Venezuelans of European descent
European Venezuelans or White Venezuelans are Venezuelan citizens who self-identify in the national census as white, tracing their heritage to European ethnic groups. According to the official census report, although "white" literally involves external issues such as light skin, shape and color of hair and eyes, among others, the term "white" has been used in different ways in different historical periods and places, and so its precise definition is somewhat confusing. According to the 2011 National Population and Housing Census, 43.6% of the population identified themselves as white people. A genomic study shows that about  61.5% of the Venezuelan gene pool has European origin. Among the Latin American and Caribbean countries in the study (Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela), Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina exhibit the highest European contribution. The ancestry of European Venezuelans is primarily Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. History. Spaniards settled Venezuela during the colonial period. Most of them were from Andalusia, Galicia, Basque Country and from the Canary Islands. Until the last years of World War II, a large part of the European immigrants to Venezuela came from the Canary Islands , and its cultural impact was significant, influencing the development of the Spanish language in the country, the Venezuelan gastronomy and customs. During the 19th century the bulk of the white Dominicans migrated to Venezuela due to the political and economic instability in their country, especially after the French and Haitian annexation, but also because of constant coups and civil wars; they went from being half to barely a fifth of the Dominican population. In the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s came nearly two million immigrants from Europe, mostly Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Jews from eastern Europe. Census. Definition of  white according to the census of Venezuela "According to the Venezuela census the definition of White is: People whose skin tone is clear and that is why it is usually associated with populations of European origin. Although it literally implies external issues such as clear skin, shape and color of hair and eyes, among others, "white" has been used in different ways in different historical periods and places. Like other common words for human ethnicities, its precise definition is somewhat confusing" With this definition, the true percentage of white population in Venezuela is not clear. Geographic distribution. White Venezuelan population  by Venezuelan state. The following is a sortable table of the white Venezuelan proportion of the population in each Venezuelan state, according to the 2011 Census data. Percentage of white Venezuelans in municipalities. The top 20 communities (municipalities) with the highest percentage of White Venezuelans according to the 2011 Census: Density of white Venezuelans in municipalities. The top 20 communities (municipalities) by population density (per km2) of white Venezuelans, according to the 2011 Census: