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 16th-century painting of Zambocaciques fromEsmeraldas, Ecuador | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Latin America and theCaribbean | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish,Portuguese andEnglish | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (predominantlyRoman Catholic, minority practicesProtestantism),African religions, tribal religions | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Garifuna,Africans,Afro-Caribbeans andAmerindians |
Zambo (Spanish:[ˈθambo]or[ˈsambo]) orSambu is a racial term historically used in theSpanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Amerindian and African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the Americas to refer to persons who are of mixedAfrican andNative American ancestry.
The equivalent term in Brazil iscafuzo (Portuguese:[kɐˈfuzu]). However, in Portugal and Portuguese-speaking Africa,cafuzo is used to refer to someone born of an African person and a person of mixed African and European ancestry.[1]
The word is believed to have originated from one of theRomance languages orLatin and its direct descendants. The feminine word iszamba (not to be confused with theArgentineZamba folk dance.)
In some parts of colonial Spanish America, the termzambo applied to the children of one African and one Amerindian parent, or the children of two zambo parents. InNew Spain (colonial Mexico), the term for those of mixed African and indigenous ancestry waslobo ("wolf"). This term of classification appears in official marriage registers and other official documentation.[2]
During this period, many other terms denoted individuals of African-Amerindian ancestry in ratios smaller or greater than the 50:50 of zambos:cambujo (zambo-Amerindian mixture) for example. Today in parts of Spanish America,zambo refers to all people with significant or visible amounts of both African and Amerindian ancestry.
The termzambo was not formally used in Spanish territories. Competing terms, such asmulato, were also used. From the beginning the early sixteenth century, when African slaves were first imported to Hispaniola, unions between them and indigenous peoples, and Spanish colonists, began to take place. The two non-European groups sometimes worked together in the mines or on the plantations of Hispaniola, and on other Spanish Caribbean islands following the introduction ofsugar cane production in the 1520s. In other cases, Africans took refuge in indigenous communities after escaping slavery.
The termzambos was generally used to refer to persons who did not have European ancestry, but all sorts of unions took place through the centuries, of course. In the eighteenth century, the Spanish began making formal racial classifications, and definedzambo in what became its final, official meaning.
Somezambo groups became well known after being created by runaway or rebel Africans who mixed with or took over indigenous communities. In the unconquered regions of Esmeraldes, in what would becomeEcuador, for example, a small group of shipwrecked former slaves gained control of some indigenous communities, eventually representing them before Spanish authorities in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
TheMisquito Zambos developed as the descendants of a group of African slaves who revolted in 1640 on a slave ship. They wrecked it at CapeGracias a Dios on the border betweenHonduras andNicaragua, to escape into the interior. There they united with the indigenousMiskito people. By the early eighteenth century, Afro-Miskito people came to dominate the kingdom. They led warriors on many extensiveslave raids to capture slaves for sale to Europeans. Their alliance and protection of English-speaking merchants and settlers in the area helped Great Britain found the colony ofBritish Honduras (present dayBelize).
Officially, zambos represent sizeable minorities in the northwestern South American countries of Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, and Ecuador, as well as in the Central American country ofPanama. A small, but noticeable number of zambos, resulting from recent unions of Amerindian men toAfro-Ecuadorian women, and they are common in major coastal cities of Ecuador and in Imbabura province. Prior to rural-to-urban migration in Ecuador, Afro-Ecuadorians were mostly confined to theEsmeraldas Province and theChota Valley inImbabura Province. A 2021 genetic study in the journalHuman Genetics and Genomic Advances showed that the average Afro-Ecuadorian carries significantly higher amounts of Amerindian ancestry than all other Afro-latino groups to the north of the country, with an average of 35.86% Amerindian heritage.[3]
In Central America, two indigenous-African mixed groups have developed: the Miskito and theGarifuna. The Garifuna originated from the combination of Africans who were shipwrecked or fled from neighboring islands toSt. Vincent during the 17th and the 19l8th centuries. In 1797, they were deported by the British for supporting France during theFrench Revolutionary Wars to the island ofRoatan, off the coast ofHonduras. From there, they reached the mainland and developed communities along the coast of Central America fromNicaragua toBelize.
In Mexico, where zambos were sometimes known aslobos (literally meaningwolves), they form a sizeable minority. According to the 2015 Intercensus Estimate, 896,829 people identified as bothAfro-Mexican andIndigenous Mexican. The vast majority of the country's Afro-descended population has been absorbed into the widermestizo population. Greater concentrations can be found only in communities scattered around the southern coastal states, includingMichoacán,Guerrero,Oaxaca,Campeche,Quintana Roo,Yucatán, andVeracruz, where many of the country's Afro-Mexicans reside.
Culturally, Mexicanlobos followed Amerindian traditions, rather than African influences, as they often had Amerindian mothers and were brought up in her culture. Such acculturation also took place inBolivia, where theAfro-Bolivian community absorbed and retained many aspects of Amerindian cultural influences, such as dress and the use of theAymara language. Those communities of Afro-Bolivians reside in theYungas region of the Bolivian department ofLa Paz.
The populations of African andAmerindian ancestry have generally been marginalized and discriminated against.[4]
In March 2008, the then US SenatorBarack Obama reflected in a speech the difficult situation faced by the populations of African and Amerindianancestors,[5] thereby demonstrating his concern for the Zamba population of his country.
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