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The inhabitants of Latin America are from a variety of ancestries, ethnic groups and races, making the region one of the most diverse in the world.〔(La diversidad de identidades étnico-raciales que conviven en América Latina )〕 The specific composition of the group varies from country to country. Many have a predominance of European-Amerindian or Mestizo population; in others, Amerindians are a majority; some are dominated by inhabitants of European ancestry; and some countries' populations have large Black or Mulatto populations. ==Ethnic groups== *Amerindians. The indigenous population of Latin America, the Native Americans, arrived during the Lithic stage. In post-Columbian times they experienced tremendous population decline, particularly in the early decades of colonization. They have since recovered in numbers, surpassing sixty million by some estimates.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= CIA — The World Factbook -- Field Listing — Ethnic groups )〕 With the growth of other groups, they now compose a majority only in Bolivia and possibly in Peru. In Guatemala, Native Americans are a large minority who comprise two-fifths of the population. Mexico's 14%〔 (9.8% in the official 2005 census) is the next largest population, and one of the largest Amerindian populations in the Americas in absolute numbers. Most of the remaining countries have Native American minorities, in every case making up less than one-tenth of the respective country's population. In many countries, people of mixed Native American and European ancestry make up the majority of the population (see Mestizo). *Asians. People of Asian descent number several million in Latin America. The first Asians to settle in the region were Filipino, as a result of Spain trading in Asia and the Americas. The majority of Asian Latin Americans are of Japanese or Chinese ancestry and reside mainly in Brazil and Peru; there is also a growing Chinese minority in Panama. Brazil is home to about two million people of Asian descent; this includes the largest ethnic Japanese community outside of Japan itself (estimated as high as 1.5 million), and about 200,000 ethnic Chinese and 100,000 ethnic Koreans. Ethnic Koreans also number tens of thousands in Argentina and Mexico. Peru, with 1.47 million people of Asian descent, has one of the largest Chinese communities in the world, with nearly one million Peruvians being of Chinese ancestry. There is a strong ethnic-Japanese presence in Peru, where a past president and a number of politicians are of Japanese descent. The Martiniquais population includes an African-White-Indian mixed population, and an East Indian (Asian Indian) population. The Guadeloupe an East Indian population is estimated at 14% of the population. *Blacks. Millions of African slaves were brought to Latin America from the 16th century onward, the majority of whom were sent to the Caribbean region and Brazil. Today, people identified as "Black" are most numerous in Brazil (more than 10 million) and in Haiti (more than 7 million). Among the Hispanic nations and Brazil leads this category in relative numbers with 15% of the population being ''Afro-Latin American''. Significant populations are also found in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela. Latin Americans of mixed Black and White ancestry, called Mulattoes, are far more numerous than Blacks. *Mestizos. Intermixing between Europeans and Native Americans began early in the colonial period and was extensive. The resulting people, known as Mestizos, make up the majority of the population in half of the countries of Latin America. Additionally, Mestizos compose large minorities in nearly all the other mainland countries. *Mulattoes. Mulattoes are people of mixed European and African ancestry. In Latin America, Mulattoes descend primarily from Spanish or Portuguese settlers on one side, and African on the other. Brazil is home to Latin America's largest mulatto population. Mulattoes are a population majority in the Dominican Republic and, depending on the source, Cuba as well. Mulattoes are also numerous in Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Ecuador. Smaller populations of mulattoes are found in other Latin American countries.〔 *Whites. Beginning in the late 15th century, large numbers of Iberian colonists settled in what became Latin America. The Portuguese colonized Brazil primaily, and the Spaniards settled elsewhere in the region. At present, most white Latin Americans are of Spanish or Portuguese origin. Iberians brought the Spanish and Portuguese languages, the Catholic faith, and many Iberian-Latin traditions. Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico contain the largest numbers of whites in Latin America.〔 Whites make up the majorities of Argentina, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and depending on the source in both Chile and Cuba. Whites make up nearly half of Brazil's population.〔〔(Cap.%202.%20Pensar%20a%20los%20indios,%20tarea%20de%20criollos.pdf massive immigration of European Argentina Uruguay Chile Peru Brazil )〕 Ever since most of Latin America gained independence in the 1810s–1820s, millions of people have immigrated there. Of these immigrants, Italians formed the largest group, and next were Spaniards and Portuguese.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=South America :: Postindependence overseas immigrants )〕 Many others arrived, such as French, Germans, Greeks, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Estonians, Latvians, Jews, Irish, and Welsh. Also included are Middle Easterners of Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian descent; most of them are Christian. Whites presently compose the largest racial group in Latin America (36% in the table herein) and, whether as White, Mestizo, or Mulatto, the vast majority of Latin Americans have white ancestry. *Zambos: Intermixing between Africans and Native Americans was especially prevalent in Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Brazil, often due to slaves's running away (becoming ''cimarrones'': maroons) and being taken in by Amerindian villagers. In Spanish speaking nations, people of this mixed ancestry are known as Zambos〔(Stranded in Paradise: Shipwrecked Hundreds of Years Ago, the Garifuna Are Still Trying to Find Their Way ) by Teresa Wiltz, The Washington Post.〕 in Middle America, and Cafuzos in Brazil. In addition to the foregoing groups, Latin America also has millions of tri-racial peoples of African, Native American, and European ancestry. Most are found in Dominican Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, with a much smaller presence in other countries. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ethnic groups in Latin America」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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