Demographics of South America
Basic data (population and area)[]
Brazil, Colombia and Amazonas maintain the largest populations.
By surface the largest countries are Amazonas, Brazil and Colombia.
| Flag | Country | Surface (km²) | Population | Density | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Amazonas | 4,843,398 | 57,008,917 | 11.8 | São Luís |
|
Brasil | 2,825,918 | 120,187,805 | 42.5 | Rio de Janeiro |
|
Colombia | 2,420,014 | 103,567,418 | 42.8 | Bogota |
|
Andes-Tawantinsuyu | 2,400,674 | 46,741,290 | 19.5 | Lima |
|
Argentina | 1,921,043 | 42,707,705 | 22.2 | Buenos Aires |
|
Chile | 972,733 | 19,195,844 | 19.7 | Santiago |
|
Wallmapu-Araucania | 553,619 | 3,082,404 | 5.6 | Trayen |
|
Paraguay | 478,818 | 7,468,943 | 15.6 | Asunción |
|
Pampa | 457,922 | 14,303,615 | 31.2 | Novo Bagé |
|
Guyana (British) | 214,969 | 813,834 | 3.8 | Georgetown |
|
Surinam (Dutch) | 163,820 | 623,237 | 3.8 | Paramaribo |
|
French Guiana | 83,534 | 312,155 | 3.7 | Cayenne |
Ethnic groups[]
In terms of ethnic groups, the demographics of South America shows a mixture of mainly Africans, Amerindians (Indigenous peoples of the Americas), Europeans, Mixed ethnicity and to a lesser extent East Indians.
The majority of modern Afro-Americans people descend from the Africans (primarily from Central and West Africa) taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean and Brazil via the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries to work primarily on various sugar and coffee plantations and in domestic households.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in what is known as Great Immigration, new groups arrived, mainly of Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and German origin to the Chile, Argentina, Pampa and Southern Brazil, but also from Japan, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
| Country | Amerindians | Whites | Blacks / Afro-americans |
Mixed | East Asians | East Indians | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazonas | 5.1% | 31.8% | 18.6% | 43.8% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Andes-Tiwantinsuyu | 45.0% | 17.0% | 0.0% | 36.5% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Argentina | 1.0% | 85.0% | 0.0% | 14.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Brazil | 0.4% | 47.7% | 7.6% | 43.2% | 1.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Chile | 5.0% | 52.0% | 0.0% | 43.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Colombia | 9.8% | 29.9% | 3.1% | 58.2% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Pampa | 0.2% | 67.9% | 3.9% | 27.5% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Paraguay | 3.0% | 43.0% | 0.0% | 55.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Wallmapu-Araucanía | 53.0% | 14.6% | 0.0% | 32.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Guyana (British) | 10.5% | 1.5% | 29.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 39.8% | 19.9% |
| Surinam (Dutch) | 3.8% | 2.0% | 22.5% | 15.7% | 0.0% | 42.6% | 13.4% |
| French Guiana | 10.5% | 14.0% | 15.0% | 60.0% | 0.0% | 1.0% | 0.0% |
| Total South America | 13.3% | 39.1% | 5.2% | 41.6% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Languages[]
Spanish and Portuguese are the most spoken languages in South America, Spanish is the official language of most countries, along with other native languages in some countries. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil and Amazonas. Spanish and Portuguese are cooficial in Pampa. Dutch is the official language of Suriname; English is the official language of Guyana, although there are at least twelve other languages spoken in the country, including Portuguese, Chinese, Hindustani and several native languages. French is the official language of French Guiana and the second language in Amapá, Amazonas.
Indigenous languages of South America include Quechua spoken in Andes-Tawantinsuyu, northern Chile, Argentina and Colombia; several Arawak languages in northern Colombia; Guaraní in Paraguay were its cooficial; Aymara Andes-Tawantinsuyu, and less often in Chile; and Mapudungun in Wallmapu-Araucanía and in certain pockets of southern Chile and Argentina.
At least four South American indigenous languages (Quechua, Aymara, Mapudungun and Guarani) are recognized along with Spanish as national languages. Of these Quechua is a sort of franca lingua in the Pacific coast of South America and Argentina.
The Guianas are home to the three main creole languages of the continent: the French-based Guianese Creole (Kriyòl) of French Guiana and the English-based Guyanese Creole, spoken in British Guyana and Sranan Tongo in Dutch Suriname. Also Palenquero is a Spanish-based creole language spoken in Colombia.
Portuñol is a non-systematic mixture of Portuguese and Spanish spoken in Pampa. It has some literary works and to lesser degree spoken in mass media. Lunfardo is an argot originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in the Río de la Plata region (encompassing the port cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo) and from there spread to other urban areas nearby, such as the Greater Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Rosario. Nevertheless, since the early 20th century, Lunfardo has spread in Argentina among all social strata and classes by habitual use or because it was common in the lyrics of tango.
| Flag | Country | Languages (main) | Indigenous Languages | Other Languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Amazonas | Portuguese | Tupi and Arawakan languages | |
|
|
Brasil | Portuguese | Tupi–Guarani languages | |
|
|
Colombia | Spanish | Chibchan, Arawakan , Cariban languages and Quechua |
Palenquero |
|
|
Andes-Tawantinsuyu | Spanish (official) | Quechua and Aymara (both official) Tupi and Arawakan |
|
|
|
Argentina | Spanish | Mapudungun, Guarani, Quechua, Tehuelche and Mataco–Guaicuru |
Lunfardo, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, German and Yiddish |
|
|
Chile | Spanish | Mapudungun, Quechua, Tehuelche, Selk'nam, Kawésqar and Yahgan |
|
|
|
Wallmapu-Araucania | Spanish (co-oficial) | Mapudungun (official), Quechua and Tehuelche |
|
|
|
Paraguay | Spanish (oficial) | Guaraní (oficial) | |
|
|
Pampa | Spanish and Portuguese (co-official languages) |
Guarani | Portuñol |
|
|
Guyana (British) | English | Cariban languages | Guyanese Creole |
|
|
Surinam (Dutch) | Dutch | Cariban languages | Sranan Tongo |
|
|
French Guiana | French | Cariban languages | French Guianese Creole (Kriyòl) |
Religion, Creeds and Beliefs[]
The majority of South American countries in general are separate of the Catholic Church and declared secular states, which guarantees freedom of religion for its inhabitants. However, in Andes-Tawantinsuyu Roman Catholicism along Inca Religion are officially recognized, sponsored and maintained by the State.
In South American countries Catholicism is the most professed Christian denomination. Catholicism was the only religion allowed in the colonial era; the indigenous were forced to abandon their beliefs, although many did not abandon it at all, for example, countries with predominantly Amerindian population such as Andes-Tawantinsuyu there is a syncretism between the Inca-Religion and the Catholicism religion, that has occurred since colonial times. In Brazil and Amazonas Catholicism is mixed with certain African rituals. These Afro-Brazilian religions are syncretic religions, such as Candomblé, Umbanda, Batuque, Xango, and Tambor de Mina.
Protestantism has had a presence since the nineteenth century, being a significant minority in Wallmapu-Araucania with the Anglican and Methodism being the majors ones. Other countries with significant Protestants are Brazil, Amazonas, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Pampa were Calvinism, Methodism, Anglicanism, Pentecostalism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah's Witnesses are the major Christian denominations.
The main indigenous creeds and rituals are Inca and Mapuche religions, both officially sanctioned and recognized in Andes-Tawantinsuyu and Wallmapu-Araucania respectively.
Argentina and Pampa have the largest communities of both Eastern Orthodoxy Jews and Muslims in South America. In Paraguay Mennonite communities have long history of settlements in the Chaco region, having being the most numerous denomination in all South America. Hinduism is the second-largest religion in both Suriname and Guyana. Spiritism, founded in the 19th century by the French educator Allan Kardec, if considered non-Christian, would be by far the largest non-Christian religion in Brazil.
The history of Freemasonry in South America can be traced to at least the end of the 18th century with the first Masonic lodge was formally established in Argentina and Brazil. Freemasonry has been considered one of the precursor of the independence and revolutionary struggles, to the point that the guidelines of the geographical-political division have been due to the great influence of freemasons. Mainly, in Latin America, where the ideas of freedom, equality and fraternity, launched in the French Revolution, were taken as a banner to catalyze social movements, among which are the abolition of slavery, secular education, separation of Church and State, secularization of society and anti-clericalism in 19th and 20th-century.
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