Italians 385155 225753745 2008-07-15T06:41:41Z 76.205.88.105 /* Italian diaspora and Italians abroad */ {{dablink|For a specific analysis of the population of Italy, see [[Demographics of Italy]]. For a more precise analysis on the nationality, see [[Italian citizenship]].}} {{Italian ethnicity}} The''' Italian people''' are a [[Southern Europe]]an [[ethnic group]] located primarily in [[Italy]], [[Switzerland]], [[France]] and, by virtue of a wide-ranging [[Italian diaspora|diaspora]], throughout [[Western Europe]], the [[Americas]] and [[Australia]]. They are one of the [[Latin Europeans|Latin European]] peoples and their native language is [[Italian language|Italian]], and historically [[Italian dialects]] and [[List of languages of Italy|languages]]. Their religion is predominantly [[Roman Catholic]]. [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/it.html#People] There are almost 56 million [[wiktionary:autochthonous|autochthonous]] Italians in [[Italy]], about 750,000 in [[Switzerland]], and about 28,000 in [[San Marino]]. There is also a large but undefined, autochthonous population in [[France]] ([[County of Nice|Nice]], [[Corsica]]). Smaller groups can also be found in [[Slovenia]] and [[Croatia]], primarily [[Istria]]. There are notable populations of Italian descent in [[Brazil]] ([[Italian Brazilian]]s), [[Argentina]] ([[Italian Argentine]]), the [[United States]] ([[Italian American]]s), [[Venezuela]], [[Uruguay]], [[Canada]] ([[Italian Canadians]]), [[Australia]] ([[Italian Australians]]), and throughout Europe—mainly in [[Belgium]], [[United Kingdom]] ([[Italian-Scots]]/[[Britalian]]), France and [[Germany]] ([[Italo-Germans]]). ==Origins of Italian people== {{See also|History of Italy}} The Italian people have somewhat varied European origins apart from the original [[Ancient Italic peoples]]: Northern Italy had a strong [[Celts|Celtic]] presence in [[Cisalpine Gaul]] until the Romans conquered and colonised the area in the 2nd century; the central portion of the [[Italian peninsula]] was inhabited by the [[Etruscans]] and [[Italic people]]; and southern Italy and Sicily was settled significantly by [[Greeks]] (see [[Magna Graecia]]). The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]] the entire peninsula and preserved common unity until the 5th century AD. After the collapse of the [[Roman Empire]] in the West in 476 AD, the Italian peninsula was invaded by [[Germanic peoples]] crossing the [[Alps]], establishing settlements in north-central Italy and to a lesser degree in the south. The Germanic tribes underwent rapid Romanization. The [[Byzantine Greeks]] were an important power in southern Italy for five centuries, fighting for supremacy first against the [[Ostrogoths]] and later against the [[Lombards]] of [[Benevento]]. [[Greek language|Greek]] speakers were fairly common in [[Calabria]] and [[Apulia]] until the 11th century when their rule ended: a few small Greek-speaking communities still exist in southern Italy and Sicily. In 827 AD, the island of Sicily was invaded starting the period of [[Arab]] and [[North African]] influence in Sicily and [[Apulia]], especially [[Bari]]. Arabs controlled Sicily until the [[Normans|Norman]] [[Christian]]s conquered much of southern Italy and all of Sicily in 1091 AD, and began converting or expelling them.[http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thenormans/p/overnormans.htm] Starting from the [[15th century|15th]] to [[16th century|16th centuries]], southern Italy especially, experienced a wave of 300,000 migrants; both [[mercenaries]] and [[refugees]] from [[Albania]].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arb%C3%ABresh%C3%AB#History] Their descendants today still retain aspects of Albanian ethnic identity, language, customs and religious elements in communities in [[Calabria]], [[Basilicata]], [[Apulia]] and Sicily, and are collectively know as [[Arbereshe]]. There are also still small Greek fishing villages in [[Calabria]], [[Maltese people|Maltese]]-Italian residents whose family originated from [[Malta]] under Italian and then British rule from the 18th to the mid 20th centuries, and [[Catalan people|Catalan]] communities in [[Sardinia]] to this day. For more than 500 years (12th to 17th centuries) after [[Italo-Norman|Norman]] rule, [[Hohenstaufen|Swabian]] (German) and [[Angevin]] (French) swapped control of regions in Italy, predominately southern Italy and Sicily. During the 11th through 16th century the majority of city-states from Northern and Central Italy remained independent, nurturing the era now known as as the [[Renaissance]]. [[Habsburg Spain]] and [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] [[France]] dominated in [[southern Italy]], resulting in some cultural and linguistic influences. In 1720, Sicily came under [[Austrian Habsburg]] rule and was swapped between various European powers until Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered Sicily and southern Italy, allowing for the annexation of the former [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] into the new Italian state in 1860 (see [[Risorgimento]]). ==Italian society and culture== {{main|Italian culture}} From the [[Lombards|Lombard]] invasion until the mid-nineteenth century, Italy was not the nation-state it is today. The Italian regions were fractured into various kingdoms, duchies, and domains. As a result, [[dialects of Italy|Italian dialects]] or [[List of languages of Italy|regional minority languages]] and customs evolved independently. While all Italian states were similar and they retained basic elements of Roman language and culture, each developed its own regional culture and identity. As a result, even to this day, Italians define themselves primarily by their home region, province or town, and many still speak a local dialect or regional language in addition to standard Italian. The [[Italian language]] has steadily replaced the numerous [[Italian dialects|dialects]] and [[Northern Italian language|Gallo-italic]] and [[Italic]] languages, such as [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]], [[Venetian language|Venetian]], [[Emiliano-Romagnolo]], [[Lombard language|Lombard]], [[Sardinian language|Sardinian]], [[Piedmontese language|Piedmontese]], [[Ligurian language|Ligurian]] (also known as [[Genoese dialect|Genoese]]), [[Friulian]], [[Ladin]], [[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]] and [[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]]. Standard Italian originated in literature of the 12th to 15th centuries, and was based on the [[Tuscan dialect|dialects of Tuscany]], along with influences of [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]] and [[Venetian language|Venetian]]. In the 19th Century, Standard Italian became more common and helped unify the country. Some non-Italian speaking minorities live within Italy. Thousands of [[German language|German]] [[Austro-Bavarian|Bavarian]] speakers remain in the extreme northern province of [[Province of Bolzano-Bozen|Bolzano-Bozen]]. Portions of the [[Friuli-Venezia-Giulia]] region have a small [[Slovene language|Slovene]]-speaking minority of [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] origin. A small cluster of [[French language|French]]-speaking people live in the province of [[Aosta]] and a small [[Catalan language|Catalan]]-speaking enclave in Sardinia goes back five centuries after first settled by Catalans from [[Catalonia]] in Spain. Two minor [[Italic languages]] are spoken outside of modern Italy- [[Corsican language|Corsican]] in [[Corsica]], France and [[Romansh language|Romansh]] in eastern Switzerland. Since the 19th century, the economic conditions of the agrarian southern and north-eastern regions resulted in mass migration from these regions to the Americas, industrial parts of [[northern Italy]], and to other parts of Western Europe such as France and Belgium. By the 1970s economic conditions in the poorer regions of Italy improved to the point that even the less-developed regions of [[South Italy]] received more immigrants than it sent outwards. Today, Italy is less urban than many other countries in Europe, with 67% of [[Italy|Italians]] living in a major urban area- compared to 76% of [[France|French]], 88% of [[Germany|Germans]] and 90% of [[United Kingdom|Britons]]. The vast majority of Italians live outside of the large (over 1,000,000 population) cities.<ref name="wdi">{{cite web |url= http://devdata.worldbank.org/wdipdfs/table3_10.pdf|title= 2005 World Development Indicators - Urbanization|accessdate=2007-05-02 |date= [[2005]]|publisher= [[World Bank Group|Worldbank.org]]}}</ref> ==Italian diaspora and Italians abroad== [[Image:Reina de Italia - fiesta del inmigrante - Obera.png|thumb|right|250px|It is estimated that over 20 million [[Italian Argentine]]s have at least one Italian forefather, the highest national concentration outside Italy (about 50% of the population of Argentina).]] [[Image:Naviodeimigrantes.gif|thumb|right|250px|Italian Immigrants in Sao Paulo. Brazil is home to about 25 million [[Italian Brazilian]]s, the largest number of people with full or partial Italian ancestry outside of Italy.]] {{Main|Italian diaspora}} There is a history of Italians working and living outside of the Italian peninsula since ancient times. Italian bankers and traders expanded to all parts of Europe and the Mediterranean, sometimes creating outposts. In medieval times, there was a strong presence in [[Flanders]], [[Lyon]] and the [[Middle East]]. Since the Renaissance, the services of Italian architects and artists were sought by many of Europe's [[royal court]]s, as far as [[Russia]]. This migration, though generally small in numbers, and sometimes ephemeral, pre-dates the unification of Italian states. Italy became an important source for emigrants after about 1870. More than 10 million Italians emigrated between 1870 and 1920. In the beginning (1870-1880), the main destination of the migrants were other [[European countries]] (France, Switzerland, Germany, [[Belgium]], the United Kingdom and [[Luxembourg]]), where most Italians worked for some time and then returned to Italy. During this time many Italians also went to the Americas, especially to [[Brazil]], [[Argentina]] and the United States. From about 1880 until the end of the early 1900s, the main destinations for Italian immigrants were Brazil, Argentina as well as Uruguay. Smaller migration patterns of Italians went to [[Mexico]], the [[United States]], and [[Corsicans]] constituted a large proportion of immigrants to [[Puerto Rico]] (see [[Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico]]). Brazil was in need of workers to embrace the vast [[coffee]] plantations, and Italian immigrants became a main source of manpower for that country. Argentina and Uruguay were rapidly industrializing and attracting immigrants for work and settlers to populate the country. Italian immigration heavily influenced the culture and development of these countries (Today, Argentina and Uruguay have the highest national concentrations of Italians outside of Europe - about 50% of the population in each country). [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901030120-407301,00.html] Starting in the early 20th century until the 1950s, the United States became a main destination for Italian immigrants, most settling mainly in the [[New York metropolitan area]], [[Boston]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Detroit]] , [[Cleveland]] and [[Chicago]]. Other countries that received large numbers of Italians, primarily from about 1940 to the 1970s, were Australia, Canada, and Venezuela. During this period smaller migration patterns of Italians went to [[New Zealand]] and [[South Africa]]. In a wave of temporary Italian migration, from 1920 to the early 1970s (peaking in the periods of WWI and WWII), Italian "[[Gastarbeiter|guest worker]]s" went mostly to [[Austria]], Belgium, France, [[West Germany]], [[Switzerland]] and Luxembourg. [http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/migration/chapter9.html] Like the earlier waves, most Italians returned to Italy, but some did remain and [[Cultural assimilation|assimilated]] in these countries. The migration of Italians has at times been very large and has influenced much of the world. It can be estimated as many as 70 million people of at least some Italian origin live outside Europe, primarily in the Americas. Large numbers of people with full or significant Italian [[ancestry]] are found in Brazil (25 million), Argentina (20 million), the United States (17.2 million), [[Canada]] (1.5 million) and Australia (1 million). Significant Italian [[expatriate]] population is noted in [[Cyprus]], [[Egypt]], [[Eritrea]], [[Greece]], [[Israel]], [[Malta]], [[Morocco]], Spain, [[Turkey]] and South Africa{{Fact|date=June 2008}}. Former Italian communities once thrived in their African colonies of [[Eritrea]], [[Somalia]] and [[Libya]] (150,000 Italians settled in Libya, constituting about 18% of the total population).<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-46562/Libya Libya - Italian colonization]</ref> Today, with the economic assimilation of the [[European Union]] Italians, as other [[European ethnic groups|European]]s, are mobile throughout Europe and can be found in most major centres in Europe. ==Contribution to humanity== {{main|Italian culture|History of Italy|List of Italians}} {{Cleanup-section|date=December 2007}} The people of Italy have contributed significantly to world culture and scientific, and technological, progress continuously since ancient times. In the [[Arts]], Italy produced some of the most widely known [[sculptors]], [[writers]] and [[painters]]. Notable examples include [[Michelangelo]], [[Dante]], [[Pirandello]] and [[Raphael]]. Italian [[composers]] and [[musicians]], such as [[Vivaldi]], [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]] and [[Verdi]], contributed to the evolution of western music, and Italians are cited with the creation of the [[opera]]; some of the most famous [[luthiers]] are Italians, like [[Andrea Amati]] and Antonio [[Stradivari]]. Famous Italian [[scientists]] include [[Alessandro Volta]], [[Guglielmo Marconi]], [[Enrico Fermi]] and [[Galileo]]. Italian contributions to [[architecture]] and [[engineering]] are numerous since ancient times. Renowned architects include [[Brunelleschi]], [[Bernini]] and [[Palladio]]. The rise of [[humanism]] and modern [[commerce]] can be attributed to conditions found in Italy during the Renaissance. This ambience also lead to the rise of the "[[universal man]]", of which [[Leonardo da Vinci]] often is considered as the prime example. ==See also== *[[List of Italians]] *[[List of Sardinians]] *[[Demography of Italy]] *[[Italian Citizenship]] *[[Italian diaspora]] *[[Anti-Italianism]] *[[European ethnic groups]] *[[Genetic history of Europe]] *[[White Latin American]] {{Italian diaspora}} <!-- Keep the list as is, subject to further research for sources. --> ==References== {{reflist|2}} [[Category:Ethnic groups in Europe]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Italy]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Croatia]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Slovenia]] [[Category:Italian people|*Italians]] [[Category:Italian society]] [[Category:Romance peoples]] [[be:Італьянцы]] [[bs:Italijani]] [[cs:Italové]] [[de:Italiener (Ethnie)]] [[es:Italiano (grupo étnico)]] [[fr:Italiens]] [[fur:Popul talian]] [[hr:Talijani]] [[it:Italiani]] [[he:איטלקים]] [[ka:იტალიელები]] [[lv:Itāļi]] [[lt:Italai]] [[hu:Olaszok]] [[nl:Italianen]] [[ja:イタリア人]] [[pl:Włosi]] [[pt:Italianos]] [[ru:Итальянцы]] [[sk:Taliani]] [[sl:Italijani]] [[sr:Италијани]] [[tl:Mga Italyano]] [[vi:Người Ý]]