in Colombia.[13] When they were first processed in the ports of Colombia, they were classified as Turks because what is modern day Lebanon, Syria and Palestine was a territory of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.[12] It is estimated that Colombia has an Arab population of 700,000.[14] Due to poor existing information it's impossible to know the exact number of Lebanese and Syrians that immigrated to Colombia. A figure of 5,000-10,000 from 1880 to 1930 may be reliable.[13] Whatever the figure, Syrians and Lebanese are perhaps the biggest immigrant group next to the Spanish since independence.[13] Those who left their homeland in the Middle East to settle in Colombia left for different reasons such as religious, economic, and political reasons.[13] Some left to experience the adventure of migration. After Barranquilla and Cartagena, Bogota stuck next to Santiago de Cali, among cities with the largest number of Arabic-speaking representatives in Colombia in 1945.[13]

Ethnic breakdown

White Colombians are mainly Spanish descents who arrived since 16th century when Colombia was part of the Spanish Empire. During 19th and 20th centuries, other European peoples migrated to Colombia: Germans (includes Poles due to Partitions of Poland), Italian, French, Swiss, Belgian, Lithuanian, Dutch, British and other nations.

Religion

Most predominant religion is Roman Catholicism. Under 1% practice Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Despite strong numbers of adherents, around 60% of respondents to a poll by El Tiempo report that they do not practice their faith actively.[15]

Notable White Colombians

Juan Manuel Santos is the current president of Colombia

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dane.gov.co/reloj/reloj_animado.php
  2. ↑ http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+co0050)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bushnell, David & Rex A. Hudson (2010) "The Society and Its Environment"; Colombia: a country study: 87. Washingtion D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "White Colombians". Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  5. ↑ National Administrative Department of Statistics
  6. ↑ Bushnell & Hudson, p. 87-88.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/281/Colombia-HISTORY-BACKGROUND.html
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Amerikanuak: Basques in the New World by William A. Douglass, Jon Bilbao, P.167
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Possible paradises: Basque emigration to Latin America by José Manuel Azcona Pastor, P.203
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Latin America during World War II by Thomas M. Leonard, John F. Bratzel, P.117
  11. ↑ http://www.stampnotes.com/Notes_from_the_Past/pastnote248.htm
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 (Spanish) webislam.com: La comunidad musulmana de Maicao (Colombia) webislam.com
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 (Spanish) Luis Angel Arango Library: Los sirio-libaneses en Colombia lablaa.org
  14. ↑ Colombia awakens to the Arab world
  15. ↑ International Religious Freedom Report 2005, by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, November 8, 2005.
  16. ↑ "Juanes is a Colombian musician who has Basque descent" (in Spanish). centroestudiovascoantioquia. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 

Works cited

In Colombia
Diaspora
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