Afromexican
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,381,853 2015 intercensal estimate | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Costa Chica of Guerrero, Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Veracruz, Greater Mexico City and small settlements in northern Mexico | |
| Languages | |
| Mexican Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholicism; minority of Protestantism and Animism |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| West Africans, Afro-Latin Americans, and other Mexicans |
Afro-Mexicans (Spanish: afromexicanos; negros; afrodescendientes) are Mexicans who have a heritage from Sub-Saharan Africa. Also known as Black Mexicans, they are an ethnic group made up of recent immigrants of African descent to Mexico and the descendants of slaves, such as in the communities of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca and Guerrero, Veracruz and in some cities in northern Mexico. The history of blacks in Mexico has been lesser known for a number of reasons: their relatively small numbers, regular intermarriage with other ethnic groups, and Mexico’s tradition of defining itself as a “mestizaje” or mixing culture.
According to The Atlantic Slave Trade an estimated 200,000 enslaved Africans disembarked in New Spain. From the beginning, the slaves, who were mostly male, intermarried with indigenous women. In some cases Spanish colonists had unions with female slaves. Spanish colonists created an elaborate racial caste system, classifying people by racial mixture. This system broke down in the very late colonial period; after Independence, the legal notion of race was eliminated.
The creation of a national Mexican identity, especially after the Mexican Revolution, emphasized Mexico’s indigenous and European past; it passively eliminated the African ancestors and contributions. Though Mexico had a significant number of African slaves during colonial times, most of the African-descended population were absorbed into the surrounding Mestizo (mixed European/indigenous) and indigenous populations through unions among the groups. Evidence of this long history of intermarriage with Mestizo and indigenous Mexicans is also expressed in the fact that in the 2015 census, 64.9% (896,829) of Afro-Mexicans also identified as indigenous. It was also reported that 9.3% of Afro-Mexicans speak an indigenous language. About 1.2% of Mexico's population has significant African ancestry, with 1.38 million recognized during the 2015 Intercensus Estimate. Numerous Afro-Mexicans in the 21st century are naturalized black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. The 2015 Intercensus 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. 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.
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