are you descended from one of these white people, or are you one of the oppressed natives?
Both (actually, most people from South America are).
My greatgrandfather on my father's side was Lule, one of the people that lived in Argentinian territory long before Spain declared it for themselves, though unfortunately we don't know much about them because much was already lost by the time of my greatgrandfather and he didn't talk much, either. He married a Dutch woman, who had actually already been married to a much older man in the ship over from Europe when she was nine, but fled before the marriage was supposed to be consumated, at thirteen. She was no pushover (hurray for my greatgrandma!). She became a nurse and met my greatgrandfather, who was a TB patient. I would have loved to hear the rest of that story, but so many generations back there isn't much chance. They apparently fell in love, married, and had several children before my greatgrandfather finally died (TB was always fatal back then). I saw their picture (him sitting down and his family standing around him, as was the usual); it was very funny how contrasting their looks were. I can't tell for sure since he was sitting down, but my greatgrandmother was apparently much taller than my greatgrandfather. XD On my mother's side we have a lot of Italians and a few Germans; most of them came for the promise of land and work... which they got, but at a heavy price. One of my greatgrandfathers (the Italian one) had been apparently pretty loaded when he came, with the intention of buying a big strip of land and setting up a huge plantation, but he was swindled out of his money at port by some guy that offered to exchange his money for the local currency and ended up giving him paper covered by a few real notes. He had to start from zero then. He was eventually able to buy a bit of land, but nothing as grand as he had originally intended.
Their children ended up marrying some Spaniard and Dutch-descendant people, plus some Italians... it's hard to tell now, nobody really keeps track over here. We don't place much stock on ancestry, over here, thus we are nicknamed "the melting pot of races", since most of us have such a mix of races. We have an "open doors" policy when it comes to immigration, so discrimination based on race is practically non-existent. We've never had it, and it would be very stupid to start now, considering we'd have to discriminate against ourselves, because most of us have such an unbelievable mix. :)
So we're both mutts. XD
My mother is actually trying to get Italian citizenship because of her greatgrandfather, and I'd get it from her then; it's just a matter of the papers getting through now. :3 (many European countries are trying to get the people that fled during the wars back now, since the birth rates have dropped alarmingly; they have been granting citizenship to the descendants for a while now, all you have to do is prove that your parents, grandparents or greatgrandparents really did come from their country - which is a bit hairy considering it requires birth certificates and whatnot. We actually had to ask someone from Europe to look for the church my greatgrandfather was baptized in and ask for a copy of the registry).
no subject
Both (actually, most people from South America are).
My greatgrandfather on my father's side was Lule, one of the people that lived in Argentinian territory long before Spain declared it for themselves, though unfortunately we don't know much about them because much was already lost by the time of my greatgrandfather and he didn't talk much, either. He married a Dutch woman, who had actually already been married to a much older man in the ship over from Europe when she was nine, but fled before the marriage was supposed to be consumated, at thirteen. She was no pushover (hurray for my greatgrandma!). She became a nurse and met my greatgrandfather, who was a TB patient. I would have loved to hear the rest of that story, but so many generations back there isn't much chance. They apparently fell in love, married, and had several children before my greatgrandfather finally died (TB was always fatal back then). I saw their picture (him sitting down and his family standing around him, as was the usual); it was very funny how contrasting their looks were. I can't tell for sure since he was sitting down, but my greatgrandmother was apparently much taller than my greatgrandfather. XD
On my mother's side we have a lot of Italians and a few Germans; most of them came for the promise of land and work... which they got, but at a heavy price. One of my greatgrandfathers (the Italian one) had been apparently pretty loaded when he came, with the intention of buying a big strip of land and setting up a huge plantation, but he was swindled out of his money at port by some guy that offered to exchange his money for the local currency and ended up giving him paper covered by a few real notes. He had to start from zero then. He was eventually able to buy a bit of land, but nothing as grand as he had originally intended.
Their children ended up marrying some Spaniard and Dutch-descendant people, plus some Italians... it's hard to tell now, nobody really keeps track over here. We don't place much stock on ancestry, over here, thus we are nicknamed "the melting pot of races", since most of us have such a mix of races. We have an "open doors" policy when it comes to immigration, so discrimination based on race is practically non-existent. We've never had it, and it would be very stupid to start now, considering we'd have to discriminate against ourselves, because most of us have such an unbelievable mix. :)
So we're both mutts. XD
My mother is actually trying to get Italian citizenship because of her greatgrandfather, and I'd get it from her then; it's just a matter of the papers getting through now. :3
(many European countries are trying to get the people that fled during the wars back now, since the birth rates have dropped alarmingly; they have been granting citizenship to the descendants for a while now, all you have to do is prove that your parents, grandparents or greatgrandparents really did come from their country - which is a bit hairy considering it requires birth certificates and whatnot. We actually had to ask someone from Europe to look for the church my greatgrandfather was baptized in and ask for a copy of the registry).