White Venezuelans
Venezolanos Blancos
Total population
13,169,949
43.6% of the Venezuelan population[1]
Regions with significant populations
   Entire country; highest percents found in Andean, Central, Capital region and major urban-conglomerations.
Languages
Venezuelan Spanish
small minorities speak Italian, Catalan, Basque, Galician, Valencian, Aragonese, Occitan, Asturleonese, Portuguese, English, French, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian, Yiddish, and Alemán Coloniero, a dialect of German
Religion
Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Spaniard Venezuelan, Italo-Venezuelans, Portuguese Venezuelans, German Venezuelans, Ukrainian Venezuelans, Russian Venezuelans, Polish Venezuelans, Hungarian Venezuelans, Jewish Venezuelans, White Colombians, White Latin Americans

European Venezuelans or White Venezuelans are Venezuelan citizens who self-identify in the national census as white,[1] tracing their heritage to European ethnic groups. According to the official census report, although "white" literally involves external issues such as light skin, shape and color of hair and eyes, among others, the term "white" has been used in different ways in different historical periods and places, and so its precise definition is somewhat confusing.[1]: 65 

According to the 2011 National Population and Housing Census, 43.6% of the population identified themselves as white people.[1] A genomic study shows that about 61.5% of the Venezuelan gene pool has European origin. Among the Latin American and Caribbean countries in the study (Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela), Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina exhibit the highest European contribution.[2]

The ancestry of European Venezuelans is primarily Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.[3]

Other ancestries of European Venezuelans are: Germans, Poles, Greeks, Serbs and another minorities.

History

Italian explorer Christopher Columbus arrived in the Venezuela region in 1498. European explorers named Venezuela ("Little Venice") after observing local indigenous houses on stilts over water. During the first quarter-century of contact, the Europeans limited themselves to slave hunting and pearlfishing on the northeastern coast; the first permanent Spanish settlement in Venezuela, Cumaná, was not made until 1523.[4]

Spaniards settled Venezuela during the colonial period. Most of them were from Andalusia, Galicia, Basque Country and from the Canary Islands. Until the last years of World War II, a large part of the European immigrants to Venezuela came from the Canary Islands, and its cultural impact was significant, influencing the development of the Spanish language in the country, the Venezuelan gastronomy and customs.

During the 19th century the bulk of the white Dominicans migrated to Venezuela due to the political and economic instability in their country, especially after the French and Haitian annexation, but also because of constant coups and civil wars; they went from being half to barely a fifth of the Dominican population.

In the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s came nearly two million immigrants from Europe, mostly Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Jews from eastern Europe.

Census

Definition of white according to the census of Venezuela "According to the Venezuela census the definition of White is: People whose skin tone is clear and that is why it is usually associated with populations of European origin. Although it literally implies external issues such as clear skin, shape and color of hair and eyes, among others, "white" has been used in different ways in different historical periods and places. Like other common words for human ethnicities, its precise definition is somewhat confusing"[1] With this definition, the true percentage of white population in Venezuela is not clear.

Geographic distribution

White Venezuelan population by Venezuelan state

The following is a sortable table of the white Venezuelan proportion of the population in each Venezuelan state, according to the 2011 Census data.[1]: table 2.12 on page 30 

Rank (by %) State White Venezuelan population (2011) % white[1]
1 Tachira 743,013 58.8%
2 Mérida 479,021 53.7%
3 Capital District 1,079,892 51.2%
4 Trujillo 369,961 48.3%
5 Nueva Esparta 217,828 47.1%
6 Zulia 1,799,760 46.3%
7 Miranda 1,387,265 45.8%
8 Vargas 153,252 44.7%
9 Aragua 763,351 43.4%
10 Carabobo 1,010,138 42.7%
11 Barinas 344,265 41.5%
12 Lara 800,225 41.9%
13 Anzoátegui 629,802 40.0%
14 Bolívar 646,059 39.2%
15 Falcón 375,823 38.9%
16 Monagas 359,473 38.8%
17 Sucre 375,688 38.5%
18 Portuguesa 348,745 37.0%
19 Delta Amacuro 62,457 36.4%
20 Cojedes 115,437 35.6%
21 Yaracuy 229,542 35.5%
22 Amazonas 54,102 34.4%
23 Guárico 264,036 32.9%
24 Apure 157,193 30.2%

Percentage of white Venezuelans in municipalities

The top 20 communities (municipalities) with the highest percentage of White Venezuelans according to the 2011 Census:[5]

  1. Chacao (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 72.20%
  2. Umuquena (San Judas Tadeo), Táchira 71.80%
  3. Cordero (Andrés Bello), Táchira 70.11%
  4. Lechería (Diego Bautista), Anzoátegui 70.10%
  5. El Hatillo (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 68.80%
  6. San Antonio de Los Altos (Los Salias), Miranda 66.90%
  7. Baruta (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 66.40%
  8. Canaguá (Arzobispo Chacón), Mérida and Lobatera (Lobatera), Táchira 65.50%
  9. La Grita (Jáuregui), Táchira 64.70%
  10. San Cristóbal, Táchira 64.50%
  11. El Junko (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 63.20%
  12. Táriba, Táchira 62.80%
  13. Michelena, Táchira 62.50
  14. Palmira (Guásimos), Táchira 62.30%
  15. Seboruco (Seboruco), Táchira 61.90%
  16. Pueblo Llano, Mérida 61.30
  17. Tovar, Mérida 60.90%
  18. Colonia Tovar (Tovar), Aragua 60.80%
  19. Capacho Nuevo (Independencia), Táchira 60.20%
  20. El Cobre (José María Vargas), Táchira 60.00%

Density of white Venezuelans in municipalities

The top 20 communities (municipalities) by population density (per km2) of white Venezuelans, according to the 2011 Census:[5]

  1. Chacao (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 3,962.69
  2. Santa Rita (Francisco Linares Alcántara), Aragua 2,604.25
  3. Carlos Soublette, Vargas 2,506.08
  4. Capital District (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 2,493.38
  5. Baruta (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 2,479.77
  6. Sucre (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 1,967.07
  7. Maracaibo, Zulia 1,835.49
  8. Lechería (Diego Bautista), Anzoátegui 1,668.23
  9. Porlamar (Mariño), Nueva Esparta 1,176.69
  10. San Francisco, Zulia 1,110.25
  11. Los Guayos, Carabobo 1,107.78
  12. Catia La Mar, Vargas 1,094.47
  13. San Antonio de Los Altos (Los Salias), Miranda 1065.68
  14. Carrizal, Miranda 970.25
  15. El Limón (Mario Briceño Iragorry), Aragua 944.04
  16. Palmira (Guásimos), Táchira 932.00
  17. Santa Cruz (José Angel Lamas), Aragua 800.90
  18. San Cristóbal, Táchira 766.64
  19. Cagua (Sucre), Aragua 761.63
  20. Pampatar (Maneiro), Nueva Esparta 749.08

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Resultado Básico del XIV Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda 2011 (Mayo 2014)" (PDF). Ine.gov.ve. p. 29. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Godinho, Neide Maria de Oliveira (2008). "O impacto das migrações na constituição genética de populações latino-americanas". Universidade de Brasília. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Wright, Winthrop R. (2013-08-28). Café con leche: Race, Class, and National Image in Venezuela. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292758407.
  4. ↑ Sebastian, Emily (15 December 2016). Colonial and Postcolonial Latin America and the Caribbean. Encyclopaedia Britannica. ISBN 9781508103493.
  5. 1 2 "Censo 2011 Redatam". www.redatam.ine.gob.ve.
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