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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Chile
Index
To a traveler arriving in Santiago from Lima, Chileans
will in
general seem more Latin European-looking than Peruvians.
By
contrast, to a visitor arriving from Buenos Aires, certain
native
American features will seem apparent in large numbers of
Chileans
in contrast to Argentines. These differing perspectives
can be
explained by tracing the distinctive historical roots of
the
Chilean people.
The Spaniards who settled in the pleasant Central
Valley of
what is now Chile beginning in the late sixteenth century
found no
rich lodes of gold or silver to exploit, and therefore saw
no need
for employing masses of indigenous forced laborers such as
those
who were put to work in the Andean highlands and in the
mines of
Mexico. Although copper mining became an important part of
the late
colonial economy, even the most successful of operations
employed
no more than a few salaried workers. Settlers took to
developing
the agricultural potential of the land, which, given
Chile's
climate, was well suited for growing the crops they knew
from the
Old World. This seasonal form of farming was different
from that
practiced in semitropical plantations in that it required
few
workers except during the harvest. As a result, the
Spanish
settlers in Chile did not seek to force large numbers of
native
Americans to toil for them, and they had little use for
slaves.
Relatively few enslaved Africans were brought into Chile
and
slavery was abolished soon after the country declared its
independence from Spain in 1818.
The Spaniards encountered fierce resistance to their
occupation
efforts from one of the main indigenous groups, the
Araucanians,
who lived in the south-central part of the country. The
settlers
managed to take control of the land down to the Río
Bío-Bío and to
establish strongholds farther south, but throughout the
colonial
period the area that is now Chile consisted of two
distinct
nations: one a poor outpost of the Spanish Empire and the
other an
independent territory, Arauco, occupied by the
Araucanians, whose
territory consisted of most of south-central Chile between
the Río
Bío-Bío and the coastal areas around Temuco. By the end of
the
colonial period, the Araucanian territories had been
reduced, but
they had not been fully incorporated into Spanish rule.
The
indigenous wars lasted for more than three centuries, with
a final
skirmish in 1882.
Although warfare and the diseases brought by the
Spaniards
decimated the native population, Spain found it necessary
to keep
sending soldiers to protect its distant colony. They came
from all
regions of Spain, including the Basque country, and many
of them
ended up settling in Chile. The combination of an economy
based on
temperate-zone agriculture, native American resistance to
Spanish
occupation, and a continuous influx of Spaniards from the
midsixteenth century to the end of the colonial period
defined the
main body of the Chilean population--a mixture of native
American
and Spanish blood, but one in which the Spanish element is
greater
than in the other Andean mestizo populations.
During the nineteenth century, the newly independent
government
sought to stimulate European immigration. Beginning in
1845, it had
some success in attracting primarily German migrants to
the Chilean
south, principally to the lake district. For this reason,
that area
of the country still shows a German influence in its
architecture
and cuisine, and German (peppered with archaic expressions
and
intonations) is still spoken by some descendants of these
migrants.
People from England and Scotland also came to Chile, and
some
established export-import businesses of the kind that the
Spanish
crown previously had kept at bay. Other European
immigrants,
especially northern Italians, French, Swiss, and Croats,
came at
the end of the nineteenth century. More Spaniards and
Italians,
East European Jews, and mainly Christian Lebanese,
Palestinians,
and Syrians came in the decades before World War II. Many
of these
immigrants became prominent entrepreneurs or
professionals, and
their numbers never exceeded 10 percent of the total
population at
any given time. Thus, in contrast to Argentina, whose
population
was transformed around the turn of the century by numerous
European
immigrants, especially Italians, the Chilean population
continued
to be defined by the original Spanish and native American
mixture.
Acculturation was fairly rapid for all immigrant groups.
Because
second-generation residents saw themselves primarily as
Chileans,
ethnic identities had little impact on national society.
Chileans of all color gradations between the fair
northern
European and the darker native American complexion can be
found,
although most have brown hair or dark brown hair and brown
eyes.
There have been no really salient racial distinctions
affecting
daily life and politics in Chile, but there is
unquestionably a
strong correlation between high socioeconomic status and
light
skin.
The social definition of who is a native has not
depended so
much on phenotypical characteristics as on cultural ones.
This
means that Chileans generally have considered someone to
be a
native only if, in addition to native American features,
he or she
has an indigenous last name, wears native clothing, speak
a native
language, or resides in a native community. Consequently,
the
native Americans who wish to assimilate fully into Chilean
society
often take Spanish surnames after moving out of
reservations.
The term Mapuche ("people of the land") now encompasses
most of
the native Chilean groups. The number of Mapuche residing
on the
reservations that were set up beginning in the late 1880s
has
declined in recent years. About 300,000 were counted as
living in
the reservations by the 1982 census. The 1992 census asked
respondents to identify themselves ethnically as Mapuche,
Aymara
(the native population of northern Chile whose main trunk
lies in
Bolivia), Rapa Nui (the Polynesian group that lives in or
originates from Easter Island), and other. The results
showed that
9.6 percent of the population over age fourteen
self-identified as
Mapuche, 0.5 percent as Aymara, and less than 0.25 percent
as Rapa
Nui (see
table 2, Appendix). This means that about 1.3
million
Chileans are native Americans, mainly Mapuche, or the
descendants
of one of the fourteen or so different tribal groups that
occupied
what is now Chile before the Spanish conquest.
Although indigenous culture was most strongly retained
on the
reservations, penetration by Chilean national culture was
also
extensive. For example, research on a sample of Mapuche
living on
four reservations in the south showed that only 8.5
percent of them
were monolingual Mapuche (sometimes call Mapudungu)
speakers; 50.7
percent lived in homes where both Spanish and Mapuche were
spoken,
and 40.8 percent lived in homes where only Spanish was
spoken. This
situation was largely a result of the extension of primary
rural
education. Of all Mapuche over fifteen years of age living
on the
same reservations that were studied, 81 percent had gone
to school
for at least one year (85.5 percent of the men and 76.2
percent of
the women). Significant differences in schooling by age
among the
Mapuche reveal how wide the reach of rural education has
been in
recent years. In the sampled reservation communities, the
literacy
rate was 81.2 percent for all residents over five years of
age, and
yet the rate was more than 96.2 percent for the age-group
between
ages ten and thirty-four. The acquisition of language and
literacy
skills is, of course, a principal means of acculturation.
With the partial exception of the indigenous groups,
the
Chilean population perceives itself as essentially
homogeneous.
Despite the configuration of the national territory,
regional
differences and sentiments are remarkably muted. Even the
Spanish
accent of Chileans varies only very slightly from north to
south;
more noticeable are the small differences in accent based
on social
class or whether one lives in the city or the country. The
fact
that the Chilean population essentially was formed in a
relatively
small section of the center of the country and then
migrated in
modest numbers to the north and south helps explain this
relative
lack of differentiation, which is now maintained by the
national
reach of radio and especially of television. The media
diffuse and
homogenize colloquial expressions.
Data as of March 1994
Formation of the Chilean People
To a traveler arriving in Santiago from Lima, Chileans
will in
general seem more Latin European-looking than Peruvians.
By
contrast, to a visitor arriving from Buenos Aires, certain
native
American features will seem apparent in large numbers of
Chileans
in contrast to Argentines. These differing perspectives
can be
explained by tracing the distinctive historical roots of
the
Chilean people.
The Spaniards who settled in the pleasant Central
Valley of
what is now Chile beginning in the late sixteenth century
found no
rich lodes of gold or silver to exploit, and therefore saw
no need
for employing masses of indigenous forced laborers such as
those
who were put to work in the Andean highlands and in the
mines of
Mexico. Although copper mining became an important part of
the late
colonial economy, even the most successful of operations
employed
no more than a few salaried workers. Settlers took to
developing
the agricultural potential of the land, which, given
Chile's
climate, was well suited for growing the crops they knew
from the
Old World. This seasonal form of farming was different
from that
practiced in semitropical plantations in that it required
few
workers except during the harvest. As a result, the
Spanish
settlers in Chile did not seek to force large numbers of
native
Americans to toil for them, and they had little use for
slaves.
Relatively few enslaved Africans were brought into Chile
and
slavery was abolished soon after the country declared its
independence from Spain in 1818.
The Spaniards encountered fierce resistance to their
occupation
efforts from one of the main indigenous groups, the
Araucanians,
who lived in the south-central part of the country. The
settlers
managed to take control of the land down to the Río
Bío-Bío and to
establish strongholds farther south, but throughout the
colonial
period the area that is now Chile consisted of two
distinct
nations: one a poor outpost of the Spanish Empire and the
other an
independent territory, Arauco, occupied by the
Araucanians, whose
territory consisted of most of south-central Chile between
the Río
Bío-Bío and the coastal areas around Temuco. By the end of
the
colonial period, the Araucanian territories had been
reduced, but
they had not been fully incorporated into Spanish rule.
The
indigenous wars lasted for more than three centuries, with
a final
skirmish in 1882.
Although warfare and the diseases brought by the
Spaniards
decimated the native population, Spain found it necessary
to keep
sending soldiers to protect its distant colony. They came
from all
regions of Spain, including the Basque country, and many
of them
ended up settling in Chile. The combination of an economy
based on
temperate-zone agriculture, native American resistance to
Spanish
occupation, and a continuous influx of Spaniards from the
midsixteenth century to the end of the colonial period
defined the
main body of the Chilean population--a mixture of native
American
and Spanish blood, but one in which the Spanish element is
greater
than in the other Andean mestizo populations.
During the nineteenth century, the newly independent
government
sought to stimulate European immigration. Beginning in
1845, it had
some success in attracting primarily German migrants to
the Chilean
south, principally to the lake district. For this reason,
that area
of the country still shows a German influence in its
architecture
and cuisine, and German (peppered with archaic expressions
and
intonations) is still spoken by some descendants of these
migrants.
People from England and Scotland also came to Chile, and
some
established export-import businesses of the kind that the
Spanish
crown previously had kept at bay. Other European
immigrants,
especially northern Italians, French, Swiss, and Croats,
came at
the end of the nineteenth century. More Spaniards and
Italians,
East European Jews, and mainly Christian Lebanese,
Palestinians,
and Syrians came in the decades before World War II. Many
of these
immigrants became prominent entrepreneurs or
professionals, and
their numbers never exceeded 10 percent of the total
population at
any given time. Thus, in contrast to Argentina, whose
population
was transformed around the turn of the century by numerous
European
immigrants, especially Italians, the Chilean population
continued
to be defined by the original Spanish and native American
mixture.
Acculturation was fairly rapid for all immigrant groups.
Because
second-generation residents saw themselves primarily as
Chileans,
ethnic identities had little impact on national society.
Chileans of all color gradations between the fair
northern
European and the darker native American complexion can be
found,
although most have brown hair or dark brown hair and brown
eyes.
There have been no really salient racial distinctions
affecting
daily life and politics in Chile, but there is
unquestionably a
strong correlation between high socioeconomic status and
light
skin.
The social definition of who is a native has not
depended so
much on phenotypical characteristics as on cultural ones.
This
means that Chileans generally have considered someone to
be a
native only if, in addition to native American features,
he or she
has an indigenous last name, wears native clothing, speak
a native
language, or resides in a native community. Consequently,
the
native Americans who wish to assimilate fully into Chilean
society
often take Spanish surnames after moving out of
reservations.
The term Mapuche ("people of the land") now encompasses
most of
the native Chilean groups. The number of Mapuche residing
on the
reservations that were set up beginning in the late 1880s
has
declined in recent years. About 300,000 were counted as
living in
the reservations by the 1982 census. The 1992 census asked
respondents to identify themselves ethnically as Mapuche,
Aymara
(the native population of northern Chile whose main trunk
lies in
Bolivia), Rapa Nui (the Polynesian group that lives in or
originates from Easter Island), and other. The results
showed that
9.6 percent of the population over age fourteen
self-identified as
Mapuche, 0.5 percent as Aymara, and less than 0.25 percent
as Rapa
Nui (see
table 2, Appendix). This means that about 1.3
million
Chileans are native Americans, mainly Mapuche, or the
descendants
of one of the fourteen or so different tribal groups that
occupied
what is now Chile before the Spanish conquest.
Although indigenous culture was most strongly retained
on the
reservations, penetration by Chilean national culture was
also
extensive. For example, research on a sample of Mapuche
living on
four reservations in the south showed that only 8.5
percent of them
were monolingual Mapuche (sometimes call Mapudungu)
speakers; 50.7
percent lived in homes where both Spanish and Mapuche were
spoken,
and 40.8 percent lived in homes where only Spanish was
spoken. This
situation was largely a result of the extension of primary
rural
education. Of all Mapuche over fifteen years of age living
on the
same reservations that were studied, 81 percent had gone
to school
for at least one year (85.5 percent of the men and 76.2
percent of
the women). Significant differences in schooling by age
among the
Mapuche reveal how wide the reach of rural education has
been in
recent years. In the sampled reservation communities, the
literacy
rate was 81.2 percent for all residents over five years of
age, and
yet the rate was more than 96.2 percent for the age-group
between
ages ten and thirty-four. The acquisition of language and
literacy
skills is, of course, a principal means of acculturation.
With the partial exception of the indigenous groups,
the
Chilean population perceives itself as essentially
homogeneous.
Despite the configuration of the national territory,
regional
differences and sentiments are remarkably muted. Even the
Spanish
accent of Chileans varies only very slightly from north to
south;
more noticeable are the small differences in accent based
on social
class or whether one lives in the city or the country. The
fact
that the Chilean population essentially was formed in a
relatively
small section of the center of the country and then
migrated in
modest numbers to the north and south helps explain this
relative
lack of differentiation, which is now maintained by the
national
reach of radio and especially of television. The media
diffuse and
homogenize colloquial expressions.
Data as of March 1994
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