Zambo
 |
A representation of Zambos in "Pintura de Castas" during the Latin American colonial period. "De negro e india, sale lobo" (Of a black and an Amerindian, produces a Lobo). Lobo is a Mexican synonym for "Zambo." Note the discarded shackles in the background near the timbers, it represents the Zambo's freedom from slavery thanks to his Amerindian ancestry. |
Zambo (
Cafuzo in
Brazil,
Lobo in
Mexico,
Garifuna in
Honduras,
Belize, and
Guatemala) is a term of
Spanish origin describing
Latin Americans of mixed African and Amerindian racial descent. The feminine form is
zamba (not to be confused with the afro-Brazilian
Samba folk dance or
Samba music, or with
Argentine zamba folk dance).
Under the
caste system of colonial Latin America, the term originally applied to the children of one
African and one
Amerindian parent, or the children of two zambo parents. During this era a myriad of other terms were in use to denote other individuals of African/Amerindian ancestry in ratios smaller or greater than the 50:50 of zambos: "Cambujo" (Zambo/Amerindian mix) for example. Today, zambo refers to all people with significant amounts of both African and Amerindian ancestry.
The first zambos were initially the offspring of escaping shipwrecked
slaves, as well as plantation slave escapees, who ventured into various Central American,
South American and Caribbean
jungles seeking refuge in remote Amerindian communities to hide and escape capture by
colonial authorities. These Amerindians — themselves under threat from encroaching European colonizers — were sympathetic to the plight of the fleeing slaves and welcomed them into their communities, offered them food and sanctuary, and in many cases also their daughters as wives. As in the
United States during slavery, there are instances in Latin American history of Africans and Amerindians joining together and forming free renegade encampments to fight their European colonizers and slaveholders. In Latin America, these primarily African settlements of runaways, or
Maroons, were called
quilombos. The most famous of all quilombos is the legendary
Palmares in Brazil, which at the height of its flourishing had a population of over 30,000.
The history behind the African ancestry of the Garifuna is usually attributed to escaping shipwrecked slaves, whereas for the Zambos of north-western South America, the Lobos of Mexico and most other Zambos in general are attributed to escaping plantation slaves. Some Mexicans, however, acknowledge African lineage from a presumed pre-Columbian African presence in Mexico.
Officially, Zambos represent small minorities in the northwestern South American countries of
Colombia (13%),
Venezuela, and
Ecuador. A small but noticeable number of zambos resulting from recent unions of Amerindian women to
Afro-Ecuadorian men are not uncommon in major coastal cities of
Ecuador. Prior to the rural to urban migration, the Amerindian and Afro-Ecuadorian ethnicities were mostly constrained to the
Andes region and province of
Esmeraldas respectively. The communities that exist in
Brazil, mainly along the northwestern region of the country, are known as Cafuzos.
In
Honduras, they are known as
Garifunas, and while Zambos can also be found in other Caribbean and Central America countries (notably
Belize and
Guatemala) their history and origins are not linked to that of the Garifuna. In
Mexico, where they were known as Lobos, literally meaning
wolf, they formed a sizeable minority in the past. The great majority of Lobos have now been absorbed into the much larger Mexican
Mestizo population and can only be found in tiny communities scattered around the southern coastal states, most notably the state of
Veracruz and the
Costa Chica, incidentally the same locales where the country's afro-Mexicans reside.
Culturally, Mexican Lobos followed Amerindian traditions rather than African ones, as is also the case in
Bolivia, where the Afro-Bolivian community has absorbed/retained many aspects of Amerindian culture, such as dress and use of the
Aymara language.
These populations of mixed Amerindian and African ancestry are generally marginalized and discriminated against, with color bias being pervasive throughout much of Latin America. Beyond the pockets of these specifically identified ethnic communities, in Latin American nations with large populations of people of African descent, the percentage of those with Amerindian ancestry is relatively high (though not as a ratio of the make up of the individuals). Such is the case in nations such as
Puerto Rico,
El Salvador,
Panama and
Brazil.
Long-standing problems of race and class discrimination in Latin America confront Latin Americans of African and Indian ancestry to varying degrees, depending on their membership in or identification with a specific Afro-Amerindian ethnic group such as those mentioned above, or the degree to which their ancestry is expressed in their physical characeristics. Generally, those with dark skin and frizzy hair tend to be among the region's poorest and most disenfranchised. For instance, in 1998, when
Hurricane Mitch battered the northeast coast of Honduras, the nation's Garifuna communities were among the hardest hit, yet because of a history of racism and discrimination, they were virtually ignored by government relief efforts.
In the
United States, a term growing in use for Latin Americans of African descent, whether of mixed ancestry or not, is
Afro-Latino. U.S. Senator
Barack Obama recently addressed the plight of African descended people in general in a May 25, 2005 statement:
... From Colombia to Brazil to the Dominican Republic to Ecuador, persons of African descent continue to experience racial discrimination and remain among the poorest and most marginalized groups in the entire region. While recent positive steps have been taken in some areas—for example, giving land titles to Afro-Columbians and passing explicit anti-discrimination legislation in Brazil—much work still needs to be done to ensure that this is the beginning of an ongoing process of reform, not the end.
In places where civil conflict has taken hold, Afro-Latinos are much more likely to become victims of violence or refugees in their own countries. In many areas, Afro-Latinos are also subject to aggression by local police forces at far greater rates than those perceived to be white. Access to health services is another serious concern, and recent stuides have shown that Afro-Latino communities are at greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.[1]
*
Afro-Latin American*
Atlantic slave trade*
Black Indians*
Cafuzo*
Capoeira*
Garifuna*
List of terms for multiraciality*
Palmares (quilombo)*
Quilombo*
Slavery*
Triangular trade*
Zumbi*
GarifunaWeb *
Stranded in Paradise: Shipwrecked Hundreds of Years Ago, the Garifuna Are Still Trying to Find Their Way by Teresa Wiltz, The Washington Post.
