The African Presence in Mexico: The "Black" Slaves

"In Mexico, the population's indigenous and European roots are prominent and clearly evident in historical and anthropological documents. The Mexican population is for the most part mestizo [of mixed race]. The official policy of the Mexican government has been to highlight the fact that this heritage is the result of the mixing of indigenous people and Europeans from the time of the Spanish Conquista [Conquest] and colonization of the land in the 16th Century. But, Mexico's Third Root, the heritage emerging from the African population brought to American territory has yet to enjoy the same degree of attention.

"This heritage is visible in cultural traits such as linguistic elements of Mexico's day-to-day speech, traditional fiestas and costume, religious beliefs, rites, myths, and diverse musical, toponymical and gastronomical roots. These cultural traits are shared within an area that has been defined as the Afro-Andalus Caribbean which includes the south of Spain, the Canary Islands, the insular and continental Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Costa Chica of the Mexican Pacific where Spaniards brought a large amount of enslaved Africans since the 15th Century. Historical documents note the arrival of black peoples during the Conquista and later during the colonial period (1519-1810). The largest part of this population was brought over primarily from Africa, although in smaller proportion, slaves were brought over from the Pacific Islands, particularly from the Philippines, the original land of "esclavos negritos" [little black slaves]. They were aetas, part of an ethnic group known also in New Spain as "chino slaves", whence the term "cabello chino' for curly or tightly coiled hair in Mexico."

The African Presence in Mexico, pg. 16