Afro-Venezuelans are descendants of Africans in Venezuela. Much work has been done studying the culture, tradition, folklore of Afro-Venezuelans, beginning with Miguel Acosta Saignes, in the 1960s.^[1] According to the final results of the "XIV Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda," at least 1,087,427 inhabitants of Venezuela (3.6%) are considered Blacks and Afro-Descendants.^[2][3]

History[edit]

Ethnic Africans first arrived in Venezuela with the Spanish Conquistadors. Those accompanying the expeditions were hispanicized mulattos, mixed-race slaves who were descended from African women and Iberian men, some of whom had lived in Spain for a time, as opposed to bozales, slaves straight from Africa. They have also been described as among the "Atlantic Creole" generations, mixed-race descendants of African women and Iberian men. The Portuguese operated in Africa as slave traders and frequently had unions with local women. Some of these Atlantic Creole descendants worked at African ports, often growing up bilingual and working as translators; others became sailors or went to Iberia to work in Portugal and Spain.

As the Spanish began to colonize Venezuela, they tended to use slaves as workers on subsistence farms. The slaves were also used as divers for pearls, a job that carried the risk of attacks by sharks. These slaves came primarily from Cape Verde and Guinea in Africa. Some slaves purchased their freedom from earnings in pearl mining. Gold was discovered in the latter part of the 1500s. Numerous slaves perished in the gold mines because of harsh conditions, and high demand for the metal led the Spanish to import more slave laborers from Africa. By the 1600s, Venezuela had 13,000 slaves.

Mining was not the primary source of wealth for Venezuela, but farming in tobacco, cotton, and cocoa. Numerous cocoa plantations were developed in central Venezuela, away from the more established regions. In the frontier of these more isolated and distant regions, slaves were allowed to own and farm canucos, small homesteads. Most slaves were purchased from markets in the Caribbean, as in Cuba, because it was too expensive for planters to buy them directly from Africa. Held by farmers at plantations located in isolated central regions, many Africans intermarried with Indians, resulting in numerous mixed-race children whom the Spanish colonists called zambos. The European men had relationships with slave women and free women of color over time; their mixed-race children were known as pardo (mulatto, or brown) population, generally descended from Africans and Europeans. Today pardo is used to refer to many people of mixed descent, without referring specifically to those of African descent.

As plantations became prosperous and land more scarce, planters began eyeing the canucos farmed by Afro-Venezuelans and took them over. Numerous slaves escaped and formed cumbes, communities of maroons in mountainous and isolated areas.

By 1830, Venezuela sought independence from Colombia. Simon Bolivar initially refused to accept Afro-Venezuelans into his army but realized he could not be victorious without the blacks, including zambos and mulattoes. But in the 1830 constitution, which said "We are all Venezuelans", indigenous peoples and ethnic Africans were excluded as citizens.^[4] In addition, the constitution asserted, "We are all Roman Catholics," declaring the primacy of the established religion, and excluding some 37 known indigenous ones, as well as those of African origin.^[4]

Abolition of slavery occurred gradually; first the nation declared children born to slave mothers to be free, and gradually emancipated adults. Slavery was not fully abolished until 1845, after which time ethnic Africans were accepted as citizens. Planters feared revolt by the ethnic African workers, as had happened in Haiti at the beginning of the century. In 1881, the nation passed an anti-discrimination law. Most Afro-Venezuelans continued to work on their small subsistence farms in rural areas and were outside the urbanizing cities, where most education and job opportunities occurred.

After the 1860s, private companies recruited Afro-Caribbean workers to work the gold mines. The arrival of new ethnic Africans stirred racial tension in the country, as some Venezuelans did not want to encourage an increase of ethnic Africans. In 1929, the country hardened its immigration laws, prohibiting people of African descent from immigrating to Venezuela, and discriminating against them.^[5]

During the 1930s, oil was discovered. The great expansion in jobs in the industry led to heightened urbanization and modernization in the country. Afro-Venezuelans were attracted to urban areas for work, leading to considerable changes in their lives. They became urbanized but also struggled at the lowest rung of the society, no longer able to grow their own food. As the newest and poorest group, they could afford only the older, rundown housing. They had to compete with other ethnic groups, some of whom were better established in the cities and job markets. In this modernizing period, intellectuals such as Arturo Uslar Pietri expressed racism, suggesting that neither blacks nor indigenous peoples had much to contribute to the modern society.^[4]

During 1945-1948, known as the trienio, the government began work to address disparities, emphasizing the provision of education and health care to Afro-Venezuelans, as well as aiding trade union formation, and beginning work in land reform to make more land available to smaller owners. These efforts were overthrown during the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jemenez. During the 1950s, he made an effort to "whiten" Venezuela, by encouraging higher immigration from Western European nations and development of mestizo culture that embraced a Western model.^[4]

In the late 20th century, Venezuela, contrasting itself with the United States or Europe, would say that it did not have racism, and most people identified as pardo, or mixed.^[4] According to Francisco Toro, "cultural differences and racial or skin color differences overlap much less than they do in the U.S. or in Europe. Venezuelan society does seem to be culturally more homogeneous than skin color differences." But ethnicity (or race) seems highly correlated to class.^[4] In the 1960s, following civil rights movements and activism in other regions, as well as indigenous activism, the government began to work to address the socioeconomic problems of Afro-Venezuelans. But, activist Jesus "Chucho" Garcia has noted that the 1961 constitution had no article dealing with racial discrimination against ethnic Africans and thus, no laws to implement programs. Racism was "under the table."^[4]

Some reform laws were passed to increase minority representation in farm societies, trade unions, and oil unions, but effort was explicitly directed at indigenous peoples. As blacks also became more politically active, they were elected to numerous political positions. In 1966 the legislature repealed the ban on black immigration. The government subsidized universities to initiate studies of Afro-Venezuelan art, history, music, and dance, in order better to recognize and acknowledge the contributions of ethnic Africans to the society. But in the early 21st century, Chucho Garcia notes that textbooks are still lacking in full treatment of the past and current contributions of indigenous peoples and ethnic Africans. For instance, there is little recognition of the current 36 indigenous peoples and 34 well-differentiated languages in Venezuela.^[4]

In 1999 legislators and delegates drafted a new constitution, which includes an important section on indigenous citizens and their rights. Garcia and other activists attempted to have an article included that would also address issues related to ethnic Africans but did not succeed. As a result, he says, ethnic Africans were excluded from recognition in the constitution and from resulting organic law. "For example, in the ministry of social development, there is a program to support ethnic diversity. If you look at the program, the only type of ethic diversity it refers to are the indigenous peoples, but African ethnicity does not appear."^[4] As another instance, the law of equal opportunity recognizes the indigenous population, but does not address people of African descent. Garcia finds these examples of "racial exclusion, discrimination, from a juridical perspective and in the area of public policy.".^[4]

Garcia and other activists formed the Afro-Venezuelan Network in the late 20th century to encourage the collection of data on race and economics in order to develop programs based on facts. Venezuela's widespread belief that there is little racism has meant limited attempts by the government to collect accurate data on the socioeconomic and demographic factors. Some analysis has been anecdotal.^[4]

Progress is slow and by the 1990s, most blacks were still struggling economically. Race and class have been closely associated. Francisco Toro attributes such continuing problems to historic racism, that is, the legacy of slavery and colonialism. Garcia has noted the deep issues of contemporary constitutional and other law, leading to programs which overlook ethnic Africans as a minority.

He also notes the high proportion of blacks who are imprisoned; in 1995 he worked to gain a review by the Organization of American States. Pierre Sané of Amnesty International came to the country to review the situation of the prisons here in Venezuela. They found that the majority of the prisoners were of African descent, far out of proportion of their percentage of the population. There have been documented instances of police discrimination against ethnic Africans. In addition, the media continue to publish racist comments and cartoons.^[4]

Venezuela representatives signed the Durban plan against racism, which was approved in 2001 in Durban, South Africa, and addresses discrimination in education, the judicial system, public administration and public policy. According to Garcia, in the next few years, the government had not taken much action.^[4]

After Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999, the government did make new efforts to improve conditions for minorities, as well as including recognition of indigenous peoples in the new constitution. Garcia has continued to work to gain recognition of ethnic Africans as a group to gain more understanding and attention to their situation. In 2004 he gained agreement with Minister of Planning and Development, Jorge Giordani, to establish indicators in the next census "to measure the levels of development in the communities of African descent," who had not been counted separately before that.^[4]

Religion and culture[edit]

During and after the colonial period, Afro-Venezuelan religion fused with Catholicism, creating a creolized religion. The worship of saints was integrated or corresponded to African deities, healers and priests often operated as one figure, and masses were held to traditional drumbeats. Corpus Christi, a traditional Catholic holiday, in Venezuela is customarily celebrated with a procession walking to drumbeats and masked figures. The latter can be traced to Congo. Since the late 20th century, Afro-Venezuelans have begun to emphasize their culture in such national celebrations as the Fiesta de San Juan.

Geographic distribution of African Venezuelans[edit]

List of Venezuelan states by African-Venezuelan population[edit]

The following is a sortable table of Venezuelan states by the African-Venezuelan population, according to the 2011 Census data.

Rank	State	Afro-Venezuelan Alone	% Afro-Venezuelan
7000100000000000000♠1	Miranda	157,506	5.2%
7000200000000000000♠2	Zulia	108,840	2.8%
7000300000000000000♠3	Carabobo	82,798	3.5%
7000400000000000000♠4	Capital District	69,602	3.3%
7000500000000000000♠5	Bolívar	67,573	4.1%
7000600000000000000♠6	Aragua	63,319	3.6%
7000700000000000000♠7	Anzoátegui	61,406	3.9%
7000800000000000000♠8	Sucre	47,815	4.9%
7000900000000000000♠9	Falcón	46,374	4.8%
7001100000000000000♠10	Guárico	45,745	5.7%
7001110000000000000♠11	Lara	43,926	2.3%
7001120000000000000♠12	Monagas	42,618	4.6%
7001130000000000000♠13	Portuguesa	32,989	3.5%
7001140000000000000♠14	Yaracuy	31,683	4.9%
7001150000000000000♠15	Apure	28,628	5.5%
7001160000000000000♠16	Mérida	24,085	2.7%
7001170000000000000♠17	Tachira	22,745	1.8%
7001180000000000000♠18	Barinas	21,363	2.6%
7001190000000000000♠19	Vargas	19,199	5.6%
7001200000000000000♠20	Cojedes	13,619	4.2%
7001210000000000000♠21	Delta Amacuro	12,011	7.0%
7001220000000000000♠22	Nueva Esparta	11,562	2.5%
7001230000000000000♠23	Trujillo	9,958	1.3%
7001240000000000000♠24	Amazonas	6,291	4.0%

Communities (municipalities) with the highest percentage of Blacks or African Venezuelans[edit]

The top communities (municipalities) with the highest percentage of Blacks or African Venezuelans according to the 2011 Census:^[6]

1. Ocumare de la Costa (Ocumare de la Costa de Oro), Aragua 73,50%
2. Caruao, Vargas 43.10%
3. San José de Barlovento (Andrés Bello), Miranda 29.30%
4. Mamporal (Buroz), Miranda 24.90%
5. Curiapo (Antonio Díaz), Delta Amacuro 20.80%
6. Farriar (Veroes), Yaracuy 19.50%
7. Caucagua (Acevedo), Miranda 18.60%
8. Higuerote (Brión), Miranda 18.10%
9. Cabure (Petit), Falcón 15.60%
10. Río Chico (Páez), Miranda 14.00%
11. San Carlos de Río Negro (Río Negro), Amazonas 13.90%
12. Bobures (Sucre), Zulia 12.20%
13. Güiria (Valdez), Sucre 11.60%
14. Uracoa (Uracoa), Monagas and San Juan de Manapiare (Manapiare), Amazonas 10.20%
15. Las Mercedes del Llano (Las Mercedes), Guárico 10.10%

Most densely Blacks/African Venezuelans populated communities (municipalities)[edit]

The top most densely populated communities (municipalities) with Blacks and African Venezuelans population per km2 according to the 2011 Census:^[6]

1. Carlos Soublette, Vargas 361.64
2. Santa Rita (Francisco Linares Alcántara), Aragua 176.45
3. Petare (Metropolitan District of Caracas), 161.23
4. Capital District (Metropolitan District of Caracas), 160.70
5. Catia La Mar, Vargas 134.90
6. La Guaira, Vargas 121.71
7. Chacao (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 104.28
8. Mariara (Diego Ibarra), Carabobo 99.45
9. Porlamar (Mariño), Nueva Esparta 91.11
10. Maracaibo, Zulia 86.88
11. Baruta (Metropolitan District of Caracas) 85.89
12. Los Guayos, Carabobo 72.59
13. San José de Barlovento (Andrés Bello), Miranda 69.52
14. Guarenas (Plaza), Miranda 64.04
15. Palo Negro (Libertador), Aragua 62.24

Notable Afro-Venezuelans[edit]

• Ronda Rousey - Former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion
• Ainett Stephens - Television personality and model
• Allan Phillips - Music producer
• Carolina Indriago - Miss Venezuela titleholder for 1998
• Hugo Chavez - Former president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013
• Jictzad Viña - Miss Venezuela titleholder for 2005
• Lila Morillo - Actress and singer
• Magdalena Sánchez - Singer
• Morella Muñoz - Musician, singer
• Oscar D'León - Musician
• Pedro Camejo - Venezuelan soldier who at first fought with the royal army
• Susan Carrizo - Miss World Venezuela 2005
• Pablo Sandoval - Professional baseball third baseman for the Boston Red Sox

See also[edit]

	Venezuela portal
	Africa portal

• Venezuelan people

References[edit]

Ancestry and ethnicity in Venezuela   Indigenous peoples Current indigenous Achagua Auaké Baniwa Guahibo Hiwi Ingarikó Kali'na Marueta Motilone/Barí Pemon Piaroa Sanumá Warao Wayuu Yanomami Ye'kuana Extinct indigenous Caquetio Chitareros Cumanagoto Jirajara Mariche Otomacos Quiriquire Saladoid Timoto–Cuica   Immigration European German Greek Hungarian Italian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) Swiss Ukrainian Others Mestizo African Arab Lebanese Armenian Chinese Indian Japanese Jewish Korean Turkish Uruguayan Category:Ethnic groups in Venezuela