Why is it that Canada and the United States have a majority European population whereas Most Latin American Countries do not?

by dallas_89

Why did The Spanish not send lots of settlers to their colonies like the way the British did in their north american colonies?

Searocksandtrees

Hiya, you may be interested in some previous posts on this question in the FAQ

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The_Manchurian

Spain is much bigger than Britain, and was much more religiously unified, so there was less reason for people to "go west".

But actually, your question makes an erroneous assumption. Spain did send a lot of settlers. Also, in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, many Latin American countries had a deliberate policy of encouraging white immigration, and millions of Europeans did emigrate there. In most Latin American countries today, whites are the largest ethnic group, followed by white-amerindians mixed-raced people, followed by blacks. The really interesting thing about the Latin American racial make-up compared to the North American racial make-up is how much more integrated it is between races, and this is because racial prejudices, while still there in Spanish-controlled areas, were constructed in a different way. In the US, there was very much the idea that a mixed-race person was the non-white race (which still has influence today, consider Obama) while in Latin America they were seen as below whites, but above blacks and amerindians. This meant that for a black or amerindian, marrying a white would give their child a better social position and thus was desirable. So, in fact, there were lots of white colonists, but they were much more likely to intermarry with other races, while in America until comparitively recently inter-racial marriages were pretty rare (and in some states illegal).