Argentina People

History

Argentina people have a diverse cultural heritage historically, mixing European and the newer Syrian and Armenian arrivals, with around 100,000 to 600,000 pure Indians surviving. There were once African slaves here, but after slavery was abolished, blacks faded out of the population. What remains today is a largely European mix of Argentina people, although that in itself brings numerous juxtapositions and identity crises for the diverse population. Argentina people experienced an influx of immigrants similar to the USA, but in a much shorter period of time, so there was less time to meld together and form a national identity.

When you visit Argentina, you might think you're hearing Argentina people speak Italian, and you may be right. In the latter half of the ninetieenth century and up until World War II, Argentina was deeply committed to encouraging immigration, with government policy doing everything it could to attract laborers from Europe. Just a few years before World War I, Argentina people were almost one-third foreign-born, with 45 percent of this group originating in Italy and thirty percent from Spain. In urban areas, there were sometimes more newcomers than there were native-born Argentina people. There were jobs for everyone, with a booming agricultural sector and with anything involving cattle. The rush finally slowed down after WWII, with most immigrants coming from nearby South American countries, where work was hard to find. Since the 1990's the economy has slowed down, and workers from surrounding countries have actually started to leave, for lack of work, or have headed to the urban areas where their prospects are higher. The urban areas have not had an easy time of absorbing all these displaced workers, and there are some pretty serious shantytown situations for those Argentina people.

Ethnicities

There are approximately 33 million people living in Argentina, with about one-third living in Buenos Aires, the capital. Eighty-five percent of Argentinian people are of European descent. There are some groups who have tried to remain ethnically pure, such as a small group of Welsh in Patagonia and some German villages in the north. There's also a strong Anglo influence in Argentina, because British money was used to build much of Argentina's infrastructure in the late 1800's. English farmers also bought lots of land in Patagonia for raising sheep. The tight connetion between Anglo-Argentinians and England was strained, however, when loyalties clearly lay with Argentina during the Falklands war. More and more, Argentinian business is geared toward the US market rather than British.

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