Ethnic roots of Chilean people are mainly indigenous but there is also an importante minority coming from European and Middle Eastern countries.

The total population of Chile is approximately 18 million in a total area of aboout 756,000 km2.

Scholarly estimates of the white population in Chile vary dramatically, ranging from 20% to 52%. According to a study by the University of Chile about 30% of the Chilean population is Caucasian, while the 2011 Latinobarómetrosurvey shows that some 60% of Chileans consider themselves white.

In fact, because indigenous ancestry is considered inferior many mixed people prefer to forget about their native roots. Therefore, the real number is more likely closer to 30% than 60%.

That means that at least 70 of the population of Chile have some native origin, mainly Mapuche. People that declare themselves as indigenous are about 1 million, of which more than 90% are Mapuche. They live in the south and in the larger cities.

During colonial times in the 18th century, an important flux of emigrants from Spain populated Chile, mostly Basques, who vitalized the Chilean economy and rose rapidly in the social hierarchy and became the political elite that still dominates the country. An estimated 1.6 million (10%) to 3.2 million (20%) Chileans have a surname (one or both) of Basque origin. The Basques liked Chile because of its great similarity to their native land: similar geography, cool climate, and the presence of fruits, seafood, and wine.

Chile was never an attractive place for European migrants in the 19th and 20th century simply because it was far from Europe and difficult to reach. Chile experienced a tiny but steady arrival of Spanish, Italians, Irish, French, Greeks, German, English, Scots, Croats, Jewish and Palestinian migrants (in addition to immigration from other Latin American countries).

The original arrival of Spaniards was the most radical change in demographics due to the arrival of Europeans in Chile, since there was never a period of massive immigration, as happened in neighboring nations such as Argentina and Uruguay. Facts about the amount of immigration do not coincide with certain national chauvinistic discourse, which claims that Chile, like Argentina or Uruguay, would be considered one of the "white" Latin American countries, in contrast to the racial mixture that prevails in the rest of the continent. However, it is undeniable that immigrants have played a major role in Chilean society. Between 1851 and 1924 Chile only received the 0.5% of the European immigration flow to Latin America, compared to the 46% received by Argentina, 33% by Brazil, 14% by Cuba, and 4% by Uruguay. This was because most of the migration occurred across the Atlantic before the construction of the Panama Canal. Europeans preferred to stay in countries closer to their homelands instead of taking the long trip through the Straits of Magellan or across the Andes. In 1907, European-born immigrants composed 2.4% of the Chilean population, which fell to 1.8% in 1920, and 1.5% in 1930.

After the failed liberal revolution of 1848 in the German states, a significant German immigration took place, laying the foundation for the German-Chilean community. Sponsored by the Chilean government to "civilize" and colonize the southern region, these Germans (including German-speaking Swiss, Silesians, Alsatians and Austrians) settled mainly in Valdivia, Llanquihue and Los Angeles. The Chilean Embassy in Germany estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Chileans are of German origin. 

It is estimated that nearly 5% of the Chilean population is of Asian descent, chiefly from the Middle East,  i.e., Israelis Jews, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese, totalling around 800,000.

Chile is home to a large population of immigrants, mostly Christian, from the Levant. Roughly 500,000 Palestinian are believed to reside in Chile, making it the home of one of the largest Palestinian communities outside of the Middle East.

Another historically significant immigrant group is Croatian. The number of their descendants today is estimated to be 380,000 persons, the equivalent of 2.4% of the population.

Over 700,000 Chileans may have British (English, Scottish or Welsh) origin, 4.5% of Chile's population. Chileans of Greek descent are estimated 90,000 to 120,000. Most of them live either in the Santiago area or in the Antofagasta area, and Chile is one of the 5 countries with the most descendants of Greeks in the world. The descendants of the Swiss reach 90,000 and it is estimated that about 5% of the Chilean populaton has some French ancestry.  184,000-800,000 (estimates) are descendants of Italians. Other groups of European descendants are found in smaller numbers.
Reference
Adapted and modified from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile

Camanchaca, collecting the water of the clouds

Danilo Anton

The coast of northern Chile and Peru is an area subject to the influence of cold sea currents that flow from the south along the coast and to masses of fresh air from the subpolar regions to the tropics. The atmospheric temperature is intensely affected by the rise of deep and cold ocean water.

This combination of factors produces a general cooling of the surface of the ocean and of the air in contact with the sea diminishing the evaporation. The contact between the upper limit of this atmospheric layer of fresh air and the upper layer of warmer air produces condensation of the humidity of the air. This takes the form of a more or less permanent level of low and low thick clouds (Stratocumulus) that give rise to one of the typical characteristics of subtropical coastal deserts. The cloud cover is extensive and frequent but the rains are scarce generating the paradoxical situation of permanent cloudiness without rain, and drought in a humid environment.

Despite this seemingly inhospitable climate, the region still retains a population of certain dimensions. The same phenomenon that prevents rain, makes it one of the most important fishing basins in the world. Although biological resources are often overexploited, they support human communities that live on the Pacific coast.

The interior of the Chilean coastal desert has considerable mineral resources. There are deposits of sodium and potassium nitrates (saltpeter), of copper, tin and lithium minerals, as well as others of potential value whose exploitation is partial and inefficient due to lack of water.

These riches could be used more effectively if the water resources necessary for the operation of quarries, mines and processing plants were available.

However, the lack of water is more apparent than real. The almost permanent cloud cover contains a substantial amount of water that, when used, becomes a negligible source of drinking water for the population.

Camanchaca is the indigenous name derived from the Aymara language used in the South American Pacific coast to name the coastal mists that occur when the Stratocumulus collide with the slopes of the mountain range.

The Camanchaca Project arrived at the International Development Research Center in Ottawa, Canada, where I served as the Program Officer in charge of preparing research projects in Earth Sciences.

It was a proposal of relatively small size that sought to investigate the potential of the camanchaca for the production of water using “water trappers” (types of fog collectors), constructed with plastic mesh curtains (plastillera) lying between wooden posts in order to retain water from the fog. The site selected for the Project was located in the Province of Coquimbo, north of La Serena, on the side of a mountain near Caleta Chungungo, and sought to confirm the results of other investigations that had already been carried out in other areas of the coastal desert in Chile and Peru.

 After studying the background and objectives and methods presented by the proponents I thought that it could be a good opportunity to take a new step towards the application of technology that, in general, was already known. That is, instead of continuing to do experiments, you could find a way to move towards the realization of the ultimate goal that was intended to be to supply a human community with water from the clouds.

The conversations took place with those responsible for the Project in Canada and Chile, and finally we agreed to extend the duration and budget, significantly increasing the number and dimensions of the “trappers” to be able to generate enough water to supply water to the 500 inhabitants of Caleta Chungungo.

The fifty “fog trappers” that were finally installed at an altitude of 800 meters above sea level about 5 kilometers from the coast, were built with 12 meter long plaster curtains lying between five meter high posts. Water droplets suspended in the air hit the plastic meshes and were picked up by gutters located under the curtains. The water from the gutters was received by PBC pipes and taken to open Australian-type tanks where it was stored for later use.

Due to budgetary limitations it was not possible to include in the Project the aqueducts that would lead the water from the fog trappers to the town, but still, we prefer to continue with the Project and later we would try to solve this problem.

The Project was successfully executed. The fog trappers generated enough water for the objectives pursued and in a short time the tanks were full and pouring waters that flowed down the slope without any use.

Finally, support was obtained from the Canadian Embassy in Chile, from the C.I.I.D. and government that allowed to install a system of aqueducts, treatment and distribution with which it was possible to supply drinking water to the homes of the town.

When the system was inaugurated, local people hung up a parade that said "Thank you Canada for this miracle."

Chile's indigenous groups decry discrimination on 

"Columbus Day"

Thousands bring Santiago to standstill on Columbus Day, denouncing discrimination and persecution of indigenous people.

Thousands of protesters brought Santiago's city centre to a standstill [Amandla Thomas-Johnson/ Al Jazeera]

Santiago, Chile - Thousands of protesters have marched in Chile's capital, Santiago, denouncing discrimination against the country's indigenous peoples amid the annual Columbus Day commemorations. 

Protesters brought Santiago's city centre to a standstill on Saturday as they rallied for the release of detained activists facing prosecution for campaigning against extractive industries, including logging and copper mining, on indigenous lands. 

The crowds also called for greater rights for indigenous people and the return of ancestral lands seized by the Chilean government and sold off to farmers and forestry companies in the past.

The demonstration came on Columbus Day, a national holiday that commemorates Christopher Columbus' arrival to the Americas in 1492. Indigenous people, however, mark it as the beginning of their resistance against European colonialism.

It is officially known as the Day of the Meeting of Two Worlds in Chile. 

 Chile's indigenous groups mark Columbus day with celebration and protest [Amandla Thomas-Johnson/Al Jazeera]

Saturday's march began with a small ceremony on a grassy patch of the central Plaza Italia, with a female shaman scattering dried corn as she prayed for protection. Onlookers blew animal horns, stamped sticks of bamboo on the ground and waved sprigs of the sacred Canelo tree.

Then, Belen Curamil, daughter of an indigenous leader detained for his activism against the construction of a dam in the Araucania region read out a letter from her father.

"Today we reaffirm that there is nothing to celebrate on these dates, but that we must make visible all the resistance that the community has made to the attacks of destruction that are being carried out by large national and international companies in our territory," the letter from Alberto Curamil said.   

A range of political and indigenous groups came together for the march.

Black-clad anarchists from the capital walked beside twirling indigenous dancers from Chile's north, as members of a Palestinian-Chilean football team lit flares and raised a banner featuring both Palestinian and indigenous political motifs. 

"We're not here to celebrate the discovery of Columbus but actually the moment when we were invaded. We want to make ourselves visible and to show that we're still alive," said 41-year-old Jenifer Farias. 

Palestinian-Chileans joined in the march waving symbols of Mapuche and Palestinian culture [Amandla Thomas-Johnson/Al Jazeera]

Manuel Rojas, dressed in a costume depicting a giant child, said he was marching in solidarity with his wife and children who are indigenous.

"I'm wearing this for the repression that is happening to children in Mapuche communities, because they suffer the most," he said, referring to police raids that some communities say have traumatised their children.

Minor clashes broke out later in the day on the margins of the rally, with police firing tear gas and water cannon after some protesters threw stones and set fire to a bank. 

Some two million Chileans, or 10 percent of the population, identify as indigenous. The Mapuche are the largest indigenous group. 

In recent years, relations between the Chilean government and the Mapuche has become increasingly fraught because of mining and logging on land which the group claim as its own. Activists have increasingly turned to radical action, including arson, to reclaim the land. 

The Chilean government has cast branded as "terrorists", prosecuting them through a Pinochet-era anti-terror law, even though United Nations experts have urged Chile to "refrain" from using the legislation against Mapuche people seeking to claim their rights.

"Our way is to let the land rest and not to exploit it, to fight against farming monoculture and mineral extraction and to protest the building of hydroelectric dams," said Mapuche historian Claudio Alvarado Lincopi. 

"Our philosophy means that we do not believe that individual or governments can own the land."

Daniela Millaleo, a 34-year-old Mapuche singer, said she was marching to celebrate "the simple fact of being alive". 

"We are the descendants of those that they couldn't kill," she added. 

by Amandla Thomas-Johnson

References:

https://www.aljazeera.com/topics/issues/indigenous-rights.html

Mapu: a native nation destroyed by the criollo states of Argentina and Chile

The Confederation of Salinas Grandes was a true state, from its capital toldería, Kalfukurá directed the affairs of the great puelche multi-ethnic nation. In the vast plains and in the mountains several tens of thousands of people lived, grazing their cattle,

land or hunting guanacos and ñandúes, trading, and leading a peaceful and prosperous existence. There were Mapuche, Pehuenche, Ranquelche, Tehuelche, Vorogano and even some Winka communities who had preferred the world of toldería to the false and false society of the Creole cities.

It was the case of Manuel Baigorria, former colonel of the army of José María Paz, who had gone to live among the ranqueles. Baigorria, who was an ally of Kalfukurá, became an important rancho lonco, who, outraged by the aggressions of the Christians, attacked the city of Córdoba and the west of Buenos Aires.

Twenty years after the fall of Rosas, in 1872, already constituted the Argentine Republic, and in full Sarmientino period, there was the feared wink of the winkas that in the official story is known as the Battle of San Carlos, and that soon time, it would end with the death of the old toqui from the pampas.

His son, Namunkura, would continue the resistance for several more years.

The central authorities, represented by the new president Nicolás Avellaneda and his Ministers of War Adolfo Alsina and Julio Argentino Roca, and the English pressure for the colonization and extension of the railroads, led to plan a strategy of destruction and occupation of the confederate country.

In 1876, Alsina ordered the advance of five divisions on the "Tierra Adentro" establishing a line of towns and forts (Carhué, Guaminí, Puán, Trenque-Lauquen and Ita-ló), and a 374 km-long ditch between Carhué and Laguna del Monte.

In 1877 and 1878 the indigenous communities were weakened by hunger and continued aggression by the armed forces of the Winkas.

It was at that moment that the final thrust occurred. The army headed by Julio Argentino Roca, more and more numerous, and now armed with the powerful Remington rifle, unleashed all its strength against the nations of the south. The campaign, which lasted just over a year, allowed to completely defeat the Confederate peoples and to occupy your land permanently.

According to the Report of the Department of War and Navy of 1879, the results of the campaign were as follows: "5 chief caciques prisoners, 1 dead chief cacique (Baigorrita), 1,271 Indians with spear prisoners, 1,313 Indians with spear dead, 10,513 women and children, 1,049 Indians reduced".

In 1882 a new campaign managed to expand the border to all Neuquén, 364 indigenous people had been killed and more than 1700 taken prisoner.

On May 5, 1883, General Villegas reported: "In the territory between the Neuquén, Limay, Cordillera de los Andes and Lago Nahuel Huapi rivers; There has not been a single Indian, all have been thrown to the West ... South of the Limay River, remains of the savage remains of the tribe of Cacique Sayhueque, fleeing, poor, miserable and without prestige.

In 1884 General Wintter decided to annihilate Sayhueque and Inacayal.

Hungry and exhausted, Namuncurá had already been forced to surrender with 330 warriors.

The last Loncos of the Puelmapu, gathered in assembly, tried to organize a desperate defense with the commitment to fight until death.

In an unsustainable situation of cornecution, Sayhueque surrendered on January 1, 1885 with more than 3000 men.

Some loncos continued the fight. A large number of warriors died in combat and the others faced the invaders in a last battle on October 18, 1884.

There were more dead and the two loncos survivors, Inacayal and Foyel were taken prisoner.

In 1886, both leaders were taken, along with the remains of their families to live at the Museo de la Plata where they were exposed to the curious public as captive pieces of the triumphant "civilization".

"When Calfucurá died in 1873, his friends together, full of fear, opened his body. They found two hearts that kept beating happily, that could not die and that surely beat under the earth, full of life and eternal forces and that, maybe for that reason, the earth trembles sometimes ... the hearts keep beating under the earth to return to the aid of the Araucanians, to lead us to the final victory "(Tradiciones araucanas, Institute of Philology, Faculty of Humanities, UNLP, 1962, p 239)

Survival of an ancient culture: the selknam nation

The Selknam nation, also known as Ona, lived in the Strait of Magellan since ancient times. It had developed a way of life adapted to the harsh conditions of the cold waters of the south. They were hunters of guanacos, seals, seabirds and fishermen. When the states of Argentina and Chile expanded, the Selknam were displaced, assaulted, hunters were organized to eliminate them and seize their lands, and their culture was lost until almost disappeared. Within a few years, the once healthy Selknam communities were reduced to a few survivors. The states of Chile and Argentina have expanded their territories and the peoples of the south suffered this expansion. Anyway, not everything is lost, there are some survivors who try to recover some elements of culture, in particular the language. They deserve our support.

The Yagans: a recent genocide
Danilo Anton

The elimination of one of the most resilient cultures of America due to the Chilean-Argentine conquest and colonization of their territories.

The yagans or yamanes constituted one of the native peoples of America that lived in one of the most hostile environments of the continent where they were able to develop effective strategies that allowed them to effectively adapt.
They lived south of Tierra del Fuego, from the northern bank of the Beagle Channel to Cape Horn and Isla de los Estados.
It is a cold climate zone, with monthly temperatures varying between -2 and 9 degrees on average, with abundant precipitation in the form of rain or snow and frequent strong winds from the west. The water that can be more or less salty depending on the season, remaining cold all year round oscillating between 2 and 8 degrees above zero.

While weather conditions are uncomfortable, the presence of cold, oxygen-rich waters with abundant fish, invertebrates, mammals and seabirds provide an important source of food. In addition, on the protected slopes of the adjacent mountains there are trees of various species also adapted to the cold and windy character of the local climate. These are trees (generally of the genus Nothofagus), with capacity to live in a thin layer of soil, cold temperatures all year and very strong winds.
The yagans used this environment skillfully developing a fishing and harpoon culture that allowed them to feed themselves and obtain other raw materials to manufacture their clothing, tools and other needs for their subsistence. The yagans lived in houses built with structures of tree branches covered by leathers. Their clothes were made with leathers of sea lions or locally, of guanacos. The canoes were constructed with barks of trees and they covered the bottom with a layer of sand and pebbles where they kept a permanent fire.

The canoes were conducted by the women from behind and men did the harpooning (dolphins and whales) from the bow of the boat. When they harpooned a prey women dived into the water to pick them up.
According to the references of the first chroniclers the population of the yagans was originally of about 3,000 to 5,000 individuals.
The Chilean and Argentinean colonization of Yagan territory occurred late in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The impact of the arrival of the advanced creoles was lethal. Newcomers seized land and coastal areas, displacing, enslaving, and even killing those who resisted. 

The Chilean advance was brutal, a colonizing landowner, José Menéndez, created a kind of lordship in the South based on the exploitation of sheep wool and other local products not hesitating to execute the indigenous families as if they were hunting prey. The arrival of the Argentina colonists was similar. The yaganes were quickly eliminated in order to seize their lands, establish estates, and affirm the creole sovereignty of the Buenos Aires authorities. The yagans could not prevent that their places of habitation, fishinng and hunting were occupied by the newcomers. Massacres, diseases and acculturation eliminated without pause the vulnerable Yagan communities.

As it is pointed out, at present there is only one woman Yagan pure survivor. Her name is Cristina Calderón, and she lives in the  Villa Ukika in the vicinity of Puerto Williams (Navarino Island) on the southern shore of the Beagle Channel.
The Chilean-Argentine genocide of one of the most astonishing and resilient cultures in the Americas is almost over. The southern sovereignties of Argentina and Chile are finally consolidated.
There will be the habitual mention to be made of these ancient inhabitants in the tourist circuits and, perhaps, the sale of handicrafts, more or less related to the old cultures, that will be no more than a pale caricature of the intrepid, strenuous and old indomitable Nation of the yaganes at the southern tip of the American continent.
Danilo Antón

A miracle in the Pacific

Danilo Anton

In the 1990s, working as Programme Officer at IDRC (International Development Research Center) of Canada I had the opportunity to develop a project to provide potable water from clouds in Chungungo, near La Serena, Chile.
Chungungo is a fishing village that lacked potable water and was periodically supplied by a tanker truck that left many doubts about its potability. After several years of efforts and bureaucratic struggles, with the collaboration of Engineer Waldo Canto of CONAF and the scientific coordination of the researchers Pilar Cereceda at the Catholic University of Chile (UC) and Robert Schemenauer of Environment Canada (and funding from IDRC and the Canadian Embassy in Chile) we installed a system with 50 fog-catchers, an aqueduct from the mountain to Chungungo, a treatment plant and a distribution network of drinking water in the village. It was the first time in history that a water system using water from the clouds.was installed and used, Later similar systems were installed in Peru and the Canary Islands. When the system was inaugurated and the first faucet was turned on with much fanfare the community of Chungungo hung a sign that read:
"Thank you Canada for this miracle"

Declaration of the Mapuche people who do not surrender against colonization (now Chilean, Spanish and Inca before) who still don't allow their freedom and sovereignty

"Our people have been around for hundreds of years ... the first foreign incursion was from the Incas who could not extend their control beyond the river Copiapo ... the Mapuches did not pay taxes to them as they pretended .. .Then came the Spaniards who razed the main civilizaciones of America but could not do it with our people ... after 100 years of struggle they had to "agree" with the Mapuches (only example seen in the process of conquest) parliaments were broken by the Spaniards themselves, but the Spanish crown respected our territory, and recognized the Mapuche people as an independent nation ... then came the war of the sons of the invaders (Chileans), in their desire to have greater autonomy ... and 30 years later they tried to conquer our territory. On both sides of the Andes our people again raised their spears but we were defeated ... the invaders took away more than 10 million hectares that were given to German settlers, Italian, the troops taking part in the carnage and who made an incredible fortune and who today has the largest fortunes in this country. ., we were forced to change our names, not to speak our language, to sing their hymns, we were imposed their language, nationality ... they pushed us to poverty, overcrowding, discrimination, ridicule, humiliation, hunger .. .but our mapu encouraged us to continue and follow up ... when we began to get up, then the military dictatorship came ... 300 dead and missing ... thjey again seized our lands ...  in democracy ... our people remained discriminated and poor ... they say we are terrorists, they imprison and keep humiliating us ... BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER... WE HAVE OUR STRENGTH, WE WILL CONTINUE FIGHTING!!!!!! AMULEPE TAIN WEICHAN !!!!! "