What Race are Portuguese people?

Question

**For People who know portuguese people or actually is. but this is open to anyones 2 cents....all is appreciated. **


I'am black and i am from Tennessee, my girlfriend is from Ontario and she is Portuguese. I told her that if she was from Tennessee people would consider her to be white but she says that she is not white and that she is just Portuguese. so i go on facebook to look at some portuguese people from her hometown. I saw one of her best freinds who is portuguese and she looks like this white girl my friend used to date. I look at others and they look like white people from Tennessee but they say they are not white and that they are portuguese.

So i'm asking what do you consider portuguese people? I know all people from portugal don't have fair skin and green/blue eyes but hey i'm from the US and i'm called black so what are portugese people called? I love my girlfriend with all my heart and I can tell that this is getting to her so can someone educate me on this

2Kool4U:

to me it doesnt' matter. i just stated the difference of Canada to the southern U.S.A. here people of portuguese descent is rare..i would say less then 1 percent...i just made the observation to her...i love her no matter what she is

Answer 1

Everybody in Portugal is white so... They look what they really are. Portuguese people is ethnically caucasian like the spanish, french, german or italian.
The difference from Northern Europe is that people from there are more blond.
About 35% of the portuguese people is blond with blue or green eyes and caucasian. The rest is caucasian too (white skin) but the eyes are brown and hair is darker.
About 4% are black emigrants and from other races who get the portuguese nationality so, they turn to be, considered politically portuguese.
96% of the portuguese population is white and caucasian.
So, there aren't real black portuguese. Who are called a black portuguese, are in fact, african people who emigrated to Portugal (most of them in the last thirty years) and got the portuguese nationality.
About its colonial past: Slaves were token from Africa, sold in Portugal and forwarded to Brazil. They didn't remained there in Portugal. They only, were traded there and Portugal was a temporary stop. So, the portuguese population remained white as has always been since the lusitani (6000 B.C.) until nowadays.
Nowadays, it is very easy to find black imigrants who are seeking jobs, attending schools and so ever like in any other european country.
I am white and I am portuguese but, first of all, I'm portuguese.
I think that your girlfriend is trying to say to you that whatever people's color is, that simply doesn't matter so she says that she's only portuguese. I think the same too. Of course, for all the effects, she's white like all the portuguese people. I think that if she was from Tennessee, not only people from Tennessee but all people around the world would consider her white, unless they have visual problems. In that case, I would suggest an ophthalmologist.. loool

Answer 2

As a Portuguese, I would say Portuguese are a unique mix of genes from many parts if the world. Although I do not see why this question would be relevant, some genes are really old and a Portuguese baby can be born really dark-skinned even from a blond green eyed parent and another with apparently white skin and dark hair. Or one can be black Portuguese with a Portuguese ancestry because a black ancestor from centuries ago was born Portuguese in a Portuguese African colony. Unlike Americans, our history is very long.. we had plenty of centuries to "mix" with all genes. So each Portuguese baby could carry a surprising amount of genes. My niece is very white with hazel eyes and light brown hair AND her grandfather is a dark black Portuguese.

Answer 3

I know this post is very old, but Portuguese people are mixed race as much as Italians and Spanish. They have been invaded several times. Ie: Arabic, Morrocans and many more. These people blended with the locals, thus some portuguese are really dark and look like North African people. It's all in the history books!

Answer 4

Yes there are a small number who are black and 1% who are arab, morrocan, etc.
But many years ago when our country had monarchies Portuguese people could only be white, if you weren't white you wouldn't be considered Portuguese. Portuguese people were not allowed to marry dark skinned people and have kids with them (this also includes Asian people from India, Israel, Pakistan, Afganistan), it would also be a shame for our Kings and Queens to have Dark skinned husbands and kids. Years later when colonies were created with Native Indians, Africans and Indians, the portuguese men would have intercourse with the opposite race and so would portuguese women. Moreover, the Portuguese nation became more and more multi cultural than most of the Upper class and middle class approved of.
All of this No-Dark-Skinned-Portuguese-People-Approved was over after the Segregation and Racist era was over, every single immigrant was allowed to mix with us. We dont mind African people.

Answer 5

For the individuals that keep commenting on the Black people living in Portugal, obviously this comment is not referring to them as they are clearly of African descent. The Portuguese people that we typically see in England generally have a darker complexion, hair and eyes to the typical English person and clearly look different to English people, therefore it is a completely reasonable question to ask what race they are as they do not look white. Many English people cannot tan like Portuguese people, instead their skin becomes red or burns easily. Clearly there is some mixed ancestry in Portuguese people, this question just appears to be asking what these mixes are.

Answer 6

Nothing like starting to read "general public's" opinions to get amused, and a bit concerned as well to be honest.
The amount of misinformation out there, and how quickly people are willing o share it, is disconcerting… Even by Portuguese people and/or descendants…
But what I find more entertaining, is that Americans (72% white) find it so hard to see us as whites (96% white). And the best they can do, is to put us in the same category as the Spaniards. This is a bit offensive, but has nothing to do with race…

To start off, Hispanic, Latin and/or Mediterranean does not define race.
Mediterranean defines a geographical region, Hispanic defines a cultural influence and Latin defines a language inheritance. And the funny thing is, we don't truly belong in any of those categories.
The only Mediterranean thing we have, is the gastronomy. We don't even share a Mediterranean climate. Can you honestly say that we belong in the same ethnic group as the Egyptians, Turkish or Syrians?

In terms of Latin language influence, we're probably as Latin as the French, Romanians or Greeks. They all had at some extend, the influence of the Latin language in their current one. And to be honest, shouldn't the Italians be the real Latins?

And the Hispanic term… Well, I really need to elaborate on this one.
Hispania was not a region on the Spanish side of the peninsula, and Lusitania another on the Portuguese side, as I read somewhere...
Hispania was a Roman province, that included all the peninsula. It was the peninsula itself.
Lusitania was in fact a region, that the Lusitanian tribe inhabited in Hispania, and most of it was in what it's now Portugal. But the Lusitanians weren't the only tribe, there were a few of them. Just to add to the confusion, one of them were called the Iberos (Iberian?).

The Hispanic word isn't actually related to the name of the roman province, but to the name Spain instead. If it was related to the province, no one in Latin America would be called Hispanic, would they? That logic eats itself.

Another funny “fact” I learned reading these posts, was that Portugal started off as being a part of Spain, or was a Spanish colony.
For those that don't know, when Portugal was “created” there were other 5 kingdoms (excluding the moors) on the rest of the peninsula. Leon, Castella, Navarra, Aragon and Catalunya. None of them were called Spain. In fact, Spain was only Spain when the two remaining kingdoms unified in 1479. Just to put it perspective, Portugal officially started its age of discoveries in 1432, when we first settled the Azores. Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492…
Also, colonization implies some form of domination, which didn't occurred at all. We lost the crown, because a Portuguese teenager idiot of a King thought he could kick some a** overseas, only to have his stinky b*tt served back to him, leaving no heirs behind. The only heir he had, was an uncle priest, who “officially” couldn't have any heirs either. Eventually, the next link on the chain was a Spanish ruler.
Therefore, for a brief space in time (about 60 years), Portugal was ruled by the same “person” (not king) as Spain. I'm stating a difference between person and King because, although he was the same person, he didn't even had the same title in both countries. He was Filipe I in Portugal, while he was Filipe II in Spain. He didn't even had the b*lls to annex both countries, nor did the next two Filipes, because they knew the sh*t storm they would raise, even though, they had the nerve to try to invade England with their “armada”. “How do you like them apples”?!
Now, and regarding race, I wonder what people think about British being white or not, when they claim that the Portuguese are not white, due to the fact that we had colonies everywhere. I wonder…

Regarding the Arabic occupation of the peninsula influencing our race, I also wonder what people think happened when the Europeans took it back. Love spreading? Collective hugging? Well, I wasn't there, but I can assure you the conquest was bit more hostile than that!!!

And to end this, because it's getting too long, the claim that someone made about the Portuguese being racists. Anyone making that claim should look up the first countries, if not the first, to abolish slavery in the world. If you found Denmark, then you found the wrong list. Search for slavery and not slave trade! To be honest, we were a bit hypocritical regarding that last one!!

Also, ask any Portuguese resident, what the country's reaction to the current Prime Minister's election was. He's of Indian descent, and his looks don't hide it.
The Portuguese resident will certainly tell you that his racial heritage wasn't even an issue, mainly because, the majority of the population doesn't really care about that! And the funny thing is, he didn't even won the election...

So, if you find a Portuguese (descendant) being racially offensive, that's probably more a reflection of the culture of the country he/she's at, than it has to do with his/her origins...

Answer 7

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I know the education system in the US is not, well, good, but I find incredible that people don't know that Portugal is one of the oldest countries in Europe and therefore the vast majority of the portuguese are caucasian. Moreover, the portuguese are among the oldest europeans alive genetically, they are virtually genetically unmixed since pre-history. The majority of the portuguese are the direct descendents of the neolithic pre-celtic tribes that built the Megalithical Civilization that spread from Portgual to France and the british isles, where they later build Stonehenge for example... The only possible explanation for this ignorance is maybe the fact that many americans seem to believe that only pale white blonds are europeans and caucasians, forget about the portuguese, spanish, french, italians, greeks...

Answer 8

Portuguese are White

Answer 9

Whites are not indigenous to Europe as Europe was black and mainly black (or mixed) ruled up until the 1800's! Carthage (yes, they were black) held many parts of Iberia and it was always African. Then Italy took it, then the Germanic tribes came INTO Iberia (and Western Europe) and TOOK Iberia and went into Northwest Africa. Islam came about, then the Moors (black and NOT so-called arabs), took back Germanic conquered Africa, then went into Iberia as far as France, where they got defeated.

They decided to keep what they had instead of pushing on (the world would be very different today had they pushed on!), so the Moors sat in Iberia for 700 years. Portugal broke away from the Moors first, which is why their language does not sound much like Spanish, but more of a Latin/French/Germanic mixture - with some Arabic words. The Portuguese were the first Europeans with a slight Germanic heritage to break out of Europe and find a new world. Germanic tribes had been held in Asia and then Germanic conquered Europe since their emergence on earth.

Portugal had a love affair with Africa and invaded Africa that was not controlled by Islam - because they could defeat them. Then you had the slave trade, Cape Verde, Brazil, etc., where Africans and the WHITE-LIKE Portuguese mixed together and there were so many Africans in Portugal that they outnumbered the whites and white-like peoples.

The bottom line is - Portuguese are mixed with blacks and have been since before their history. They are only white if white will have them into their group. When I was in college, I met some Portuguese Americans who claimed to be white and they stressed it to me (not whites), but I had to let them know when they put their hands near mine, we were about the same color and their noses were clearly of an African type, with jet-black hair. At best, they could say they were Italian. Did you know that Greeks and Italians were the first peoples to get lynched by WHITES in the US? Now who IS white?

Answer 10

What Is Portuguese

Answer 11

Portuguese people are White/Mediterranean in terms of race, just like all other Southern Europeans. There are some darker people due to ex-colonial influences, but obviously those people are mixed and not 100% Portuguese. In every European country, one finds a fair share of mixed people due to flow of immigrants.