Afro-Latinos in Mexico

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1 Afro-Latinos in Mexico When one thinks of the diverse ethnicities found in Mexico, Afro-Mexicans probably come last in mind because of their minority status among the country's population. The AfroMexican population has for many years been overlooked in Mexico. According to the data collected in Mexico’s 2020 census, 2.5 million people in the country identified themselves as Afro-Mexican or of African descent. Despite being widely believed that Veracruz has the largest black population in Mexico because of its history as an instrumental slave port, most AfroMexican populations are found in the Costa Chica region, which entails the Caribbean coastal regions of the southern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. History of the Afro-Mexicans The Spanish authorities significantly forced the migration of more than 250,000 enslaved Africans during the 30 years of Spanish conquest and rule (Minorityrights.org, 2015). Most of the enslaved Africans died on the way in the ships' holds, while others succumbed to death because of the unfavorable conditions of slave labor. At the start of the 16th century, Mexico had the largest African slave population among the Latin American countries. In fact, the population of the Africans in Mexico was more than that of the Spanish population throughout the colonial period until 1810. Despite a general decrease in the number of slaves imported in Mexico at the start of the 18th century, Spanish authorities never stopped importing slaves from Cuba during the colonial period. The slaves were distributed throughout Mexico, working in various industries, a thing that resulted in them mixing with the indigenous and Spanish populations (Minorityrights.org, 2015). The enslaved Africans were never happy with colonization, and thus they resisted captivity by setting up a fortified place or escaped slave communities in the mountains as well as


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