Pre-Columbian peoples
Many pre-Columbian peoples occupied the lands of present-day Argentina before the arrival of the Europeans. In the north of the country, especially in the provinces of Salta and Tucumán, the Diaguitas were farmers whose sophisticated civilization had reached a high level of development. Incorporated into the Inca Empire, they made funerary urns or vases and organized themselves in villages of distinct ethnic groups that shared the Cacan language. Among the other ethnic groups of the North, we can also mention the Comechingones, inhabitants of the caves of the region of Cordoba, who had the particularity of wearing a beard (rare among indigenous peoples) and the Humahuacas. The latter formed a large confederation of farmers and also excelled in pottery and weaving. The Apatamas lived on the Altiplano of Jujuy and traded with the Atacamas of present-day Bolivia. The Guaraníes were divided into several groups: guaraníes of the islands or Chandules (on the islands of the Río Paraná delta), Guaraníes del Carcarañá (province of Santa Fe), Guaraníes of Santa Ana (north of present-day Corrientes), Cáingang or Cainguás (in the interior of the province of Misiones, towards Corrientes and Entre Ríos, and even as far as Uruguay towards Concordia), and the Chiriguans (Chaco towards Salta and present-day Bolivia).
The Tehuelche and the Mapuche: warrior peoples
These very different tribes shared the southern part of Patagonia before the Conquest of the Desert. Originally, the Mapuche occupied the Chilean part of the Andes, but as early as the 18th century the assaults of the Spanish colonists forced them to migrate to Argentina. They mixed with the Tehuelche and even imposed their customs and language on them. Of more modest stature, the Mapuche had a more complex society. Their culture was much more developed, especially because they were hunters, but also farmers, and they lived as sedentary people on their land. They were familiar with fabrics and pottery and enjoyed their own calendar, which still governs some of their festivities today. Ironically enough (and as in many of the colonies of the time), Mapuche writing was born with the expansion of the Spanish and the subsequent evangelization. The massacre of the economic conquest of the 19th century did not, however, eradicate the Mapuche presence in this area. Today, it is considered that about 300 000 Mapuche remains in Argentina.
The peoples of Tierra del Fuego: the Fuegians
The Fuegians were 7,000 in the 19th century, 600 in 1924 and only 100 in 1940. Today, they have completely disappeared. Three peoples shared the hostile immensities of Argentine Tierra del Fuego: the Haushs (or Manekenk), the Onas (or Selk'nam) and the Yaghans (or Yamanas). Constantly facing the elements of a powerful nature, they represented a miracle of adaptation in spite of the atrocious judgments that were made about them by Cook, Darwin and Bougainville. In spite of descriptions and studies of a geographical or ethnological nature, we unfortunately know little about the history and customs of the Fuegians. The Yamanas were "nomads of the sea" as well as excellent craftsmen: each one made his own tools, made of wood and bone. Their baskets were made of rushes and were used to collect mollusks, shells and fruits. On the water, the men used rough harpoons to hunt: penguins or cormorants were their favorite hunting spoils. Finally, these populations did not really dress and the bodies were coated with fish oil and marine mammal fat to protect the skin from the climate. Nowadays, some mestizos are still present in the city of Rio Gallegos.
The Selknams (or Onas) and the Haushs lived on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, on the Atlantic side, in the vicinity of the present Rio Grande. Nomadic people, they roamed the steppe in search of ñandús (the Patagonian ostrich) and guanacos that they caught while running! Lucas Bridges, an Anglo-Argentine explorer, describes the subtleties of their social customs: "When they butchered a guanaco, the Onas usually divided the animal into six pieces to facilitate its transport. On this occasion, Tamimeoat cut the animal into as many pieces as he had men, and he gave each one his share. Each time, the recipient was the only one who showed no interest in sharing; he pretended to be tidying the fire or taking off his moccasins, or stared blankly, until another member of the group pointed out the gift received. No permanent leader ruled the tribes, but a certain hierarchy cemented the social bonds: the shamans were invested with the power to heal; the wise men were the depositaries of mythological traditions; and the warriors were respected for their experience: in fact, their position sometimes resembled that of a chief. In the middle of the XIXth century, gold seekers settled in the region, among them the famous Romanian engineer Julius Popper, of whom some pictures give credence to the thesis according to which he was a ruthless killer of Indians. Then the arrival of the Salesian missionaries contaminated the natives with terrible diseases and they disappeared little by little: the last of the Onas, Lola Kiepja, died in the 1950s.Afro-descendants: a forgotten community
Following the arrival of the Conquistadores, Argentina experienced a succession of migratory waves between the 16th and 20th centuries. The first one was characterized by the important deportation of Africans, between the XVIIth and the XIXth century, who were forced into slavery. From the nineteenth century onwards, a large number of Western Europeans arrived throughout the country, and at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, massive urban immigration from all over Europe (Italy, Spain, France, England, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, etc.), so that the ethnic mix was essentially European and the population is still characterized today by a light skin. What about the Black African community, which only represents 1.8% of the total population in Argentina today? At the beginning of the 19th century, the Afro-Argentine community represented half of the population in the country's largest cities. As a result of the slave trade practiced by Spain and later by the Viceroyalty of the River Plate, the deportation of these African peoples played a key role in the national culture. Originating from the two Congos, Angola and Guinea, they belonged to the Bantu ethnic family and, deported by the thousands, were exploited as domestic workers or agricultural laborers. The 1778 census reveals that Buenos Aires had 7,268 slaves of African origin at that time, almost a third of the city's population! However, this collective history has left little trace in today's Argentina, which struggles to highlight its African roots... and for good reason: the whitening of the population dictated by the "supremacy of the race" obviously failed to ensure the sustainability of the black community. At the end of the 19th century, it was mainly because of the racist ideology of President Domingo Sarmiento - who declared that within twenty years, Argentina "would be rid of the blacks" - that white immigration was favored: French, Italians, Spaniards flocked and contributed to the whitening of the population. But beyond the ethnic mix, other truths must be revealed: many of the descendants of African slaves had a high mortality rate within their community. Many fell in battle during the regional wars of the 19th century, others were enlisted in the deadly Paraguayan war, and yellow fever also took its toll on the community. Indeed, forced to confine themselves to the same place, and already victims of this viral infection, they could not escape it. Finally, many slaves joined the War of Independence: they represented 60% of the combatants. General José San Martin had promised the slaves freedom if they fought... but the war ended in 1816 and slavery was not abolished until 1853. The surviving Afro-Argentines mixed with European immigrants so much so that almost all of the Afro-Americans in Argentina disappeared, taking their cultural roots with them. According to the last census, 150,000 people identify themselves as Afro-descendants, but researchers believe that nearly 2 million Argentines have African roots. The challenge of bringing to light this heritage, ignored by the prejudices of a country that still thinks of itself as a White Nation, seems quite perilous. However, this work of memory is meeting more and more echoes: Argentina now dedicates a day to Afro-descendants and celebrates all the historical and current African cultures, while more and more associations are being created and wish to make this history, which is barely touched upon in school textbooks, visible.
Spanish settlers and European immigrants
In the 16th and 17th centuries it was mainly Spanish men who landed and mingled with the local population. Following the indigenous genocide, the lands were successively occupied by immigrants dreaming of the New World. Argentina experienced a very strong wave of immigration in the mid 19th century. In fact, from 1860 onwards, Europeans arrived en masse via the Río de la Plata: at least 4 million immigrants, mainly Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Russians, French Basques, Poles, Ukrainians, English, Irish, Swiss, Croats, Dutch, Czechs, Lebanese, Syrians... They settled permanently between 1870 and 1930. Argentina then became one of the fastest growing countries in the world. The Europeans colonized the pampas and the tropical lands of the Northeast, but many stayed in Buenos Aires, which saw its population grow from 120,000 in 1850 to 1.5 million in 1914. Argentina's demographic behaviour is close to that of the industrially developed countries of the northern hemisphere, while more than 86% of its population is urban. Many Jews, fleeing the pogroms, settled in Argentine Mesopotamia and established agricultural communities. They built houses and cooperatives, erected synagogues, and built schools and libraries. In the 1940s, it was the turn of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany to join their co-religionists in other cities in the region. In Patagonia, there are a few particular settler communities. First of all, the Welsh were among the first European settlers to settle in the province of Chubut, as early as 1865. The reasons for this immigration are mainly historical and cultural: at the time, the Welsh felt threatened and feared that their community and customs would disappear in the face of British domination. They therefore decided to settle overseas to preserve their identity and culture. They settled on the Atlantic coast and founded the cities of Puerto Madryn and Rawson. The expansion of the Welsh did not stop there, as they continued to invest the southern territories as far as the Andes: they also founded Esquel and Trevelín. Finally, although Argentina is very often seen as a land of asylum for former Nazis on the run, the first wave of German immigration to Patagonia dates back to the middle of the 19th century. The census of Buenos Aires in 1853 counted no less than 2,000 Germans. In addition, after World War II thousands of German officers landed in Argentina. Many of them knew that they would be tried for their crimes and actions. So they wanted to escape as far away as possible. Why choose Argentina? Spain, Italy and Germany, all three allies, already had immigrant communities in Argentina, which facilitated their integration. In addition, the then president Juan Perón helped several war criminals to settle in his country.
Argentinean Castilian
The result of immigration and crossbreeding has led to the spread of slang and local languages specific to Argentina. These include "cocoliche", a hybrid language spoken by Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires who mixed the language of their country of origin with the Spanish of their adopted land, or "lunfardo", a slang inherited from the working classes. And although Spanish is the official language, Castilian Argentinian(castellano) has some specificities that should frighten away those whose Spanish is limited to a vague academic background. The first rule is that the "ll" followed by a vowel is pronounced more or less "ch". Thus, caballo (horse) is pronounced "cabacho", "; calle Laval le (Lavalle Street) is pronounced "caché Lavaché". This distinction will allow you to very easily spot an Argentinean in any Spanish-speaking country or, to be more exact, some Argentines, especially the Porteño, the inhabitant of Buenos Aires (in the provinces of Misiones or La Rioja, for example, which also have their own way of speaking, this particularity does not apply). Another notable change, which may confuse you at first: the Spanish tú is replaced by yours, which comes with a special conjugation. Thus we will say your podés instead of tú puedes or your querés instead of tú quieres! The conjugation allows itself some fantasies: your tenés of the verb tener, or even your sos of the verb ser... instead of tú tienes or tú eres. It's a bit of a mess, but, on the plus side, this grammatical mutation is always respected and you get used to it after a while. You might even end up starting your sentences with a " Che! "or " Che, loco! "(or "Che, boludo! ").
