White Brazilian

Ethnic group
group= White Brazilian
"Brasileiro Branco"


European immigrants in Brazil
poptime= White People
93,000,000 White Brazilians
49.7% of Brazil's population [ [http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/condicaodevida/indicadoresminimos/sinteseindicsociais2006/indic_sociais2006.pdf ] Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística]
popplace=Brazil:
Entire country; highest numbers found in southern and southeastern Brazil
langs=Predominantly
Portuguese
rels=Predominantly
Roman Catholic · Protestant · Jewish minority
related=Portuguese, Italians, Germans, Spaniards, Ukrainians, Poles, Lebanese,
White Americans, Jews

According to the 2006 census, White Brazilians make up 49.7% of Brazil's population, or around 93 million people. Whites are present in the entire territory of Brazil, although the main concentrations are found in the South and Southeastern parts of the country. White Brazilians are all people who are full or mainly descended of European and other White immigrants.

Brazil has the largest White population in the Southern Hemisphere, and the third largest in the World, after the United States and Russia. The majority of White Brazilians are of Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and German descent.

History

Brazil received more European immigrants in its colonial era than did the United States of America. Between 1500 and 1760, 700,000 Europeans settled in Brazil, compared to 530,000 in the United States. [http://www.ibge.gov.br/ibgeteen/povoamento/portugueses.html IBGE teen ] ] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Immigration_to_the_United_States#Population_in_1790]

One important fact about the European immigration in Brazil is that it was, for three centuries, dominated exclusively by Portuguese. In the 17th century, Dutch and French settlers created colonies in the country. The Dutch presence in Northeast Brazil lasted 24 years. Many European Jews arrived in that period. However, in 1654, the Dutch were expelled. The hegemony of the Portuguese ethnicity in the White population of Brazil lasted until the 19th century. [ [http://www.morrodigital.org.br/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=68 Morro Digital- telecentro no Morro da Conceição - 1654 - Expulsão dos Holandeses ] ]

Most of the immigrants were ethnically Portuguese, but some of the first settlers were, actually, Portuguese Jews. [Anita Novinsky, "Raízes ocultas do Brasil", O Globo Newspaper, 09.24.2006] According to some estimates, 45% of colonial Portuguese settlers in Brazil came from Minho, 20% from the Azores Islands, 16% from Lisbon and 19% from other parts. In all Brazil's History, most immigrants came from Northern Portugal. [ [http://www.trentu.ca/admin/publications/psr/sample/1012.pdf Ensaio sobre a imigração portuguesa e os padrões demiscigenação no Brasil (séculos XIX e XX) - 2002 - Portugueses ] ] Another characteristic of the Portuguese colonization is that it was done mostly by males. The lack of European women was a problem faced during much of Brazil's colonization. The Portuguese Crown even sent orphaned women for marriage with the settlers, but a large part of the settlers was involved in relationships with indigenous women and with their African slaves. However, not all Portuguese colonists were in interracial relationships: at the end of the 16th century, Whites made up half of Brazil's population. It is remarkable that most Portuguese settlers arrived in Brazil in the 18th century: 600,000 in a period of only 60 years. The exploitation of gold in the region of Minas Gerais has been a crucial factor in the arrival of this contingent of immigrants.

The hegemony of the white Portuguese ethnicity had its end only in 1824, when Brazil attracted German families to occupy inhospitable regions. It is important to note that before, in 1818, Swiss settlers were attracted to the region of Nova Friburgo, in Rio de Janeiro. The presence of German immigrants had great importance for the occupation of Southern Brazil. They founded rural communities that later became prosperous cities, as was the case of São Leopoldo, Joinville and Blumenau. [ [http://www.mluther.org.br/Imigracao/imigracao_ii.htm imigracao II ] ]

The end of the slave trade (1850) and the abolition of slavery (1888) were crucial to the entry of millions of Europeans to Brazil. The industry cultivating coffee, the main product of Brazil at the time, began to suffer a shortage of workers. The Brazilian Government then opened its doors to immigrants. From 1875, the Italians began to enter Brazil in huge numbers. From 1884 to 1933, 1.4 million Italians immigrated to Brazil, 70% of whom settled in São Paulo. Brazil is, nowadays, the country with the largest Italian population outside of Italy itself: 25 million Brazilians are of Italian descent. [ [http://www.ibge.gov.br/ibgeteen/povoamento/tabelas/imigracao_nacionalidade_84a33.htm Imigração no Brasil ] ] [ [http://www.italcam.com.br/index.php?url=servicos/info.php Câmara Ítalo-Brasileira de Comércio e Indústria ] ]

The period of the great European immigration in Brazil, between 1880 and 1930, brought to the country more than 5 million Europeans. A majority were Italians and Portuguese, followed by Spaniards, Germans, Poles, [ [http://www.radiobras.gov.br/especiais/saopaulo450/sp450_mat9_2004.htm Especiais - Agência Brasil ] ] and Ukrainians. It is notable that most of this more recent wave of immigrants from Europe settled Southern and Southeastern Brazil.

Regions of settlement

The genes can reveal from what part of the world the oldest ancestors of the paternal and maternal line of a person came from. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is present in all human beings and passed down through the maternal line, i.e. the mother of the mother of the mother etc. The Y chromosome is present only in males and passed down through the paternal line, i.e., the father of father of father etc. The mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome suffer only minor mutations through centuries, thus can be used to establish the paternal line in males (because only males have the Y chromossome) and the maternal line in both males and females.

A genetic research carried out in a sample of Brazilian people revealed that almost all (98%) Brazilian males have a Y Chromosome) originated in Europe. However, in the maternal line, there would be a 39% European, 33% Native American and 28% Sub-Saharan African contribution to the total mtDNA pool. This research was criticized because it only 200 people genes were analysed. [ [http://web.educom.pt/p-pmndn/genes_cabral.htm Os Genes de Cabral ] ] .

The same genetic research concluded that over 75% of caucasians from North, Northeast and Southeast Brazil would have over 10% Sub-Saharan African genes. Even Southern Brazil, that received a large group of European immigration, 49% of the Caucasian population would have over 10% Sub-Saharan African genes. According to this study, in all United States only 11% of Caucasians would have over 10% African genes. Some researchers have found that the average European American type has approximately 10% to 12% non-White genetic material. [ [http://www.ancestrybydna.com/welcome/productsandservices/ancestrybydna/ethnicities/ DNAPrint Genomics Website] ]

However, these results are far from being conclusive since the study was restricted to a relatively small area of Brazil and involved not a large sample, and other studies have given entirely different results. It is really difficult to assess the levels of African, European and Amerindian ancestries in all Brazil given the racial complexity and extension of this country.

As an example, one thousand individuals from Porto Alegre city, Southern Brazil, and 760 from Natal city, Northeastern Brazil, were studiedFact|date=September 2008 in relation to 12 and 8 genetic systems, respectively. The data thus gathered were used in different ways to estimate quantitatively the ethnic composition of individuals from these communities. More than half of the genes present in individuals classified as Black in Porto Alegre are of European origin, while the Whites from this city have 8% of African alleles. White Brazilians from the Southern Region were found to carry only 8% of Sub-Saharan African genes. The estimated degree of admixture in persons identified as White or Mixed in Natal is not much different among themselves. According to this other study "mixed" and "unmixed" looking Brazilian Northeastern people carry on average almost 60% European genetic material and about 25% Sub-Saharan African on the mtDNA line(instead of the 44% figure of the previously mentioned study). The ancestry of the total sample can be characterized as 58% White, 25% Black, and 17% Indian.

See also

*Immigration to Brazil
*Carcamano
*White Latin Americans
*White Argentine
*White Cuban
*White Mexican

Footnotes