The people
Ethnic origins and migrations

Four main components have contributed to the present-day population of South America—American Indians (Amerindians), who were the pre-Columbian inhabitants; Iberians (Spanish and Portuguese who conquered and dominated the continent until the beginning of the 19th century); Africans, imported as slaves by the colonizers; and, finally, postindependence immigrants from overseas, mostly Italy and Germany but also Lebanon, South Asia, and Japan.


Before the beginning of the epoch of European exploration and conquest in the early 16th century, South America was almost completely occupied by diverse peoples. Nearly all of these cultural groups practiced agriculture, and most exhibited an extraordinary understanding of their physical environment that had been developed over thousands of years. Although areas such as deserts, mountain peaks, and tropical rain forests appeared to be uninhabited, most of these places were occupied at least occasionally. The societies with the greatest complexity of social organization and densest population tended to be located along the Pacific coast, in the adjacent Andes, and along the major rivers of the Amazon basin. Less complex societies were located away from the rivers and mountains, and nomadic hunting groups tribes were found sparse in the Pampas, Patagonia, and southern Chile.

Agriculture-based village culture and social organization came first to the tropical lowlands of the Amazon basin and valleys of coastal Ecuador and Colombia (c. 3000 bc). This culture included religious temple-mound complexes, fine ceramics (based partly on earlier technology for making fire-engraved containers out of bottle gourds), and farming such crops as cassava (manioc) and corn (maize) on periodically flooded plains and levees. These areas eventually became organized into complex chiefdoms containing dense populations, supported in some cases by raised fields—broad planting surfaces separated by ditches that enhanced the fertility of the soil while limiting the possibility of fungal diseases and waterlogging.

The practice of agriculture spread to the desert coast of Peru and Chile and then into the higher elevations of the Andes, and new farming technologies appeared. In coastal areas, elaborate irrigation networks supported ceremonial centres and (later) true cities such as Chan Chan (near present-day Trujillo on the northern coast of Peru), the capital of the Chimú state. Coastal Peruvian and Ecuadorian cultures (such as Moche and Nazca) produced superb ceramic art and finely woven textiles. In coastal Chile the Mapuche (Araucanian) culture effectively occupied its region through farming and hunting.

In the highlands, fertile soils of volcanic ash were cultivated with the digging stick and a type of foot plow called the chaquitaclla. Highland soils also were improved by constructing long earthen irrigation canals or (in the Central Andes) some of the world’s most elaborate and beautiful stone-walled terracing. In most parts of the Andes, areas of high population density were organized into chiefdoms—such as the Chibcha of Colombia and the mound (tola) builders of Ecuador—led by powerful, paramount lords. Early cities and empires first developed around Huari (Wari) in south-central Peru and Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) in western Bolivia, but the last and best-known empire was that of the Inca (Inka). Called Tawantinsuyu, the Inca state expanded from its homeland in the Cuzco Valley of south-central Peru north to what is now southern Colombia and south to the Maule River in central Chile (the northern limit of the Mapuche culture). The Inca easily conquered the desert coastal cultures by threatening their water supplies but never succeeded with the chiefdoms of the Amazon basin and of coastal Ecuador. Thus, when Inca expansion was halted by the Spanish in the 1530s, the empire was long but narrow, confined to the Andes and the Pacific coast. This empire did not include all of the other advanced agricultural cultures of the continent, which continued north into because those cultures migrated to Colombia, Venezuela, east into the Amazon basin, and south into the Mapuche area.

Certain areas of South America—notably in the more remote parts of the interior, away from the main rivers—were occupied by simpler village cultures based on shifting cultivation, an agricultural practice still used in many of these areas. Nomadic hunter tribes were located in areas of present-day Uruguay and Argentina and in the extreme south (Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn). Although these cultures appeared to be simple in organization and technology, they were well adapted to hunting wild animals (e.g., the guanaco), fishing, and gathering edible plants and shellfish in a harsh environment.

The number of Indians at the time of the conquest is uncertain: estimates vary from 8 to 100 million for North, South, and Central America combined (for the Inca, from 3 to 32 million). More recent estimates that put South America’s preconquest population at about 20 million seem more realistic.

Equally controversial is the origin of South America’s Indians. Most anthropologists believe that they are descended from people who migrated to North America from Asia between about 60,000 and 20,000 years ago, having crossed the Bering Strait separating northeastern Asia and northwestern North America. It is not known when humans first arrived in South America, although it is fairly certain that people were present in Chile by 11,000 bc.


Until the end of the era of Iberian domination, only the Spanish and Portuguese were admitted to their South American colonies. The rigid exclusion of all other foreigners had but few exceptions, though a small number of non-Iberian Europeans settled as a result of illegal or tolerated immigration. Most of the Spaniards came from Castile and the southern regions. Little is known about the principal regions from which the Portuguese came. It is estimated that the total number of licencias (authorizations to emigrate) granted by Spain was about 150,000 for the entire colonial period, which lasted from the 16th to the 19th century; it is possible that the number of illegal immigrants also approached this number. Of these, no more than two-fifths of the emigrants went to South America. Up to one million Portuguese may have migrated to Brazil, drawn primarily by a gold rush in Minas Gerais in the 18th century.


A few African servants accompanying the early Spanish or Portuguese explorers were the first slaves to enter the continent. Larger-scale importation of slaves from Africa developed after the slave trade was established early in the 16th century, though reliable quantitative information is lacking. Estimates of the number of Africans brought to South America are four million for Brazil and three million for all of Spanish America, of which most went to areas of present-day Venezuela, Colombia, coastal Ecuador and Peru, and northwestern Argentina; a number also went to the large Spanish colonial cities as urban servants. In addition, many Africans were brought to the British and Dutch Guianas (present-day Guyana and Suriname, respectively). African slaves were considered to be more resistant than American Indians to tropical diseases, especially in plantation areas. Most of the slaves imported into South America came from Portuguese or Spanish trading posts along the west coast of Africa, including areas near present-day Angola. The slave trade ceased in the early 19th century as most of the new republics banned slavery.

Postindependence overseas immigrants

Most of the South American countries gained independence in the early 19th century, thus bringing an end to the legal exclusion of foreigners. Mass immigration to the continent, however, did not begin until after 1850, acquiring momentum in the last three decades of the century and continuing until 1930, when it decreased abruptly. Some 11 to 12 million people arrived in South America; the great majority of these went to Argentina (more than half) and Brazil (more than one-third). Although many later left, the demographic and sociocultural impact of this influx was tremendous in Argentina, Uruguay, and (to a lesser extent) in southern Brazil. Immigration to other countries was numerically insignificant (although socioculturally meaningful), except in Uruguay, where because the preexisting population was not numerous, the proportion of foreign-born was high—about one-fifth in 1908 and even higher in the 19th century. In Argentina the proportion of foreign-born reached nearly one-third of the total population and stayed at that level for many years. In both cases the contribution of post-independence immigration was proportionally much higher than in the United States at the peak of mass immigration.

The great majority of the immigrants were Europeans—Italians (forming nearly half of the immigrants in Argentina, one-third of those in Brazil, and probably the majority of immigrants in Uruguay), the Spaniards (one-third in Argentina), and the Portuguese (nearly one-third in Brazil). Other small but socially relevant immigrant streams arrived from central and eastern Europe. This source of immigration became more important in the 20th century and especially during the 1930s and ’40s, when it included more middle-class and educated people, among whom were many Jews and other refugees. After World War II another smaller wave of immigration arrived from Europe (principally from Italy and Spain), directed mostly to Venezuela and Argentina.

Other important waves of migration immigrant groups arrived from East and South Asia and from the Middle East. Chinese labourers came in the 19th century to help build South American railways and established Chinese districts in such cities as Lima. Labourers from South Asia were brought by the British to Guyana, and similar migrants came to Suriname, supplemented by workers from the East Indies (Indonesia). Lebanese migrated to South America from the Ottoman Empire prior to World War I; known locally (and incorrectly) as “Turks” (turcos), these Lebanese became important in commerce and even politics in such cities as Guayaquil, Ecuador. Since World War II, Koreans have migrated to Argentina (under a negotiated treaty) and under less formal conditions to countries as diverse as Paraguay and Ecuador, where they often have become involved in commerce and industry. The largest Asian group by far, however, has been the Japanese. Before World War II large numbers of Japanese settled in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. People of Japanese ancestry now are found primarily in the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, as well as in Argentina and Peru; and collectively they constitute the largest concentration of ethnic Japanese residing outside of Japan.

Population and ecological distribution
The present population

The present population of South America is the result of four centuries of ethnic and racial mixture among these four components—Indianscomponents—American Indians, Iberians, Africans, and more recent overseas immigrants—and their mixed descendants. The mixing process began when the first Iberians reached South America. The previous traditions and basic values and attitudes of the Iberians—coupled with other characteristics of their conquest and colonization—facilitated intermixing not only with the Indians but in general among all the various racial and ethnic groups, although the intensity, extent, and frequency of this mixing varied both among different groups and at different times.

Legal marriage between Iberians and Indians was tolerated, often permitted, and even, in some special circumstances, promoted. It was possible—and in certain epochs easy—to recognize mestizo (generally, mixed European and American Indian) children, though frequently a mestizo was considered automatically illegitimate. Social custom did not permit mixing intermarriage between Europeans and Africans and between Africans and Indians and their offspring, a fact that nevertheless though it failed to prevent generalized race mixtureethnic mixing. This prolonged process created a great variety of physical types, resulting in the emergence of a complex terminology to describe them.

The more important specific designations are mestizo (called caboclo in Brazil), mulatto (mixed European -and African ancestry), zambo (African -and Indian ancestry), and cholo (mestizo -and Indian ancestry). During the postindependence period of European immigration, other national groups contributed to race mixturediverse ethnic mixtures. As a result, the ethnic compositions of Argentina and Uruguay were completely modified their ethnic and racial composition.

Culture areas

Many South Americans resist recognizing ancestry as being socially significant, especially as language, religion, and other cultural aspects tend to cross racial and ethnic lines. In practice, however, an individual’s ethnic background can be a factor in determining social status or , educational attainment, and economic opportunities. Ethnic distinctions tend to be geographic in nature and can be divided into three broad types of regions—Indian-American, African-American, and European-American—based regions based on a predominant ethnic element in what otherwise are mixed populations, with those three elements being people of predominantly American Indian, African, and European descent. These regions have been defined to a large extent since the end of the colonial period. The people within them, however, are not of uniform ancestry but rather are clustered into different cultural groups.


Moreover, ethnicity in South America is often self-determined.

American Indian heritage regions

Included in this designation are the Amazon and Orinoco basins, Paraguay, northern and central Chile, and the highlands of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. These were the areas of pre-Columbian chiefdoms and states at the time of the Spanish conquest. It was possible to found grasp the social and economic organization of the Spanish empire on the relatively advanced institutions of these cultures; at the same time, Indian labour could be easily exploited. The original Indian population suffered from what has been regarded as a demographic disaster—during the first century of Spanish domination, the Indian population declined up to 95 percent in some areas—but a substantial number of Indians survived, and mixing between Indians and Europeans often was intense. Indian populations in the highlands began to recover during the 18th century. The European component of the population was confined to towns and cities in colonial times, followed by more recent migrations to areas of the Amazon basin during the rubber boom of the early 20th century. African populations were limited to plantation zones in warmer mountain valleys and along the coast. In Chile a pronounced shift toward identification with European culture took place, even though the population had a substantial proportion of IndiansIndian ancestry.

African -American heritage regions

This category includes the coastal areas of the Guianas, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; most of eastern Brazil; and northwestern Argentina. Most of these areas are not considered “black” today but rather are identified in regional terms. Thus, coastal Ecuadorians in general are called montuvios, coastal Peruvians criollos, and northwestern Argentines criollos or gauchos. Many Colombians of African -American Colombians descent who were designated as mulattos on in colonial censuses were called mestizos on in later censuses. Changes in African cultural identity were facilitated by the rapid adoption of European the Christian religion and language European languages in slave populations.

European -American heritage regions

Most of the people included in this grouping live in a belt extending from southern Chile through Patagonia and the Pampas to southern and southeastern Brazil. Part of this area contained was inhabited by hunter-gatherers at the time of the Spanish conquest, and these peoples strongly resisted European domination until they were decimated by modern warfare in the 19th century. The Brazilian area contained was populated by Indians who had been displaced westward by slave raids during colonial times. People of European and Japanese ancestry were drawn into these regions in the 19th and 20th centuries by the possibility of developing forms of commercial agriculture—especially wheat and dairy farms and cattle and sheep ranches—similar to those in their homelands.

Linguistic patterns

The linguistic diversity and multiplicity of South America probably is unmatched anywhere else in the world. Thousands of languages and dialects have been cataloged, including all those existing that have developed since the European conquest. Classification systems vary a great deal—from more than 100 “linguistic families” and many unrelated languages at one extreme to extremely simplified schemes at the other. There also is considerable disagreement on the composition of these “stocks” and how many languages should be classified. Most are now extinct, either because the peoples who spoke them have disappeared or because of acculturation into a European language or, in some instances, into another indigenous tongue.

The survival of Indian languages in the Indian-American areas has depended on a variety of factors. Colonial authorities helped spread Quechuan languages (those spoken by the Inca) because they were convenient for missionary activities and for government, and these languages often displaced local indigenous languages. Elsewhere, local languages gave way to new languages such as the língua-geral of Brazil (combining Tupí-Guaraní and Portuguese). In many cases populations became bilingual, with an Indian language spoken at home and Spanish used for public transactions; examples include the Spanish-Guaraní speakers of Paraguay and the Quechuan-Spanish speakers throughout the Andes.

The largest surviving indigenous language groups are Quechuan, Aymaran, Tupí-Guaraní, and Mapuche. Quechuan languages are in use primarily in the Andean highlands (southern Colombia to Bolivia) but also in large areas of the Amazon basin and in northwestern Argentina. Quechuan, collectively the third largest language group in South America after Spanish and Portuguese, is not spoken by all Andean highlanders but is limited to certain sharply defined geographic domains. Aymaran languages are spoken in northwestern Bolivia, southeastern Peru, and small areas of northwestern Argentina and northern Chile. Most people in Paraguay speak Spanish and a dialect of Tupí-Guaraní and consider themselves to be mestizo Paraguayans rather than Indians. Mapuche speakers, who constitute the largest Indian population in Chile, are restricted to the south-central part of the country, with smaller groups found in Argentina, especially in Neuquén province.

A great many other Indian languages also are spoken by members of numerous smaller groups, many of which are extremely localized and some of which are on the verge of extinction. These groups are found primarily on the periphery of lowland regions, in areas once isolated from slave trading and the rubber trade. Relatively few lowland groups are located in Brazil, the rest being found in the Hispanic countries. Among the larger groups of the Amazon basin (excluding Quechua speakers) are the Chiquitanos of eastern Bolivia, the Arawaks (Campa, Machiguenga, etc.) and Shipobo of east-central Peru, the Cocama-Cocamilla of northeastern Peru, the Jívaroans along the Ecuador-Peru border, the Tikuna of the Brazil-Colombia-Peru border region, the Yanomamo of the Venezuela-Brazil border region, and the Makushí along the Brazil-Guyana border. Groups south of the Amazon basin include the Chiriguano Guaraní of southeastern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina and the Toba of northern Argentina. North of the Amazon basin are the Arawaks of Guyana, the Goajiro and Sinu (Cenú) of northern Colombia, and the Emberá along the Colombia-Panama border. The Quillacingas of Colombia occupy lands just to the north of the Quechua domain.

Religious patterns

South American Indians traditionally practiced shamanism, a belief system in which chosen individuals attempt to use esoteric knowledge use alternative medicine and natural elements to cure illness and to avert harm. Indigenous cultures also practiced rites of passage and seasonal rites, animal (and occasionally human) sacrifice, and ceremonial drinking. The Inca built temples, maintained a priesthood and a class called Chosen Women who were dedicated to the service of the gods, and performed pilgrimages.

The Iberian invaders considered most Indian practices to be superstition rather than heresy, and over time they were able to convert the indigenous population to at least an external a formal observance of Roman Catholicism. Perhaps 85 percent of the South American population now professes Catholicism. In Brazil, tens of millions of people combine Catholicism with African elements in such cults religions as Macumba and Candomblé. New Newer movements such as liberation theology have enhanced the popularity of Catholicism in many communities. Protestantism long has been long present in the Guianas, and it has become became more widespread in the late 20th century, especially in Chile, southern and southeastern Brazil, and among the Aymara of Bolivia and Quechua speakers of central Ecuador. The largest Jewish community is in Argentina in Buenos Airescommunities are in the cities of Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro.

Sociological changes

All or most legal discrimination against the Indians and other ethnic sectors of the population was nominally abolished either at the time when the individual countries became independent or during the 19th century. The real conditions of the Indians (and to a certain extent of the Africans after the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888), however, remained the same or became worse, since, on one hand, liberal legislation tended to eliminate all communal property and the legal existence of the Indian communities, while, on the other, various forms of exploitation continued unchanged. These de facto conditions also were reinforced by the 19th-century pseudo-scientific doctrines, one of which claimed that Indians and Africans were biologically inferior racesracist pseudoscientific doctrines of white supremacy.

In the late 20th century and early 21st century, however, a partial change in intellectual attitudes and political conditions has resulted in initiatives toward ameliorating improving the conditions of these groups. In Brazil, for example, institutions such as the Protective Service for the Indians (Serviço de Proteção do Indio) and the National Indian Foundation (Fundação Nacional do Indio) have been were established, although such organizations often have become agents for the relocation and control of Indian groups rather than for their interests and survival. Christian missionaries sometimes have acted as representatives of Indian rights. Indians of the Andean highlands have benefited from land reforms enacted since 1950 in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, although these reforms often have defined rural peoples as “peasants” rather than as Indians. Such groups as the Agaruna Aguaruna and the Shipibo in eastern Peru have been able to take advantage of programs by which some Indians actually have become the landlords of mestizos. National parks and protected areas have been established for such peoples as the Yanomamo of Brazil and Venezuela and the Huaorani of Ecuador.

Large-scale Indian-rights movements have appeared in the highlands, which have attempted to link different Quechua-speaking groups into broader unions in order to obtain land and political recognition; often these movements have claimed that Indian groups constitute nations in their own right. Lowland Indians also have organized—as in the Kayapó of Brazil and the Shuar of Ecuador—and larger, pan-Indian movements have emerged that have striven to unite disparate groups at the national and international level. Coupled with the rise of these movements has been a growing interest in Indian languages, technology, music, and medicine and an effort to use indigenous knowledge to provide appropriate economic development and help conserve the South American landscape.

Demographic patterns

The continent’s demographics reflect an unusual settlement history: South America is a “hollow continent,” with most of the population concentrated around its margins. The highest population densities are found in the old Indian core areas of the Andes, the former slave areas of northeastern Brazil, and the areas of European immigration in southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The interior is relatively empty because of the decline in Indian populations, poor communications with coastal areas, and the absence of economic opportunities capable of attracting large numbers of immigrants. Another characteristic of South American demography is a high rate of population growth in tropical regions coupled with moderate growth in the temperate southern cone. The high tropical growth rates, however, have begun to diminish.

Both South American demography and history can be explained through the changing patterns of birth and death rates and immigration caused by the Iberian conquest and by subsequent economic development. After the conquest, diseases such as smallpox, measles, malaria, and yellow fever decimated all Indian populations, leading to a long-term pattern of high death rates and declining or stagnant populations, even where fertility was high. Beginning in the area of European migration and extending throughout the continent after World War II, innovations in public health, such as safe drinking water and vaccines, have resulted in a dramatic drop in death rates everywhere except remote rural areas and urban slums.

The demographic transition and fertility

The resultant population explosion has been caused by a traditionally high fertility rate and a modern low mortality rate. The situation can be thought of as the second of three stages. The first stage, which characterized most of South America during the 18th and 19th centuries, involved a rough population balance maintained by high death and birth rates. The second, transitional, phase has consisted of a population explosion brought about by declining mortality and continued high fertility. The third constitutes is a modern stage where low fertility brings and low mortality bring population stability.

Fertility rates are a result of many factors, including the availability and cultural acceptability of birth-control measures. In general, economic factors increasingly have come to dominate in decisions regarding family size, including the benefits of young children to families and the costs of rearing children to adulthood. Children traditionally have had considerable value in helping families in their farming or urban-craft livelihoods and in providing security for the elderly. The costs of maintaining children in such circumstances were low, and women had few opportunities outside the household to compete with child-raising.

Changes in fertility in South America have occurred with the expansion of mandatory education, which simultaneously has raised the cost of rearing children, reduced their benefits to families, and provided young women with the education needed to seek employment. A decline in birth rates has occurred despite opposition occurred in the early 2000s because of improved access to birth control on the part of the Roman Catholic church. Birth rates declined first in the more prosperous areas of the southern cone, but all regions have experienced the effects of growing educational and employment opportunities for young women in an increasingly urbanized environment.

Effects of rapid population increase

Rapid population increase expansion has had important demographic and social effects. Two examples are especially illuminating.

At the peak of population growth during the second stage, the proportion of children tends to be high, while in the third stage it is low. In South America the proportion of the population under 15 years is still relatively high. As a consequence, the group of people in their productive (working) years is greatly reduced. This high ratio creates a heavier burden for the working group, while the economy is not able to raise the productivity level needed to compensate for it.

Another crucial consequence is the so-called urban explosion. Argentina and Uruguay have become two of the most urbanized countries in the world, but their urban growth has been the result of mass large-scale foreign immigration. The dramatic increase in urban concentration began approximately in the 1930s. In all of Latin America, the proportion of urban centres with more than 10,000 inhabitants increased from one-fourth in 1950 to about three-fourths in 40 years.

South America now is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, following the industrially advanced areas. Although the rate of growth in larger cities has decreased since 1950, the urban population has continued to be concentrated in the larger citiesdistricts: a large proportion of the urban, and in some cases of the total, population lives in a single urban centre. This situation prevails in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru.

Much of the growth of South America’s largest cities has come about from natural increase. Migration has remained important, however, because of unfavourable conditions in the countryside. Land ownership often has been concentrated in a few hands, while “urban bias” in national policy has been reflected in price controls for or subsidized imports of foodstuffs, concentration of health, recreational, and educational facilities, and the expansion of government bureaucracies in large cities. Attempts to reverse urban bias have met with strong political opposition. There also have been pressures from rural guerrilla movements, especially in Peru, which has caused an especially rapid migration to Lima.

The unequal distribution of population in South America—the “hollow continent” phenomenon—is likely to continue and even become more pronounced. Although certain frontier areas, such as Rondônia state in Brazil and the coca-growing regions of the Andes, have attracted substantial in-migration, these flows have been far less than the out-migrations to towns and cities in already densely populated areas. Development of the interior increasingly has relied on labour-saving technology, resulting in little incentive for migration. As the largest cities face mounting problems, the overcrowding and increased crime rates, a likely solution will be the urbanization of nearby surrounding rural centres.