Uruguayans

Uruguayans(Spanish:uruguayos) are people identified with the country ofUruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and their allegiance to Uruguay. Colloquially, primarily among otherSpanish-speakingLatin Americannations, Uruguayans are also referred to as "orientals[as in Easterners]" (Spanish:orientales).
Uruguay is, along with much of theAmericas, a melting pot of different peoples, with the difference that it has traditionally maintained a model that promotescultural assimilation, hence the different cultures have been absorbed by the mainstream. Uruguay has one of the mosthomogeneouspopulations in South America; the most common ethnic backgrounds by far being those from Spain, Italy, Germany and France i.e.Spanish Uruguayans,Italian Uruguayans,German Uruguayans,French UruguayansandPolish Uruguayans.
Most Uruguayans descend from colonial-era settlers and immigrants from Europe with almost 88% of the population being ofEuropean descent.The majority of these areSpaniardsandItalians, followed by theFrench,Portuguese,Germans, Romanians,Greeks,British(EnglishorScots),Irish,Poles,Swiss,Russians,Bulgarians,Arab(mainlyLebaneseandSyrians),Sephardi and Ashkenazi JewsandArmenians.
There are also smaller numbers ofJapanese,as well as Amerindians, mainlyCharrúa,Minuán, Chaná, Güenoa andGuaraní.Montevideo, likeBuenos AiresinArgentinaandSantosinBrazil,was a major seaport to dock ships coming from Europe and elsewhere and European settlement greatly affected Uruguay to have a more western oriented culture.
Many colonies such asNueva Helvecia-Colonia Suiza, a Swiss colony and Colonia Valdense, a Piedmontese Waldensian colony, are located in the department ofColonia. Also, there are towns founded by British settlers, likeConchillasandBarker. Two Russian colonies calledSan JavierandColonia Ofir, are found in the department ofRío Negro. Also there areMennonitecolonies in the department of Río Negro like Gartental and El Ombú, inCanelones Departmentcalled Colonia Nicolich, and inSan José Departmentcalled Colonia Delta. El Ombú, is famous for its well-knownDulce de Leche"Claldy", and is located near the city of Young.
European immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries heavily influenced Uruguayan culture and lifestyle.The large cities, including its capitalMontevideo, have preserved European architecture, the latter being considered one of the greatest exponents of theart decostyle.
The majority of Uruguayans or theirancestors immigratedwithin the past five centuries, with the exception of theNative Americanpopulation.
According to the2023 Uruguay census, 85.2% of the Uruguayan population chose "white" as their principal and main ancestry, while 88.0% of the population identifying as having some white racial origins.Early Uruguayans are descendants of colonists from Spain and Portugal during the colonial period prior to 1810. More recent immigrants from Europe, largely from Italy, Germany and France, arrived in the great migratory wave during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Today, Uruguay's culture is influenced heavily by its European roots which is evident in its language, food and other aspects of everyday life.
Up to 2.4% of the population are ofMestizo(European-Amerindian) ancestry according to the 2011 census.People with Amerindian ancestry can be found in the north of Uruguay, primarily inTacuarembó Department, where the Amerindian ancestry accounts for 20% of the population.
A 1996censusidentified that 12,600 people in Uruguay were Amerindian descendants. In 2006, a census confirmed that there were 115,118 Uruguayans that descended from one Amerindian ethnic group, theCharrúas, reaching up to 4% of the country's population. In 2005, Sinthia Pagano,M.Dconducted a genetic study, detecting that 38% of Uruguayans may have expressed partial genetic influence from the Amerindian population.Another study found that 34% of the population has Amerindian admixture.
Africans,BlacksandMulattosin Uruguay are more or less 209,662 and they are mostly found inMontevideo,Rivera Department,Artigas Department,Salto DepartmentandCerro Largo Department.A 2011 census marked that there are more than 300,000 African descendants and that 80% of Afro-Uruguayans are under theworking classline.
Spanishis the de factonational language.The standard language, virtually spoken by the entire population isUruguayan Spanish, which is a variant ofRioplatense Spanish.It has a strong influence of the Italian language and its different dialects due to the number of immigrants that the country received.
FrenchandItalianhave great relevance in society, having been part of the educational curriculum until the 2000s.On the other hand, in the north-east of the country, thefronteiriçodialect is spoken, a mixture between Uruguayan Spanish andBrazilian Portugueseoriginated due to cultural exchange between the areas on both sides of the border.Englishis the most widespread foreign language among the Uruguayan people.
ContemporaryUruguayan culturecomes from the contribution of its alternating early settlers from Spain and Portugal, and important influence of European immigrants – Italians, French, Portuguese, Romanians, and Greeks, among others- and traditions blended withAmerindianandAfricanelements. Uruguay has Portuguese andSpanish colonial architecturalheritage and many writers, artists, and musicians.Candombeis the most important example of African influence byslaves.CharruaandGuaranítraditions can be seen inmate, the national drink. BothUruguayandArgentinashare its traditionalgaúchoroots (which originated inAndalusia).
Uruguay has no official religion; church and state are officially separated,andreligious freedomis guaranteed.A 2008 survey by the INE of Uruguay showed Catholicism as the main religion, with 45.7% of the population; 9.0% are non-Catholic Christians, 0.6% areAnimistsorUmbandists(anAfro-Brazilianreligion), and 0.4% Jewish. 30.1% reported believing in a god, but not belonging to any religion, while 14% wereatheistoragnostic.
Political observers consider Uruguay the most secular country in the Americas.Uruguay's secularization began with the relatively minor role of the church in the colonial era, compared with other parts of theSpanish Empire. The small numbers of Uruguay's indigenous peoples and their fierce resistance to proselytism reduced the influence of the ecclesiastical authorities.
In 1837 civil marriage was recognized, and in 1861 the state took over the running of public cemeteries. In 1907 divorce was legalized and, in 1909 all religious instruction was banned from state schools.Under the influence of the innovativeColoradoreformerJosé Batlle y Ordóñez(1903–1911), complete separation of church and state was introduced with the newconstitution of 1917.
Uruguay's capital has 12 synagogues, and a community of 20,000 Jews by 2011. With a peak of 50,000 during the mid-1960s, Uruguay has the world's highest rate ofaliyahas a percentage of the Jewish population.
TheBaháʼí Faithis also practiced, along withAfro-Brazilianreligions such asQuimbanda,Candomblé, andUmbanda.
Music of Uruguay includes a number of local musical forms. The most distinctive ones aretango,murga, a form of musical theater, andcandombe, an Afro-Uruguayan type of music which occur yearly during theCarnivalperiod. There is alsomilonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish traditions and related to similar forms found in many Hispanic-American countries. The famed tango singerCarlos Gardelwas born inToulouse, France, then raised inBuenos Aires, but as an adult he obtained legal papers saying he was born inTacuarembó, probably to avoid French military authorities.
"La cumparsita" (little street procession, a grammatical diminutive of la comparsa) is a tango written in 1916 by the Uruguayan musicianGerardo Matos Rodríguez, It is among the most famous and recognizable tangos of all time.
The popular music of Uruguay, which focuses onrock,jazz, and many other forms, frequently makes reference to the distinctly Uruguayan sounds mentioned above. The groupLos Shakers, similar tothe Beatles, deserve a special mention as the band that kickstarted theUruguayan rockscene.
Thegauchois a national symbol in Uruguay and Argentina but is also a strong culture in Paraguay and southern Brazil. Gauchos became greatly admired and renowned in legends, folklore andliteratureand became an important part of their regional cultural tradition.
The rate of Uruguayan emigration to Europe is especially high in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France. In the Americas, emigration is mostly to theUnited States,Canada,Argentina, and other nearby Latin American countries such asBrazilandChile. In Oceania, emigration is mainly toAustralia, and to a lesser extent,New Zealand.