Main languages: Spanish (official), Aymara, Kichwa, Mapudungun, Selk’nam, Kunza or Atacameño (no longer spoken) and Rapa Nui (Eastern Polynesian)
Main religions: Christianity, the majority of Chilean people being Roman Catholic, with a significant proportion of Catholics worshipping the Virgen del Carmen. A growing number of Chileans belong to Evangelical churches, as well as the Jehovah Witnesses, Adventists and Mormons. Chile is known for syncretistic practices that incorporate Catholic and indigenous traditions, especially in the form of the cult of the Virgen de la Tirana del Tamarugal in the Atacama region. Other religions include: Judaism, the Baháʼí faith, Islam and indigenous spirituality, especially Mapuche traditions.
The most significant indigenous people in Chile are the Mapuche, living in a territory spread along the 9th and 10th regions of the country. Mapuche are subdivided into four regional sub-groups: the Huilliche or people of the south (located south of Tolten River and in the island of Chiloé); the Pewenche or people of the Pewen (Araucaria tree) located in the high mountainous regions of the east, the Lafkenche, or people of the sea, located on the western seaboard, and the Pikunche or Mapuche of the north.
Collectively, Mapuche inhabit a territory known to them as Wallmapu, also covering an extensive area in Argentina. The area to the east of the Andean mountains (Argentina) is known as Puelmapu, while the area west of the mountains (Chile) is known as Gulumapu.
Neither the State of Argentina nor the Chilean Republic recognize Wallmapu as a political nation, and Wallmapu does not have a parliament or political body to represent its interests in Chilean or Argentinian legal or political systems.
In addition to Mapuche, Chile is home to numerous other indigenous peoples including Aymara, Atacameño, Polynesian Rapa Nui of Easter Island and the few remaining survivors of several Fuegian nations, such as Selk’nam, Yamana and Qawasqar.
According to the 2012 Census, more than 1.7 million people self-identified as indigenous: of these 88 per cent as Mapuche, followed by 7 per cent as Aymara and 5 per cent as other smaller groups. The number of people who self-identify as indigenous has increased by 50 per cent in the last ten years. The majority of this population (around three quarters) live in urban areas.
There is a significant Jewish population in the metropolitan region, which is also home to the largest Palestinian diasporic community outside the Middle East.
Indigenous peoples
The Mapuche people are the only indigenous people not to have been conquered or dominated by the Spanish in South America, despite a prolonged war with Spanish conquistadors, recounted in the epic poem La Araucana, by Alonso de Ercilla (1569). The history of the Mapuche nation is one of resistance to Spanish colonization and subsequently to Chilean colonization. Five hundred years of warfare, tensions, conflict, encroachment and violations of Mapuche rights persist in today’s ensuing Araucanía conflict. Violencia en la Macrozona Sur is the term currently used to refer to an armed, social and political conflict that has affected the region of Araucanía since 1997.
The Yamana who live at Ukika, just north of Cape Horn, and the Qawasqar, who live on Wellington Island, live in remote communities and do not receive necessary support from government at the level of health, education and other public services. Without motorboats, their fishing is undercut by colonists, and medical assistance is virtually non-existent.
In the north, Aymara communities have experienced many difficulties obtaining title to lands; they have also had problems with water rights. Traditionally, there has been little political mobilization among these communities, due partly to the activities of Pentecostal sects and large-scale migration to the cities. However, this trend started to change in the mid-1990s, and today Aymara political organizations take an active role in bilingual education projects and debates over the ownership of natural resources.
Other minorities
The first Jewish immigrants to Chile came from Russia and Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. A second wave, in the 1920s, came from Greece and the Balkans, followed by thousands from Germany, Poland and Hungary. The Chilean Jewish community is primarily middle class and professional and has assimilated to a large degree in Chilean society. Latent antisemitism and stereotyping are still found in most sectors; some neo-Nazi groups are overtly antisemitic. There have been repeated reports of vandalism on Jewish community buildings as well as threats over social media.
Palestinians in Chile form the largest community outside the Middle East. Palestinians (and Syrians) have made a significant contribution to various aspects of Chilean society, especially football (Palestino FC), business and industry, popular culture and the arts. Palestinians in Chile are referred to as ‘turcos’ (Turks) because their nationality was Ottoman at the time of their settlement in Chile in the 19th century. The Chilean Palestinian community is primarily urban and professional, with most Chileno-Palestinos living in Santiago and large cities in the Central regions (Viña del Mar, Rancagua and Talca).
Japanese migration to Chile has not been significant; approximately 500 Japanese entered Chile during the period 1903–25. The major factor limiting Japanese settlement in Chile prior to 1925 was the lack of agricultural opportunities. At present, most Japanese have small shops in Santiago and its suburbs, although a few have market gardens. Marriage into the Chilean community is unusual.
Chile has a German minority as a result of pro-immigration policies in the nineteenth century; many live in the southern provinces of Valdivia and Osorno. German influence in this region is noticeable, particularly in commerce, education, music and architecture, particularly in the German lakeside towns in Osorno and Lago Todos los Santos, such as Frutillar.
There is a degree of intolerance towards smaller ethnic minority groups such as Koreans and Chinese, who have been migrating to Chile in increasing numbers in recent years
Afro-Chileans and Black minorities
The number of enslaved Africans during the Spanish colonization in what was known as Capitanía General de Chile was limited, since the Spanish considered that this territory was not relevant for the commercialization and trafficking of slaves. The main group of Afro-Chileans is found in the regions of Arica-Parinacota and Tarapacá, which were part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and were incorporated into Chilean territory in the late nineteenth century, following Chile’s victory in the War of the Pacific. Thus, a small number of Afro-descendants were incorporated into Chilean territory, when Chile annexed lands previously held by Peru and Bolivia following armed conflict.
The Afro-Chilean population has a predominantly Chilean identity after more than a century of invisibility by the state and the Chilean population in general. In 2013, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) conducted the First Characterization Survey of the Afro-descendant Population of the Region of Arica and Parinacota. In this study, it was estimated that there were 8,415 Afro-Chilean people, equivalent to 4.7 per cent of the population of this territory. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrochileno
There has been extensive migration of Black people to this country in recent years, which has led to a rapid growth of Black minorities in Chile. Since the Haiti earthquake of 2010 and the recent mass emigration from Venezuela, the number of Black people living in Chile has risen considerably, especially in northern cities and in the capital Santiago.
Lack of disaggregated data following the 2017 Census, and lack of statistical data following more recent immigration, means that the number of Black people living in Chile is uncertain. The absence of African and Afro-descendent people in most parts of Chilean territory, coupled with existing racial stereotypes inherited from the Spanish colonial caste system, has led to a pervasive form of racism and racial discrimination against Black Haitians and Black Venezuelans living in Chile.
Roma people in Chile
According to a government report published in 2007, the number of Roma living in this country is somewhere between 5 to 8,000 people. The vast majority of these have not completed any formal education, whether public or private.
Lack of access to education and healthcare means that Roma in Chile are increasingly less able to face the cost-of-living crisis in this country. The Roma minority is not considered within Chilean governance systems, and it is not given the opportunities or granted the rights that guarantee a dignified future for this community.
In Chile, many Roma work as day laborers in the fields or in temporary jobs related to the country’s main industries (agriculture and mining). It is possible to find Roma working as peasants, as fishermen on the coast, as muleteers, as laborers and mainly as informal traders.
Source link : https://minorityrights.org/country/chile/
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Publish date : 2017-08-07 18:49:28
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