Afro-Mexicans
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 The Atlantic Slave Trade, an estimated 200,000 enslaved Africans were kidnapped and brought to New Spain, which later became modern Mexico. The creation of national Mexican identity, especially after 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 the groups. By the mid-twentieth century, Mexican scholars were advocating for black visibility. It wasn’t until 1992, 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.
Slaves landed in Mexico by ship’s flag from 1450 to 1866
HISTORY
(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 in Mexico during the colonial era, as well as post-independence migrants. The latter include Afro-descended people from neighboring English, French, and Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean and Central America, descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped to Mexico 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 the populations of the Oaxaca, Huetamo, Lázaro Cárdenas, Guerrero, and Veracruz states.
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 The Atlantic Slave Trade, an estimated 200,000 enslaved Africans were kidnapped and brought to New Spain, which later became modern Mexico.
The creation of national Mexican identity, especially after 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 the groups. By the mid-twentieth century, Mexican scholars were advocating for black visibility. It wasn’t until 1992, 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 are found in 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 1.2% of Mexico’s population has significantly large African ancestry, with 1.38 million self-recognized during the 2015 Inter-census Estimate. However, some sources put the official number at around 5% of 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 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”.