waybread
Well-known member
A LOT of countries are primarily of one ethnic group. The Americas in general, North, Central, and South, are fairly mixed as to race.
Waybread, you would know this--is Canada primarily of one racial type?
I know the Scandinavian countries are, also the Middle Eastern, most of the Asian, etc.
David, this is imply incorrect. Probably a century ago you could claim this, but there has been extensive migration post World War II. Then there have been extensive border regions with mixed populations, or with populations that stayed put but belonged to different nations, depending upon the most recent military conquest or royal claim to a given territory. European boundaries bounced around considerably.
For example, my German great-grandfather was born a Danish subject, prior to the border with Denmark changing yet again.
The USSR had a program of sticking Russian nationals in its conquered territories, from Kazakhstan to the Baltic. Today a quarter of the residents of Estonia are members of this Russian influx.
For example, German-speaking populations were scattered throughout central and even eastern Europe (cf. the Volga Germans, or Germans from Russia.) After WW II many were repatriated back to Germany in a major yet (apparently in the US) under-reported refugee movement. After WW II, when there were not enough Germans to staff the country's growing industries, Germany introduced a "guest worker" program, whereby thousands of Turks were given work permits. Many never returned and the German government finally allowed their descendants to become legal citizens. Germany also took in something like a million refugees from the Near East in recent years.
Ditto with France, which admitted many immigrants from North Africa. Italy is another country that has admitted economic and political refugees from Africa and the Near East.
The principal cleavage in Canada isn't about skin color, but language. 21% of Canadians are French speakers, mostly but not exclusively in Quebec and New Brunswick. Some of these people are Métis. About 5% claim First Nations status. 18% of Canadians claim Asian ancestry, both East Asian and South Asian. Vancouver is rapidly becoming an Asian ancestry-dominated city, with only a little under half of the city's population claiming European ancestry. The African-Canadian population is primarily from the Caribbean, about about 3%. Some, however, trace their ancestry to the Underground Railroad.
Then if you want to get into genetic genealogy, you find that national boundaries are often poor predictors of some kind of blood quantum. You know about the "Black Irish"? What about the North of Scotland showing more "Viking genes" than Celtic ones?
This information is readily available on Wikipedia or sites on demographic data by nation.