Argentines

Argentina is a multiethnic society, which means that it is home to people of many different ethnic backgrounds. Argentina is a melting pot of different peoples.[22]

In the mid-19th century a large wave of immigration started to arrive in Argentina due to new Constitutional policies that encouraged immigration, and issues in the countries the immigrants came from, such as wars, poverty, hunger, and famines. The main immigration sources were from Europe, the countries from the Near and the Middle East, Russia, and Japan. Eventually, Argentina became the country with the second-largest number of immigrants in the period, with 6.6 million, second only to the United States with 27 million.[20][21]

Therefore, most Argentines are of full or partial European descent (with a significant indigenous component, and a less prominent black component), and are either descendants of colonial-era settlers and/or of the 19th and 20th century immigrants from Europe.[23]

The most common ethnic groups are "Caucasians" (mostly Spanish and Italian descent) and/or "Mestizos" (mixed European and Native American ancestry).[24] According to Argentine government websites, it is estimated that more than 20 million Argentines, more than 46% of the total population, have Italian ancestry, wholly or in part.[25][26] Argentines descend mostly from Spaniards, Italians, Native Americans and to a lesser extent from Sub-Saharan Africans, East Asians, French, Germans, Arabs, Slavs, Irish, etc.

Immigration of recent decades includes mainly Paraguayans, Bolivians and Peruvians, among other Latin Americans, Eastern Europeans, Africans and Asians.[27][28]

Large comprehensive studies across Argentina's many regions in order to characterize the genetic admixture have been lacking. Small sample size studies give the following composition.

• Homburguer et al., 2015, PLOS One Genetics: 67% European, 28% Amerindian, 4% African and 1.4% Asian.[29]
• Avena et al., 2012, PLOS One Genetics: 65% European, 31% Amerindian, and 4% African.[30]
  • Buenos Aires Province: 76% European and 24% others.
  • South Zone (Chubut Province): 54% European and 46% others.
  • Northeast Zone (Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco & Formosa provinces): 54% European and 46% others.
  • Northwest Zone (Salta Province): 33% European and 67% others.
• Oliveira, 2008, on Universidade de Brasília: 60% European, 31% Amerindian and 9% African.[31]
• National Geographic: 52% European, 27% Amerindian ancestry, 9% African and 9% others.[32]
• Corach, Daniel (2010): 78.5% European, 17.3% Amerindian, and 4.2% Black African ancestry.[33]
• Parolin et al., (2019): PLOS One Genetics: 62.1% European, 35.8% Native American and 2.1% African.[34]

A team led by Daniel Corach conducted a study in 2009, analyzing 246 samples from eight provinces and three different regions of the country. The results were as follows: the analysis of Y-Chromosome DNA revealed a 94.1% of European contribution, and only 4.9% and 0.9% of Native American and Black African contribution, respectively. Mitochondrial DNA analysis again showed a great Amerindian contribution by maternal lineage, at 53.7%, with 44.3% of European contribution, and a 2% African contribution. The study of 24 autosomal markers also proved a large European contribution of 78.5%, against 17.3% of Amerindian and 4.2% Black African contributions.[33]

A 2015 study concluded that 90% of Argentines have a genetic composition different from native Europeans.[35][29]

Several studies found out that the European ancestry in Argentina comes mainly from the Iberian Peninsula and Italy with a much lower contribution from Central and Northern Europe.[36][37] The Italian component appears strongest in the East and Center-West, while the Spanish influence dominates in the North East and North West.[38]

Belarusian Argentine woman during Immigrant Day festivities in Buenos Aires, 2010.

Descendants of Welsh settlers in Rawson, Chubut Province.

Argentines of total or partial European descent constitute the majority of Argentina's population. Ethnic Europeans include the Argentine descendants of colonists from Spain during the colonial period prior to 1810,[39] and mainly of immigrants from Europe in the great immigratory wave from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century.[40] No recent Argentine census has included comprehensive questions on ethnicity, although numerous studies have determined that European Argentines have been a majority in the country since 1914.[41] Some international sources claim the European component of the population to be at around 97%.[42]

The most numerous immigrant European communities are: Spaniards (including Basques, Asturians and Galicians), Italians (62.5% of the population have some degree of Italian descent),[43] Germans, Scandinavians (mainly Danes and Swedes), Slavs (including Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, Bulgarians, Slovenes, Serbs and Croats), Finns, the French (including francophone Basques), the Irish, Portuguese, the Dutch, among others in smaller number.

There are approximately 300,000 Romani people in Argentina. They belong to the Romani subgroups Greek, Moldavian and Russian Kalderash, some Lovari and some Chilean Xoraxane. There are also Spanish Kalé and Boyash living in Argentina.[44]

Within the population totals, there may be an imprecise amount of mixed population. In one of the most comprehensive genetic studies involving the population of Argentina, 441 Argentines from across the North East, North West, Southern, and Central provinces (especially the urban conglomeration of Buenos Aires) of the country, it was observed that the sample population comprised on average of 65% European, followed by 31% Amerindian, and finally 4% of African ancestry; however, this study was unweighted and meant to be a representation of the diversity of Argentine DNA rather than a demonstration of the average ethnic composition of the country. It was also found there were great differences in the ancestry amongst Argentines as one traveled across the country. A study by Daniel Corach that attempted to find the average Argentine ancestry by weighing the population of various regions gave a significantly higher estimate of European ancestry at 78.5% of the average Argentine's autosomal DNA.[45]

Family in Cachi, Salta Province.

Argentina has 35 officially recognized indigenous people groups.[46] As of the 2010 census [INDEC], some 955,032 Argentines (2.38% of the country's population) self-identify as indigenous or first-generation descendants of indigenous peoples.[47]

The most populous indigenous groups were the Aonikenk, Kolla, Qom, Wichí, Diaguita, Mocoví, Huarpe peoples, Mapuche and Guarani[46] Many Argentines also identify as having at least one indigenous ancestor; a genetic study conducted by the University of Buenos Aires in 2011 showed that more than 56% of the 320 Argentines sampled were shown to have at least one indigenous ancestor in one parental lineage and around 11% had indigenous ancestors in both parental lineages.[48]

Jujuy Province, in the Argentine Northwest, is home to the highest percentage of households (15%) with at least one indigenous resident or a direct descendant of an indigenous person; Chubut and Neuquén Provinces, in Patagonia, have upwards of 12%.[49]

Afro-Argentine man in Merlo with a masacalla, used for Argentine candombe.

According to the Argentine national census of 2010, 149,493[50][51] (0.37% of the country's overall population) identified as Afro-Argentine, although according to gene pools studies, the Argentine population with some degree of Sub-Saharan African descent would be around 7.5%.[23] World Bank and Argentine government estimates have suggested the Argentine population with significant African ancestry could number over 2 million.[52][53]

Despite the fact that in the 1960s it was calculated that Argentina owed two thirds of the volume of its population to European immigration,[54] over 5% of Argentines state they have at least one black ancestor, and a further 20% state they do not know whether or not they have any black ancestors.[55][56] Genetic studies carried out in 2005 showed that the average level of African genetic contribution in the population of Buenos Aires is 2.2%, but that this component is concentrated in 10% of the population who display notably higher levels of African ancestry.[57] Today there is still a notable Afro-Argentine community in the Buenos Aires districts of San Telmo and La Boca. There are also quite a few African-descended Argentines in Merlo and Ciudad Evita, in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.

Immigration from Cape Verde was one of the earliest African migratory flows in the post-colonial era, beginning as early as the late 19th century and well into the 20th century.[58] Today, Cape Verdeans constitute one of the largest African immigrant communities, numbering over 15,000; they mainly live in port cities in Buenos Aires Province, such as Ensenada and Dock Sud.[59] Immigration from Senegal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola and other African countries in recent decades has caused a surge in the country's black population as well.[60]

Argentines of Asian ancestry are defined as either born within Argentina, or born elsewhere and later to become a citizen or resident of Argentina. Asian Argentines settled in Argentina in large numbers during several waves of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th century, West Asian immigrants, primarily from Lebanon and Syria came as a result of the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war.[61] In the early 20th century, a small wave of East Asian immigrants, particularly from Japan came to the country.

The first Argentines of East Asian descent were a small group of Japanese immigrants, mainly from the Okinawa prefecture, which came in the period between the early and mid 20th century. In the 1960s, Koreans began to arrive, and in the 1980s, Taiwanese immigrants. The 1990s brought the largest wave of Asian immigration so far to Argentina, from mainland Chinese immigrants, eventually becoming the fourth largest immigrant community in 2013, after Paraguayans, Bolivians, and Peruvians.[27] The small East Asian Argentine population has generally kept a low profile, and is accepted by greater Argentine society. Primarily living in their own neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires, many currently own their own businesses of varying sizes – largely textiles, grocery stores, and buffet-style restaurants.

Arabs and Argentines with partial Arab ancestry represent about 3.2 million people, whose ancestry traces back to any of various waves of immigrants, largely from the Levantine region of Western Asia, from what is now Syria and Lebanon; and from Cilicia and Palestine in a lesser extent.[62] Due to the fact that many Arab countries were under control of the Ottoman Empire by the time the large immigration wave took place, most Arabs entered the country with Turkish passports, and so they are colloquially referred to as los turcos.

The rate of Argentine emigration to Europe (especially to Spain and Italy[68]) peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is noteworthy.[69] Spain and Italy have the largest Argentine communities in Europe, however, there are also important communities in France, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The most popular immigration destinations in the Americas are: the United States and Brazil, and to a lesser degree, mostly to (Uruguay and Canada): Chile, Paraguay and Bolivia, while other communities settled in Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica.

Israel is home to the largest Argentine diaspora in the Middle East.[70]

In Oceania, Australia has the largest Argentine community, followed by New Zealand.