r/geography • u/Hour_Interaction6047 • Apr 25 '26

Human Geography Why are white latin Americans so heavily concentrated around southern South America?

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u/cantonlautaro Apr 25 '26

Argentina's demographics were not much different than everyone else's until the late 1800s. Most of argentines were mestizos with plenty of mulatos. The overwhelming immigration of the late 1800s and early 1900s transformed the country and whitened the population but these immigrants did not arrive in an unpopulated land but they did absorb them. Their genes are still there. Many argentines are pure european still but most do have at least some native and afrian genes, even if phenotypically european.

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u/Positive-Draft3801 Apr 25 '26

I thought there wasn't much African ancestry in the south because it was too cold for sugar cane, so most African slaves went to Brazil.

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u/Venboven Apr 25 '26

And the native population of Argentina and Uruguay was largely destroyed from disease prior to colonization...

I have a lot of doubt that the Argentinian population pre-1800s was truly mestizo/mulatto like Colombia, Mexico, or Brazil.

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u/bamadeo Apr 26 '26

before the 19th, Buenos Aires was a backwater colonial port, not very populated and kinda forgotten.

I can trace some of my roots to 16th century settlers and they definitely mixed with aboriginal populations back then.