Chilean American
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| Chilean American(s) Chileno-américano(s), Chileno-norteaméricano(s) |
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| Most notable Chilean Americans: from left to right: Isabel Allende, Tom Araya, Cote de Pablo, Jorge García, Don Francisco, Leonor Varela  - |
| Total population |
|
Chilean |
| Regions with significant populations |
 California ·  New York·  New Jersey ·  Florida ·  Texas |
| Language(s) |
| American English · Chilean Spanish · French · Mapudungun |
| Religion(s) |
| · Roman Catholic (Predominantly) · Protestant · Evangelical · Jewish |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Spaniards · Italians · Latinos · White Hispanics · French · German People · Mapuche people · Lebanese people · Croats |
Chilean Americans are a group of people who emigrated from Chile to the United States, and their descendants. They number in 68,849[1]; of these, close to 14,000 live in the states of Florida and California; around 16,330 live in the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other New England states combined.
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[edit] Motives of emigration
Most Chilean immigration to the U.S. has occurred largely within the last 25 years.[2] For the most part, Chileans left as either political asylees and refugees during the government of Augusto Pinochet, or for economic reasons. Also, there have been others that have emigrated to seek higher education and career development opportunities.
There are two major reasons why Chileans have come to the United States during the last 25 years. The first group, small in number, emigrated because of the political repression of the Pinochet regime. Many of these immigrants are of middle or upper class origin. A significant proportion of them arrived with advanced educations and well-developed skills. They had contacts with other Chilean exiles and a sense of identity from their shared commitment to a democratic Chile. After a period of adjustment, many of them were able to pursue skilled jobs or professions. Unfortunately, others, who lacked skills or whose professional certifications were not recognized in the United States, were forced to take low-level jobs in which they were unable to use their skills. Some had been politically active students or union leaders in Chile who did not enter the United States with easily transferrable skills.[3]
The second group arrive into the United States searching for economic opportunities. Many of these are poorer, with less education and fewer skills than the group of political exiles. They often find it necessary to take jobs at the lower end of the pay scale. A typical pattern is to find a job as a babysitter or in the construction industry, where fluency in English is of limited importance.
Most Chileans who come to the United States settle in or around cities. They come from a highly urbanized country and find it compatible to settle in a metropolitan area. Cities provide the jobs they need and the opportunity to interact with other Chileans. They especially gravitate toward California, New York, and Florida because of the large Spanish-speaking population in these areas. Other states with larger number of Chileans include New Jersey and Texas. Many Chileans have also settled in North American neighbor Canada, especially in the cosmopolitan centers of Toronto and French speaking Montreal, during the Pinochet regime. At that time, the Canadian government allowed them special entry visas for humanitarian reasons.[4]
Today, it is for economic rather than political reasons that Chileans are seeking new lives.[5]
[edit] Chilean American population profile
In the United States Chilean Americans are categorized as Hispanics which are a classified ethnic group that may belong to any race. White Hispanics comprise a plurality of 48% of U.S. Hispanics.[6] The proportion of Whites among Chilean Americans is connected to those who report ancestry from the people of Spanish-speaking Latin America and who self identify themselves as white. This runs in contrast to Chile's own ethnography, where mestizos who are of mixed European (Spaniard) and Amerindian ancestry comprise the majority.[7][8] The ethnic disparity can be explained in much the same way that Cuban Americans are also primarily White Hispanic despite Cuba being a largely mulatto majority country, according to most estimates. There are emigrants from Chile belonging to the upper and upper-middle classes classes which have traditionally been predominantly white, as is the case in other parts of Latin America. Chile is "far away and does not share borders with the United States, immigrants cannot simply cross a border to enter the country. They must save money and work hard to get here,"[9] creating a situation where those who can afford to leave their countries may belong to the primarily White upper and upper-middle classes or at least have the legal means to access a visa into the United States requiring a stable economic background.
Chileans and other South Americans had long been present in the state of California since the 1850s gold rush. The descendants of these Chileno Forty-Niners can not only be proud of the achievements of their forefathers but of their own: Entrepreneurs, judges, congressmen and other people who have left their tracks in the History of the State. Many of the San Francisco Streets carry names of former residents on Chile: Atherton, Ellis, Lick, Larkin and others. Chileno women also left their names: Mina and Clementina. Manuel Briseño, an early journalist in the mines was one of the founders of the San Diego Union. Juan Evangelista Reyes was a Sacramento pioneer as were the Luco brothers. Luis Felipe Ramírez was one of the City Fathers in Marysville. The Leiva family owned at one time, much of the land in Marin County, including Fort Ross. Chileans integrated quickly and like their "Little Chiles," they were soon absorbed by the ever-growing State of California, becoming part of the mainstream of the present population of the Golden State. [10]
Because of their geographic location pertaining to the settlements associated with the California Gold Rush Chileans played an integral part in the foundation of cities such as Belmont, San Carlos, and Menlo Park (San Mateo County in the 1800's. San Francisco's landmark North Beach neighborhood was previously the "Little Santiago" neighborhood.[citation needed]Other cities like Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Palm Desert (Coachella Valley), Sacramento, San Diego and Santa Ana, California (Orange County) have small but prevalent Chilean-American communities.
[edit] Chilean American population centres
- (United States Census Beaureu, 2006)
- California: 13,550 (estimates to 20,000).
- San Francisco/San José Bay Area (San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma counties): 4,500-5,000 (estimated).
- Alameda County: 719
- Contra Costa County: estimated at 2,000
- Marin County: 405
- Napa County: 385
- Santa Clara County: 775
- San Francisco County: 2,473
- San Mateo County: 574
- Solano County: 500
- Sonoma County: estimated at 500
- Los Angeles County: 5,508
- City of Los Angeles: 2,736
- Orange County: 1,052
- Riverside County : estimated at 1,500
- Sacramento County: estimated at 1,000
- San Bernardino County: 483
- San Diego County: 867
- Santa Barbara County: 605
- Ventura County: 258
- San Francisco/San José Bay Area (San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma counties): 4,500-5,000 (estimated).
- Colorado: 740
- Connecticut: 1,264
- Florida: 13,400
- Miami-Dade County: 7,910
- City of Miami: 939
- City of Miami Beach: 623
- City of Hialeah: 611
- Miami-Dade County: 7,910
- Georgia: 872
- Illinois: 1,727
- City of Chicago: 640
- Maryland: 2,316
- Massachusetts: 1,750
- Michigan: 660
- Minnesota: 499
- Missouri: 303
- Nevada: 697
- New Jersey: 5,129
- New York: 9,937
- New York City: 5,014
- North Carolina: 924
- Ohio: 616
- Oregon: 607
- Pennsylvania: 1,162
- Puerto Rico: 582
- Texas: 2,934
- Dallas County: 329
- Utah: 1,504 (This number seems too low, in 2000 there were 1,405 people born in Chile in Utah, thus excluding everyone there born in the United States with Chilean ancestry.[11])
- Virginia: 2,040
- Washington: 1,229
- Wisconsin: 444
- District of Columbia: estimated at 1,000.
[edit] Notable Chilean Americans
- Claudio Arrau, pianist
- Isabel Allende, Chilean writer
- The members of the Chilean band Bitman & Roban whose song "Get on the Floor" was included in the EA Sports videogame FIFA 2007.
- Actress Cote de Pablo
- Singer Beto Cuevas
- Comedian Horatio Sanz of the comedy program SNL.
- Comedian Pablo Francisco.
- Director Alexander Witt.
- Boxer Patricia Demick
- Lost actor Jorge Garcia.
- Academic Arturo Valenzuela.
- Actress Leonor Varela
- Educator, activist, and author Ariel Dorfman.
- Los Abandoned, Chilean American rock band from Van Nuys, California
- Academic and Economist Sebastian Edwards
- Academic Andres Velasco
- Actor Jorge Garcia
- Stanford professor Fernando Alegria.
- Tom Araya of the popular thrash metal band, Slayer
- David López of the group Flipsyde was born in Chile.
- Mario Kreutzberger AKA, Don Francisco, of US Latino TV fame
- Film director Alberto Fuguet
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ United States - Select a Race, Ethnic, or Ancestry Group - American FactFinder
- ^ Chilean Americans
- ^ Chilean Americans
- ^ Chilean Americans
- ^ Origins: History of immigration from Chile - Immigration Museum, Melbourne Australia
- ^ http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/cenbr01-1.pdf U.S. Census
- ^ Nuestro País .: Universidad de Talca :
- ^ Chile Population
- ^ Chilean Americans
- ^ Articles: Chilenos in the California Gold Rush, 1848-49 - Historical Text Archive
- ^ Census Table of Locations of birth for Utah's foreign born population
- US Census Chilean Factpage
- Are We Really So Fearful? by Ariel Dorfman Washington Post 10/24/06
[edit] External links
- Historical Text Archive History of Chileans and the California Gold Rush
- Rosales and the Chilean miners in California PBS American Experience the Gold Rush
- (Spanish)
- Cámara Chileno Norteamericana de Comercio (AMCHAM) Chilean American Chamber of Commerce
- (English)
- The Avalon Project (Yale Law School) Chilean Diplomacy
- La Peña Cultural Center a major Chilean community and political activism center in Berkeley, California.
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| Central American and Caribbean | Cuban · Dominican · Nicaraguan · Puerto Rican · Salvadoran |
| North American | Mexican (Chicano) · Californio · Hispano · Mexican Texians · Tejano |
| South American | Argentine · Colombian · Peruvian · Chilean · Ecuadorian · Venezuelan |
| Western European | Spanish American |
| Other terms Mestizo · Mulatto · Zambo · Spanish people · Afro Latin American · Afro Hispanic · White Hispanic · White Latin American | |
