Argentina According to the Argentina national census of the year 2010, the total Argentine population is 40,117,096, from which 149,493 were of African ancestry. Traditionally it has been argued that the black population in Argentina declined since the early 19th century into insignificance. Many believe that the black population declined due to systematic efforts to reduce the black population in Argentina in order to mirror the racially homogeneous countries of Europe. A 2005 study found that 5% of the population had African ancestry, while a more recent study suggested 9% may have African heritage. Researchers such as Alí Delgado and Patricia Gomes have suggested that, rather than Black people disappearing, erasure from the 19th century onward has resulted in the "invisibility" of African culture and roots in Argentina. They were brought in during the Spanish colonial times and the majority live in the
Yungas. In 1544, the Spanish
Conquistadors discovered the silver mines in a city now called
Potosí, which is on the base of
Cerro Rico. They began to enslave the natives as workers in the mines. However, the health of the natives working in the mines became very poor, so the Spanish began to bring in enslaved
Sub-Saharan Africans to work in the mines. Slaves were brought as early as the 16th century in Bolivia to work in mines. In Potosí during the 17th century 30,000 Africans were brought to work in the mines from which the total population of Potosí which numbered around 200,000. Slaves were more expensive in Bolivia then other parts of the Spanish colonies costing upwards to 800 pesos. This was due to the fact that they had to be bought from slave ports in the coastal region of the
Spanish empire and had to trek from cities like
Cartagena,
Montevideo, and
Buenos Aires to Bolivia.
Brazil in each department in 2022 s during a meeting in the capital of Brazil,
Brasília Around 10% of Brazil's 203 million people reported to the
2022 census as
Black, and many more Brazilians have some degree of African descent. Brazil experienced a long internal struggle over abolition of slavery and was the last Latin American country to do so. In 1850 it finally banned the importation of new slaves from overseas, after two decades since the first official attempts to outlaw the human traffic (in spite of illegal parties of Black African slaves that kept arriving until 1855). In 1864 Brazil emancipated the slaves, and on 28 September 1871, the Brazilian Congress approved the
Rio Branco Law of Free Birth, which conditionally freed the children of slaves born from that day on. In 1887
army officers refused to order their troops to hunt runaway slaves, and in 1888 the Senate passed a law establishing immediate, unqualified emancipation. This law, known as
Lei Áurea (Golden Law) was sanctioned by the regent
Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil, daughter of the emperor
Pedro II on 13 May 1888. Preto and pardo are among five ethnic categories used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, along with
branco ("white"),
amarelo ("yellow", East Asian), and
indígena (Native American). Brazilians have a complex classification system based on the prominence of skin and hair pigmentation, as well as other features associated with the concept of race (
raça). The Africans brought to Brazil belonged to two major groups: the West African and the
Bantu people. The West Africans mostly belong to the
Yoruba people, who became known as the "nagô". The word derives from
ànàgó, a derogatory term used by the
Dahomey to refer to Yoruba-speaking people. The Dahomey enslaved and sold large numbers of Yoruba, largely of
Oyo heritage. Slaves descended from the Yoruba are strongly associated with the
Candomblé religious tradition. Other slaves belonged to the
Fon people and other neighboring ethnic groups.
Bantu people were mostly brought from present-day
Angola and the
Congo, most belonging to the
Bakongo or
Ambundu ethnic groups. Bantu people were also taken from coastal regions of Northern
Mozambique. They were sent in large scale to
Rio de Janeiro,
Minas Gerais, and Northeastern Brazil. In 1994, a biological study determined that the Chilean composition was 64% European and 35% Amerindian. The recent study in the Candela Project establishes that the genetic composition of Chile is 52% of European origin, with 44% of the genome coming from Native Americans (Amerindians), and 4% coming from Africa, making Chile a primarily mestizo country with traces of African descent present in half of the population. Another genetic study conducted by the
University of Brasília in several American countries shows a similar genetic composition for Chile, with a European contribution of 51.6%, an Amerindian contribution of 42.1%, and an African contribution of 6.3%. In 2015 another study established genetic composition in 57% European, 38% Native American, and 2.5% African. most of whom are concentrated on the northwest Caribbean coast and the Pacific coast in such departments as
Chocó, although considerable numbers are also in
Cali,
Cartagena,
Barranquilla and
San Andres Islands. Approximately 4.4 million Afro-Colombians actively recognize their own black ancestry as a result of inter-racial relations with white and indigenous Colombians. They have been historically absent from high level government positions. Many of their long-established settlements around the Pacific coast have remained underdeveloped. In Colombia's ongoing internal conflict, Afro-Colombians are both victims of violence or displacement and members of armed factions, such as the
FARC and the
AUC. Afro-Colombians have played a role in contributing to the development of certain aspects of Colombian culture. For example, several of Colombia's musical genres, such as
Cumbia, have African origins or influences. Some Afro-Colombians have also been successful in sports such as
Faustino Asprilla,
Freddy Rincón or
María Isabel Urrutia.
San Basilio de Palenque is a village in Colombia that is noted for maintaining many African traditions. It was declared a
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005. The residents of Palenque still speak
Palenquero, a Spanish/African creole.
Ecuador In 2006, Ecuador had a population of 13,547,510. According to the latest data from CIA World Factbook, the classified ethnic groups represented in Ecuador include mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white; 71.9%),
Montubio (7.4%), Amerindian (7%), white (6.1%), Afroecuadorian (4.3%), mulato (1.9%), and black (1%). The Afro-Ecuadorian culture is found in the northwest coastal region of
Ecuador and make up the majority (70%) in the province of
Esmeraldas and the
Chota Valley in the
Imbabura Province. They can be also found in Ecuador's two largest cities,
Quito and
Guayaquil. The best known cultural influence known outside Ecuador is a distinctive kind of
marimba music. From the
Chota Valley there is
Bomba (Ecuador) music which is very different from marimba from Esmeraldas.
Paraguay Black Paraguayans are descended from enslaved West Africans brought to Paraguay beginning in the 16th century. They became a significant presence in the country, and made up 11% of the population classified in 1785. Most Afro-Paraguayans established communities in towns such as
Areguá,
Emboscada, and
Guarambaré. Many achieved their freedom during the Spanish rule. In the capital
Asunción, there is a community of 300 Afro-Paraguayan families in the Fernando de la Mora municipality.
Peru Some sources classified Afro-Peruvians around to 9% of the Peruvian population (2,850 million) Over the course of the slave trade, approximately 95,000 slaves were brought into Peru, with the last group arriving in 1850. Today, Afro-Peruvians reside mainly on the central and south coasts. Afro-Peruvians can also be found in significant numbers on the northern coast. Recently, it has been verified that the community with the greatest concentration of Afro-Peruvians is Yapatera in Morropón (Piura), made up of around 7,000 farmers who are largely descended from African slaves of "Malagasy" (
Madagascar) origin. They are referred to as "malgaches" or "mangaches". Afro-Peruvian music and culture was popularized in the 1950s by the performer
Nicomedes Santa Cruz. Since 2006, his birthday, 4 June, has been celebrated in Peru as a Day of Afro-Peruvian Culture. Another key figure in the revival of Afro-Peruvian music is
Susana Baca. Afro-Peruvian music was actually well known in Peru since the 1600s but oppressed by the Peruvian elite, as was Andean religion and language. Afro-Peruvian culture has not only thrived but influenced all aspects of Peruvian culture despite lacking any acknowledgment from mainstream media or history.
Uruguay . A 2009 DNA study in the
American Journal of Human Biology showed the genetic composition of Uruguay as primarily European, with Native American ancestry ranging from one to 20 percent and sub-Saharan African "from seven to 15 percent (depending on region)". Enslaved Africans and their descendants figured prominently in the founding of Uruguay. In the late 18th century, Montevideo became a major arrival port for slaves, most brought from Portuguese colonies of Africa and bound for the Spanish colonies of the New World, the mines of Peru and Bolivia, and the fields of Uruguay. In the 19th century, when Uruguay joined other colonies in fighting for independence from Spain, Uruguayan national hero
Jose Artigas led an elite division of black troops against the colonists. One of his top advisors was
Joaquín Lenzina, known as Ansina, a freed slave who composed musical odes about his commander's exploits and is regarded by Afro-Uruguayans as an unheralded father of the nation.
Venezuela was the first afrodescendiente to serve as head of state of Venezuela. Self-identified Black Venezuelans are mostly descendants of enslaved Africans brought to Venezuela from the 17th to the 19th century to work the coffee and cocoa crops. Most Black Venezuelans live in the North-central region, in the coastal towns
Barlovento, Northern
Yaracuy,
Carabobo and
Aragua States, and Eastern
Vargas State; but also in several towns and villages in areas in South Lake Maracaibo (Zulia State) and Northern
Merida State in the Andes, among others. They have kept their traditions and culture alive, especially through music. Venezuela is a very racially mixed nation, which makes it difficult to individually identify and/or distinguish their ethno-racial background with precision. Research in 2001 on genetic diversity by the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, IVIC) in which the population was compared to the historical patterns of the colonial castes. According to the last population census in Venezuela conducted by the National Institute Estadististica (INE), 2.8% of the country's population identifies as afrodescendientes of the national total, which is 181 157 result in the number of Venezuelans with African racial characteristics. However, most
Venezuelans have some Sub-Saharan African heritage, even if they identify as white. People who claim to be Afro-Venezuelans have stood out as sportsmen. Many Afro-Venezuelans are in the Major League Baseball and other sports – for example, former
NBA/
Houston Rockets forward
Carl Herrera. However, most of them do not describe themselves as Afro-Venezuelan, but as Latinos or Hispanics or simply Venezuelans. Afro-Venezuelans have also stood out in the arts, especially in music; for example:
Magdalena Sánchez,
Oscar D'León,
Morella Muñoz,
Allan Phillips, Pedro Eustache, Frank Quintero, and many others. Miss Venezuela 1998,
Carolina Indriago, Miss Venezuela Universe 2006, Jictzad Viña, and Miss Venezuela World 2006,
Susan Carrizo are mulatto. == Central America ==