Afroargentinos (Spanish) | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Representatives ofSenegal during Day of the immigrants 2010 inBuenos Aires | |
| Total population | |
Sub-Saharan ancestry predominates 302,936 (2022 census)[1] 0.66% of the Argentine population | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Predominantly in theGreater Buenos Aires and in theArgentine Northwest | |
 Buenos Aires | 128,804[1] |
 Buenos Aires City | 40,670[1] |
 Córdoba | 18,366[1] |
 Santa Fe | 16,560[1] |
 Salta | 10,632[1] |
| Languages | |
| Majority:Spanish Minority:Wolof · Portuguese · Haitian Creole | |
| Religion | |
| Majority:Catholicism Minority:Sunnism · Traditional religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Sub-Saharan Africans Black Latin Americans · Black Americans · Black Canadians · Black Jamaicans · Others | |
Afro-Argentines (Spanish:Afroargentinos), also known asBlack Argentines (Spanish:Argentinos negros), areArgentines who have predominantly or totalSub-Saharan African ancestry.[2] The Afro-Argentine population is the result of people being brought over during thetransatlantic slave trade during the centuries of Spanish domination in the region[3][4] and immigration.[5]
During the 18th and 19th centuries they accounted for up to fifty percent of the population in certain cities,[6] and had a deep impact onArgentine culture. Some old theories held it that in the 19th century the Afro-Argentine population declined sharply due to several factors, such as theArgentine War of Independence (c. 1810–1818), highinfant mortality rates, low numbers of married couples who were both Afro-Argentine, theWar of the Triple Alliance, cholera epidemics in 1861 and 1864 and a yellow fever epidemic in 1871.[7]
Research in recent decades cites a strong racial intermixing with whites andindigenous peoples in the 18th and 19th centuries as the main reason for the decline of the Black population inArgentina.[7] That mixing was promoted by governments of those times as a method to, in a first era, make non-whites (both indigenous and Black people) racially closer to whites during the construction of a modern society, as they saw it; and in a second era, make them decline gradually through their "dilution" into a white majority that it was to become as such with the promotion of a mass immigration fromEurope andMiddle East that started to arrive since then (mid-19th century) until the 1940s.[8] At the same time, non-whites frequently sought to have offspring with whites as a way to make their racially mixed child escape from slavery in the colonial period, and later, from discrimination.
As part of the process ofconquest, the economic regimes of theEuropean colonies in the Americas developed various forms offorced labor exploitation of theindigenous peoples. However, the relatively low population density of some of the South American territories, resistance by some aboriginal groups toacculturation, and especially the high rate of mortality caused by the diseases introduced by Europeans caused the decline of the native population. Studies have shown that owing to their immunological isolation from the peoples of the Old World prior to the first contacts with Europeans from 1492 onwards, some 50-90% of the indigenous population throughout the Americas died from epidemic diseases,[9] exacerbated by the stresses brought on by violent conquest, dispossession and exploitation. This led the Spaniards to supplement aboriginal manpower with slaves from West and Central Africa.[10]
Well into the 19th century, mining and agriculture accounted for the bulk of economic activity in the Americas. African slave labor held the advantage of having already been exposed to European diseases through geographical proximity, and African laborers readily adapted to the tropical climate of the colonies. In the case of Argentina, the influx of African slaves began in the colonies of the Rio de la Plata in 1588.European slave traders purchased African slaves, who were then shipped from West Africaacross the Atlantic to the Americas and the Caribbean. The slave trade flourished through the port of Buenos Aires, where thousands of African slaves arrived to be sold. To provide slaves to the East Indies, theSpanish crown granted contracts known asAsientos to various slave trading companies, both from Spain and other European nations.[10]
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Before the 16th century slaves had arrived in relatively small numbers from theCape Verde islands. Thereafter the majority of Africans brought to Argentina were from ethnic groups speakingBantu languages, from the territories now comprisingAngola, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo and theRepublic of the Congo (largely Bakongo and Mbundu people). Relatively fewYoruba andEwe were taken to Argentina; larger numbers of these groups were taken toBrazil.[10]
It is estimated that 12 million African slaves reached Latin America, with many transported viaslave ships to other regions throughValparaíso andRio de Janeiro.[11] An estimated 10-15% of slaves died during passage across the Atlantic.[12] However, many more died during the process of enslavement, travel through the interior of Africa, and while awaiting shipment, with an estimated 40 deaths for every 100 slaves who reached the New World.[13][12]
The slaves were forced to work in agriculture, livestock, domestic work and to a lesser extent crafts. In urban areas, many slaves made handicrafts for sale, while revenues went to their masters. The Buenos Aires neighborhood ofSan Telmo and Monserrat housed a large quantity of slaves, although most were sent to the interior provinces. The 1778 census conducted by Juan José Salcedo of Vértiz showed very high concentration of Black people (though largely the product of varying degrees of racial mixing with white and indigenous people) in cities located in regions where agricultural production was greatest: 54% inSantiago del Estero, 52% inSan Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, 46% inSalta, 44% inCórdoba, 44% inSan Miguel de Tucumán, 24% inMendoza, 20% inLa Rioja, 16% inSan Juan, 13% inSan Salvador de Jujuy and 9% inSan Luis, although there were some more in other cities and towns that were small percentages there. For example, one of the currently rich neighbourhoods of the city ofCorrientes is still known as "Camba Cuá", from theGuaranikamba kua, meaning "cave of the Black people".[14]
In 1801 the first Afro-Argentine militias were organised, under the auspices of the Compañía deGranaderos de Pardos libres de Buenos Aires and Compañía de Granaderos de Morenos libres de Buenos Aires. Thepardos were free people of mixed European, African, and Native American, particularlyGuaraní, descent, whereas the "morenos" seem to have been composed of soldiers of largely African ancestry.[15] These forces were unified into theBatallón de Pardos y Morenos, also known as theBatallón Castas, at a strength of 9 companies, plus 4 auxiliary slave companies, at the time of thefirst British invasion of the River Plate.[16] Regimental status was gained in 1810, and the newRegimento de Pardos y Morenos participated in theArgentine War of Independence.[17]
In 1812, Argentine politicianBernardo de Monteagudo was not allowed as a member of theFirst Triumvirate, due to his "questionable mother"—i.e., African ancestry.Bernardino Rivadavia, also of African descent, was one of the politicians who were barred from joining the triumvirate.[18] TheAssembly of the Year XIII, called to establish the new independent state of Argentina, passed the law offreedom of wombs, whereby children born to slaves thenceforth were automatically free citizens, but did not free those who were already slaves. Many Black people were part ofmilitias and irregular troops that eventually became part of theArgentine Army, but mostly in segregated squadrons. Black slaves could, however, ask to be sold and even find a buyer if they were unhappy with their owners.
After the abolition of slavery, many Black people faced widespread discrimination. The fourteen schools in Buenos Aires in 1857, only admitted two Black children, although 15% of students that year were black. In Córdoba in 1829, Black children were entitled to only two years' secondary schooling, while white Argentine children studied for four years. Universities did not admit Black people until 1853.
Black people began to publish newspapers and to organize for their rights. One paper,The Unionist, published in 1877 a statement of equal rights and justice for all people regardless of skin color was published. One of its statements read:
The Constitution is a dead letter and the Counts and Marquises abound, which, following the old and odious colonial regime intended to treat their subordinates as slaves, without understanding that among the men who humiliate there are many who hide under their clothes a coarse intelligence superior to that of the same outrage.
Other newspapers wereThe African Race, theBlack Democrat andThe Proletarian, all published in 1858. By the 1880s there were about twenty such Argentine Black-published newspapers in Buenos Aires; and some researchers consider these social movements integral to the introduction ofsocialism and the idea of social justice in Argentine culture.
Some blacks entered politics.José María Morales andDomingo Sosa were in action as seniormilitary officers and held significant political posts.
In the last decades, theories have been disputed over the causation of their decline. Older theories alleged agenocide as the main factor in the reduction of their population.[7] Among the causes expressed are the supposed high mortality of Black soldiers in the wars of the 19th century (since theoretically, they were a disproportionately high number within the armed forces, which would have been intentionally planned by the governments of the time) and in a yellow fever epidemic in 1871 that affected the south of the city ofBuenos Aires, as well as a large emigration toUruguay (due to the fact that there would have been a larger Black population and a more favorable political climate).
Research in recent decades has ruled out such theories.[7] Although it is true that Black people made up an important part of the armies and militias of the 19th century, they were not the majority nor did their number differ much from that of indigenous and white people, even in the lower ranks (the so-calledcannon fodder). Nor did theyellow fever epidemics that affected Buenos Aires (especially the most lethal, which was that of 1871) have a big effect, since demographic studies do not support that view (on the contrary, they show that the most affected were recent European immigrants living in poverty)[19] and, furthermore, this theory does not explain the decline of the Black population in the rest ofArgentina.
The most widely accepted theory today is that the Black population gradually decreased over the generations due to its mixture with whites and, to a lesser extent, indigenous peoples, which occurred frequently since the 18th century in the colonial period, and that it accelerated even more in the late 19th century (in the already independent Argentina) with the arrival of the massive immigration wave fromEurope andMiddle East,[7] which was promoted by the Argentine governments of the time precisely so that the non-white population becomes "diluted" within the white majority through racial mixture. This process was similar to that of the rest of the continent (with different results depending on the volume of immigration and the particular demographic characteristics of each region) and is known aswhitening.
This was based on the then-popular idea that whites (especially those belonging toWestern European cultures) were the only ones capable of carrying on a civilization, while most non-whites (such as indigenous and Black people) were inevitably related tobarbarism.[20]
However, unlike other regions of the Americas where there was a strong violent segregation of non-whites in an attempt to prevent racial mixing, Argentine elite thought that non-white offspring could be improved if were the result of a mix with whites. The exception, since mid-19th century, were those non-whites that still lived in tribal societies that were not part of the Argentine culture and weren't under the control of the government, in this case, people from several local indigenous nations that usually had conflicts with it (other ones, on the other hand, were becoming assimilated to the country's society), thus seen as incorrigible savages that were a block to the progress and a threat to the nation. This led to wars against them (like theConquest of the Desert) that in some cases ended with genocides or mass murders, also taking their lands.
In late colonial times the racial mixture was common because, despite the racism prevailing at the time, the level of segregation and violence towards non-whites who were part of colonial society in the territories that are currently part of Argentina, was less than that which existed in other European colonies in theAmericas and other Spanish colonial regions where a greater intensity of slave labor was required (such as mining enclaves or agricultural large estates in tropical regions). For this reason, there was less mistreatment towards slaves, who also had greater freedom to circulate, especially those who worked in the fields, where labor associated withlivestock andextensive farming was fundamentally required. It was also more common for them to be able to buy their freedom, so even several decades before the abolition of slavery, it was in clear decline.
On the other hand, due to the association of Blackness with barbarism, already at the last decades of the 18th century, Black people (who by then normally had a certain level of racial mixture and therefore lighter skin than most of slaves recently arrived fromAfrica, as well as less typical features of the race), according to their degree of freedom or good relationship with their masters or white social environment, gradually came to be considered in censuses and legal documents in ambiguous pseudo-racial categories (but beneficial for them) such as those ofpardos andtrigueños[7] (which also included indigenous people who were part of colonial society and even whites with a high level of racial mixture) in an attempt to detach them from their slave past and, theorically, make them more functional to the modern society that the authorities intended to conform (according to theireurocentrist vision), and this allowed those already mixed Black people a better social position and a greater degree of freedom by moving away from their original racial category. In other cases, also due to their ambiguous phenotype, several tried to be recorded asIndians (if they could explain their indigenous ancestry)[7] because this would allow them to obtain freedom, since from the 16th century, in Spanish colonies it was prohibited the slavery ofindigenous peoples of the Americas through theNew Laws and theLaws of the Indies (despite this, it happened illegally, but much less frequently than the slavery of Africans and their descendants, which was permitted). There were even cases of Black women with a high degree of racial mixture who managed to be noted asseñoras ordoñas (categories reserved only for white women) with the help of white people from their environment (for example, couples).[7]
These situations made Black people prefer to form families with white and indigenous people in order to have children who had lighter skin and features more distant from the natives ofSub-Saharan Africa, which increased their level of racial mixture and, therefore, decline, which lasted strongly even after the abolition of slavery, since people with lighter skin continued to rule society and make up the majority of the elite, thus leaving dark skin associated with poverty in the Argentine idiosyncrasy.
The classification of an increasing number of non-whites (especially those who had at least some racial mixture) into new ambiguous pseudo-racial categories was devised by authorities since the last years of the colonial period as a method to move them from their original racial identities (negros andindios) in an attempt to make them more assimilable within the modern society that was sought to create. This was a first part of thewhitening, known as thelightening,[21] in which non-whites were put gradually into categories that were closer to the white one, that was the more desirable. Also, the white elite, which was a minority in most places until the mid-19th century, used this as a way to make a difference between "us" and "them",[20] allowing many people to "leave" their undesirable original categories, but at the same time preventing them to become labeled as whites (since in certain cases they presented an aspect closer to the white than that of the Indigenous or Black) to deny them the access to the power and privileges reserved for a minority.
In this way, terms such asmorochos orcriollos (which expanded its original colonial meaning, that was referred only to Spanish-descent whites born in the Americas) came to be used to catalog the vast majority of the population that was not clearly white (or whites descendants of Spanish from the colonial period in the case ofcriollos), helping later the narrative of the disappearance of indigenous and Black people in the country. The very people belonging to these races (which were already heavily racially mixed, especially in the case of Black people) actively sought to identify with the new categories since they were symbolically closer to whiteness, which made possible more benefits and less discrimination. Only Black people with dark skin were considered as such, and being a minority even within the Argentine Black population itself, they were considered as isolated cases or foreigners (since, from the late 19th century, several of them were free African immigrants who arrived recently mainly fromCape Verde). In the case of indigenous people, only those who were part of the indigenous nations that still survived (who represented a small minority) came to be considered as such, but not those who were part of the majoritariannon-indigenous Argentine society.
In 1887 the official percentage of the Black population was computed at 1.8% of the total. From that moment on, racial categories were not registered in the censuses. The position of the State became explicit again when the National Census of 1895 was carried out when those responsible stated:[22][unreliable source?]
It will not take long for the population to be completely unified into a beautiful new white race.
In reference to the racial mixture that had occurred with Black people for several generations, in 1905 the journalistJuan José de Soiza Reilly stated in his articleGente de color (published in the magazineCaras y Caretas) that:[23]
'Meanwhile, the race is losing its original colour in the mixture. It turns grey. It dissolves. It becomes clear. The African tree is giving white Caucasian flowers...'
From then on, and for almost a century, in Argentina practically no studies were carried out on Black Argentines.
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Today in Argentina, the Afro-Argentine community is beginning to emerge from the shadows. There have been Black organizations such as "Grupo Cultural Afro," "SOS Racismo," and perhaps the most important group "Africa Vive", founded byPocha Lamadrid, that help to rekindle interest into the African heritage of Argentina. There are also Afro-Uruguayan and Afro-Brazilian migrants who have helped to expand the African culture. It has been well over a century since Argentina has reflected the African racial ancestry in its census count. Therefore, calculating the exact number of Afro-descendants is very difficult; however, Africa Vive calculates that there are about 1,000,000 partially Afro-descendants in Argentina.[24] The last census, carried on 27 October 2010, introduced the African ancestry survey.[25][26] Still, as in other Latin American nations, Argentines of Black African background may not always identify as Afro-Argentine, due to the pervasive negative connotations associated to Blackness and the lack of historical records for Black bloodlines in Argentina.[27]
The Forum of African Descent and Africans in Argentina was created on 9 October 2006, with the aim of promoting social and cultural pluralism and the fight against discrimination of a population in the country to reach the two million inhabitants.
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There is currently a small wave of immigrants fromWest Africa (mainly fromSenegal) that began in the 1990s, while there is a minority of Black people among immigrants from American countries from which immigration has been taking place since before the middle of the 20th century (such asPeru,Uruguay and, to a lesser extent,Brazil), but more numerous since others where it began in the 21st century (such asColombia,Venezuela, theDominican Republic,Ecuador andHaiti).
Since 2013, November 8 has been celebrated as the National Day of Afro-Argentines and African Culture. The date was chosen to commemorate the recorded date for the death ofMaría Remedios del Valle, arabona andguerrilla fighter, who served with theArmy of the North in thewar of Independence.[28][29]
TheNational Institute Against Discrimination (INADI) is the public body responsible for combating discrimination and racism. In 2021, the Argentine government announced the establishment of a "Afro-Argentine Community Federal Advisor Council", made up of prominent Afro-Argentine activists and scholars.[30]
| Black Argentines 1778-2022 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | % of Argentina | |||||
| 1778 | 68,465 |  36.82% | |||||
| 2010 | 149,493 |  0.37% | |||||
| 2022 | 302,936 | 0.66% | |||||
| Source: Argentina censusINDEC.[31][32][1] | |||||||
According to the Argentine national census of 2010, the total population of Argentines was 40,117,096,[33] of whom 149,493[34][35] (0.37%) identified as Afro-Argentine, although according togene pools studies, the Argentine population with some degree of Sub-Saharan African descent would be around 4%.[36][37][38] World Bank and Argentine government estimates have suggested the Argentine population with significant African ancestry could number over 2 million, the vast majority of them aremultiracial people.[39][40]
Despite the fact that in the 1960s it was calculated that Argentina owed two thirds of the volume of its population to European immigration,[41] over 5% of Argentines state they have at least one Black ancestor, and a further 20% state they do not know whether or not they have any Black ancestors.[42][43] Genetic studies carried out in 2005 showed that the average level of African genetic contribution in the population of Buenos Aires is 2.2%, but that this component is concentrated in 10% of the population who display notably higher levels of African ancestry.[44] Today there is still a notable Afro-Argentine community in theBuenos Aires districts ofSan Telmo andLa Boca. There are also quite a few African-descended Argentines inMerlo andCiudad Evita cities, in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
Immigrants from countries of primarily Sub-Saharan descent in Argentina, according to the 2022 Argentine census:[1]
| Position | Country | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Haiti(Includingwhites) | 1,524 |
| 2 |  Senegal | 1,120 |
| 3 |  South Africa(Includingwhites) | 322 |
| 4 |  Angola(Includingwhites) | 177 |
| 5 |  Nigeria | 123 |
| 6 |  Ghana | 103 |
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There are around 100,000 predominantly descendants ofAngolan immigrants in Argentina, according to the 2022 census there are 177 people born inAngola living in Argentina.[1]
In 1680–1777 came at least 40,000 slaves in the region, while among the latter date and 1812, when traffic was halted, some 70,000 were landed inBuenos Aires andMontevideo (that figure must be added another, unknown, admitted slave overland fromRio Grande do Sul). The 22 percent of which came directly from Sub-Saharan Africa came from Congo and Angola. Actually left many more but one in five, on average, died on boats.
After, theMay Revolution banned the slave trade and then sanctioned freedom of wombs, but not abolished slavery, as did leaders favor the right of ownership over freedom. It is currently believed that among the Black population of Argentina, the predominant Angolan ancestry is the largest, the majority come from the cities ofCabinda,Luanda andBenguela.
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Between 12,000 and 15,000 descendants of immigrants from Cape Verde living in Argentina, of whom about 300 are native to the African continent.
This immigration began in the late 19th century and became important from the 1920s. The busiest periods were between 1927 and 1933 and the third, after 1946.[45] These migrations were mainly due to droughts in the African country that originated famine and death.
They were expert sailors and fishermen, which is why most places settled in ports such as Rosario, Buenos Aires, San Nicolás, Bahía Blanca, Ensenada and Dock Sud. 95% of them got jobs in the Military Navy, in the Merchant Navy in the Fluvial Fleet of Argentina and in YPF dockyards or the ELMA.[45]
From the early 1990s until the 2001 economic crisis, as a result of a peso-dollar conversion policy, there was a wave of migration from poor countries to the country to work, earn high wages in dollars, and return to their countries of origin with a significant amount of hard earned. Then,Black andMixed Dominican women began arriving, many of them seeking prostitution, either voluntarily or having fallen prey tohuman trafficking.[46][47]
A second wave of this type of immigrant began in 2008: applications from Dominican women to settle in the country increased from 663 in 2007 to 1,168 in 2008, according to statistics from the Immigration Office. Authorities implemented controls to uncover fake tourists and combat the mafias that brought them in. Thus, in April 2009, some 166 Dominican women were rejected and returned to their country. Today there are 10,324 Dominican immigrants.[48]
South African immigration to Argentina was mainlyAfrikaners (Boers), they settled in the province ofChubut, mainly in the city ofSarmiento. Most left South Africa following theSecond Anglo-Boer War as many had lost their farms in the war or regarded themselves asBittereinders who felt they could not live under a British government. According to the 2022 census, 0.9% ofChubut and 0,7% ofRio Negro are of African descent, almost all of them descendants of South African settlers.
In the popularly called Barrio del Once there are Africans who have come to escape the conditions of their countries, particularlySenegal. According to the Agency for Refugees in Buenos Aires, they came by seeking asylum or getting a visa to travel to Brazil and then Argentina, sometimes traveling as stowaways on ships. When denied a residence permit, the African refugees remain in the country without status and become targets of human trafficking networks. On Sundays, some of the Senegalese community come together to eat traditional dishes of their country. Some places already have African food recipes.[49]
Since 2004 some Africans emigrated from their home countries andstowed away to Argentina, particularly the port ofRosario, Santa Fe. Although figures are inadequate the numbers increase every year: in 2008 70 refugees arrived, after some 40 the previous year; only 10 remained, the rest were repatriated. Many were children.[49]
They usually get on ships without knowing where they go, or believing they are going to a developed country in the northern hemisphere. They come from Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea.[49]
| Rank | Province | Percentage | Total population | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buenos Aires City | 1.31% | 40,670 | ||||
| 2 |  Chubut | 0.90% | 5,302 | ||||
| 3 |  Tierra del Fuego | 0.90% | 1,658 | ||||
| 4 | Salta | 0.74% | 10,632 | ||||
| 5 | Buenos Aires | 0.74% | 128,804 | ||||
| 6 |  Misiones | 0.74% | 9,374 | ||||
| 7 |  Río Negro | 0.73% | 5,463 | ||||
| 8 |  Santa Cruz | 0.73% | 2,446 | ||||
| 9 |  Neuquén | 0.71% | 5,026 | ||||
| 10 |  Jujuy | 0.69% | 5,583 | ||||
| 11 |  Entre Ríos | 0.63% | 8,910 | ||||
| 12 |  Corrientes | 0.52% | 6,310 | ||||
| 13 |  La Rioja | 0.51% | 1,959 | ||||
| 14 |  Formosa | 0.49% | 2,956 | ||||
| 15 | Córdoba | 0.48% | 18,366 | ||||
| 16 |  La Pampa | 0.48% | 1,726 | ||||
| 17 |  Chaco | 0.48% | 5,357 | ||||
| 18 | Santa Fe | 0.47% | 16,560 | ||||
| 19 |  Catamarca | 0.46% | 1,965 | ||||
| 20 |  Tucumán | 0.42% | 7,172 | ||||
| 21 |  Mendoza | 0.40% | 8,141 | ||||
| 22 |  Santiago del Estero | 0.40% | 4,211 | ||||
| 23 |  San Luis | 0.35% | 1,896 | ||||
| 24 |  San Juan | 0.30% | 2,449 | ||||
| Source: Argentina censusINDEC.[1] | |||||||
The seeds ofcandombe originated in present-dayAngola, where it was taken to South America during the 17th and 18th centuries by people who had been sold as slaves in the kingdom ofKongo, Anziqua, Nyong, Quang and others, mainly by Portuguese slave traders. The same cultural carriers of candombe colonized Brazil (especially in the area of Salvador de Bahia), Cuba, and the Río de la Plata with its capital Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The different histories and experiences in these regions branched out from the common origin, giving rise to different rhythms.
In Buenos Aires, during the two governments ofJuan Manuel de Rosas, it was common for "afroporteños" (Black people of Buenos Aires) to perform candombe in public, even encouraged and visited by Rosas and his daughter, Manuela. Rosas was defeated at the battle of Caseros in 1852, and Buenos Aires began a profound and rapid cultural shift which saw a bigger emphasis on European culture. In this context, afroporteños replicated their ancestral cultural patterns increasingly into their private life. For this reason, onwards from 1862, the press, intellectuals and politicians began to assert the misconception of Afro-Argentine disappearance that has remained in the imagination of ordinary people from Argentina.[8]
Many researchers agree that the Candombe, through the development of themilonga, is an essential component in the genesis of Argentine tango. This musical rhythm influenced, especially the "Sureña Milonga". In fact,tango, milonga and candombe form a musical triptych from the same African roots, but with different developments.[50]
Initially, the practice of Candombe was practiced exclusively by Black people, who had designed special places called "Tangós". This word originated sometime in the 19th century the word "Tango", but at that time not yet with its present meaning. Today, candombe is still practiced by Afro-Argentine and non-Black populations across Argentina. InCorrientes Province, candombe is part of the religious feast ofSan Baltasar, a folk patron saint for Black Argentines.[51]
Perhaps the most lasting effect of Black influence in Argentina was thetango, which contains and continues some of the features of thetangos, meetings in which slaves assembled to sing and dance.[52] The modern term for a tango ball,milonga, has its roots in theQuimbanda language of Angola, and a large Afro-Argentine andAfro-Uruguayan contribution is also evident in the development ofmilonga andchacarera music.[53][54] The song tradition of thepayadores was also associated with Afro-Argentines, with some scholars, for example George Reid Andrews, arguing that it originated among the Afro-Argentine community, while others, such as Sylvain B. Poosson, view it as a continuation of theAndalusian traditions like thetrovo. Whatever their origin, payadas provided an opportunity for Black singers likeGabino Ezeiza to use music to articulate political consciousness and defend their right to exist within Argentina's increasingly white-dominated society.[55]
Argentinemurga has considerable influence from candombe and other African musical influences.[56]Murgaporteña places a considerable emphasis on dance and instrumentals, more so than lyrics (in contrast to Uruguayan murga). Performances take place in the form of parades (known ascorsos) across the various neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires; some groups feature not only dancers and musicians but alsojugglers,stilts, flagbearers, and other types of visually stimulating elements.Corsos take place throughout the year, but are recurrent during carnival season in February.[57]
In Argentina, as in other countries of the Americas, racism related to skin tone dates back to the days of colonial rule.[58] In the caste system imposed bySpain, the descendants of people from Africa occupied a place still lower than the descendants of people belonging to aboriginal peoples.[59][60][61]
Colonial racism passed into Argentine culture to a certain extent, as shown by certain phrases included in the national literature.[62] Disputes with a racist tinge were depicted in a famous passage fromJosé Hernández's book,Martín Fierro, published in 1870, in which the main character duels with a Blackgaucho after insulting his girlfriend and insulting him with the following verse:
God made whites,
Saint Peter made mulattos,
the devil made blacks
as the smut of Hell.[63]
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