Uruguayos | |
---|---|
Total population | |
c.4 million [a] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Uruguay 3,444,263 (2023 Census) [1] | |
Diaspora total | c. 630,000 [2] |
Argentina | 95,384 [3] |
Spain | 83,601 [4] |
Brazil | 50,512 [5] |
United States | 48,234 [6] |
Australia | 10,000 [7] |
France | 10,859 [8] |
Canada | 7,660 [9] |
Chile | 6,116 (2021) [10] |
Italy | 1,170 [11] |
Israel | 6,202 |
Mexico | 3,309 |
Colombia | 1,000 |
Languages | |
Primarily Spanish Portuguese (minority) | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Roman Catholicism; [12] Significant minority:Irreligion [13] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other South Americans (especially Argentines) | |
a. ^ The total figure is merely an estimation; sum of all the referenced populations. |
Uruguayans (Spanish : uruguayos) are people identified with the country of Uruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and their allegiance to Uruguay. Colloquially, primarily among other Spanish-speaking Latin American nations, Uruguayans are also referred to as " orientals [as in Easterners]" (Spanish : orientales).
Uruguay is, along with much of the Americas, a melting pot of different peoples, with the difference that it has traditionally maintained a model that promotes cultural assimilation, hence the different cultures have been absorbed by the mainstream. Uruguay has one of the most homogeneous populations in South America; the most common ethnic backgrounds by far being those from Spain, Italy, Germany and France i.e. Spanish Uruguayans, Italian Uruguayans, German Uruguayans, French Uruguayans and Polish Uruguayans.
Most Uruguayans descend from colonial-era settlers and immigrants from Europe with almost 88% of the population being of European descent. [14] The majority of these are Spaniards and Italians, followed by the French, Portuguese, Germans, Romanians, Greeks, British (English or Scots), Irish, Poles, [15] Swiss, Russians, Bulgarians, Arab (mainly Lebanese and Syrians), Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews and Armenians.
There are also smaller numbers of Japanese, [16] as well as Amerindians, mainly Charrúa, Minuán, Chaná, Güenoa and Guaraní. [17] Montevideo, like Buenos Aires in Argentina and Santos in Brazil, [18] was a major seaport to dock ships coming from Europe and elsewhere and European settlement greatly affected Uruguay to have a more western oriented culture.
Many colonies such as Nueva Helvecia-Colonia Suiza, a Swiss colony and Colonia Valdense, a Piedmontese Waldensian colony, are located in the department of Colonia. Also, there are towns founded by British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. Two Russian colonies called San Javier and Colonia Ofir, are found in the department of Río Negro. Also there are Mennonite colonies in the department of Río Negro like Gartental and El Ombú, in Canelones Department called Colonia Nicolich, and in San José Department called Colonia Delta. El Ombú, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young.
European immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries heavily influenced Uruguayan culture and lifestyle. [19] [20] The large cities, including its capital Montevideo, have preserved European architecture, the latter being considered one of the greatest exponents of the art deco style. [21]
The majority of Uruguayans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries, with the exception of the Native American population.
People of total or partial European ancestry comprise 87.7% of Uruguay's population according to the 2011 official census and chose "white" as their principal or main ancestry. [22] Early Uruguayans are descendants of colonists from Spain and Portugal during the colonial period prior to 1810. More recent immigrants from Europe, largely from Italy, Germany and France, arrived in the great migratory wave during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Today, Uruguay's culture is influenced heavily by its European roots which is evident in its language, food and other aspects of everyday life. [23]
Up to 2.4% of the population are of Mestizo (European-Amerindian) ancestry according to the 2011 census. [22] People with Amerindian ancestry can be found in the north of Uruguay, primarily in Tacuarembó Department, where the Amerindian ancestry accounts for 20% of the population.
A 1996 census identified that 12,600 people in Uruguay were Amerindian descendants. In 2006, a census confirmed that there were 115,118 Uruguayans that descended from one Amerindian ethnic group, the Charrúas, reaching up to 4% of the country's population. In 2005, Sinthia Pagano, M.D conducted a genetic study, detecting that 38% of Uruguayans may have expressed partial genetic influence from the Amerindian population. [24] [25] Another study found that 34% of the population has Amerindian admixture. [26]
Africans, Blacks and Mulattos in Uruguay are more or less 209,662 and they are mostly found in Montevideo, Rivera Department, Artigas Department, Salto Department and Cerro Largo Department. [27] A 2011 census marked that there are more than 300,000 African descendants and that 80% of Afro-Uruguayans are under the working class line. [28]
Spanish is the de facto national language. [29] The standard language, virtually spoken by the entire population is Uruguayan Spanish, which is a variant of Rioplatense Spanish. [30] It has a strong influence of the Italian language and its different dialects due to the number of immigrants that the country received. [31]
French and Italian have great relevance in society, having been part of the educational curriculum until the 2000s. [32] [33] On the other hand, in the north-east of the country, the fronteiriço dialect is spoken, a mixture between Uruguayan Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese originated due to cultural exchange between the areas on both sides of the border. [34] English is the most widespread foreign language among the Uruguayan people. [35]
Contemporary Uruguayan culture comes from the contribution of its alternating early settlers from Spain and Portugal, and important influence of European immigrants – Italians, French, Portuguese, Romanians, and Greeks, among others- and traditions blended with Amerindian and African elements. Uruguay has Portuguese and Spanish colonial architectural heritage and many writers, artists, and musicians. Candombe is the most important example of African influence by slaves. Charrua and Guaraní traditions can be seen in mate, the national drink. Both Uruguay and Argentina share its traditional gaúcho roots (which originated in Andalusia).
Uruguay has no official religion; church and state are officially separated, [38] and religious freedom is guaranteed. [39] A 2008 survey by the INE of Uruguay showed Catholicism as the main religion, with 45.7% of the population; 9.0% are non-Catholic Christians, 0.6% are Animists or Umbandists (an Afro-Brazilian religion), and 0.4% Jewish. 30.1% reported believing in a god, but not belonging to any religion, while 14% were atheist or agnostic. [40]
Political observers consider Uruguay the most secular country in the Americas. [41] Uruguay's secularization began with the relatively minor role of the church in the colonial era, compared with other parts of the Spanish Empire. The small numbers of Uruguay's indigenous peoples and their fierce resistance to proselytism reduced the influence of the ecclesiastical authorities. [42]
In 1837 civil marriage was recognized, and in 1861 the state took over the running of public cemeteries. In 1907 divorce was legalized and, in 1909 all religious instruction was banned from state schools. [42] Under the influence of the innovative Colorado reformer José Batlle y Ordóñez (1903–1911), complete separation of church and state was introduced with the new constitution of 1917. [42]
Uruguay's capital has 12 synagogues, and a community of 20,000 Jews by 2011. With a peak of 50,000 during the mid-1960s, Uruguay has the world's highest rate of aliyah as a percentage of the Jewish population. [43]
Official survey results [44] | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
---|---|---|---|
Christianity | 56.1 | 55.6 | 54.3 |
Catholic | 46.0 | 45.1 | 44.8 |
Other Christian | 10.1 | 10.5 | 9.5 |
No religion | 42.6 | 42.9 | 44.5 |
Unaffiliated believer | 26.9 | 27.8 | 30.1 |
Atheist | 15.7 | 15.1 | 12.3 |
Agnostic | 2.1 | ||
Jewish | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
Animist and Umbanda | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
Other | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
The Baháʼí Faith [45] is also practiced, along with Afro-Brazilian religions such as Quimbanda, Candomblé, and Umbanda.
Music of Uruguay includes a number of local musical forms. The most distinctive ones are tango, murga, a form of musical theater, and candombe, an Afro-Uruguayan type of music which occur yearly during the Carnival period. There is also milonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish traditions and related to similar forms found in many Hispanic-American countries. The famed tango singer Carlos Gardel was born in Toulouse, France, then raised in Buenos Aires, but as an adult he obtained legal papers saying he was born in Tacuarembó, probably to avoid French military authorities. [46] [47] [48] [49]
"La cumparsita" (little street procession, a grammatical diminutive of la comparsa) is a tango written in 1916 by the Uruguayan musician Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, It is among the most famous and recognizable tangos of all time. [50]
The popular music of Uruguay, which focuses on rock, jazz, and many other forms, frequently makes reference to the distinctly Uruguayan sounds mentioned above. The group Los Shakers, similar to the Beatles, deserve a special mention as the band that kickstarted the Uruguayan rock scene.
The gaucho is a national symbol in Uruguay and Argentina but is also a strong culture in Paraguay and southern Brazil. Gauchos became greatly admired and renowned in legends, folklore and literature and became an important part of their regional cultural tradition. [52]
The rate of Uruguayan emigration to Europe is especially high in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France. In the Americas, emigration is mostly to the United States, Canada, Argentina, and other nearby Latin American countries such as Brazil and Chile. In Oceania, emigration is mainly to Australia, and to a lesser extent, New Zealand.
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is part of the Southern Cone region of South America. Uruguay covers an area of approximately 176,215 square kilometres (68,037 sq mi). It has a population of around 3.4 million, of whom nearly 2 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo.
This is a demography of the population of Uruguay including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Venezuela is a country in South America. The Venezuelan people comprise a combination of heritages, primarily Native American and European. The historically present Native American, Spanish colonists, and African slaves have all contributed to varying degrees. Later, waves of European groups migrated to Venezuela in the 20th century, influencing many aspects of Venezuelan life, including its culture, language, food, and music though small in number.
Mestizo is a person of mixed European and Indigenous non-European ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though their ancestors are Indigenous. The term was used as an ethno-racial exonym for mixed-race castas that evolved during the Spanish Empire. It was a formal label for individuals in official documents, such as censuses, parish registers, Inquisition trials, and others. Priests and royal officials might have classified persons as mestizos, but individuals also used the term in self-identification. With the Bourbon reforms and the independence of the Americas, the caste system disappeared and terms like "mestizo" fell in popularity.
Afro–Latin Americans or Black Latin Americans are Latin Americans of sub-Saharan African heritage. African heritage is common throughout Latin America.
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Nueva Helvecia is a city in Colonia Department of Uruguay.
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Central America is a subregion of the Americas formed by six Latin American countries and one (officially) Anglo-American country, Belize. As an isthmus it connects South America with the remainder of mainland North America, and comprises the following countries : Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
White Latin Americans or European Latin Americans are Latin Americans who claim or being classified as white people with predominant European ancestry.
Argentines are the people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Argentine. In the past the National Gentilic for Citizens of Argentina was mistakenly translated as Argentinians, a term that is no longer considered accurate.
Barrio Sur is a barrio of Montevideo, Uruguay. It borders Ciudad Vieja to the west, the central business district to the north, Palermo to the east and the coastline to the south.
The Southern Cone is a geographic region composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Although geographically this includes part of Southern and Southeastern Brazil, in terms of political geography the Southern cone has traditionally comprised Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In the narrowest sense, it only covers Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
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Mónica Farro is an Uruguayan model and actress of theatre and television. She started her career as a child commercial model and then worked as an erotic actress and fetish model for Playboy TV. She was chosen as Miss Uruguay for Playboy's 2004 Miss Playboy.
María Micaela Guyunusa was a Minuán-Charrúa native from present day Uruguay of Güenoa descent.
Immigration to Uruguay began in several millennia BCE with the arrival of different populations from Asia to the Americas through Beringia, according to the most accepted theories, and were slowly populating the Americas. The most recent waves of immigrants started with the arrival of Spaniards in the 16th century, during the colonial period, to what was then known as the Banda Oriental.
Indigenous peoples in Uruguay or Native Uruguayans, are the peoples who have historically lived in the modern state of Uruguay. Because of genocidal colonial practices, disease and active exclusion, only a very small share of the population is aware of the country's indigenous history or has known indigenous ancestry.
Squatting in Uruguay is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. In the nineteenth century, pueblos de ratas developed when gauchos were forced to settle by the rural enclosures for cattle farming. In the early twentieth century, European migrant workers lived in conventillos.