Afro-Colombian
Encyclopedia
Colombians
Colombians may refer to:* Citizens of Colombia, a country in South America.* Ethnic Colombians** Colombian people, persons from Colombia or of Colombian ancestry...
of African
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
ancestry, and the great impact they have had on Colombian culture. Notable Afro-Colombians include Colombian scientists like Raul Cuero
Raul Cuero
Raul G Cuero is a professor of microbiology and an inventor, with particular expertise in biogenesis.Dr. Cuero led a team from around the world in synthetic biology in the 2006 IGEM competition, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA.-Education:* Biology, University of Valle*...
, writers like Manuel Zapata Olivella and politicians:
Piedad Córdoba
Piedad Córdoba
Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruiz , better known by her nom de guerre Teodora de Bolívar or Gaitán is a former Liberal Senator of Colombia who served for four terms from 1994 to 2010, and a former Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia...
, Paula Marcela Moreno Zapata
Paula Marcela Moreno Zapata
Paula Marcela Moreno Zapata is a Colombian engineer and professor. She served as the 8th Minister of Culture of Colombia, and was the third person to hold that office in the administration of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Moreno was the first Afro-Colombian woman, as well as the youngest person to...
, and Luis Gilberto Murillo
Luis Gilberto Murillo
Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia is the Former Elected Governor of the predominantly Afro-Colombian Department of Chocó in Colombia. He is currently the Vice President for Programs and Strategy at Phelps Stokes in Washington, DC.-Education:Mr...
, Miss Colombia 2001 winner and fashion model Vanessa Alexandra Mendoza Bustos, and Major League Baseball player Edgar Renteria
Edgar Rentería
Edgar Enrique Rentería Herazo , nicknamed "The Barranquilla Baby," is a Colombian professional baseball shortstop. He throws and bats right-handed. Previously, he has played for the Florida Marlins, the St...
.
History
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
by the Spaniards in the first decade of the 16th century. By the 1520s, Africans were being imported into Colombia steadily to replace the rapidly declining native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
population. Africans were forced to work in gold mines, on sugar cane plantations, cattle ranches, and large haciendas. African labor was essential in all the regions of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, even until modern times. African workers pioneered the extracting of alluvial gold deposits and the growing of sugar cane in the areas that correspond to the modern day departments
Departments of Colombia
Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...
of Chocó
Chocó Department
Chocó is a department of Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It also has all of Colombia's border with Panama. Its capital is...
, Antioquia, Cauca
Cauca Department
Cauca is a Department of Colombia. Located in the south-western part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department to the northeast, Huila Department to the east and the Nariño Department to the south, covering a total area of...
, Valle del Cauca, and Nariño in western Colombia.
In eastern Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, near the cities of Vélez
Velez
- Places :* Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, Spain* Vélez de Benaudalla, Spain* Vélez Sársfield , Buenos Aires, Argentina* Vélez-Blanco, Spain* Vélez-Málaga, Spain* Vélez-Rubio, Spain* Vélez, Santander, Colombia- Sports clubs :...
, Cúcuta
Cúcuta
Cúcuta is a Colombian city, capital of Norte de Santander, in the northeast of the country. Due to its proximity to the Colombian-Venezuelan border, Cúcuta is an important commercial center. The city has the constitutional category of Special District. It is located at the most active...
, Socorro
Socorro, Santander
Socorro is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. It was founded in 1681 by Don José de Archila and Don José Díaz Sarmiento.The town was very influential in the history of Colombia...
, and Tunja
Tunja
Tunja is a city and municipality located in the central part of Colombia, in the region of "Alto Chicomocha". As of the 2005 Census it had 152,419 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Department of Boyacá and part of the subregion of the Central Boyacá Province. It is approximately 145 km...
, Africans manufactured textiles in commercial mills. Emerald mines, outside Bogotá, were wholly dependent upon African laborers. Also, other sectors of the Colombian economy like tobacco, cotton, artisanry and domestic work would have been impossible without African labor. In pre-abolition Colombian society, many Afro-Colombian slaves fought for their freedom as soon as they arrived in Colombia. It is clear that there were strong free Black African towns called palenques
Quilombo
A quilombo is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, Quilombolas, or Maroons. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos were escaped slaves and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese, Brazilian aboriginals, Jews and Arabs, and/or other non-black,...
, where Africans could live as cimarrones
Cimarron people (Panama)
The Cimarrons or Cimarrones in Panama, were enslaved Africans who had escaped from their Spanish masters and lived together as outlaws. In the 1570s, they allied with Sir Francis Drake of England to defeat the Spanish conquest and plunder their riches....
, that is, they who escaped from their oppressors. Afro Panamanians are also related to Afro Colombians, some historians consider that Chocó was a very big palenque, with a large population of cimarrones
Cimarron people (Panama)
The Cimarrons or Cimarrones in Panama, were enslaved Africans who had escaped from their Spanish masters and lived together as outlaws. In the 1570s, they allied with Sir Francis Drake of England to defeat the Spanish conquest and plunder their riches....
, especially in the areas of the Baudó River. Very popular cimarrón leaders like Benkos Biojó and Barule fought for freedom. African people played key roles in the independence struggle against Spain. Historians note that three of every five soldiers in Simon Bolívar's army were African. Not only that, Afro-Colombians also participated at all levels of military and political life.
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
was not abolished until 1851, and even after emancipation, the life of the African Colombians was very difficult. African Colombians were forced to live in jungle areas as a mechanism of self-protection. There, they learned to have a harmonious relationship with the jungle environment and to share the territory with Colombia's indigenous communities.
From 1851, the Colombian State promoted the ideology of mestizaje, or miscegenation. This whitening of the African population was an attempt by the Colombian government to minimize or, if possible, totally eliminate any traces of Black African or indigenous descent among the Criollos
Criollo people
The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
. So in order to maintain their cultural traditions, many Africans and indigenous peoples went deep into the isolated jungles. Afro-Colombians and indigenous people were, and continue to be, the targets of the armed actors who want to displace them in order to take their lands for sugar cane plantations, for coffee and banana plantations, for mining and wood exploitation, and so forth.
In 1945 the department of El Chocó
Chocó Department
Chocó is a department of Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It also has all of Colombia's border with Panama. Its capital is...
was created; it was the first predominantly African political-administrative division. El Chocó gave African people the possibility of building an African territorial identity and some autonomous decision-making power.
Demographics
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
and Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
. Most Afro-Colombians are currently living in urban areas. Only around 25%, or 3 million people, are based in rural areas, compared to 75%, or 9 million people in urban zones. The 1991 Colombian Constitution gave them the right to collective ownership of traditional Pacific coastal lands and special cultural development protections. Critics argue that this important legal instrument has not been enough to completely address their social and developmental needs.
Afro-Colombians make up approximately 21% (9,154,537) of the population according to a projection of the National Administration Department of Statistics (DANE), most of whom are concentrated on the northwest Caribbean coast and the Pacific coast in such departments as Chocó
Chocó Department
Chocó is a department of Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It also has all of Colombia's border with Panama. Its capital is...
, although considerable numbers are also in Cali
Calì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
, Cartagena
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
, and Barranquilla
Barranquilla
Barranquilla is an industrial port city and municipality located in northern Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port in the Colombian Caribbean region with a population of 1,148,506 as of 2005, which makes it Colombia's...
. Colombia is considered to have the third largest Black/African-descent population in the western hemisphere, following Brazil and the USA.
It has been estimated that only 4.4 million Afro-Colombians actively recognize their own black ancestry, while many other African Colombians do not, as a result of inter-racial relations with white and indigenous Colombians. Afro-Colombians may often encounter a noticeable degree of racial discrimination and prejudice, as a socio-cultural leftover from colonial times. They have been historically absent from high level government positions. Many of their long-established settlements around the Pacific coast have remained underdeveloped. In Colombia's ongoing internal conflict, Afro-Colombians are both victims of violence or displacement and members of armed factions, such as the FARC
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...
and the AUC. African Colombians have played a role in contributing to the development of certain aspects of Colombian culture. For example, several of Colombia's musical genres, such as Cumbia
Cumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
, have African origins or influences. Some African Colombians have also been successful in sports.
Raizals
The Raizal ethnic group is an Afro Caribbean group, speaking the San Andrés-Providencia CreoleSan Andrés-Providencia Creole
San Andrés–Providencia Creole is a Creole language spoken in the San Andrés and Providencia Department of Colombia by the natives , very similar to the Miskito Coastal Creole spoken in Bluefields, the Corn Islands and the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua...
.
See also
- List of topics related to Black and African people
- Afro-Latin AmericanAfro-Latin AmericanAn Afro-Latin American is a Latin American person of at least partial Black African ancestry; the term may also refer to historical or cultural elements in Latin America thought to emanate from this community...
- List of Famous Afro-Latinos
- Colombian AmericanColombian AmericanColombian Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their nationality or heritage from the South American nation of Colombia. They are the largest South American ethnic group in the United States.-Causes of migration:...
- Colombian diasporaColombian diasporaColombian diaspora refers to the mass movement of Colombian people who have emigrated from the country in search of safety and/or a better quality of life. Many of those who moved were educated middle and upper middle-class Colombians; because of this, the Colombian diaspora can be referred to as a...
- Chocó DepartmentChocó DepartmentChocó is a department of Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It also has all of Colombia's border with Panama. Its capital is...
External links
- AfroColombiany.org AfroColombian News in English.
- CNN video of Afro-Colombian community
- Colombian 2005 Census Television Commercial Orgullosamente Afrocolombiano
- The World Bank's Sector Report "The Gap Matters: poverty and well-being of Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples" Click here for the report
- African-Diasporic Regions of Colombia plus more COLOMBIAFRICA
- Documentary 150 years after abolition En Colombia (Liberty In Colombia)
- Colombia contra el racismo
- "Law 70: English Translation of Ley 70"