White Colombians

White Colombians
Colombiano blanco

Total population
approx. 17,519,500 - 18,181,540 (37% - 38% of Colombian population[1])
Regions with significant populations
throughout the nation, especially in the Andean Region, and the Major Cities.
Languages
Colombian Spanish
Religion
Predominantly Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant, other Christians), atheism and Judaism

White Colombians are the Colombian descendants of European and Middle Eastern people (including Armenians, Sephardic Jews from the Ottoman Empire^[2] and North African Berbers). 37% of the population is white.^[3] They constitute the second largest ethnic group in the country with a share of 37%^[4]-38%^[5][6] of Colombia's population.

Per these figures, whites constitute the second largest racial group in the country, after mestizo.^[5][6]

Numbers and distribution

An extraofficial estimate considers that the 37% of the Colombian population is White. ^[3]

The various racial groups exist in differing concentrations throughout the nation, in a pattern that to some extent goes back to colonial origins. Andean Region ^[7] and Bogotá D.C. have the largest concentration of White Colombians. Whites tend to live mainly in the urban centers, like Cali,^[8] Medellín or Bogotá, and the highland cities.^[9]

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.^[10] 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.^[10] Within 100 years after the first Spanish settlement, nearly 95 percent of all Native Americans in Colombia had died.^[10] The majority of the deaths of Native Americans were the cause of diseases such as measles and smallpox, which were spread by the settlers.^[10] Many natives were also killed in armed conflicts with their new neighbours.^[10]

Immigration from Europe

James Martin Eder. Colombian Jewish entrepreneur.

Portrait of Jorge Isaacs. Colombian Jewish writer and intellectual.

Colombia was one of early focus of Basque and Sephardi immigration.^[11] Between 1540 and 1559, 28.9% of the residents of Colombia were of Basque origin. Jewish converts to Christianity and some crypto-Jews also sailed with the early conquistadors. It has been suggested that the present day incidence of business entrepreneurship in the region of Antioquia and Valle del Cauca is attributable to the Basque and Sephardi immigration.^[12][13] Few Colombians of distant Basque and Sephardi descent are aware of their ethnic heritage.^[13]

In Bogota, there is a small colony of thirty to forty Basque families who emigrated as a consequence of the Spanish Civil War, or because of different opportunities.^[13] Basque priests introduced handball into Colombia.^[14] Basque immigrants in Colombia were devoted to teaching and public administration.^[14] 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.^[14]

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. SCADTA, a Colombian-German air transport corporation which was established by German expatriates in 1919, was the first commercial airline in the western hemisphere.^[15]

In December 1941 the United States government estimated that there were 4,000 Germans living in Colombia. Another 7,000 German Jews joined their ranks in Colombia's burgeoning cities.^[16] There were some Nazi agitators in Colombia, such as Barranquilla businessman Emil Prufurt,^[16] but the majority was apolitical. Colombia asked Germans who were on the U.S. blacklist to leave and allowed Jewish refugees in the country illegally to stay.^[16]

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 Middle East

Colombian singer Shakira is of Paternal Lebanese Christian ancestry and maternal Catalan, Castilian, and Italian ancestry. ^[17]

The first and largest wave of immigration from the 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. Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians and some Israelis ^[18] continued since then to settle in Colombia.^[19] When they were first processed in the ports of Colombia, they were classified as Turks because what is modern day Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Israel were territories of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It is estimated that Colombia has a Middle Eastern population of 700,000.^[20] 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.^[19] Whatever the figure, Syrians and Lebanese are perhaps the biggest immigrant group next to the Spanish since independence.^[19] Those who left their homeland in the Middle East to settle in Colombia left for different reasons such as religious, economic, and political reasons.^[19] Some left to experience the adventure of migration. After Barranquilla and Cartagena, Bogota is next to Santiago de Cali among cities with the largest number of Arabic-speaking representatives in Colombia in 1945.^[19]

Ethnic breakdown

White Colombians are mainly of Spanish descent, from Christian and Jewish backgrounds, who arrived in the beginning of the 16th century when Colombia was part of the Spanish Empire. During the 19th and 20th centuries, other European peoples migrated to Colombia, including Germans, Italians, Lithuanians, and British among others.

Religion

The most predominant religion is Roman Catholicism. Under 1% practice Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism but other religions are also practiced in Colombia. Despite strong numbers of adherents, 35.9% of Colombians reported that they did not practice their faith actively.^[21]

Notable White Colombians

Aurelijus Rūtenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas

Fernando Botero

• José Asunción Silva - poet
• Virgilio Barco Vargas - politician, diplomat and former president of Colombia
• Rufino José Cuervo - writer, linguist, philologist
• Francisco de Paula Santander - first President of Colombia, known as "the man of the laws"
• Juan Pablo Gamboa - actor (Colombian father and British American mother)
• Danna García - telenovela actress
• Aura Cristina Geithner - actress and model (German ancestry)
• Diana Golden - telenovela actress
• Mauricio Henao - actor, model
• Juanes - Colombian musician of Basque descent ^[22]
• Natasha Klauss - actress
• Kristina Lilley - American-born, Colombian-raised actress (American father and Norwegian mother)
• Rodolfo Llinás - neuroscientist
• Andrés Mercado - singer, actor
• Antanas Mockus - politician, philosopher, mathematician
• Enrique Peñalosa - politician, historian
• Rafael Pombo - poet, writer
• Maritza Rodríguez - actress
• Isabella Santo Domingo - writer, actress
• Juan Manuel Santos - politician, diplomat and current president of Colombia
• Shakira - singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, choreographer, model
• Silvia Tcherassi - fashion designer
• Álvaro Uribe - politician and 58th president of Colombia
• Sofia Vergara - model, actress and television hostess
• Manolo Cardona - actor
• Jorge Isaacs - writer, politician and soldier
• Jaider Villa - actor
• Sergio Esteban Vélez - writer, professor and journalist

See also

• Race and ethnicity in Colombia
• Afro-Colombians
• Mestizo Colombians
• White Latin Americans
• Lebanese Colombians
• White Americans

References

Works cited

• Bushnell, David and Rex A. Hudson. "Racial distinctions". In Colombia: A Country Study (Rex A. Hudson, ed.). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (2010).  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Ancestry and ethnicity in Colombia Indigenous peoples Achagua Andaqui Andoque Arhuaco Awa-Kwaiker Baniwa Barasana Bora Calima Cauca Carabayo Carijona Chimilas Chitareros Cocamilla Cofán Cubeo Emberá Embera-Wounaan Guahibo Guambiano Guane Kuna Hiwi Hup Inga Kamëntsá Kogi Lache Macuna Mokaná Motilon Muisca Nukak Nutabes Paez Patángoro Piaroa Pijao Quechua Quimbaya Siona Siriano Sutagao Tahamí Tairona Ticuna Tinigua Tucano U'wa Wayuu Witoto Yagua Yarigui Yukpa Zenú Immigrants Afro-Colombians (Raizal) Arab Colombians (Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian) Japanese Colombians Mestizo Colombians White Colombians German Colombian Italian Colombian Jewish-Colombian Spanish Colombians Uruguayan Colombians See Also Lists of Colombians Race and ethnicity in Colombia