What are the "Whitest" regions of South America?

[Aiden]

If by White we're talking "European descent", what would the White areas of South America be? I know many South American countries definition of Whiteness is very different from that of the North American mindset so I'm really curious.

[alejandromb92]

The most euro-leaning (genetically) regions of South America / Ibero-America are South Brazil, Western Cuba, Western Puerto Rico, Eastern Argentina (mainly Pampa region) and the whole Uruguay. This regions surpass easily the 70% of euro ancestry by genetics.

[altvred]

There's a study from 2018 about Cuban population structure, where they examined the proportions of European, Amerindian, and African ancestry in each administrative region of the country and came up with this map:

 

I haven't read any comparable studies done in other Latin American countries, although I believe that something similar was done in Puerto Rico and Mexico.

As for South America, from what I understand, while there are certain regions like South Brazil, which received large numbers of European/Middle-Eastern migrants in the last 100 years, there is as much correlation with economic-social status across much of the continent and European ancestry as with geographic location. That is, the richer you are, the more 'European' you are.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the impression I got from reading some of the responses of forum users on the topic over the years.

[alejandromb92]

There's a study from 2018 about Cuban population structure, where they examined the proportions of European, Amerindian, and African ancestry in each administrative region of the country and came up with this map:

 

I haven't read any comparable studies done in other Latin American countries, although I believe that something similar was done in Puerto Rico and Mexico.

As for South America, from what I understand, while there are certain regions like South Brazil, which received large numbers of European/Middle-Eastern migrants in the last 100 years, there is as much correlation with economic-social status across much of the continent and European ancestry as with geographic location. That is, the richer you are, the more 'European' you are.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the impression I got from reading some of the responses of forum users on the topic over the years.

You are not wrong at all, it is the reality.

[Aiden]

The most euro-leaning (genetically) regions of South America / Ibero-America are South Brazil, Western Cuba, Western Puerto Rico, Eastern Argentina (mainly Pampa region) and the whole Uruguay. This regions surpass easily the 70% of euro ancestry by genetics.

Thanks. Very interesting, I've heard that South Brazil has many Germans and Italians, like whole villages that could be straight out of Germany and Italy

[Aiden]

There's a study from 2018 about Cuban population structure, where they examined the proportions of European, Amerindian, and African ancestry in each administrative region of the country and came up with this map:

 

I haven't read any comparable studies done in other Latin American countries, although I believe that something similar was done in Puerto Rico and Mexico.

As for South America, from what I understand, while there are certain regions like South Brazil, which received large numbers of European/Middle-Eastern migrants in the last 100 years, there is as much correlation with economic-social status across much of the continent and European ancestry as with geographic location. That is, the richer you are, the more 'European' you are.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the impression I got from reading some of the responses of forum users on the topic over the years.

That map of Cuba is fascinating! you can see the clear genetic boundary of West vs East, I never knew Cuba was like this genetically. Thanks for sharing

[RCO]

The most "European" constituent states in Brazil are in the South, Santa Catarina with more than 80% of whites and some local municipalities with almost 100% "white" with strong German immigration, in general in Brazil the upper class is more "European" and descendants of the first European settlers and conquerors, people and families who had big farms, slaves, wealth and political oligarchies associated with the Portuguese and Brazilian Empires while the poor people are usually associated with the descendants of African slaves and detribalized Amerindian, unfortunately in Latin America Income inequality is often accompanied by extreme wealth inequality and ethnic-racial differences.

[alejandromb92]

Thanks. Very interesting, I've heard that South Brazil has many Germans and Italians, like whole villages that could be straight out of Germany and Italy

Southern Brazil has a lot of northern italian (mainly venetian), german and portuguese immigration. They also have a lot of eastern european and middle eastern immigration.

[kingeo]

South/Central America is too mixed to categorize them as one race. In a family, it’s normal to see one sibling who looks white, and the other one who looks mestizo/a. If you are asking about recent immigrants from Europe, Argentina has a high German and Italian population.

[RCO]

German, Polish, Ukrainian immigration was far bigger in Brazil than in Argentina, only the Italian immigration was bigger in Argentina, but Brazil also had a good number. The Brazilian population grew faster. The Brazilian state of São Paulo has a bigger population than Argentina with 46 million inhabitants and a far bigger genetic variation because there was also a Japanese immigration. The three Brazilian Southern states (Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul) have almost 30 million, more than 5 million are descendants of Germans and Santa Catarina with more than 7 million is more European in proportion than most USA states and of course Brazil is the biggest reservoir of the Northern Portuguese population in the world, there are more "white" Portuguese descendants in Brazil than in the entire Iberian peninsula.