Afro-Venezuelan
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,911,064 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Venezuelan Caribbean | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African, Afro-Guyanese, Afro-Colombian, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Trinidadian and Tobagonian, and Venezuelan people |
Afro-Venezuelans (Spanish: Afrovenezolanos; negros) are Venezuelans of African origin descended from slaves brought to the Western hemisphere by the conquistadors during the Atlantic slave trade. They represent roughly 10% of the total population of Venezuela.
Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese slave ships resumed to import Africans of diverse origins, predominantly Manding from the Gold Coast and Bantu from the Congo and Angola, until the beginning of the 19th century. The slave trade in Venezuela concluded before Yoruba peoples were transported to the New World, distinguishing Venezuela's slave population from that of Brazil and Cuba. Slaves were treated as units of commerce, referred to as pieza de india in reference to their physique and potential for travail.
Throughout the sixteenth century, slaves were brought to toil in the copper mines in Coro and Buría (Yaracuy) and to Isla Margarita and Cumaná for fishing and pearl diving. Small-scale agricultural plantations were also initiated in Venezuela, especially among the regions surrounding Caracas. In the 18th century, immense shipments of slaves were transported to Barlovento to aid the burgeoning cacao industry and the sugar plantations in Zulia, around Lake Maracaibo. Venezuela's slave population comprised 1.3 percent of the total slave trade in the New World, compared with 7.3 percent for Cuba, 38.1 percent for Brazil and 4.5 percent for the United States (Brandt 1978, 8).
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