Afro-Mexicans ( Spanish : afromexicanos ), also known as Black Mexicans ( Spanish : mexicanos negros ), are Mexicans who have heritage from sub-Saharan Africa and identify as such. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both free and enslaved Africans who arrived to Mexico during the colonial era , as well as post-independence migrants. This population includes Afro-descended people from neighboring English , French , and Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean and Central America , descendants of enslaved Africans in Mexico and those from the Deep South during Slavery in the United States , and to a lesser extent recent migrants directly from Africa . Today, there are localized communities in Mexico with significant although not predominant African ancestry. These are mostly concentrated in specific communities, including populations in the states of Oaxaca , Michoacán , Guerrero , and Veracruz .
227-579: Throughout the century following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire of 1519, a significant number of African slaves were brought to the Veracruz . According to Philip D. Curtin's The Atlantic Slave Trade : A Census, an estimated 200,000 enslaved Africans were kidnapped and brought to New Spain , which later became modern Mexico. The creation of a national Mexican identity, especially after
454-770: A confederation of seafaring peoples contributed to the New Kingdom 's collapse in 1069 BC, commencing the Third Intermediate Period . Egypt's collapse liberated the more Egyptianised Kingdom of Kush in Nubia, who manoeuvred into power in Upper Egypt and conquered Lower Egypt in 754 BC to form the Kushite Empire . The Kushites ruled for a century and oversaw a revival in pyramid building , until they were driven out of Egypt by
681-557: A principality into a major power on the trade route between Rome and India through conquering its unfortunately unknown neighbours, gaining a monopoly on Indian Ocean trade in the region. Aksum's rise had them rule over much of the regions from Lake Tana to the valley of the Nile , and they further conquered parts of the ailing Kingdom of Kush , led campaigns against the Noba and Beja peoples, and expanded into South Arabia . This led
908-573: A 20th-century ideological construct. Las castas paintings were produced during the 18th centuries, commissioned by the King of Spain to reflect Mexican society at that time. They portray the three races, European, indigenous and African and their complicated mixing. They are based on family groups, with parents and children labeled according to their caste. They have 16 squares in a hierarchy. The armed insurgency for independence broke out in September 1810
1135-616: A Berber tribe originally from Yafran (also known as Ifrane ) in northwestern Libya , as well as the city of Ifrane in Morocco . Under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province then named Africa Proconsularis , following its defeat of the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War in 146 BC, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya . The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote
1362-429: A Hispanicization of the male members of the confraternity which may have involved an adoption of the Spanish system of patriarchy. This pattern, roughly in the 18th century, led to a policing of female members in order to better comply with Spanish gender norms. The Hispanicization of the confraternities gradually led from a transfer in racial title from de negros , "of Blacks," to despues españoles , "later Spanish." This
1589-517: A book which spoke about the history of the slave trade and the ways in which Latin America was involved. In the chapter titled "The slave trade in the Caribbean and Latin America" they mention that Spain's biggest goal was to explore "newly discovered tropical territories" in order to help them gain resources and generate wealth and power. In this chapter, they also mention different reasons as to why
1816-465: A counterattack. Cortés realized that the defeat was imminent and decided to escape yet, the Aztecs attacked. The Massacre is most known as La Noche Triste (the sorrowful night) about "400 Spaniards, 4000 native allies and many horses [were killed] before reaching the mainland". Moctezuma was killed, although the sources do not agree on who killed him. According to one account, when Moctezuma, now seen by
2043-466: A crucial role in the conquest, yet other factors paved the path for the Spaniards' success. For instance, the Spaniards' timing of entry, the compelling ideologies of both groups, and the Spanish unfamiliarity with the Aztec Empire. Therefore, the Spaniards lacked a sense of danger and power structure within the empire. "A direct attack on a city as mighty as Tenochtitlan was unlikely and unexpected" from
2270-710: A former Italian colony, gained independence. In 1956, Tunisia and Morocco won their independence from France. Ghana followed suit the next year (March 1957), becoming the first of the sub-Saharan colonies to be granted independence. Over the next decade, waves of decolonization took place across the continent, culminating in the 1960 Year of Africa and the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963. Portugal's overseas presence in sub-Saharan Africa (most notably in Angola , Cape Verde, Mozambique , Guinea-Bissau , and São Tomé and Príncipe) lasted from
2497-657: A free person, born of free parents may and must do." Black slave rebellions occurred in Mexico as in other parts of the Americas, with one in Veracruz in 1537 and another in the Spanish capital of Mexico City. Runaway slaves were called cimarrones, who mostly fled to the highlands between Veracruz and Puebla , with a number making their way to the Costa Chica region in what are now Guerrero and Oaxaca . UNESCO wrote
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#17327797104982724-485: A greater extent around the sugar cane growing areas in Veracruz. This had the effect of intermarriage and the loss or absorption of most elements of African culture in a few generations. This intermarriage means that while Veracruz remains "blackest" in Mexico's popular imagination, those with dark brown skin are mistaken for those from the Caribbean and/or not "truly Mexican". The total population of people of African Descent including people with one or more African ancestors
2951-494: A kind of second class citizenship and perpetuate fascist ideologies. Covarrubias held that understanding the history of Africanism in Mexico was a key part of understanding Mexico as a whole. After 1945, Aguirre Beltrán became the leading Mexican scholar on Afro-Mexicans. He wrote the book La Población Negra de Mexico , which helped form the foundations for the study of Afro-Mexicans during the colonial period and their post-revolutionary cultural impacts. Aguirre Beltrán would criticize
3178-564: A land (e.g., in Celtica from Celtae , as used by Julius Caesar ). The later Muslim region of Ifriqiya , following its conquest of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire's Exarchatus Africae , also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lies to the west of Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to Anatolia and lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between
3405-698: A millennium. Towards the end of the ancient period, northern Ethiopia and Eritrea bore the Kingdom of D'mt beginning in 980 BC. In modern-day Somalia and Djibouti there was the Macrobian Kingdom , with archaeological discoveries indicating the possibility of other unknown sophisticated civilisations at this time. After D'mt's fall in the 5th century BC the Ethiopian Plateau came to be ruled by numerous smaller unknown kingdoms who experienced strong south Arabian influence , until
3632-602: A minority of Mexicans of African descent. Afro-descendants can be found throughout the country, however they are numerically insignificant in some states. There are also recent immigrants of African and Afro-Caribbean origin. The Costa Chica ("small coast" in Spanish) extends from Acapulco to the town of Puerto Ángel in Oaxaca in Mexico's Pacific coast. The Costa Chica is not well known to travelers, with few attractions, especially where Afro-Mexicans live. Exceptions to this are
3859-625: A monopoly on gold heading north and salt heading south, despite not controlling the gold fields themselves, located in the forest regions . It is probable that Wagadu's dominance on trade allowed for the gradual consolidation of many polities into a confederated state , whose composites stood in varying relations to the core, from fully administered to nominal tribute-paying parity. Based on large tumuli scattered across West Africa dating to this period, it has been stipulated that relative to Wagadu, there were further simultaneous and preceding kingdoms that have unfortunately been lost to time. At
4086-586: A native Libyan tribe, an ancestor of modern Berbers ; see Terence for discussion. The name had usually been connected with the Phoenician word ʿafar meaning "dust", but a 1981 hypothesis has asserted that it stems from the Berber word ifri (plural ifran ) meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania ,
4313-521: A number of pueblos negros, notably the African named towns of Mandinga, Matamba, Mozambique, and Mozomboa as well as Chacalapa, Coyolillo, Yanga , and Tamiahua . The town of Mandinga, about forty five minutes south of Veracruz city , is particularly known for the restaurants that line its main street. Coyolillo hosts an annual Carnival with Afro-Caribbean dance and other African elements. However, tribal and family group were separated and dispersed to
4540-544: A petition for rewards for services, as many Spanish accounts were, the Anonymous Conqueror made observations about the indigenous situation at the time of the conquest. The account was used by eighteenth-century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero in his descriptions of the history of Mexico. On the indigenous side, the allies of Cortés, particularly the Tlaxcalans, wrote extensively about their services to
4767-522: A safe haven from racial prejudice. Beginning in 1925, the Mexican Ministry of the Interior began limiting immigration. By the 1930s some officials were encouraging immigration only from those they deemed to be of good racial backgrounds. Even travel to Mexico was limited and those applying for tourist visas could be denied access to Mexico based on their race until around 1939. This contradicted
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#17327797104984994-615: A shipwreck (often a slave ship) where the survivors settle here or that they are the descendants of slaves freed for fighting in the Mexican War of Independence . The region has a distinct African-influenced dance called the Danza de los Diablos (Dance of the Devils) which is performed for Day of the Dead . They dance in the streets with wild costumes and masks accompanied by rhythmic music. It
5221-531: A small number of Black men achieved this status. One free Black, the town crier Juan de Montalvo, was well established and in Puebla, with connections to the local Spanish elites. Others were known to hold land and engage in the local real estate market. Free Blacks and Mulattoes (descendants of Europeans and Africans) were subject to the payment of tribute to the crown, as were Indians, but in contrast to Indians, free Blacks as spaniards and mulattoes were subject to
5448-494: A synonym; and Zambaigo for Black/Indigenous. However, there was overlap in these categories which recognized Black mestizos. Black mestizos account for less than 2.5 percent of the Mexican population as of today. In addition, skin tone further divided the mestizo and mulatto categories. This loose hierarchical system of classification is sometimes called the sistema de castas , although its existence has recently been questioned as
5675-470: A town of their own which was first known as "San Lorenzo de los Negros" but then became the municipality of Yanga, Veracruz , the first community of free Blacks in the Americas. By the 17th century, the free Black population already outnumbered the enslaved population, despite slavery being at its greatest extent in the colony during this time. Creoles and mulattos occupied a legible social presence in Mexico by 1600. Most enslaved Africans were reportedly "from
5902-468: A transition from " informal imperialism " – military influence and economic dominance – to direct rule. Imperial rule by Europeans continued until after the conclusion of World War II , when almost all remaining colonial territories gradually obtained formal independence. Independence movements in Africa gained momentum following World War II, which left the major European powers weakened. In 1951, Libya,
6129-483: A variety of economic activities as slaves and as free persons. Mexico never became a society based on slavery, as happened in the Anglo-American southern colonies or Caribbean islands , where plantations utilized large numbers of field slaves. At conquest, central Mexico had a large, hierarchically organized Indian population that provided largely coerced labor. Mexico's economy utilized African slave labor during
6356-458: A well-seasoned participant in the conquest of Central Mexico, wrote what he called The True History of the Conquest of New Spain , countering the account by Cortés's official biographer, Francisco López de Gómara . Bernal Díaz's account had begun as a benemérito petition for rewards but he expanded it to encompass a full history of his earlier expeditions in the Caribbean and Tierra Firme and
6583-490: Is 4 percent, the third highest of any Mexican state. The phenomena of runaways and slave rebellions began early in Veracruz with many escaping to the mountainous areas in the west of the state, near Orizaba and the Puebla border. Here groups of escaped slaves established defiant communities called palenques to resist Spanish authorities. The most important Palenque was established in 1570 by Gaspar Yanga and stood against
6810-529: Is attributed to their help from indigenous allies, technology, and the Aztec empire's vulnerability due to the smallpox spread. As a result, the Aztec's tactics countering the Spaniard's advanced technology is understated. According to Hassig, "It is true that cannons, guns, crossbows, steel blades, horses and war dogs were advanced on the Aztecs' weaponry. But the advantage these gave a few hundred Spanish soldiers
7037-487: Is considered to be a syncretism of Mexican Catholic tradition and West African ritual. Traditionally the dance is accompanied by a West African instrument called a bote, but it is dying out as the younger generations have not learned how to play it. There are a number of "pueblos negros" or Black towns in the region such as Corralero and El Ciruelo in Oaxaca, and the largest being Cuajinicuilapa in Guerrero. The latter
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7264-485: Is debatable. Omens were extremely important to the Aztecs, who believed that history repeated itself. A number of modern scholars cast doubt on whether such omens occurred or whether they were ex post facto (retrospective) creations to help the Mexica explain their defeat. Some scholars contend that "the most likely interpretation of the story of these portents is that some, if not all, had occurred" but concede that it
7491-628: Is home to a museum called the Museo de las Culturas Afromestizos which documents the history and culture of the region. The Afro-Mexicans here live among mestizos (Indigenous/white) and various Indigenous groups such as the Amuzgos , Mixtecs , Tlalpanecs and Chatinos . Terms used to denote them vary. White and mestizos in the Costa Chica call them "morenos" (meaning dark-skinned) and the Indigenous call them "negros" (meaning black). A survey done in
7718-514: Is in large part due to the fact that "Socioeconomic factors had become more important than race in determining rank by the end of the eighteenth century". Religious institutions also owned Black slaves, including the landed estates of the Jesuits as well as urban convents and individual nuns. Important economic sectors such as sugar production and mining relied heavily on slave labor during that time. After 1640, slave labor became less important but
7945-791: Is not always to be taken literally. Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, with the Human species originating from the continent. During the mid-20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as seven million years ago ( Before present , BP). Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have evolved into modern humans, such as Australopithecus afarensis radiometrically dated to approximately 3.9–3.0 million years BP, Paranthropus boisei (c. 2.3–1.4 million years BP) and Homo ergaster (c. 1.9 million–600,000 years BP) have been discovered. After
8172-409: Is nowhere they can get as good a unified narrative of the main events, crises, and course of the Mexican conquest as Prescott's version." In the sources recorded by Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and Dominican Diego Durán in the mid to late sixteenth century, there are accounts of events that were interpreted as supernatural omens of the conquest. These two accounts are full-blown narratives from
8399-825: Is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Arabian Plate and the Gulf of Aqaba to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos . It contains 54 fully recognised sovereign states , eight cities and islands that are part of non-African states , and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition . This count does not include Malta and Sicily , which are geologically part of
8626-491: Is true. Over the years, and especially after Nezhualpilli's death in 1515, several supernatural omens appeared. The eight bad omens or wonders: Additionally, the Tlaxcala saw a "radiance that shone in the east every morning three hours before sunrise", and a "whirlwind of dust" from the volcano Matlalcueye . According to Diaz, "These Caciques also told us of a tradition they had heard from their ancestors, that one of
8853-454: Is very likely that "clever Mexicans and friars, writing later of the Mexican empire, were happy to link those memories with what they know occurred in Europe. Many sources depicting omens and the return of old Aztec gods, including those supervised by Spanish priests, were written after the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. Spanish accounts tended to incorporate omens to emphasize what they saw as
9080-671: The 11th dynasty , based in Thebes , conquered the others to form the Middle Kingdom of Egypt , with the 12th dynasty expanding into Lower Nubia at the expense of Kerma . In 1700 BC, the Middle Kingdom fractured in two, ushering in the Second Intermediate Period . The Hyksos , a militaristic people from Palestine , invaded and conquered Lower Egypt, while Kerma coordinated invasions deep into Egypt to reach its greatest extent. In 1550 BC,
9307-646: The 18th dynasty expelled the Hyksos , and established the New Kingdom of Egypt . Using the advanced military technology the Hyksos had brought, the New Kingdom conquered the Levant from the Canaanites , Mittani , Amorites , and Hittites , and extinguished Kerma , incorporating Nubia into the empire, and sending the Egyptian empire into its golden age. Internal struggles, drought, famine, and invasions by
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9534-660: The Atlantic slave trade , the asiento de negros (a monopoly contract issued by the Spanish Crown to other European nations to supply enslaved Africans to Spain's colonies in the Americas ) ensured a significant Black presence in Spanish America, including Mexico. The vast majority had their roots in Africa , not all slaves made the trip directly to New Spain, some came from other Spanish territories, particularly
9761-689: The Aztec Empire as well as their political rivals, particularly the Tlaxcaltecs and Tetzcocans , a former partner in the Aztec Triple Alliance. Other city-states also joined, including Cempoala and Huejotzingo and polities bordering Lake Texcoco , the inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico . Particularly important to the Spanish success was a multilingual (Nahuatl, a Maya dialect, and Spanish) Nahua-speaking woman enslaved by
9988-685: The Benin Empire . Towards the end of the 3rd century AD, a wet period in the Sahel created areas for human habitation and exploitation that had not been habitable for the best part of a millennium, with the Kingdom of Wagadu , the local name of the Ghana Empire , rising out of the Tichitt culture , growing wealthy following the introduction of the camel to the western Sahel, revolutionising
10215-526: The Cold War , and neocolonialism . Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and a large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context. Africa has a large quantity of natural resources and food resources, including diamonds , sugar , salt , gold , iron , cobalt , uranium , copper , bauxite , silver , petroleum , natural gas , cocoa beans , and tropical fruit . The continent
10442-904: The Congo Basin , the Empire of Kitara in the African Great Lakes , the Luba Empire in the Upemba Depression , the Kilwa Sultanate in the Swahili coast by crowding out Azania , with Rhapta being its last stronghold by the 1st century AD, and forming various city states constituting the Swahili civilisation . These migrations also prefaced the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in the Zambezi basin . After reaching
10669-746: The Ekoi civilisation rose circa 2nd century AD, and are most notable for constructing the Ikom monoliths and developing the Nsibidi script . Pre-colonial Africa possessed as many as 10,000 different states and polities. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the San people of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the Bantu peoples of central, southern, and eastern Africa; heavily structured clan groups in
10896-424: The Fatimids , Almoravids , Almohads , Ayyubids , Mamluks , Kongo , Mwene Muji , Luba , Lunda , Kitara , Aksum , Ethiopia , Adal , Ajuran , Kilwa , Sakalava , Imerina , Maravi , Mutapa , Rozvi , Mthwakazi , and Zulu . Slave trades created various diasporas , especially in the Americas . From the late 19th century to early 20th century, driven by the Second Industrial Revolution , most of Africa
11123-471: The Horn of Africa ; the large Sahelian kingdoms ; and autonomous city-states and kingdoms, such as those of the Akan ; Edo , Yoruba , and Igbo people in West Africa; and the Swahili coastal trading towns of Southeast Africa. By the 9th century AD, a string of dynastic states, including the earliest Hausa states, stretched across the sub-Saharan savannah from the western regions to central Sudan. The most powerful of these states were Ghana , Gao , and
11350-416: The Isthmus of Suez in Egypt. Other migrations of modern humans within the African continent have been dated to that time, with evidence of early human settlement found in Southern Africa, Southeast Africa, North Africa, and the Sahara . The size of the Sahara has historically been extremely variable, with its area rapidly fluctuating and at times disappearing depending on global climatic conditions. At
11577-401: The Kanem-Bornu Empire . Ghana declined in the eleventh century, but was succeeded by the Mali Empire , which consolidated much of western Sudan in the thirteenth century. Kanem accepted Islam in the eleventh century. In the forested regions of the West African coast, independent kingdoms grew with little influence from the Muslim north. The Kingdom of Nri , which was ruled by the Eze Nri ,
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#173277971049811804-472: The Kingdom of Dahomey , and the Oyo Empire ) adopted different ways of adapting to the shift. Asante and Dahomey concentrated on the development of "legitimate commerce" in the form of palm oil , cocoa , timber and gold, forming the bedrock of West Africa's modern export trade. The Oyo Empire, unable to adapt, collapsed into civil wars. The Scramble for Africa was the conquest and colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by
12031-439: The Mauro-Roman Kingdom and its numerous successor polities in the Maghreb, namely the kingdoms of Ouarsenis , Aurès , and Altava . The Vandals ruled Ifriqiya for a century until Byzantine reconquest in the early 6th century AD. The Byzantines and the Berber kingdoms fought minor inconsequential conflicts, such as in the case of Garmul , however largely coexisted. Further inland to the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa were
12258-471: The Mexican Revolution , emphasized Mexico's indigenous Amerindians and Spanish European heritage, excluding African history and contributions from Mexico's national consciousness. Although Mexico had a significant number of enslaved Africans during the colonial era, much of the African-descended population became absorbed into surrounding Mestizo (mixed European/Amerindian), Mulatto (mixed European/African), and Indigenous populations through unions among
12485-411: The Mixtón War in 1542. Two letters to Cortés about Alvarado's campaigns in Guatemala are published in The Conquistadors . The chronicle of the so-called "Anonymous Conqueror" was written sometime in the sixteenth century, entitled in an early twentieth-century translation to English as Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan (i.e. Tenochtitlan). Rather than it being
12712-512: The Noba caused their disintegration into Makuria , Alodia , and Nobatia in the 5th century AD. The Romans managed to hold on to Egypt for the rest of the ancient period. In the Horn of Africa , there was the Land of Punt , a kingdom on the Red Sea , likely located in modern-day Eritrea or northern Somaliland . The Ancient Egyptians initially traded via middle-men with Punt until in 2350 BC when they established direct relations. They would become close trading partners for over
12939-430: The Nok culture from 1500 BC in modern-day Nigeria , the Daima culture around Lake Chad from 550 BC, Djenné-Djenno from 250 BC in modern-day Mali , and the Serer civilisation in modern-day Senegal , which built the Senegambian stone circles from the 3rd century BC. There is also detailed record of Igodomigodo , a small kingdom founded presumably in 40 BC, which would later go on to form
13166-399: The Ovambo kingdoms , most of which were later conquered. The 1884 Berlin Conference regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa, and is seen as emblematic of the "scramble". In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries between the European empires , which provided the impetus for the colonisation. The later years of the 19th century saw
13393-404: The Punic Wars against the expansionary Roman Republic , however momentum in these wars was not linear, with Carthage initially experiencing considerable success in the Second Punic War following Hannibal 's infamous crossing of the alps into northern Italy . Their defeat and subsequent collapse of their empire would produce two further polities in the Maghreb; Numidia , which had assisted
13620-447: The Romans in 30 BC. The Crisis of the Third Century in the Roman Empire freed the Levantine city state of Palmyra , which conquered Egypt ; their brief rule ended when they were reconquered by the Romans . In the midst of this, Kush regained independence from Egypt, and they would persist as a major regional power until, having been weakened from internal rebellion amid worsening climatic conditions, invasions by Aksum and
13847-494: The Sanhaja in modern-day Algeria , a broad grouping of three groupings of tribal confederations , one of which is the Masmuda grouping in modern-day Morocco , along with the nomadic Zenata ; their composite tribes would later go onto shape much of North African history . In the western Sahel the rise of settled communities occurred largely as a result of the domestication of millet and of sorghum . Archaeology points to sizable urban populations in West Africa beginning in
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#173277971049814074-488: The Sao civilisation flourished for over a millennium beginning in the 6th century BC, in territory that later became part of present-day Cameroon and Chad . Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze , copper , and iron , with finds including bronze sculptures, terracotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewellery, highly decorated pottery, and spears. Nearby, around Lake Ejagham in south-west Cameroon ,
14301-419: The Sassanid Empire and the Himyarite Kingdom in Arabia. The Maghreb and Ifriqiya were mostly cut off from the cradle of civilisation in Egypt by the Libyan desert , exacerbated by Egyptian boats being tailored to the Nile and not coping well in the open Mediterranean Sea . This caused its societies to develop contiguous to those of Southern Europe , until Phoenician settlements came to dominate
14528-417: The Second Industrial Revolution during the era of " New Imperialism " (1833–1914): Belgium , France , Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , Portugal and Spain . In 1870, 10% of the continent was formally under European control. By 1914, this figure had risen to almost 90%; the only states retaining sovereignty were Liberia , Ethiopia , Egba , Aussa , Senusiyya , Mbunda , the Dervish State , and
14755-400: The Spanish Crown and private slavers specifically to bring Africans to Spanish colonies. These slavers made deals with the Portuguese, who controlled the African slave market. Mexico had important slave ports in the New World, sometimes holding slaves brought by Spanish before they were sent to other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the genetic testing company 23andMe ,
14982-406: The Spanish Main , seeking wealth in the form of gold and access to indigenous labor to mine gold and other manual labor. Twenty-five years after the first Spanish settlement in the New World , expeditions of exploration were sent to the coast of Mexico. In 1517, Cuban governor Diego Velázquez commissioned a fleet of three ships under the command of Hernández de Córdoba to sail west and explore
15209-440: The Yucatán peninsula. Córdoba reached the coast of Yucatán. The Mayans at Cape Catoche invited the Spanish to land, and the conquistadors read the Requirement of 1513 to them, which offered the natives the protection of the King of Spain, if they would submit to him. Córdoba took two prisoners, who adopted the baptized names of Melchor and Julián and became interpreters. Later, the two prisoners, being misled or misinterpreting
15436-404: The Zambezi , the Bantu continued southward, with eastern groups continuing to modern-day Mozambique and reaching Maputo in the 2nd century AD. Further to the south, settlements of Bantu peoples who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen were well established south of the Limpopo River by the 4th century AD, displacing and absorbing the Khoisan . By the Chari River south of Lake Chad
15663-479: The conquest of the Aztec Empire compiled by Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún , Nahua informants noted the presence of Africans with kinky, curly hair in contrast to the straight "yellow" and black hair of the Spaniards. Mexican anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán counted six Blacks who took part in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire . Notable among them was Juan Garrido , a free Black soldier born in Africa, Christianized in Portugal, who participated in
15890-419: The presidential system of rule. However, few of them have been able to sustain democratic governments on a permanent basis—per the criteria laid out by Lührmann et al. (2018), only Botswana and Mauritius have been consistently democratic for the entirety of their post-colonial history. Most African countries have experienced several coups or periods of military dictatorship . Between 1990 and 2018, though,
16117-408: The status quo . A combination of factors including superior weaponry, strategic alliances with oppressed or otherwise dissatisfied or opportunistic indigenous groups , and the impact of European diseases contributed to the downfall of the short rule of the Aztec civilization. The invasion of Tenochtitlán , the capital of the Aztec Empire, marked the beginning of Spanish dominance in the region and
16344-841: The trans-Saharan trade that linked their capital and Aoudaghost with Tahert and Sijilmasa in North Africa. Soninke traditions likely contain content from prehistory, mentioning four previous foundings of Wagadu , and holds that the final founding of Wagadu occurred after their first king did a deal with Bida , a serpent deity who was guarding a well, to sacrifice one maiden a year in exchange for assurance regarding plenty of rainfall and gold supply. Wagadu's core traversed modern-day southern Mauritania and western Mali , and Soninke tradition portrays early Ghana as warlike, with horse-mounted warriors key to increasing its territory and population, although details of their expansion are extremely scarce. Wagadu made its profits from maintaining
16571-410: The tropic of Cancer , in the northern temperate zone . In the other extreme of the continent, southern Namibia , southern Botswana , great parts of South Africa , the entire territories of Lesotho and Eswatini and the southern tips of Mozambique and Madagascar are located below the tropic of Capricorn , in the southern temperate zone . Africa is highly biodiverse ; it is the continent with
16798-487: The written word . During the colonial period , oral sources were deprecated by European historians, which gave them the impression Africa had no recorded history. African historiography became organized at the academic level in the mid-20th century, and saw a movement towards utilising oral sources in a multidisciplinary approach, culminating in the General History of Africa , edited by specialists from across
17025-610: The "Fourth Plague" (in the manner of Biblical plagues) on Mexican Natives. He wrote "In the first years these Black overseers were so absolute in their maltreatment of the Indians, over-loading them, sending them far from their land and giving them many other tasks that many Indians died because of them and at their hands, which is the worst feature of the situation." In Yucatán , there were regulations attempting to prevent Blacks presence in indigenous communities. In Puebla, 1536 municipal regulations attempted to prevent Blacks from going into
17252-523: The 1540s, in writings by Europeans. Nonetheless, it was repeated in many sources, even among Indians, especially those who had become students of the Franciscan friars and were searching for an explanation for how the Aztecs had fallen. This was complicated by the word teules that the Nahuas used to refer to the Spaniards, who claimed to represent their Christian god and originated from a land unknown to
17479-700: The 16th and 19th centuries. In West Africa, the decline of the Atlantic slave trade in the 1820s caused dramatic economic shifts in local polities. The gradual decline of slave-trading, prompted by a lack of demand for slaves in the New World , increasing anti-slavery legislation in Europe and America, and the British Royal Navy's increasing presence off the West African coast, obliged African states to adopt new economies. Between 1808 and 1860,
17706-596: The 16th century to 1975, after the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in a military coup in Lisbon . Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, under the white minority government of Ian Smith , but was not internationally recognized as an independent state (as Zimbabwe ) until 1980, when black nationalists gained power after a bitter guerrilla war . Although South Africa
17933-434: The 17th century, because of forced indoctrination instituted by Spanish colonizers, Christian beliefs, rituals, and practices were already becoming normalized by a substantial population of Black creoles in colonial Mexico, similar to the Indigenous and mestizo population – "it sought to distance Indians and Africans from their former collectivities, traditions, and pasts that had sanctioned their former selves. Such distancing
18160-599: The 19th century from the United States. A few of the routes of the Underground Railroad led to Mexico. One particular group was the Mascogos , a branch of Black Seminoles , originally from Florida , who escaped enslavement and free Black Americans intermingled with Seminole natives. Many of them settled in and around the town of El Nacimiento, Coahuila, where their descendants remain. A new category
18387-611: The 1st and 4th cataracts of the Nile . The 4th dynasty oversaw the height of the Old Kingdom , and constructed many great pyramids . Under the 6th dynasty power gradually decentralised to the nomarchs, culminating in the disintegration of the kingdom, exacerbated by drought and famine, thus commencing the First Intermediate Period in 2200 BC. This shattered state would last until 2055 BC when
18614-585: The 2nd century BC Mauretania fought alongside Numidia's Jugurtha in the Jugurthine War against the Romans after he had usurped the Numidian throne from a Roman ally. Together they inflicted heavy casualties that quaked the Roman Senate , with the war only ending inconclusively when Mauretania's Bocchus I sold out Jugurtha to the Romans. At the turn of the millennium, they both would face
18841-746: The 4th millennium BC the Congo Basin was inhabited by the Bambenga , Bayaka , Bakoya , and Babongo in the west, the Bambuti in the east , and the Batwa who were widely scattered and also present in the Great Lakes region ; together they are grouped as Pygmies . On the later-named Swahili coast there were Cushitic -speaking peoples, and the Khoisan (a neologism for the Khoekhoe and San ) in
19068-416: The 4th millennium BC, which had crucially developed iron metallurgy by 1200 BC, in both smelting and forging for tools and weapons. Extensive east-west belts of deserts , grasslands , and forests from north to south were crucial for the moulding of their respective societies and meant that prior to the accession of trans-Saharan trade routes , symbiotic trade relations developed in response to
19295-405: The 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus 's first voyage, when scholarly and popular interest in first encounters surged. A popular and enduring narrative of the Spanish campaign in central Mexico is by New England -born nineteenth-century historian William Hickling Prescott . His History of the Conquest of Mexico , first published in 1843, remains an important unified narrative synthesis of
19522-526: The African continent. Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeria is its largest by population. African nations cooperate through the establishment of the African Union , which is headquartered in Addis Ababa . Africa straddles the equator and the prime meridian . It is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to the southern temperate zones. The majority of
19749-463: The African population, the members of the confraternities were able to use these brotherhoods and sisterhoods to maintain and develop their existing identities. A notable example of this is the popularity of choosing African saints, such as St. Efigenia, as the patron of the confraternity, a clear claim of African legitimacy for all Africans. African descent people found in these confraternities ways to maintain parts of their African culture alive through
19976-577: The Anglo-Americans and their Black slaves established farming in eastern Texas, contiguous to US territory in Louisiana. Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante , concerned that the US would annex Texas, sought to limit Anglo-American immigration in 1830 and mandated no new slaves in the territory. Texas slave-owner and settler Stephen F. Austin viewed slavery as absolutely necessary to the success of
20203-704: The Assyrians in 663 BC in reprisal for their expansion towards the Assyrian Empire . The Assyrians installed a puppet dynasty that later gained independence and once more unified Egypt , until they were conquered by the Achaemenid Empire in 525 BC. Egypt regained independence under the 28th dynasty in 404 BC but they were reconquered by the Achaemenids in 343 BC. The conquest of Achaemenid Egypt by Alexander
20430-617: The Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire . Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés , and his small army of European soldiers and numerous indigenous allies, overthrowing one of the most powerful empires in Mesoamerica . Led by the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II ,
20657-449: The Aztec Empire had established dominance over central Mexico through military conquest and intricate alliances. Because the Aztec Empire ruled via hegemonic control by maintaining local leadership and relying on the psychological perception of Aztec power—backed by military force —the Aztecs normally kept subordinate rulers compliant. This was an inherently unstable system of governance, as this situation could change with any alteration in
20884-546: The Aztec Empire had its final victory on 13 August 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtémoc and Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire . The fall of Tenochtitlan marks the beginning of Spanish rule in central Mexico, and they established their capital of Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. Cortés made alliances with tributary city-states ( altepetl ) of
21111-491: The Aztec attack on the Totonacs in Veracruz , Cortés claims that he took Motecuhzoma captive. Capturing the cacique or indigenous ruler was a standard operating procedure for Spaniards in their expansion in the Caribbean, so capturing Motecuhzoma had considerable precedent but modern scholars are skeptical that Cortés and his countrymen took Motecuhzoma captive at this time. They had great incentive to claim they did, owing to
21338-573: The British West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard. Action was also taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade, for example against "the usurping King of Lagos ", deposed in 1851. Anti-slavery treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers. The largest powers of West Africa (the Asante Confederacy ,
21565-435: The Caribbean and Tierra Firme (Central America), learning strategy and tactics of successful enterprises. The Spanish conquest of Mexico had antecedents with established practices. The fall of the Aztec Empire was the key event in the formation of the Spanish Empire overseas, with New Spain , which later became Mexico . 1519 1520 1521 1522 1524 1525 1525–30 1527–1547 The conquest of Mexico,
21792-441: The Caribbean. Nueva España or New Spain which is now Mexico, there were slaves who were transported through ships from 1521 to 1810. Those from Africa belonged mainly to groups coming from Western Sudan , Congo and ethnic Bantu . The origin of the slaves is known through various documents such as transcripts of sales. Originally the slaves came from Cape Verde and Guinea . Later slaves were also taken from Angola . To decide
22019-790: The Caribbean. The 2015 Inter-census Estimate was the first time in which Afro-Mexicans could identify themselves as such and was a preliminary effort to include the identity before the 2020 census which now shows the country's population is 2.04%. The question asked on the survey was "Based on your culture, history, and traditions, do you consider yourself Black, meaning Afro-Mexican or Afro-descendant?" and came about following various complaints made by civil rights groups and government officials. Some of their activists, like Benigno Gallardo, do feel their communities lack "recognition and differentiation", by what he calls "mainstream Mexican culture". Enslaved Africans were brought to Mexico specially by Portuguese and British slave traders. Afro-Mexicans engaged in
22246-481: The Christian community and chattel, private property of their owners. In general, the church did not take a stance against African slavery as institution, although Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas later in life campaigned against their forced serviture, and the second archbishop of Mexico, Alonso de Montúfar argued against it. Montúfar condemned the transatlantic slave trade and sought its cessation and viewed
22473-711: The Great in 332 BC marked the beginning of Hellenistic rule and the installation of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. The Ptolemaics lost their holdings outside of Africa to the Seleucids in the Syrian Wars , expanded into Cyrenaica and subjugated Kush in the 3rd century BC. In the 1st century BC, Ptolemaic Egypt became entangled in a Roman civil war , leading to its conquest by
22700-486: The Guinean Coast. The second type were amulatados or amembrillados of lighter skin color, when compared with other Blacks and were distinguishable by their yellow skin tones. The demand for slaves came in the early colonial period, especially between 1580 and 1640, when the indigenous population declined due to new infectious diseases. Carlos V began to issue an increasing number of contracts ( asientos ) between
22927-581: The Iberian peninsula during the eleventh century. The Banu Hilal and Banu Ma'qil were a collection of Arab Bedouin tribes from the Arabian Peninsula who migrated westwards via Egypt between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Their migration resulted in the fusion of the Arabs and Berbers, where the locals were Arabized , and Arab culture absorbed elements of the local culture, under
23154-618: The Mayas, known to the Spanish conquistadors as Doña Marina, and later as La Malinche . After eight months of battles and negotiations, which overcame the diplomatic resistance of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II to his visit, Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan on 8 November 1519, where he took up residence with fellow Spaniards and their indigenous allies. When news reached Cortés of the death of several of his men during
23381-486: The Mexica in Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521. Notably, the accounts of the conquest, Spanish and indigenous alike, have biases and exaggerations. Some, though not all, Spanish accounts downplay the support of their indigenous allies. Conquerors' accounts exaggerate individual contributions to the Conquest at the expense of their comrades, while indigenous allies' accounts stress their loyalty and importance to victory for
23608-501: The Mexican narrative. Vasconcelos excluded Afro-mexicans from the "cosmic race" and many post-revolutionary politicians sided with his views on race and mestizaje cementing the prevailing post-revolutionary racial ideologies. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Mexico was known to be a safe haven from racial discrimination, especially to Afro-descended citizens of the United States who would seek refuge there. Notably, famous boxer Jack Johnson fled to Mexico in 1919 and claimed it as
23835-563: The Persian prophet Mani to consider Aksum as one of the four great powers of the 3rd century AD alongside Persia , Rome , and China . In the 4th century AD Aksum's king converted to Christianity and Aksum's population, who had followed syncretic mixes of local beliefs , slowly followed. The end of the 5th century saw Aksum allied with the Byzantine Empire , who viewed themselves as defenders of Christendom , balanced against
24062-532: The Roman Catholic Church, gave their activities legitimacy in Spanish colonial society. These black confraternities were often funded by Spaniards and by the church hierarchy were actually largely supported by Spaniards, going so far as to even fund many of them. And although this support of the confraternities on the part of Spaniards and the Church was indeed an attempt to maintain moral control over
24289-575: The Romans in the Second Punic War, Mauretania , a Mauri tribal kingdom and home of the legendary King Atlas , and various tribes such as Garamantes , Musulamii , and Bavares . The Third Punic War would result in Carthage's total defeat in 146 BC and the Romans established the province of Africa , with Numidia assuming control of many of Carthage's African ports. Towards the end of
24516-886: The Sahara region was becoming increasingly dry and hostile. Around 3500 BC, due to a tilt in the Earth's orbit , the Sahara experienced a period of rapid desertification. The population trekked out of the Sahara region towards the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract where they made permanent or semi-permanent settlements. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa . Since this time, dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa and, increasingly during
24743-522: The Saharan climate started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace. This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink significantly and caused increasing desertification . This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and encouraged migrations of farming communities to the more tropical climate of West Africa. During the first millennium BC, a reduction in wild grain populations related to changing climate conditions facilitated
24970-514: The Spaniards arrived in 1519, Moctezuma knew this was the year of Ce Acatl, which is the year Quetzalcoatl was promised to return. Previously, during Juan de Grijalva 's expedition, Moctezuma believed that those men were heralds of Quetzalcoatl, as Moctezuma, as well as everyone else in the Aztec Empire, were to believe that eventually, Quetzalcoatl will return. Moctezuma even had glass beads that were left behind by Grijalva brought to Tenochtitlan and they were regarded as sacred religious relics. On
25197-485: The Spaniards only used certain roads to transport goods, they planned to rob them. Yangas followers would often hide and wait until the Spanish men would be passing by certain spots and rob their goods, eventually, the Spaniards became afraid. The Spanish then declared war with Yanga and his followers and they lost, so freedom was granted to Yanga and his army. With Yanga winning this war, he was able to speak and demand land from Spanish authorities, he wanted his people to have
25424-635: The Spanish Crown in the conquest, arguing for special privileges for themselves. The most important of these are the pictorial Lienzo de Tlaxcala (1585) and the Historia de Tlaxcala by Diego Muñoz Camargo . Less successfully, the Nahua allies from Huexotzinco (or Huejotzinco) near Tlaxcala argued that their contributions had been overlooked by the Spanish. In a letter in Nahuatl to the Spanish Crown,
25651-432: The Spanish for about forty years until the Spanish were forced to recognize it as a free community in 1609, with the name of San Lorenzo de los Negros. It was renamed Yanga in 1932. Yanga was the first municipality of freed slaves in the Americas. However, the town proper has almost no people of obvious African heritage. Such people live in the smaller, more rural communities. Because African descendants dispersed widely into
25878-536: The Spanish. These accounts are similar to Spanish conquerors' accounts contained in petitions for rewards, known as benemérito petitions. Two lengthy accounts from the defeated indigenous viewpoint were created under the direction of Spanish friars, Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and Dominican Diego Durán , using indigenous informants. Because Nahuatl did not have a full alphabet, the majority of extant indigenous sources are recollections of Nahuatl-speakers who were subsequently introduced to Latin characters after
26105-463: The arrival of the Spanish from the Gulf of Mexico. In 1510, Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II was visited by Nezahualpilli , who had a reputation as a great seer, as well as being the tlatoani of Texcoco. Nezahualpilli warned Moctezuma that he must be on guard, for in a few years Aztec cities would be destroyed. Before leaving, he said that there would be omens for Moctezuma to know that what he has been told
26332-521: The arrival of the Spanish. Gingerish identifies the Annals of Tlatelolco (1524?-1528) as “One of the oldest recorded manuscripts in Nahuatl, written presumably by a native who must have learned the use of Latin characters and alphabet within three or four years of the conquest.” Lockhart, however, argues for a later post-1540 date for this manuscript, and indeed the majority of indigenous source material
26559-426: The average Mexican. In the 2015 census, 64.9% (896,829) of Afro-Mexicans also identified as indigenous Amerindian Mexicans. It was also reported that 9.3% of Afro-Mexicans speak an indigenous Mexican language . About 2.4-3% of Mexico's population has significantly large African ancestry, with 2.5 million self-recognized during the 2020 Inter-census Estimate. However, some sources put the official number at around 5% of
26786-555: The beaches of Marquelia and Punta Maldonado in Guerrero and the wildlife reserve in Chacahua, Oaxaca . The area was very isolated from the rest of Mexico, which prompted runaway slaves to find refuge here. However, this has changed to a large extent with the building of Fed 200 which connects the area to Acapulco and other cities on the Pacific coast. African identity and physical features are stronger here than elsewhere in Mexico as
27013-525: The beginning of the Mexican War of Independence , the practice did not definitively end until 1829. From early in the colonial period, African and African-descended people had offspring with Europeans or indigenous people. This led to an elaborate set of racial terms for mixtures which appeared during the 18th century. The offspring of mixed-race couples was divided into three general groups: Mestizo for (Spanish) White/indigenous, Mulatto for (Spanish) White/Black and Lobo "wolf" or Zambo , sometimes used as
27240-463: The benefits of incorporating Africans into Christianity as slave not equal to the cost to rending their ties to family in Africa. His pleas and condemnations were ignored. Church records of baptisms, marriages, burials, and of the Inquisition indicate a high level of the church's formal engagement with Africans. Enslaved and free Africans were full members of the church. As the African population
27467-414: The census after long struggle for recognition" which says "classic discrimination due to skin colour. [They think] if you're black, you're not Mexican" this often leads to a bigger problem. Just because you have a darker complexion you are presented with more economic barriers than someone with a lighter complexion, you will not be able to obtain the same amount of resources because you will be pushed aside by
27694-557: The church was more interested in regulating and controlling Africans in the religious sphere. When the Spanish crown allowed bozales to be imported to its overseas territories, it saw Christian marriage as a way to control the enslaved. The church intervened in favor of enslaved individuals over the objections of their masters in marital choice and conjugal rights. Slaves learned how to shape these religious protections to challenge masters' authority through canon law, thereby undermining masters' absolute control over their enslaved property. For
27921-595: The church, the slaves' Christian identity was more important than their status as chattel. Baptismal and marriage records provide information about ties within the Afro-Mexican community between parents, god parents, and witnesses to the sacraments. Blacks and afromestizos formed and joined religious confraternities, lay brotherhoods under the supervision of the church, which became religious and social spaces to reinforce ties of individuals to larger community. These organized groups of lay men and women, were sanctioned by
28148-872: The city in the hot country where it was proclaimed, laid out the aims of the insurgency, calling for independence, the primacy of Catholicism, and monarchy, with point 12 mandating "All inhabitants of the Empire, without any distinction other than merit and virtue, are citizens fit for whatever employment they choose." The alliance Guerrero and Iturbide led to the formation of the Army of the Three Guarantees . Spanish imperial rule collapsed, and Mexico gained its independence in September 1821. Despite political independence, abolition of slavery did not come about until Guerrero became President of Mexico in 1829. Although Mexico did not abolish slavery immediately after independence,
28375-550: The colonial caste system and its strict racial categorization and instead propose a system of categorization consisting of the three primary categories of Indomestizo (indigenous descent), Euromestizo (European descent), and Afromestizo (African descent). In the 1940s, the Mexican census began to reflect the rejection of strict racial classes in Mexico as it replaced categorization based on biological race with categories pertaining to identification with certain cultural practices like what kinds of shoes one wore or bread one ate. While this
28602-477: The colonial period, particularly in Spanish cities as domestic workers, artisans, and laborers in textile workshops ( obrajes ). Although Mexico has celebrated its mixed indigenous and European roots mestizaje , Africans' presence and contributions until recently were not part of the national discourse. Increasingly, the historical record has been revised to take account of Afro-Mexicans' long presence in Mexico. Although Spanish subjects were not allowed to partake in
28829-409: The colonial period. Slave prices were highest from 1580 to 1640 at about 400 pesos. It decreased to about 350 pesos around 1650, staying constant until falling to about 175 pesos for an adult male in 1750. In the latter 18th century, mill slaves were phased out and replaced by indigenous, often indebted, labor. Slaves were nearly non-existent in the late colonial census of 1792. While banned shortly after
29056-407: The confraternity through limosnas (alms), a form of charity, because they were, evidently, better at it than the men. That being said, some Spanish heritage women that were wealthy decided to fund some of these confraternities directly. This establishment of wealth also led to a shift in tendencies in female empowerment and involvement in confraternities in the 18th century. This shift was essentially
29283-477: The confraternity, often even holding founder's status. Status as a member of a confraternity also gave Black women a sense of respectability in the eyes of Spanish society. Going as far, in some cases, as to grant legal privileges when being examined and tried by the Inquisition. They also took up the responsibility of providing basic medical services as nurses. Women were often in charge of acquiring funding for
29510-448: The conquest of Tenochtitlan and Western Mexico. The slave of another conquistador , Pánfilo de Narváez , has been blamed for the transmission of smallpox to Nahuas in 1520. Early slaves were likely personal servants or concubines of their Spanish masters, who had been brought to Spain first and came with the conquistadors. While a number of indigenous people were enslaved during the conquest period, indigenous slavery as an institution
29737-461: The conquest of the Aztec. A number of lower rank Spanish conquerors wrote benemérito petitions to the Spanish Crown, requesting rewards for their services in the conquest, including Juan Díaz, Andrés de Tapia, García del Pilar, and Fray Francisco de Aguilar . Cortés's right-hand man, Pedro de Alvarado did not write at any length about his actions in the New World, and died as a man of action in
29964-511: The conquest. Prescott read and used all the formal writings from the sixteenth century, although few had been published by the mid-nineteenth century when he was writing. It is likely that a 1585 revision of Bernardino de Sahagún's account of the conquest survives today only in the form of a copy because it was made in Spain for Prescott's project from a now-lost original. Although scholars of the modern era point out its biases and shortcomings, "there
30191-531: The conquistadors, particularly after the Spanish were forced out of Tenochtitlan. The best-known indigenous account of the conquest is Book 12 of Bernardino de Sahagún 's General History of the Things of New Spain and published as the Florentine Codex , in parallel columns of Nahuatl and Spanish, with pictorials. Less well-known is Sahagún 's 1585 revision of the conquest account, which shifts from
30418-550: The continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere , with a substantial portion and a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere . Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of Western Sahara , Algeria , Libya and Egypt , the northern tip of Mauritania , and the entire territories of Morocco , Ceuta , Melilla , and Tunisia , which in turn are located above
30645-463: The continent as a whole has trended towards more democratic governance. Upon independence an overwhelming majority of Africans lived in extreme poverty . The continent suffered from the lack of infrastructural or industrial development under colonial rule, along with political instability. With limited financial resources or access to global markets, relatively stable countries such as Kenya still experienced only very slow economic development. Only
30872-424: The continent most vulnerable to climate change . The history of Africa is long, complex, and varied, and has often been under-appreciated by the global historical community . In African societies the oral word is revered, and they have generally recorded their history via oral tradition , which has led anthropologists to term them oral civilisations, contrasted with literate civilisations which pride
31099-461: The continent's south. The Bantu expansion constituted a major series of migrations of Bantu peoples from central Africa to eastern and southern Africa and was substantial in the settling of the continent. Commencing in the 2nd millennium BC, the Bantu began to migrate from Cameroon to central, eastern, and southern Africa, laying the foundations for future states such as the Kingdom of Kongo in
31326-478: The continent. Africa, particularly Eastern Africa , is widely accepted to be the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade , also known as the great apes . The earliest hominids and their ancestors have been dated to around 7 million years ago, and Homo sapiens (modern human) are believed to have originated in Africa 350,000 to 260,000 years ago. Africa is also considered by anthropologists to be
31553-428: The earliest instances of agriculture in human history. Its cultivation would gradually spread across Africa, before spreading to India around 2000 BC. People around modern-day Mauritania started making pottery and built stone settlements (e.g., Tichitt , Oualata ). Fishing, using bone-tipped harpoons , became a major activity in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains. In West Africa,
31780-543: The end of the Ice ages , estimated to have been around 10,500 BC, the Sahara had again become a green fertile valley, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in sub-Saharan Africa , with rock art paintings depicting a fertile Sahara and large populations discovered in Tassili n'Ajjer dating back perhaps 10 millennia. However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5,000 BC,
32007-497: The enemy empires. As well, it was very uncommon that an attacking army would come unannounced. In addition, aside from the infantry and the allies' role in the Spanish conquest, cavalry was the "arm of decision in the conquest" and "the key ingredient in the Spanish forces". Many of those on the Cortés expedition of 1519 had never seen combat before, including Cortés. A whole generation of Spaniards later participated in expeditions in
32234-511: The establishment of New Spain. This conquest had profound consequences, as it led to the cultural assimilation of the Spanish culture, while also paving the way for the emergence of a new social hierarchy dominated by Spanish conquerors and their descendants. Following an earlier expedition to Yucatán led by Juan de Grijalva in 1518, Spanish conquistador Hernándo Cortés led an expedition ( entrada ) to Mexico. The next year, Cortés and his retinue set sail for Mexico. The Spanish campaign against
32461-642: The evolution of Homo sapiens approximately 350,000 to 260,000 years BP in Africa, the continent was mainly populated by groups of hunter-gatherers . These first modern humans left Africa and populated the rest of the globe during the Out of Africa II migration dated to approximately 50,000 years BP, exiting the continent either across Bab-el-Mandeb over the Red Sea , the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco, or
32688-516: The existence of Afromestizo populations could no longer be denied. Yet, it was not until 2015 that African descent was added as a census category for official government recognition of Afro-Mexican populations. According to the 2020 INEGI census, there were 2,576,213 Mexicans that self-identified as Afro-descendants 2.04-3% of the country's population. Places with large Afro-Mexican communities are: Costa Chica of Guerrero , Costa Chica of Oaxaca and Veracruz . While Northern Mexico has some towns with
32915-434: The expansion of Anglo-American settlement in Texas with their Black slaves became a point of contention between the US and Mexico. The northern territory had been claimed by the Spanish Empire but not settled beyond a few missions. The Mexican government saw a solution to the problem of Indian attacks in the north by inviting immigration by US Americans. Rather than settling in the territory contested by northern Indian groups,
33142-535: The expansion of farming communities and the rapid adoption of rice cultivation around the Niger River. By the first millennium BC, ironworking had been introduced in Northern Africa. Around that time it also became established in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, either through independent invention there or diffusion from the north and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years, and by 500 BC, metalworking began to become commonplace in West Africa. Ironworking
33369-400: The fact that often the anonymity and violent nature of this public act of piety could lead, and may have led, to indiscriminate violence. The participation in processions are another quite important and dramatic way that these confraternities expressed their piety. This was a way for the Black community to show off their material wealth that had been acquired through the confraternity, usually in
33596-510: The form of saint statues, candles, carved lambs with silver diadems, and other various valuable religious artifacts. The use of an African female saint, St Ephigenia , is also a claim to the legitimacy of a distinctly female identity. This is significant because the Afro-Mexican confraternity offered a space where typical Spanish patriarchy could be flipped. The confraternities offered women a place where they could adopt leadership positions and authority through positions of mayordomas and madres in
33823-412: The gendered and conjugal norms that they, including persons of African descent, "could assume in the Christian commonwealth." Since there were no official census records in the 17th century, the exact size of the free Black population in Mexico remains unknown, although Bennet concludes, based on numerous sources of the period, that there was an "extensive free Black presence early in the 17th century." In
34050-545: The general population, African and Afro-Cuban influence can be seen in Veracruz's music dance, improvised poetry, magical practices and especially food. Veracruz son music , known as son jarocho and best known through the popularity of the hit "La Bamba" shows a mixture of Andalusian, Canary Islander and African influence. Towns in north Mexico especially in Coahuila and along the country's border with Texas, also have Afro-Mexican populations and presence. Some enslaved and free Black Americans migrated into northern Mexico in
34277-409: The government. In this article, they also mentioned that when Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador went to visit the region of Costa Chica , he complained about the roads and the resources available to people who lived there. Now even though he had complained about this, he did completely nothing to change it. With this article, many are able to see the ways in which political figures notice
34504-474: The groups. By the mid-20th century, Mexican scholars were advocating for Black visibility. It was not until 1992 that the Mexican government officially recognized African culture as being one of the three major influences on the culture of Mexico , the others being Spanish and Indigenous. The genetic legacy of Mexico's once significant number of colonial-era enslaved Africans is evidenced in non-Black Mexicans as trace amounts of sub-Saharan African DNA found in
34731-455: The growth and expansion of Aksum in the 1st century BC. Along the Horn's coast there were many ancient Somali city-states that thrived off of the wider Red Sea trade and transported their cargo via beden , exporting myrrh , frankincense , spices , gum , incense , and ivory , with freedom from Roman interference causing Indians to give the cities a lucrative monopoly on cinnamon from ancient India . The Kingdom of Aksum grew from
34958-443: The historical process is largely a communal one, with eyewitness accounts, hearsay , reminiscences, and occasionally visions , dreams, and hallucinations, crafted into oral traditions . Time is sometimes mythical and social, and truth generally viewed as relativist . Oral tradition can be exoteric or esoteric . It speaks to people according to their understanding, unveiling itself in accordance with their aptitudes, and
35185-410: The idols which they particularly worshipped had prophesied the coming of men from distant lands in the direction of the sunrise, who would conquer them and rule them." Some accounts would claim that this idol or deity was Quetzalcoatl, and that the Aztecs were defeated because they believed the Spanish were supernatural and didn't know how to react, although whether or not the Aztecs really believed that
35412-519: The image that Mexico wished to present about their racial equality. After international threats of exposing these practices and ruining the Mexican reputation of racial equality, Mexican immigration policy began to change. In 1939, the NAACP issued an official statement that Mexico was no longer discriminating against African-descended citizens of the United States wishing to travel to the country. Mexican scholars like anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán or caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias helped begin
35639-455: The indigenous lords of Huexotzinco lay out their case in for their valorous service. The letter has been published in Nahuatl and English translation by James Lockhart in We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico in 1991. Texcoco patriot and member of a noble family there, Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl, likewise petitioned the Spanish Crown, in Spanish, saying that Texcoco had not received sufficient rewards for their support of
35866-462: The indigenous viewpoint entirely and inserts at crucial junctures passages lauding the Spanish and in particular Hernán Cortés. Another indigenous account compiled by a Spanish friar is Dominican Diego Durán 's The History of the Indies of New Spain , from 1581, with many color illustrations. A text from the Nahua point of view, the Anales de Tlatelolco , an early indigenous account in Nahuatl, perhaps from 1540, remained in indigenous hands until it
36093-419: The indigenous were members of the "Republic of Indians" ( República de Indios ), and under the protection of the Spanish crown. Although there was coming to be an association between Blackness and enslavement, there were Africans who achieved the formal status of vecino (resident, citizen), a designation of great importance in colonial society. In Puebla de los Ángeles , a newly founded settlement for Spaniards,
36320-402: The initial destruction of the great pre-Columbian civilizations, is a significant event in world history. The conquest was well documented by a variety of sources with differing points of view, including indigenous accounts, by both allies and opponents. Accounts by the Spanish conquerors exist from the first landfall at Veracruz , Mexico (on Good Friday , 22 April 1519) to the final victory over
36547-418: The insurgent leader held territory. Mexico became a destination for some Black slaves and mixed-race Black Seminoles fleeing enslavement in the US. They were free once they crossed into Mexican territory. Many of the prevailing views on Blackness during the early 20th century held that the race would eventually go extinct through voluntary assimilation. This belief held that Afro-descendant peoples, along with
36774-409: The jurisdiction of the Holy Office of the Inquisition . Legal freedom could be achieved by manumission , with liberty purchased by the enslaved person. A 1585 deed of emancipation ( Carta de libertad ) in Mexico City shows that the formerly enslaved woman, Juana, (a negra criolla , i.e., born in Mexico), paid her owner for her freedom with the help of Juana's husband Andrés Moreno. The price of liberty
37001-462: The kingdoms of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt in northeast Africa . Around 3100 BC Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt to unify Egypt under the 1st dynasty , with the process of consolidation and assimilation completed by the time of the 3rd dynasty who formed the Old Kingdom of Egypt in 2686 BC. The Kingdom of Kerma emerged around this time to become the dominant force in Nubia , controlling territory as large as Egypt between
37228-685: The lack of economic opportunities in these places and the ways in which they are never changed. This brings attention to the lack of care or importance present in the country and is often reflected in areas where African roots are present. Conquest of the Aztec Empire [REDACTED] Habsburg Spain Indigenous allies: Support or occasional allies : [REDACTED] Aztec Triple Alliance (1519–1521) Allied city-states : Independent kingdoms and city-states : Spanish commanders: Indigenous allies: Aztec commanders: Spaniards (total): 1,800 Spaniards dead 200,000 Aztecs dead (including civilians) The Spanish conquest of
37455-402: The land of Angola ," who reconfigured African culture in colonial Mexico while complimenting the existing presence of creoles. Scholar Herman L. Bennet records that 17th-century colonial Mexico was "home to the most diverse Black population in the Americas." Mexico City, built on the ruins of the Mexica capital city of Tenochtitlan became the center for diverse communities, all of which served
37682-682: The language gave information to the Spanish conquistadors that there was plenty of gold up for grabs. On the western side of the Yucatán Peninsula, the Spanish were attacked at night by Maya chief Mochcouoh, a battle in which 50 men were killed. Córdoba was mortally wounded and only a remnant of his crew returned to Cuba . Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia . At about 30.3 million km (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth 's land area and 6% of its total surface area. With nearly 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of
37909-453: The largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna . However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues , including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity , and pollution . These entrenched environmental concerns are expected to worsen as climate change impacts Africa . The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Africa as
38136-440: The last 200 years, in Ethiopia . The domestication of cattle in Africa preceded agriculture and seems to have existed alongside hunter-gatherer cultures. It is speculated that by 6,000 BC, cattle were domesticated in North Africa. In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals, including the donkey and a small screw-horned goat that was common from Algeria to Nubia . Between 10,000 and 9,000 BC, pottery
38363-407: The laws of Spain at this time, but critical analysis of their personal writings suggest Motecuhzoma was not taken captive until a much later date. When Cortés left Tenochtitlan to return to the coast and deal with the threat of the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez , Cortés left Pedro de Alvarado in charge of Tenochtitlan. Cortés left with a small army to the coast with the plan of attacking during
38590-488: The most genetically diverse continent as a result of being the longest inhabited. In the 4th and 3rd millennia BC Ancient Egypt , Kerma , Punt , and the Tichitt Tradition emerged in North , East and West Africa , while from 4000 BC until 1000 AD the Bantu expansion was substantial in laying the foundations for societies and states in Central , East , and Southern Africa . Some African empires include Wagadu , Mali , Songhai , Sokoto , Ife , Benin , Asante ,
38817-399: The most lucrative trading locations in the Gulf of Tunis . Phoenician settlements subsequently grew into Ancient Carthage after gaining independence from Phoenicia in the 6th century BC, and they would build an extensive empire and a strict mercantile network, all secured by one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient Mediterranean . Carthage would meet its demise in
39044-409: The mountains. There Yanga founded a palenque . The only way that slaves who were in the zone could survive was by following each other's lead. The more slaves that heard about Yanga and his escape, they would create groups and would plan to escape the plantations their Spanish owners created. Their leader was Yanga. Since Yanga and his followers had created a community in the mountains and they knew that
39271-399: The natives. "Teules" is derived from the Nahuatl word teotl for god but with its meaning changed to representative of god, sometimes implying mysterious and supernatural power. The Spanish had established a permanent settlement on the island of Hispaniola in 1493 on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus . There were further Spanish explorations and settlements in the Caribbean and
39498-519: The necessity of the new religion. The written language was a personal possession of the noble and priestly class.” The first Spanish account of the conquest was written by lead conqueror Hernán Cortés , who sent a series of letters to the Spanish monarch Charles V , giving a contemporary account of the conquest from his point of view, in which he justified his actions. These were almost immediately published in Spain and later in other parts of Europe. Much later, Spanish conqueror Bernal Díaz del Castillo ,
39725-423: The night. After defeating Narváez's fleet, Cortés convinced most of his enemy's crew to go with him by promising great riches. Upon reaching Tenochtitlan, Cortés and the new enlarged force received the message that "the Aztec had risen against the Spanish garrison" during a religious celebration. Alvarado ordered his army to attack the unarmed crowd; he later claims that the Aztecs had used the celebration to cover up
39952-439: The official religion, built mosques, and brought to Gao Muslim scholars, including al-Maghili (d.1504), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim scholarship. By the eleventh century, some Hausa states – such as Kano , Jigawa , Katsina , and Gobir – had developed into walled towns engaging in trade, servicing caravans , and the manufacture of goods. Until the fifteenth century, these small states were on
40179-440: The open-air market tianguis and harming indigenous women there, mandating fines and fifty lashes in the plaza. In Mexico City in 1537, a number of blacks were accused of rebellion. They were executed in the main plaza ( zócalo ) by hanging, an event recorded in an indigenous pictorial and alphabetic manuscript. Once the military phase of conquest was completed in central Mexico, Spanish colonists in Puebla de los Ángeles , which
40406-410: The opportunities afforded by north–south diversity in ecosystems. Various civilisations prospered in this period. From 4000 BC, the Tichitt culture in modern-day Mauritania and Mali was the oldest known complexly organised society in West Africa, with a four tiered hierarchical social structure. Other civilisations include the Kintampo culture from 2500 BC in modern-day Ghana ,
40633-424: The other hand, some ethnohistorians say the Aztec leaders did not view the Spaniards as supernatural in any sense but rather as simply another group of powerful outsiders. They believe that Moctezuma responded rationally to the Spanish invasion and did not think the Spanish were supernatural. In his own letters written on the spot, Cortés never claimed that he was perceived as a god. The idea appears to emerge only in
40860-623: The other races, would eventually combine into a " cosmic race ." This cosmic race would have a combination of all the best qualities and would lack the worst qualities of the various races. Due to the stress put on the importance of race mixing and "whitening" oneself, many believed it prudent to simply ignore the Afro-Mexican population and its history as unimportant side notes of their history. Proponents of this theory, like politician José Vasconcelos , would go on to characterize mestizaje , or race mixing, to be between indigenous and white populations; this virtually excluded African descended peoples from
41087-418: The other." Morelos like Hidalgo was captured and killed, but the struggle for independence continued in the "hot country" of southern Mexico under Vicente Guerrero , who is portrayed as having African roots in modern Mexico. Royalist officer Agustín de Iturbide had fought the insurgents changed his allegiance, but later fought for independence. He gained the trust of Guerrero and the Plan de Iguala , named for
41314-421: The periphery of the major Sudanic empires of the era, paying tribute to Songhai to the west and Kanem-Borno to the east. Slavery had long been practiced in Africa. Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, the Atlantic slave trade took an estimated 7–12 million slaves to the New World. In addition, more than 1 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa between
41541-425: The population as a mere puppet of the invading Spaniards, attempted to calm the outraged populace, he was killed by a projectile. According to an indigenous account, the Spanish killed Moctezuma. The Spanish, Tlaxcalans and reinforcements returned a year later on 13 August 1521 to a civilization that had been weakened by famine and smallpox. This made it easier to conquer the remaining Aztecs. The Spaniards' victory
41768-474: The predecessor to the African Union. The nascent countries decided to keep their colonial borders, with traditional power structures used in governance to varying degrees. Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of what was then known as northern Africa , located west of the Nile river, and in its widest sense referring to all lands south of the Mediterranean , also known as Ancient Libya . This name seems to have originally referred to
41995-400: The predominant Sub-Saharan ancestry in Mexico is from the Senegambia and Guinea region. This contrasts with the predominant Nigerian ancestry in the United States and parts of the Caribbean. Africans were brought to Mexico by Spanish conquistadors and were auxiliaries in the conquest . One is shown in Codex Azcatitlan as part of the entourage of conqueror Hernán Cortés . In the account of
42222-429: The preordained nature of the conquest and their success as Spanish destiny. This influenced some natives writing under the tutelage of the Franciscan friars. Other explanations include a desire to please the Spaniards or resentment toward the failure of Montezuma and Tenochtitlan warriors." Hugh Thomas writes that Moctezuma was debating whether Cortés was a god or the ambassador of a great king in another land. Because
42449-424: The process of recognizing Mexico's African cultural influences as well as making the populations more visible and relevant. Covarrubias would use his artistic skills to highlight Afro-mexican cultures in the New Negro Movement of the 1920s and 1930s and to map areas with African cultural influence. He wrote the book, Mexico South: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec , condemning policies that would relegate people of color to
42676-483: The purposeful erasure of a Black presence from Mexico's history. Scholar Herman L. Bennet states that "the demands of a previous political movement should no longer sanction the ideological practices that historically excluded the Black past and presently confines it to the margins of history," likening this erasure to an act of " ethnic cleansing ." Catholicism shaped life among the vast majority of Africans in colonial society. Enslaved Blacks were simultaneously members of
42903-464: The reasons are not clear. The Spanish Crown cut off contacts with Portuguese slave traders after Portugal gained its independence. Slave labor declined in mining as the high profit margins allowed the recruitment of wage labor . In addition, the indigenous and mestizo population increased, and with them the size of the free labor force. In the later colonial period, most slaves continued to work in sugar production but also in textile mills , which were
43130-416: The region determined that the Afro-Mexicans in this region themselves preferred the term "negro", although some prefer "moreno" and a number still use "mestizo". Relations between Afro-Mexican and Indigenous populations were strained as there was a long history of hostility, and while today there is no open hostility, negative stereotypes abound on both parts. Like the Costa Chica, the state of Veracruz has
43357-426: The same fate as Carthage and be conquered by the Romans who established Mauretania and Numidia as provinces of their empire, while Musulamii , led by Tacfarinas , and Garamantes were eventually defeated in war in the 1st century AD however weren't conquered. In the 5th century AD the Vandals conquered north Africa precipitating the fall of Rome . Swathes of indigenous peoples would regain self-governance in
43584-399: The settlement, and managed to get an exemption from the law. Texas rebelled against the central Mexican government of Antonio López de Santa Anna , gaining its de facto independence in 1836. The Texas Revolution meant the continuation of Black slavery and when Texas was annexed to the US in 1845, it entered the Union as a slave state. However, Mexico refused to acknowledge the independence of
43811-426: The sex of the slaves that would be sent to the New World, calculations that included physical performance and reproduction were performed. At first half of the slaves imported were women and the other half men, but it was later realized that men could work longer without fatigue and that they yielded similar results throughout the month, while women suffered from pains and diseases more easily. Later on, only one third of
44038-413: The slave trade developed along the coasts. Runaways in Veracruz formed settlements called palenques which would fight off Spanish authorities. The most famous of these was led by Gaspar Yanga . Gaspar Yanga entered Mexico because he was a slave who was working in the sugar plantains in Orizaba during the year of 1540. Yanga was able to escape this plantation in the year of 1579 and he left to hide in
44265-415: The slaves here did not intermarry to the extent that others did. Not only are black skin and African features more prominent, there are strong examples of African-based song, dance and other art forms. Until recently, homes in the area were round mud and thatch huts, the construction of which can be traced back to what are now the Ghana and Ivory Coast . Origin tales often center on slavery. Many relate to
44492-408: The territory until after the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo drew the border between the two countries. After the ignominious defeat by the US, Mexican President José Joaquín de Herrera sent a bill to congress to create the state of Guerrero, named after the mixed-race hero of independence, from parts of Michoacán, Puebla, and Mexico , in the hot country where
44719-471: The total population. While other sources imply that due to the systemic erasure of Black people from Mexican society, and the tendency of Afro Mexican people to identify with other ethnic groups other than Afro Mexicans, the percentage of Afro-Mexicans is most likely actually much higher than what the official number says. In the 21st century, some people who identify as Afro-Mexicans are the children and grandchildren of naturalized Black immigrants from Africa and
44946-479: The total slaves were women. From the African continent dark skinned slaves were taken; "the first true blacks were extracted from Arguin ." Later in the sixteenth century, Black slaves came from Bran , biafadas and Gelofe (in Cape Verde). Black slaves were classified into several types, depending on their ethnic group and origin, but mostly from physical characteristics. There were two main groups. The first, called Retintos, also called swarthy, came from Sudan and
45173-425: The two continents by the geographer Ptolemy (85–165 CE), indicating Alexandria along the Prime Meridian and making the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of "Africa" expanded with their knowledge. Other etymological hypotheses have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa": In African societies,
45400-399: The two sectors that needed a large, stable workforce. Neither could pay enough to attract free laborers to its arduous work. Slave labor remained important to textile production until the later 18th century when cheaper British textiles were imported. Although integral to certain sectors of the economy through the mid-18th century, the number of slaves and the prices they fetched fell during
45627-433: The unifying framework of Islam. Following the breakup of Mali, a local leader named Sonni Ali (1464–1492) founded the Songhai Empire in the region of middle Niger and the western Sudan and took control of the trans-Saharan trade. Sonni Ali seized Timbuktu in 1468 and Jenne in 1473, building his regime on trade revenues and the cooperation of Muslim merchants. His successor Askia Mohammad I (1493–1528) made Islam
45854-481: The use of what was socially available to them. Particularly in the baroque Christianity popular at the time and the festivals that took place in this spiritual environment, mainly public religious festivals. This fervor culminated in acts of flagellation, especially around the time of holy week, as a sign of great humility and willing suffering, which in turn, brought an individual closer to Jesus. This practice would eventually diminish and face criticism from Bishops due to
46081-429: The viewpoint of the Spanish opponents. Most first-hand accounts about the conquest of the Aztec Empire were written by Spaniards: Hernán Cortés' letters to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the first-person narrative of Bernal Díaz del Castillo , The True History of the Conquest of New Spain . The primary sources from the native people affected as a result of the conquest are seldom used, because they tend to reflect
46308-405: The views of a particular native group, such as the Tlaxcalans. Indigenous accounts were written in pictographs as early as 1525. Later accounts were written in the native tongue of the Aztec and other native peoples of central Mexico, Nahuatl . The native texts of the defeated Mexica narrating their version of the conquest describe eight omens that were believed to have occurred nine years prior to
46535-483: The way Mexico has been denying its ties to Africa. An article in The Guardian noted that Afro-Mexicans are being ignored by their own government due to their African roots. Latin America has experienced problems with colorism throughout its history into the present day, where darker individuals do not receive the same opportunities as those with lighter complexions. Colorism is deeply rooted in Mexico, as noted in an article titled "We exist. We're here': Afro-Mexicans make
46762-607: The wealthy Spaniards as "artisans, domestic servants, day laborers, and slaves". This population included "impoverished Spaniards, conquered but differentiated Indians, enslaved Africans ( ladinos , individuals who were linguistically conversant in Castilian , and bozales , individuals directly from Guinea, or Africa, who were unable to speak Castilian), and the new hybrid populations ( mestizos , mulatos , and zambos , persons with both Indian and African heritage)." Catholic Spaniards instituted ecclesiastical raids beginning in 1569 upon these communities in order to maintain order and ensure
46989-462: The wet phase ushered in an expanding rainforest and wooded savanna from Senegal to Cameroon . Between 9,000 and 5,000 BC, Niger–Congo speakers domesticated the oil palm and raffia palm . Black-eyed peas and voandzeia (African groundnuts), were domesticated, followed by okra and kola nuts . Since most of the plants grew in the forest, the Niger–Congo speakers invented polished stone axes for clearing forest. Around 4,000 BC,
47216-497: The world's human population . Africa's population is the youngest among all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Based on 2024 projections, Africa's population will reach 3.8 billion people by 2099. Africa is the least wealthy inhabited continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania . Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography , climate , corruption , colonialism ,
47443-418: Was rapidly conquered and colonised by European nations , save for Ethiopia and Liberia . European rule had significant impacts on Africa's societies , and colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation and extraction of natural resources. Most present states emerged from a process of decolonisation following World War II , and established the Organisation of African Unity in 1963,
47670-446: Was added recently to the census. An article by Pew Research Center focusing on different areas of Latin America utilized polls and concluded United States Latinos of Caribbean descent are more likely to identify as Afro-Latinos than others who have roots somewhere else. Mexico was going through changes because of its citizens' demands for a new category to include the Black population of the country. The added category brought attention to
47897-467: Was an attempt to diminish racial tensions and categorization, it was condemned by Aguirre Beltrán because it still failed to recognize Afro-Mexicans and encouraged them to declare themselves as either white or indigenous because many had assimilated into these cultural practices. Even while he was promoting Black visibility, Aguirre Beltrán circulated his ideas that there existed no individuals with pure African heritage in Mexico and that Blackness in isolation
48124-461: Was both a stated and implicit objective of masters and colonial authorities." In 1640, the regular slave trade to colonial Mexico ended. The Mexican nationalist movement, which fueled the Mexican War of Independence from 1810 to 1821, was predicated on the ideological notion that Mexico possessed a unique cultural tradition – a notion which was denied by European imperial elites who asserted that Mexico lacked any basis for nationhood – and resulted in
48351-469: Was captured, defrocked, and executed in 1811, but his former seminary student, secular priest José María Morelos continued the insurgency for independence. He did articulate a program for independence in the Sentimientos de la Nación at the 1813 Congress of Chilpancingo that also called for the abolition of slavery. Point 15 is "That prohibit slavery forever, as the distinction of caste, being all equal and only vice and virtue distinguish an American from
48578-401: Was established around the ninth century, making it one of the oldest kingdoms in present-day Nigeri. The Nri kingdom is famous for its elaborate bronzes , found at the town of Igbo-Ukwu . The Kingdom of Ife , historically the first of these Yoruba city-states or kingdoms, established government under a priestly oba ('king' or 'ruler' in the Yoruba language ), called the Ooni of Ife . Ife
48805-399: Was forbidden by the crown except in the cases of rebellion. Indigenous labor was coerced in the early period, mobilized by the encomienda , private grants to individual Spaniards, was the initial workforce, with black overseers often supervising indigenous laborers. Franciscan Toribio de Benavente Motolinia (1482-1568), who arrived in Mexico in 1524 to evangelize the Nahuas, considered Blacks
49032-450: Was fully established by roughly 500 BC in many areas of East and West Africa, although other regions did not begin ironworking until the early centuries AD. Copper objects from Egypt , North Africa, Nubia, and Ethiopia dating from around 500 BC have been excavated in West Africa, suggesting that Trans-Saharan trade networks had been established by this date. From 3500 BC, nomes (ruled by nomarchs ) coalesced to form
49259-435: Was increased with the importation of unacculturated slaves ( bozales ), white elites became concerned with controlling slaves' behavior and maintaining Christian orthodoxy. With the establishment of the Inquisition in 1571, Africans appeared before the tribunal in disproportionate numbers. Although Frank Tannenbaum posits that the church intervened in master-slave relations for humanitarian reasons, Herman L. Bennett argues that
49486-474: Was independently invented in the region of Mali in the savannah of West Africa. In the steppes and savannahs of the Sahara and Sahel in Northern West Africa, people possibly ancestral to modern Nilo-Saharan and Mandé cultures started to collect wild millet , around 8,000 to 6,000 BC. Later, gourds , watermelons , castor beans , and cotton were also collected. Sorghum was first domesticated in Eastern Sudan around 4,000 BC, in one of
49713-550: Was led by the American Spanish secular priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla . Hidalgo did not articulate a coherent program for independence, but in an early proclamation condemned slavery and the slave trade, and called for the abolition of tributes, which were paid by Indians, blacks, mulattoes and castas . He mandated in November 1810 that "slave masters must, whether Americans [New World-born] or Europeans, give [their slaves] liberty within ten days, on pain of death that their lack of observance of this article will apply to them." Hidalgo
49940-400: Was not overwhelming." In the words of Restall, "Spanish weapons were useful for breaking the offensive lines of waves of indigenous warriors, but this was no formula for conquest ... rather, it was a formula for survival, until Spanish and indigenous reinforcements arrived." The integration of the indigenous allies, essentially, those from Tlaxcala and Texcoco, into the Spanish army played
50167-444: Was noted as a major religious and cultural centre in West Africa and for its unique naturalistic tradition of bronze sculpture. The Ife model of government was adapted by the Oyo Empire , whose obas, called the Alaafins of Oyo , controlled many other Yoruba and non-Yoruba city-states and kingdoms including the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey . The Almoravids were a Berber dynasty from the Sahara that spread over northwestern Africa and
50394-514: Was one of the first African countries to gain independence, the state remained under the control of the country's white minority, initially through qualified voting rights and from 1956 by a system of racial segregation known as apartheid , until 1994. Today, Africa contains 54 sovereign countries. Since independence, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African states are republics that operate under some form of
50621-437: Was published. An extract of this important manuscript was published in 1991 by James Lockhart in Nahuatl transcription and English translation. A popular anthology in English for classroom use is Miguel León-Portilla 's, The Broken Spears: The Aztec Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico from 1992. Not surprisingly, many publications and republications of sixteenth-century accounts of the conquest of Mexico appeared around 1992,
50848-462: Was recorded a generation or more after the events through interaction with and under influence of Spanish priests. As noted in, “No ‘pure’ Nahuatl text exists-with the exception of a few pre- Cortesian pictographic codices. Every written Nahuatl text was recorded after 1521 either directly by a Christian priest, by students who worked directly under priestly supervision, or by former students who had studied in Christian schools long enough to understand
51075-482: Was the large sum of 200 gold pesos . Her former owner, Doña Inéz de León, declared that "it is my will that [Juana] shall be free now and for all time and not subject to servitude. And as such person she may and shall go in whatever parts and places she desires; and may appear in judgment and collect and receive her property and manage and administer her estate; and may make wills and codicils and name heirs and executors; and may act and dispose of her person in whatsoever
51302-436: Was the second largest Spanish settlement in Mexico, sought enslaved African women for domestic work, such as cooks and laundresses. Ownership of domestic slaves was a status symbol for Spaniards and the dowries of wealthy Spanish women included enslaved Africans. Blacks classified as part of the "Republic of Spaniards" ( República de Españoles ), that is the Hispanic sector of Europeans, Africans, and mixed-race castas , while
51529-451: Was violent and aggressive. During the late 1940s, the question became how to define Afromestizo populations and distinguish them from indigenous communities. Even if one could identify an individual as African-descended by their physical characteristics, they were culturally mixed and could not be easily separated from the larger population by their cultural practices. Black communities in Mexico were being officially recognized by scholars and
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