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What percentage of the Latin American populations is of indigenous descent vs. European descent?
I am confused about this. On the one hand we are always told that when the Europeans invaded the Americas, their diseases wiped out most of the indigenous population, destroying local major civilisations and killing tens of millions of people. So, this theory implies that most Latin American 'blood' is of South European (Spanish/Portuguese) origin. However, that is clearly not true as they obviously have a lot of indigenous blood. (And they are often called hispanics to refer to their mixed origin, not simply latinos which refers to the latin languages.) Mexicans are clearly a mix of indigenous and European blood, Chileans and Bolivians appear to have a majority of local blood and only a small amount of European blood. So, is the general explanation wrong that most of the locals were killed? What are the rough proportions for the contribution of European and indigenous blood in Latin America, then? I realise it will vary from country to country. Thanks.
Ana - is that a serious answer? What are you trying to say cos it is totally incomprehensible.
2 Answers
- Anonymous9 years agoFavorite Answer
Yes most Indigenous people were killed, probably 70%-90% died in the first century of contact. It was only in the 20th century (almost 500 years later) when the Indigenous population recovered, and had a population boom (probably due to modern medicine). The Indigenous people were hit with disease, war, and eventually cultural genocide (mestizaje). Mestizos (mixed bloods) don't count, because they're a population of their own that multiplied quickly while the Indians were dying or enslaved.
Mesoamerica had around 25 million Indigenous people(The Aztec Empire had around 15 millions, while the Mayan area had about 6 million, and there were other groups), and Andes had around 8 million people.
In 1801 "New Spain." The population was about 6 million, this includes mestizos, Indians, Africans, and Europeans. About half consitituded Indigenous people.
