Note: This post doesn’t seem to be spacing some of the words correctly. I attempted to fix it.
One reason I love Brazil is for its diverse nature, its mistura (mixture) of ethnicities, how so much mixing is still happening and most importantly, how these mixtures are changing the literal and figurative face of Brazil.
The Remix
The Native Brazilians, or Brasis, only had other Brasis to mix with (not a small number, as they numbered in the several millions and had been living there for the last 15,000-20,000 years) until the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500. The Portuguese then brought the Africans into the mix, albeit through a life of servitude. For a long while, these three ethnicities mixed and formed the bulk of the first kind of Brazilian.
In the late 19th and 20th centuries Italian, German, Spanish, Arab and Japanese immigrants settled Brazil and played an important role in its culture. If you ever have wondered why these later immigrants all settled into the lower Brazilian states (such as Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul), it is solely because the cash crops that needed to be grown would prosper only in these types of humid climates (the North & Northeast has long been arid).
This new blood brought with it a new kind of lifestyle, creating a multicultural and multiethnic society. Brazil was a colony of Portugal for over 3 centuries. Large numbers of settlers coming from Portugal arrived during this period (nearly 1 million) and brought their culture to the colony. The native inhabitants of Brazil had a strong contact with the colonists. Many were exterminated, others mixed with the Portuguese. For that reason, Brazil holds Amerindian influences in its culture, mainly in its food and language (Brazilian Portuguese has hundreds of words of Native American origin, mainly from the Tupi-Guarani).
Black Africans, who were brought as slaves to Brazil, also participated actively in the formation of Brazilian culture. Although the Portuguese colonists forced their slaves to become “more civilized” (that meant to convert to Catholicism and speak Portuguese) their cultural influences were absorbed by the inhabitants of Brazil of all races and origins. Some regions of Brazil, especially Bahia, have obvious African legacy in the music,food, language, etc.
Immigrants from Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan and the Middle-East played an important role in the areas they settled (mostly Southern and Southeastern Brazil). They organized communities that became important cities (Joinville and Caxias do Sul, for example) and brought important contributions to the culture of Brazil.
Current Trends
After the First World War and during and after the Second World War three other waves of immigrants came to Brazil from Europe and Asia, in the wake of great disturbances that were caused by the wars. Jewish immigration became important. In the second half of the 20th century, immigration to Brazil was greatly reduced, in part because checks on entrance of foreigners became more rigid, but also because immigration pressures decreased as wealth and political and economic stability increased in those countries which contributed most. During the 1970s Brazil received quite a large number of Lebanese immigrants escaping the civil war, as well as a considerable number of other Middle Easterners like Palestinians and Syrians. During the 1990s Brazil received small numbers of immigrants from the former republics of Yugoslavia, from Afghanistan and West Africa (mostly Angolans and Nigerians). Recent immigration is mainly constituted by Chinese and Koreans and, in a smaller degree, by Argentines and other Latin American immigrants.
As a social consequence of the political situation in Bolivia, many Bolivians now live in Brazil. Between 1,200 and 1,500 Bolivian immigrants come to Brazil every month looking for a job. Most of them work in the illegal textile industry in the Greater São Paulo. There are an estimated 200,000 Bolivians living in the Greater São Paulo, majority is of illegal immigrants.
Consequences
As happened with several other countries in the Americas, such as the United States, which encountered immigration from many countries, Brazil quickly became a melting pot of races and nationalities, but being peculiar in the sense of having the highest degree of intermarriage in the world. Immigrants found there a strong social and cultural tolerance toward inter-racial marriage, with large numbers of mulattoes, mestizos and mixed European/African/Indian people. Correspondingly, this free disposition of Brazilians toward inter-racial and inter-ethnic reproduction, though it was not accompanied by an entire lack of racism, reflected in low psychological and social barriers to intermarriage between Europeans, Middle Easterners and Asians of several origins, as well as between people of different religions.
Another likely consequence of strong immigration from North and South Europeans and Asians was the development of a work ethic and education-based personal progress ethic which were, perhaps, lacking in the Brazilian ethos so far, as well as the importation of much needed skills acquired by these people in their countries of origin. As a result, distribution of wealth, economic resources and education has largely accrued to the states in the South and Southeast.
Terms
Cabloco = European + Amerindian.
Mulato = African + European.
Cafuzo = Amerindian + African.
Issei, Nissei, Sansei, Yonsei = First, Second, Third & Fourth Generation Japanese-Brazilian.
(There is a joke for any generation past Nissei, in which they say they should be called Numsei. In proper Portuguese, it would be “nem sei” which means “I don’t even know”)
This article on Wikipedia has some interesting charts which break down the different waves of immigration by year and ethnicity. It is also where I took much of my information.
For related news on Brazil’s ethnic mix, check out this post!
Tags: brazil, Culture, ethnicities, immigrants, melting pot, mestiço, mixtures
