Afro-Trinidadian and Tobagonian
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Trinidad and Tobago 452,536 (2011 census) |
|
| Languages | |
| Trinidadian Creole English, Tobagonian Creole English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Yoruba, African languages | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Christian, Muslim, Trinidad Orisha (Yoruba), Rastafari, and Traditional African Religions |
Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians (or just Afro-Trinbagonians) are people from Trinidad and Tobago who are largely of African descent. Social interpretations of race in Trinidad and Tobago are often used to dictate who is of African descent; for example, a person might appear "white" in appearance but may still be considered "black" based on significant African ancestry. Mulatto, Zambo, Quadroon, or Octoroon were all racial terms used to measure the amount of African ancestry someone possessed in Trinidad and throughout Latin American and Caribbean history.
Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians accounted for 35.4 per cent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago according to the 2011 Census. However, the classification is primarily a superficial description based on phenotypical (physical) description opposed to genotypical (genetic) classification. It is not uncommon for Trinidadians of both Indian and African descent to be considered Afro-Trinidadian solely based on appearance. An additional 22.8 per cent of Trinidadians described themselves as being multiracial, of whom 7.7 per cent were dougla (mixed African and Indian ethnicity).
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago (united in 1888) have a different racial history. The island of Trinidad is mainly multiracial while the population of Tobago is primarily what is considered Afro-Tobagonian, which is synonymous with Afro-Trinidadian, with the exception that the people of Tobago are almost exclusively of direct African ancestry. In an effort to unite the cultural and ethnic divide between the two islands many people choose to be called Trinbagonians as a sign of unity.
The ultimate origin of most African ancestry in the Americas is in West and Central Africa. The most common ethnic groups of the enslaved Africans in Trinidad and Tobago were Igbo, Kongo and Malinke people. All of these groups, among others, were heavily affected by the Atlantic slave trade. The population census of 1813 shows that among African-born slaves the Igbo were the most numerous.
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