Demographics
According to the IBGE of 2008, there were 19,765,000 people residing in the state. The population density was 32.73 inhabitants per square kilometre (84.8 /sq mi).
Urbanization: 84.7% (2006); Population growth: 1.4% (1991–2000); Houses: 5,741,000 (2006).
The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 9,091,000 White people (45.68%), 8,927,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (44.85%), 1,802,000 Black people (9.05%), 40,000 Asian people (0.20%), 37,000 Amerindian people (0.18%).
Ethnic groups found in Minas Gerais include: Amerindians, Portuguese, Africans, Italians, Germans and Lebanese.
The ethnic composition of the population varies from town to town. For example, in Córrego do Bom Jesus, a small town located in the extreme south of Minas Gerais, White people make up 98.70% of the population. The South of Minas Gerais is both the most European and the most densely populated part of the state. On the other hand, in Setubinha, located in the northeast part of the state, 71.81% are mixed-race and 14.70% Blacks. It is historically explainable: southern Minas Gerais, in the border with São Paulo, received larger numbers of Portuguese farmers in colonial times. In the late 19th century, Italian immigrants also arrived. The north region, close to Bahia, was a place to the arrival of many African slaves since the 18th century. The central part of the state, where the capital Belo Horizonte is, has a more balanced ratio between Whites, Blacks and mixed people.
The population of Minas Gerais is the result of an intense mixture of peoples, particularly between Black Africans and Portuguese. In colonial Minas Gerais, the population was divided in five different categories: Whites, mostly Portuguese; Africans, who often did not have a surname and were usually known for their region of origin (for example Francisca Benguela would refer to Benguela); Crioulos (Black people born in Brazil, usually to both African parents); Mulattoes (people of mixed Black and White ancestry, usually born to a Black mother and a Portuguese father) and Cabras (people of mixed ancestry, usually with high degree of Amerindian admixture). Blacks and Mulattoes predominated in the population after the beginning of the colonization. By the 19th century, however, "whites" were already the largest single group in the Minas Gerais population. Taking the population as a whole (all groups included), European genes account for the majority of the Minas Gerais genetic heritage, which has been explained on the basis of the extremely high mortality rates of the enslaved African population and lower reproductive rate of African slaves (the vast majority of them were males, among other reasons for their lower reproductive success) The Amerindian population was hit hard by the diseases brought by the European colonists and they did not have much of an impact either, especially in Minas Gerais, where European presence and colonization was massive.
During the colonial period, the disproportion between the number of men and women was quite sharp. The census of 1738 in Serro do Frio, which included Diamantina, revealed that of the 9,681 inhabitants, 83.5% were men and 16.5% women. Among the slaves, women were only 3.1%. The number of free "women of color" (Blacks and Mulattoes) was very high. The same census revealed that 63% of the former slaves were women and only 37% men. Since interracial relationships between "women of color" and White men were widespread, the female slaves were more likely to be freed than the male slaves.
The monogamous family structure that the Catholic Church tried to deploy in colonial Brazil was the exception in Minas Gerais. At that time cohabitation and temporary relationships predominated in Minas Gerais, as well as in Brazil as a whole. Monogamy and weddings in churches would only take root in Brazil in the 19th century, fitting the moral standards imposed by the Church. The role of women in colonial Minas Gerais was much more dynamic than it would be allowed by the standards of the time. Many women used to live on their own, were heads of family and worked, particularly the "women of color" and former slaves. The society of Minas Gerais provided a great social mobility to former slaves, mainly for women. In Tejuco, the percentage of White males who were head of family (37.7%) was very similar to the percentage of Black women who were head of family (38.5%). Many former slaves were able to accumulate goods and many of them became slave owners as well. Some Blacks and mainly Mulattos were able to integrate themselves in the highest social stratum of the society of Minas Gerais, once restricted to Whites. This happened through a process of "whitening" their descendence and through the assimilation of the culture of the White elite, like being members of Catholic brotherhoods.
Cohabitation was the most common crime in Minas Gerais. The Catholic Church was strict in the punishment of this crime, in order to prevent the widespread miscegenation between White, mostly Portuguese males with Black or Mulatto women.
A genetic study (with a few samples and not covering the most populated part of the state, the South of Minas Gerais), suggested that the "Whites" from Minas Gerais would have slightly lower levels of European (at 70.8%) ancestry among the Brazilian regions and higher levels(at 16.1%) of African admixture, with significant Amerindian (13.1%) admixture, the European reference population in the study being 94.6% European, 2.8% Native American and 2.6% African, which would give an actual percentage of European ancestry of about 74.84% actual European ancestry (roughly 75%), and less than 15% of each, Native American and African ancestries.
According to another study, however, the European ancestry is dominant throughout Brazil at about 77%, Minas Gerais included (and this taking into account the whole of the population of Minas Gerais, "white", "pardos" and "blacks"). "A new portrayal of each ethnicity contribution to the DNA of Brazilians, obtained with samples from the five regions of the country, has indicated that, on average, European ancestors are responsible for nearly 80% of the genetic heritage of the population. The variation between the regions is small, with the possible exception of the South, where the European contribution reaches nearly 90%. The results, published by the scientific magazine American Journal of Human Biology by a team of the Catholic University of Brasília, show that, in Brazil, physical indicators such as skin colour, colour of the eyes and colour of the hair have little to do with the genetic ancestry of each person, which has been shown in previous studies".
During the time of the gold rush, the largest European immigration of the colonial period, to all of the Americas, took place, about 600,000 Portuguese immigrated to Brazil during the gold rush, and most of them to Minas Gerais, the place where the gold rush activities took place. Most of them came from Entre Douro e Minho, in Northern Portugal. The reference book for a large number of these families is "Velhos Troncos Mineiros" (Old Mineiro Branches) by Raimundo Trindade.
The Native American population of Minas Gerais was estimated to be at 97,000 in 1500, by the time the Portuguese arrived in Brazil in 1500 (John Hemming in "Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians").
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