Afro-Panamanians

Afro-Panamanian

Total population
(15% of the Panamanian population.)
Regions with significant populations
Colón, Cristóbal and Balboa, Río Abajo area of Panama City, the Canal Zone, province of Bocas del Toro, villages in the Darién Province
Languages
Panamanian Spanish, English
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Afro-Caribbeans, Jamaicans

Afro-Panamanians are Panamanians of African descent, and constitute 15% of the population. The Afro-Panamanian population can be broken into the "Afro-Colonial", Afro-Panamanians descended from slaves brought to Panama during the colonial period and the "Afro-Antillean", West Indian immigrants from Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados and Jamaica, brought in to build the Panama Canal. Afro-Panamanians can be found in the towns and cities of Colón, Cristóbal and Balboa, the Río Abajo area of Panama City, the Canal Zone, and the province of Bocas del Toro.

The first Africans to arrive in Panama came with Vasco Núñez de Balboa, in 1513. Panama was a very important territory because it had the shortest route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Goods were taken from ports in Portobelo and Nombre de Dios, transported overland to ports in Panama City and reboarded on ships headed to South America. Initially, Indian labor was used. Due to maltreatment and disease, the Indian population was decimated. Bartolomé de Las Casas advocated getting slaves from Africa. By 1517, the trade in Africans was underway. Initially slaves were used to work and maintain ships and port. It later turned to transporting goods across the isthmus. The transportation of goods was grueling not only due to the thousands of miles of terrain, but also to bad weather and attacks by Indians.

It is difficult to pinpoint and identify the place of origin of the African slaves brought to Panama during the colonial era. According to the study of Martin Jamieson, some authors point out that most were from Guinea.

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Wikipedia