Colombian ethnography

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The ethnic diversity of the country.

The ethnography of Colombia is characterized by being the mixture of three main groups: Spanish, indigenous and African. The mixing of these three groups was joined by some immigrants from Europe, the Middle East and, to a lesser extent, Asia.

In the 2018 general population census, 6.68% of the population self-identified as Afro-Colombian (including Raizales and Palenqueros), 4.31% as indigenous, and 0.01% as Gypsy.

87.58% were classified without ethnicity, a category that includes the rest of the populations that inhabit the country, which include mestizos and descendants of Europeans, Arabs, Jews, Asians, and other groups that do not appear officially in the census. Colombia is one of the countries with the greatest ethnic and linguistic diversity in the world.

Self-recognition in the Census

Census 2018
EtniaPercentage
No ethnicity
87.58 %
Black, mulatto, Afro-descendant, Afro-Colombian
6.68 %
Indigenous
4.31 %
No response
1.35 %
Raizal
0.06 %
Palenquero
0.02 %
Gypsy
0.01 %
Source: National Statistics Department
  • No ethnicity: 38 678 341
  • Black, mulatto, Afro-descendant, Afro-Colombian: 2 950 072
  • Indigenous: 1 905 617
  • No response: 595 586
  • Raizal: 25 515
  • Palenquero: 6 637
  • Gypsy: 2 649
Ethnic recognition in Colombia by department Censo 2018 Source: DANE
DepartmentNo ethnic recognitionBlack, mulatto,

Afro-descendant, Afro-Colombian

IndigenousNo answerRaizalPalenqueroGypsy

o Rrom

Bandera de Amazonas (Colombia)Amazon 37.47% 0.72% 57.72% 4.06% 0.02% 0.00% 0.01%
Bandera de AntioquiaAntioquia 93.01 per cent 5.21% 0.63% 1.13% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de AraucaArauca 91.71% 4.17% 2.74% 1.35% 0.02% 0.01% 0.00%
Bandera de AtlánticoAtlantic 91.29% 5.93% 1.67% 1.06% 0.02% 0.04% 0.00%
Bandera de BogotáBogotá, D. C. 96.81% 0.91% 0.27% 1.99% 0.01% 0.00% 0.01%
Bandera de BolívarBolívar 82.26% 16.49% 0.27% 0.73% 0.03% 0.21% 0.00%
Bandera de BoyacáBoyacá 97.92% 0.37% 0.63% 1.08% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de CaldasCaldas 91.56% 1.58% 6.04% 0.80% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de CaquetáCaquetá 92.32% 1.40% 2.45% 3.81% 0.01% 0.00% 0.01%
Bandera de CasanareCasanare 95.46% 1.60% 1.81% 1.11% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de CaucaCauca 54.7 per cent 19.72% 24.81% 0.99% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
Bandera de CesarCesar 81.34% 12.95% 4.66% 1.03% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
Bandera de ChocóChocó 4.69% 73.77% 14.96% 6.51% 0.03% 0.03% 0.01%
Bandera de CórdobaCórdoba 79.75% 6.57% 13.03% 0.62% 0.01% 0.00% 0.01%
Bandera de CundinamarcaCundinamarca 97.96% 0.46% 0.36% 1.21% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de GuainíaGuainía 20.54% 1.02% 74.90% 3.52% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01%
Bandera de GuaviareGuaviare 81.53% 4.08% 9.38% 49 per cent 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
Bandera de HuilaHuila 97.26% 0.50% 1.21% 1.02% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de La GuajiraThe Guajira 43.64% 7.30% 47.82% 1.21% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
Bandera de MagdalenaMagdalena 89.18% 8.40% 1.66% 0.74% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
Bandera del MetaTarget 94.64% 0.95% 2.23% 2.16% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de NariñoNariño 65.24% 17.43% 15.46% 1.84% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01%
Bandera de Norte de SantanderNorth of Santander 98.17% 0.40% 0.34% 1.07% 0.00% 0.00% 0.02%
Bandera de PutumayoPutumayo 76.50% 3.61% 17.90% 1.97% 0.00% 0.01% 0.01%
Bandera de QuindíoQuindío 97.17% 1.18% 0.57% 1.07% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de RisaraldaRisaralda 93.65% 1.98% 3.56% 0.79% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00%
Bandera de San Andrés y ProvidenciaSan Andrés and Providencia 43.10% 13.52% 0.04% 1.22% 42.10% 0.02% 0.00%
Bandera de SantanderSantander 97.53% 1.12% 0.06% 1.26% 0.01% 0.00% 0.02%
Bandera de SucreSucre 75.12% 11.88% 12.14% 0.83% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02%
Bandera de TolimaTolima 94.84% 0.42% 3.68% 1.04% 0.00% 0.00% 0.01%
Bandera de Valle del CaucaValle del Cauca 80.92% 17.07% 0.81% 1.18% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
Bandera de VaupésVaupés 14.41% 0.72% 81.68% 3.14% 0.03% 0.02% 0.00%
Bandera de VichadaVichada 36.98% 0.74% 58.16% 4.10% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
National total 87.58% 6.68% 4.31% 1.35% 0.06% 0.02% 0.01%

History of ethnic groups

Despite various works in ethnohistory, it is unknown exactly how many indigenous people inhabited the current territory of Colombia at the arrival of the Europeans, because the pre-Hispanic information was from oral tradition, and therefore there are no written documents that serve to calculate the population of the time. However, if it is known that after the arrival of the Spaniards there was a great mortality of the indigenous population (90%) caused by the diseases brought by the Europeans, the wars and sporadic combats that they maintained with the latter and the forced labor and semi-slavery to which the indigenous peoples were subjected by the Spanish colonizers. However, the indigenous population of the Colombian territory was already scarce, which partly explains the need for the Spaniards to import African slaves to use them as labor, although the main reason was the extermination of most of them. Indigenous.

A representation of mestizos in a "Pintura de Castas" of the colonial era. "Spanish and Indian produces mestizo". During the colonial period a racial caste society was imposed.

The first African slaves arrived in 1504, but the need was such that from 1520 approximately 4,000 African slaves entered the country every year. Since the end of the 16th century, many black slaves managed to flee (maroons) and founded and established free black towns (Palenques), such as the famous Palenque de San Basilio. The entry point for the slaves was Cartagena, which together with Mompox was the main point of purchase and sale of these. From there they were displaced by the Cauca and Magdalena rivers to other secondary centers of slave trade, such as Popayán, Honda (Tolima), Anserma (Caldas) and Cali. During the first decades, young male slaves were mainly imported, but then young women began to be introduced to supply the territory with new slaves. The slaves performed all kinds of work, mainly in mining, agriculture, livestock, and domestic service. The main linguistic groups of the slaves were Bantu and Sudanese. In addition, the slaves had to be instructed in the Catholic faith to be recognized in the new society. Receiving the sacrament of baptism was an essential condition to enter Hispanic America, according to the regulations of the Spanish crown, which prohibited the entry of Jews, heretics, and pagans.

The first European explorations were carried out by Alonso de Ojeda, Juan de la Cosa and Américo Vespucio, reaching the Guajira Peninsula. In 1501 Rodrigo de Bastidas discovered the mouths of the Magdalena River and the Bay of Cartagena, accompanied by Juan de la Cosa himself. The first map of the coast was drawn up by Juan de la Cosa between 1492 and 1510. In 1511 Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovered the Atrato River and contemplated the waters of the Pacific from the Panamanian Sierra of Darién. In 1522 Pascual de Andagoya, discoverer of Peru, reached the Pacific to the mouths of the San Juan River. The Spaniards spent some twenty years exploring the Colombian coasts, founding several cities and factories, and then advanced into the interior of the country. The first Spanish settlers began to settle in the territory immediately after its conquest by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, around the year 1540.

In 1528, the Welser banking family obtained from Carlos V the exclusivity for the conquest and colonization of the territory between Cabo de la Vela (present-day Colombia) and Maracapana (present-day Venezuela), being the first non-Latin Europeans to initiate the colonizing process in Latin America. Some of the most important explorers were Ambrosius Ehinger, Nikolaus Federmann, Georg Hohermut von Speyer or Philipp von Hutten, but their presence ended in 1546, after the concession was withdrawn by the Council of the Indies after repeated unsuccessful attempts by the governors sent by the Welsers to establish a stable government in their territories, the discontent of the Castilians who inhabited Coro and accusations of various kinds. The reasons for the withdrawal of the contract was the breach of the lease agreement, which included the founding of several cities and several forts, and also failed in the part of the contract where the obligation to spread Christianity among the natives was stipulated. During this short period, small groups of German settlers settled in the territory, but the weather, heat, and disease killed many of them, and others returned to Germany, with very few remaining.

During the 16th century and early XVII, the Spanish colonists were nothing more than male soldiers at the service of the conquerors who later settled in the territory. Spanish women would take time to arrive and when they did their numbers were always relatively few. This coupled with the fact that the Spanish men were young and had generally come to America in search of adventure, riches and because of the stories about the indigenous women going naked, they had large numbers of children with the native women and the African slaves, to whom which they frequently dropped out. In this way, racial and, in some cases, cultural miscegenation began, and in a few years the mestizo population rose as the majority of the population, and as Europeans (especially Spaniards), Americans, and Africans continued to mix, various varieties of races, being called the most important, such as: mestizo (white-brown), castizo (white-mestizo), brown (white-black), zambo (black-brown).

Colonial society was characterized by being divided into ethnic social classes. Thus, the ruling class were the criollos (denomination to the Spaniards and unmixed descendants of these established in America) and some varieties (castizos and mestizos with a white appearance), the middle class was made up of the mestizos and some varieties (some castizos and mestizos with few or medium indigenous features), the lower class was made up of indigenous people and some varieties (mestizos with a predominantly indigenous appearance) and at the bottom were black slaves and some varieties (mulattoes with a predominantly black appearance).

From colonial times to even present times, the white population has generally reached the main and most important positions, positions and jobs in society, having a medium-high economic status and level of social well-being, in contrast to people of other ethnicities. For example, the vast majority of the country's presidents have been white, the largest and most developed cities in the country currently Bogotá and Medellín have a higher percentage of white inhabitants, while the most backward areas are those where the presence of brown or black is older; such as the Pacific coast or the Amazon region. This has generated internal controversies about the role of the white race and its responsibility in this backwardness; leading to the "anti-discrimination law" of 2011, where it is established: "Anyone who arbitrarily prevents, obstructs or restricts the full exercise of the rights of people for reasons of their race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, political or philosophical ideology, sex or sexual orientation, will incur a prison term of 12 to 36 months".

Since the country's independence, small groups of Arab, Jewish, non-Spanish European immigrants (Italian, German, French, English, Irish, Lithuanian, among other Europeans) also Japanese, Chinese and others joined the mix Asians, although they did not have a significant impact on the ethnic composition and culture of the country.

Ethnic groups

Ethnographic Composition

MESTBLANAMERNEGRMULATZAMBGITANOtherNS/NRStudyYearRef.
87.6%4.3 per cent6.8%- 1.4%- CIA The World Factbook Colombia2022
47%26%5 %6%5%- - 2%- Latin barometer: ethnic self-recognition in Colombia2017
49%37%3.4%10.6%- - 0.01%- - U.S. Federal Research Division: Colombia, a country study2010
38%a37%2%4%17%1%- 1%- Schwartzman, 2008: Ethnic identification according to country2008
53.2 per cent20,0%1.8 %3.9 per cent21.0%0.1 per cent- - - Lizcano, 2005: Composition of the Three Cultural Areas of America at the beginning of S.XXI2005

Notes: a percentage includes triracials.

  • According to the 2005 census, 11.62% of the population identified themselves as Afro-descendant, 3.43% Amerindia, 0.01% Gypsy, and 85.94% without ethnicity (white and mixed). Of the latter group, it is estimated that 49% were mixed and 37% white.
  • According to Latinobarómetro, in 2016, 47% of Colombians identified themselves as mestizos, 26% as whites, 6% as blacks, 5% as amerindians, 5% as mulattos, and 2% as belonging to another group.
  • For its part, another study led by Mexican ethnologist Francisco Lizcano Fernández points out that Colombia is a mainly mestizo country (53.2%), with important mulatto minorities (21.0%) and criollos (20.0%), and small black minorities (3.9%), indigenous (1.8%) and Afro-Caribbean (0.1%).
  • In the Latin American Social Cohesion Survey conducted in 2007, 37 per cent of the population was identified as white, 23 per cent identified as a mixture of all (triracial), 17 per cent identified as a mixture of black and white, 15 per cent as a mixture of white and indigenous, 4 per cent as black, 2 per cent as indigenous, and 1 per cent as a mixture of indigenous and black.

Mongrels

They constitute the main ethnic group of the total population of the country, according to unofficial estimates, since the government of the country does not carry out racial censuses where the Mestizos are separated from the Whites, but rather joins them together, and there are no racial censuses of self-identification as it happens in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela; among other Latin American countries. The history of miscegenation in Colombia began shortly after the first settlers settled in the territory. It is a direct result of the shortage of European women in some sectors of the kingdom during the conquest, due to the fact that during the entire colonial period the majority of European immigrants were male. The Spaniards then united mainly with native women of the different ethnic groups, indigenous or African. The mestizos are found practically in the entire territory of the country and its population is the largest in Colombia, the European contribution being almost exclusively from the paternal side, since more than 80% of Colombians descend from a European through the paternal line, while 85% of Colombians come from an indigenous woman by maternal route. 78.1% of Bogotanos descend from an indigenous woman.

Originally asymmetrical mixture
Line Materna DNAmt
Territory White Amerindian African
Antioquia 2% to 3.8% 90% to 88.4% 8% to 9.6%
Santander 4.71 % 92.9 % 2.35 %
North of Santander 5.7 % 94.3 % 0 %
Tolima 8 % 88.5 % 3.3 %
Line Paterna crom-Y
Territory White Amerindian African
Antioquia 94 % % 5 %
Santander 86.6 % 6.1 % 7.3%
North of Santander 77.1 % 8.6 % 14.3%
Tolima 73.11 % 17.6% 9.74 %

Caucasian

María Luisa Calle, cyclist of Spanish and English descent.

The ancestry of Colombian Caucasians is mainly Spanish, Arabic, and Italian with French, German, Irish, Slavic, and other contributions.

In what was New Granada there were a large number of Spaniards who began to arrive in the territory as settlers shortly after the conquest in large numbers (compared to the native population of the territory at that time), but they were mainly single males. The greatest example is provided by the Andean region, for example, in Antioquia, genetic investigations found that the Y chromosome haplogroups show 94% European, 5% African and 1% indigenous male ancestry, and on the contrary, the haplogroups of the Mitochondrial DNA reveals a maternal ancestry of 90% indigenous, 8% African and 2% European.

After the country's independence, the doors were opened to European immigrants, despite the fact that the government did not motivate or encourage them. By then, the country was politically, socially and economically very unstable, with a series of internal conflicts, civil wars and coups d'état occurring shortly after independence, which almost completely destabilized it; assuming a demotivation for European immigrants. Despite everything, small groups of Spaniards, Italians, Germans, French, British, Russians, Poles (among others), arrived in the country mainly through the port of Barranquilla, settling mostly in the main cities. An important exception to this trend is the department of San Andrés y Providencia, which was a British colony and the white population descends mainly from Scottish and English settlers.

Historically, the white population has played an influential role in the history of Colombia, as it is in the creation of government institutions, the constitution, the army, the national anthem, the construction of infrastructure, creations in art, architecture and science.

Immigration
Nationality Information
GermanFlag of Germany.svgGerman German Immigration in Colombia
AustrianFlag of Austria.svgAustrian Austrian Immigration in Colombia
BelgaFlag of Belgium (civil).svgBelga Belgian Immigration in Colombia
BritishBandera del Reino UnidoBritish British Immigration in Colombia
CzechFlag of the Czech Republic.svgCzech Czech Immigration in Colombia
CroatianFlag of Croatia.svgCroatian Croatian Immigration in Colombia
SpainBandera de EspañaSpanish Spanish Immigration in Colombia
Bandera de FranciaFrancesa French Immigration in Colombia
GreekFlag of Greece.svgGreek Greek Immigration in Colombia
HungarianFlag of Hungary.svgHungarian Hungarian Immigration in Colombia
Bandera de IrlandaIrish Irish Immigration in Colombia
ItalianaFlag of Italy.svgItaliana Italian Immigration in Colombia
LithuaniaFlag of Lithuania.svgLithuania Lithuanian Immigration in Colombia
NetherlandsFlag of the Netherlands.svgNetherlands Dutch Immigration in Colombia
PowderFlag of Poland.svgPowder Polish Immigration in Colombia
Bandera de PortugalPortuguesa Portuguese Immigration in Colombia
RomanianBandera de Rumania Romanian Romanian Immigration in Colombia
RussianFlag of Russia.svg Russian Russian Immigration in Colombia
SerbiaBandera de SerbiaSerbia Seguridad industrial en Colombia
SwitzerlandFlag of Switzerland.svgSwitzerland Swiss Immigration in Colombia

Afro-Colombians

Afro-Colombian population of Colombia by municipality in 2005. 72.7% - 100% 45% - 72.6% 20.4% - 44.9% 5.8% - 20.3% 0% - 5.7% No data

According to the 2005 census, they were 10.5% of the population. In the 2018 census, they corresponded to 6.75% of the population, including mulattoes, raizales, and palenqueros. However, other estimates indicate up to 25% Afro-Colombians in total, made up of 21.1% mulattoes and zambos, and 3.9% blacks, in the case of Lizcano-Fernández (2005), or a 21% Afro-Colombians, with 17% mulattoes, 4% blacks and 1% zambos, according to Schwartzman (2008). For the Colombian government, the real number of Afro-descendants reaches 26% of the total, while traditionally it is estimated at 21 % of Afro-Colombians (14% as mulattoes, 4% as blacks and 3% as zambos).

Within Afro-Colombians, four important groups can be distinguished:

  • Those who live in the Caribbean region, including the Palenque community of San Basilio.
  • Those located on the Pacific coast (Biographical Chocó)
  • Those who live in the inter-Andean valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers, and some of their tributaries, as well as in the cross-sectional valley of the Patagonia River.
  • The roots of the Archipelago of Saint Andrew Providencia and Saint Catherine.

The departments with the highest percentage of Afro-Colombians are Chocó (73.83%), San Andrés and Providencia (55.64%), Cauca (19.74%), Nariño (17.45%), Valle del Cauca (17.09%), Bolívar (16.73%), Cesar (12.97%) and Sucre (11.91%). In the 2005 census, 29.2% of all Afro-Colombians were concentrated in the cities of Cartagena de Indias, Cali, Barranquilla, Medellín, and Bogotá. In Bogotá, the city in the country with the most people who do not declare ethnicity, 100,000 Afro-Colombians resided, representing 1.5% of the District's population (a 29% of them were born in the city and 17% who migrated from Chocó).

The Colombian Constitution and Law 70 of 1993 recognize the rights, culture, customs, traditions and territories of the Afro-Colombian population that has been titled as collective lands of black communities, a total of 15,717,269 hectares that corresponds to 16, 13% of the country's surface.

The Afro-Colombian population has a high birth rate, the average number of children per woman being 2.7, being above the national average (2.1), being 2.4 in urban settings and 3.5 in rural settings, in both cases also above the national average (1.9 and 3.1 respectively).

Traditional dance in San Basilio de Palenque.

The Afro-Colombian population is mostly young, but it is experiencing progressive aging, resulting in an increase in the number of older adults. In addition, and unlike the indigenous, its structure and gender distribution presents a behavior more similar to that of the total population of the country.

86% of the Afro-Colombian population is literate, the percentage being slightly higher in women (88%) than in men (86%). Regarding education, 41% have basic primary studies, 21% have no studies in any degree and 16% have basic secondary studies. 47% of the population is single.

Palenqueros

The maroons, Africans and their enslaved descendants who managed to flee led a life of freedom in remote corners of the cities and colonized areas called palenques or quilombos, where a culture and population with peculiar characteristics was maintained and developed, which maintained major physical and spiritual elements of their African origins. One of them was the Palenque de San Basilio, where several palenques from the Montes de María were regrouped, a territory legalized by the Spanish Crown in 1714. Their genetic origins can be compared with those of nearby territories, to verify that they also reflect the history characteristic of these communities.

Comparison of the origin of the populations by parental and paternal line
Line Paterna crom-Y
Territory African Amerindian White
Palenque de San Basilio 78.6 %% 0 % 21.4%
Bolivar (rest) 28,06 % 7.38 % 65.67 %
Cartagena de Indias 8.3 per cent to 23 per cent 9.9% to 6.6% 80.2% to 72.1%
Line Materna DNAmt
Territory African Amerindian White
Palenque de San Basilio 85.7 % 13.2% 0 %
Córdoba-Sucre 25 % 74.8 % 7.3%
Atlantic 9.6% 73.9 % 16.3%

Roots

The Raizal population of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina originated by the colonization of Scots, English and other Europeans and enslaved Africans also has clear linguistic and cultural specificities. Genetic investigations carried out in Providencia on its origins by paternal and maternal line give the following result:

Origin of the Raizal population of Providence by paternal and maternal line
Line Paterna crom-Y
African Amerindian White
51.6 %% 0 % 48.4 %
Line Materna DNAmt
African Amerindian White
67.8 % 0.1 % 32.1 %

Indigenous

Indigenous population of Colombia by municipality in 2005. 61.4% - 100% 29.6% - 61.3% 11.7% - 29.5% 2.9% - 11.6% 0% - 2.8% No data
Wayúu ethnic woman, the largest Amerindian people in Colombia.

Despite having constituted an important segment in the past (in 1852 the indigenous people were 17.8% of the total population), today the indigenous population constitutes only 4.31% of the population. been victims of abuse, semi-slavery, harsh living conditions and forced labor for centuries, the 1991 Constitution recognized the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, and also ratified ILO Convention 169, which internationally regulates their rights.

The Colombian government recognizes the existence of 87 indigenous peoples: Achagua, Amorúa, Andoke, Arhuaco, Arzario, Awá, Bara, Barasana, Barí, Betoye, Bora, Cañamomo, Carapana, Chimila, Chiricoa, Cocama, Coreguaje, Coconuco, Coyaima, Desano, Dujo, Emberá, Emberá Chamí, Emberá Katío, Eperara Siadipara, Guambiano, Guanaca, Guane, Guayabero, Hitnü, Inga, Kawiyarí, Kamëntsa, Kankuamo, Karijona, Kichwa, Kofán, Kogui, Kubeo, Kuiba, Kurripako, Letuama, Makaguaje, Makuna, Masiguare, Matapí, Miraña, Mokana, Muisca, Nasa, Nonuya, Nunak, Ocaina, Pasto, Piaroa, Piratapuyo, Pisamira, Puinave, Sáliba, Senú, Sikuani, Siona, Siriano, Taiwano, Tanimuka, Tariano, Tatuyo, Tikuna, Totoró, Tsiripu, Tucano, Tule, Tuyuka, Tzase, Uitoto, Umbrá, U'wa, Wanano, Waunan, Wayuu, Yagua, Yanacona, Yaruro, Yauna, Yuko, Yukuna, Yuri and Yurutí.

The departments with the highest proportion of indigenous people are Vaupés (81.68%), Guainía (74.9%), Vichada (58.16%), Amazonas (57.72%), La Guajira (47.82%)), Cauca (24.81%), Putumayo (17.9%) and Nariño (15.46%). In the 2005 Census, the departments of La Guajira, Cauca and Nariño concentrated approximately half of the country's indigenous people. In accordance with the National Constitution, indigenous languages are also official in their territories, apart from Spanish. In the country, 64 Amerindian languages are spoken and a diversity of dialects that are grouped into 13 linguistic families.

Other Groups

  • Arab: Apart from the Spanish, Arab immigration has been the most important in Colombia. The first Arabs arrived in the country at the end of the centuryXIX. Most immigrants were initially Catholic or Orthodox who lived in territory occupied by the Ottoman Empire in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, and because of that they entered with documents from that country, they were therefore mistakenly called "turcos". The causes of emigration were mainly economic, with migrants at first young singles seeking opportunities in America. The situation of the country at the time was civil wars and economic and administrative problems as the discontent and opposition grew against the reformist and dictatorial government of General Rafael Reyes, which made it a very unattractive destination for the migrants; yet, groups that settled in the north of the country began to arrive, in the area surrounding the Caribbean coast, initially in the city of Barranquilla, the emigrants. Many came to the country by mistake, confusing it with the fate of their journey, staying in it. Arab immigrants found similarities of their culture with Colombian culture, thus adapting easily to society. Since 1930, the Arab migratory flow is reduced, due to the restrictions imposed by the Colombian government of the time and the Great Depression of 1929 across the American continent. Syrian-Lebanese can be found in almost all Colombian cities, with the largest concentration of Muslims in the city of Maicao, where the second largest mosque in Latin America is located. It is estimated that there are 15 000 Muslims in Colombia and 2 500 000 Arab citizens.
  • Jews: The Jewish presence in Colombia dates from colonial times, as shown by the minutes of the Cartagena Inquisition of the centuryXVII, although in a very small and discreet way, due to the persecution suffered by the Spanish authorities. But it is from the independence of the country in the centuryXIX when the presence of an organized Jewish community, especially Sephardic Jews, is clear, establishing itself in the city of Barranquilla, to which they contributed significantly in their economic, social and cultural development by focusing mainly on commercial activities. At the beginning, the Jews established in Barranquilla came mostly from Curaçao, but from the 1920s they began to arrive in the Apopani Jews of Eastern Europe, who founded Hebrew institutions such as the Israeli Philanthropic Center in 1927 and the Hebrew Union College in 1935. However, several waves of anti-Semitism appropriated the country and hindered the arrival of immigrants, and since 1940 their numbers began to be very small and since 1950 some 7,000 Jews were reported in the country. From that period the Jews began to emigrate from Colombia, and there are currently more Colombians in Israel (about 15,000) than Jews in Colombia. There are currently 4 Hebrew schools officialized by the Israeli government and the Jewish community in Colombia: Colegio Colombo Hebreo in Bogotá, Colegio Hebreo Unión en Barranquilla, Colegio Hebreo Jorge Isaacs en Cali and Colegio Theodoro Hertzl in Medellín.
  • Gypsies: The Gypsies (also known as Rom) were recently recognized as a Colombian ethnic group by Resolution No. 022 of 2 September 1999 issued by the General Directorate of Ethnics of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, and then by Decree 2957 of 2010 which established recognition of their rights. They are a mainly urban population, they are distributed in kumpanias, which are “variable units of corresidence and cocirculation that settle in neighborhoods or disperse by families among the houses of the non-Gypsy inhabitants in the popular sectors of the cities, and secondly in family groups of varying size that still maintain cultural and social ties with one of the kumpanias”. They are mainly located in the departments of Atlántico, Bolívar, Norte de Santander, Santander, Valle del Cauca, Nariño and Bogotá. It is 0.01 % of the Colombian population.

Genetic makeup

Caucasian Amerindian African Arabica Study Year Source
61-63 % 26-29 % 10-11 % - Emilio Yunis1993 Universidad Nacional de Colombia
57.6 % 31.8 % 10.6 % - Genome-wide patterns of population structure and admixture among Hispanic/Latino populations2009 Cornell University
45.9 % 33.8 % 20.3 % - (Oliveira, 2008): O impacto das migrações na constituciónçãogene de populações latino-americanas2008 University of Brasilia
50.2 % 29.0 % 8.1 % 12.2 % DNA Tribes: SNP Admixture Results by Population (I-II)2012 DNA Tribes
60.0 % 29.0 % 11.0 % - Admixture in Latin America: Geographic Structure, Phenotypic Diversity and Self-Perception of Ancestry (Genmol-Candela)2014 PLoS Genetics
62.5 % 27.4 % 9.2% - Genomic Insights into the Ancestry and Demographic History of South America2015 PLoS Genetics
44.0 % 28.0 % 19.0 % 8.0 % Reference Populations – Geno 2.0 Next Generation2016 National Geographic
44.0 % 39.0 % 17.0 % - Admixture in the Americas: Regional and National Differences2016 Research Gate
63.4 % 27.8 % 8.9 % - Assortative Mating on Ancestry-Variant Traits in Admixed Latin American Populations2019 PLoS Genetics

Phenotype

According to an investigation carried out with 1,659 Colombian samples, most of the individuals studied had black or brown eyes (64%), followed by those with brown eyes (16% of men and 15% of women), honey color (11% of women and 10% of men), green (8%), and blue or gray (2%). Likewise, the majority had black or brown hair (85% of women and 81% of men), followed by those with brown (16% of men and 12% of women), blonde (2%) and reddish hair. (1% of men). Hair was mainly described as wavy (39% of men and 38% of women) and straight (39% of men and 33% of women), followed by curly hair (27% of women and 20% of women). of men) and curly (2%). The average genetic mix for the total sample was 60% European, 29% indigenous and 11% African.

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