I.

Introduction

Blacks in Latin America, a history of blacks in the various countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Latin American and Caribbean regions were the first areas of the Americas to be populated by African immigrants. African immigration to the Americas may have begun before European exploration of the region. Blacks sailed with Christopher Columbus even on his first voyage in 1492, and the earliest Spanish and Portuguese explorers were likewise accompanied by black Africans who had been born and reared in Iberia. In the following four centuries millions of immigrants from Africa were brought to the New World as slaves. Today, their descendants form significant ethnic minorities in several Latin American countries, and they are the dominant element in many of the Caribbean nations. Over the centuries, black people have added their original contributions to the cultural mix of their respective societies and thus exerted a profound influence on all facets of life in Latin America. See also Atlantic Slave Trade.