One of the mysteries of Buenos Aires is that one sees so few people of African descent. A native Porteño told me that there were no blacks in Argentina. And from casual observation on the street that does seem to be the case. However, I know that there was once a slave population in Argentina. So, what happened to them all?
An academic study on this topic is The Afro-Argentine in Argentine Culture by Donald S. Castro.
A documentary film from 2002 examines this topic: Afroargentines.
A posting on the Beautiful Horizons blog refers to this topic and points to an article in the Miami Herald that was picked up from the Washington Post news service.
Couple of months back, Clarin published an article that describes a census that is being conducted to determine the number of Argentineans of African descent. According to the article, in 1810 one in three persons in Buenos Aires was of African descent.
My thinking has been that the noticeable decrease has resulted through intermarriage with people of European descent. The Clarin article indicates that one theory is that a large number of Afro-Argentine males died in military service while fighting battles with Indians, Brazil, and Paraguay in the 19th century. This probably left a large female population widowed and single. And, of course, caucasian males (e.g., Thomas Jefferson) often don´t have a problem with mixed race relationship. 🙂
I do have to disagree with one theory cited by the Clarin that a large number of Afro-Argentines died during the Yellow Fever outbreaks in Buenos Aires. Yellow Fever epidemics of the 19th century were one of my former research topics in years past. As I recall, people of African descent succumbed to the disease in much smaller numbers due to a type of genetic near-immunity that evolved from exposure to similar diseases in Africa.
Anyway, perhaps the search for the mythical Afro-Argentine is coming to an end.
Update: In late 2006 I’ve started to see more and more people of African descent in certain parts of Buenos Aires. The numbers are not a lot but there are quite a few more, particularly around the southern neighborhoods. From listening to them speak, a few are clearly from Brazil but not all. I wonder if there has been an increase of immigration to Buenos Aires from Africa recently.
I’ve also recently learned of two additional academic studies relating to this topic, both by University of Pittsburgh history professor George Reid Andrews: Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:32 am
[…] I’ve written before about the decline of the Afro-Argentine population of Buenos Aires. In 1838 approximately one-fourth of the population was of African descent. At that time, approximately one-third had been born in Africa. Slavery in Argentina ended in 1813. One study shows that the majority of slaves in Buenos Aires were the areas of the Congo and Angola. […]
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Actually, the Clarin theory is accurate. The part of the story that was omitted is that persons with yellow fever were often quarantined in the black quarters which, as the UNESCO document accurately states, were created “as a means of social control of the colored population.” Furthermore, Afro-Argentines died disproportionately in the regional wars because they were promised their freedom in return, yet they were often used as cannon fodder and placed in the most dangerous situations which lead to mass annihilation.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I do believe that the part about the military deaths is accurate.
But I’m still not convinced that yellow fever was a significant event in the demise of the black population in Buenos Aires. Quarantining yellow fever patients in the black quarters would not necessarily have led to an increase in yellow fever among blacks since yellow fever is not transmitted from person to person. Yet, it is conceivable that mosquitoes carried the infection from sick patients to healthy blacks.
Regardless, since it was accepted belief at the time that yellow fever was transmitted from person to person then it was truly a very insidious tactic to quarantine the sick patients in black quarters. I certainly don’t doubt the truth of that statement since cruel quarantines (of various nature) were widely enacted in many cities with yellow fever outbreaks.
Do you have a citation to document that yellow fever victims were quarantined in the black quarters in Buenos Aires? I’m just interested in reading whatever is written on this topic. Thanks!
June 24th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Furthermore, Afro-Argentines died disproportionately in the regional wars because they were promised their freedom in return
funny fact slavery was abolished as soon as the constitution was made (181something) so they were free at that time 🙂 stop writing bullshit like you know something about my country
we have racism because dark skninned people tend to commit more crimes than white people (not only in argentina but the whole world )
June 24th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Anonymous:
Wow, that last sentence of yours is incredibly racist. You obviously realized that, too, or you wouldn’t hide behind an anonymous identity.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Wow, that last sentence of yours is incredibly racist. You obviously realized that, too, or you wouldn’t hide behind an anonymous identity.
do u want me to post a pic or my adress? its not racist its true sad but true
June 30th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Yes Anonymous, post your pic and address.
May 1st, 2011 at 6:54 pm
I just saw a report on Al-jazeera today on Linktv about the Afro-Argentines. They are a hidden community that is very proud of their African past. They will specify themselves as African which I believe was not allowed in the past.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:14 pm
I’m a bit late commenting here. There’s a book by Pilar González Bernaldo de Quirós called Civilidad y política en los orígenes de la nación argentina. I translated it about 7 years go so my memory isn’t great. There’s a lengthy chapter on Afro-Argentines. González says that the yellow fever and wars weren’t the reason the blakcs disappeared, although many emancipated slaves loyal to Rosas (who had emancipated them) died in the civil war. She says it was through intermarriage and, if my memory isn’t shot to pieces, people saying on the census that they were white, instead of mulatto or black, because of the stigma. I have a copy here in Buenos Aires if anyone wants to borrow.
There has been much immigration from Africa in recent years, from what I’ve heard mostly Cabo Verde, Nigeria, Cameroon, and also blacks from other Latin American countries.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:22 pm
I’ll explain that about the census. The reason we know that one third of the city was black was from the census of 1851 or thereabouts. And we know that the numbers declined rapidly from the census figures, so we can summise that people weren’t telling the truth about their ethnicity. But more importantly was the population increase in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When the blacks made up one third, the population of the city was say, 50,000, so 16,000 blacks. But when the population swelled with 1 million European immigrants, the blacks accounted for 1.5% per cent of the population. Add in intermarriage, war and disease. My argument’s all over the place I know, but you get the gist.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:54 pm
HI Daniel, thanks for your comments. Good insights. Excellent point about the possibility of African-Argentines not self-identifying themselves as such on census records due to a possible stigma. And I think you’re absolutely right about keeping the population ratio in perspective due to the rapid population boom after 1880 with European immigrants.