Afro-Cubans () or Black Cubans are citizens of Cuba who have ancestry from any of the Black racial groups originating from Africa. The term Afro-Cuban can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba associated with this community, and the combining of native African and other cultural elements found in Cuban society, such as race, religion, music, language, the arts and class culture.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2006.

African origins The ethnogenesis of Afro-Cubans began with the transatlantic slave trade, when enslaved Africans were trafficked to the island by European slave traders. Following the Spanish conquest of Cuba in the early 16th century, the Spaniards had begun to rely on the native Tainos for slave labour by the mid-1500s. However, the Taino population was unsuitable for this, due to the declining numbers. Thus, the Spaniards began importing enslaved Africans onto the island to work on plantations. This started Cuba's involvement in the Atlantic Slave Trade.

The enslaved Africans brought to Cuba were mainly from West Africa, with a lesser but significant amount also coming from Central Africa. This includes all the territory from modern-day Senegal to modern-day Angola. Many of these enslaved people were obtained from wars and conflicts between and within African states. Others were criminals and debtors condemned to slavery. Between 702,000 and 1 million enslaved African people were brought to Cuba during this period.

Over 20 distinct African ethnic groups were brought to Cuba during the history of slavery on the island. Of these 20, the main 6 were the: Lucumi (Yoruba), Mandingo, Ganga (Sierra Leone), Arará (Gbe speaking people of Dahomey and Allada), Karabali (the peoples of and around Calabar, in eastern Nigeria), and Congo (mainly Bakongo).

These ethnic groups were brought to Cuba in large numbers at different periods, due to the political and civil conditions of their societies. Between 1760 and 1790, the Bakongo were the largest African ethnicity, making up 30% of the (African-born) slave population. Between 1665 and 1760, the Kingdom of Kongo experienced a series of civil wars, due to succession disputes between two rival dynasties, which made many Bakongo vulnerable to the slave trade. The Arará slaves arrived as war prisoners from Dahomey, captured by the Oyo during the war between the Oyo Empire and the Kingdom of Dahomey in the 18th century. Meanwhile, the significant Yoruba population in Cuba started to arrive in the mid-1700s, due to the increased warfare in the Oyo Empire, which led to its decline and eventual collapse. They were the largest imported ethnic group after 1850, making up 34.5% of all incoming slaves. The Carabali consisted of many ethnic groups from eastern Nigiera, which embarked from the Bight of Biafra. They included ethnic groups such as the Efik, Ekoi, and Igbo, etc.

Between 1790 and 1880, 6917 enslaved Africans were brought to Cuba up until the abolition of slavery on the island in 1886.

Of the enslaved African population brought to Cuba during this 90 year period, the Congo people were the most numerous with a population of 1901. The second most populous ethnicity were the Karabali, with 1873 people. Then the Ganga at 1118, the Lucumi at 640, the Mandingo at 663, and 712 unknown ethnicities.

Some of the African ethnicities of Cuba retained their own cultural identity and syncretised it with the Catholic religion of the Spanish. This led to the formation of Santeria (a Yoruba-derived religion), Palo (a Kongo-derived religion), Abakuá (an Efik-derived religion), and Arará (a Dahomey-derived religion).

Demographics

Black Cubans 1953–2011 Year Population % ofCuba177450,249 29.28%179294,380 34.45%1817221,766 40.10%1841490,305 48.66%1899234,738 14.92%1907274,272 13.39%1919323,117 11.18%1931437,769 11.05%1943463,227 9.69%1953725,311 12.44%19811,168,695 12.02%20021,126,894 10.08%20121,034,044 9.26%Source: Cuba census.

According to the 2002 national census that surveyed 11.2 million Cubans, 1 million or 11% of Cubans identified as Afro-Cuban or Black. Some 3 million identified as "mulatto" or "mestizo", meaning of mixed race, primarily a combination of African and European. Thus more than 40% of the population on the island affirm some African ancestry.

There has been much scholarly discussion about the demographic composition of the island. A study by the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami estimated the proportion of people as having some black ancestry is more likely about 62%. They note that complex attitudes toward racial identification, and the de facto racial hierarchy that has existed on the island, have influenced the lower figures of self-identification as black.

In Cuba, there are many terms to classify Afro-Cubans of varying portions of African descent, related to the historic Spanish casta system. In addition, in current society, classification may simply be made based on visible attributes; thus, a person who looks white is likely classified as white, especially if educated and middle class.

By contrast, in the contemporary United States, a 2010 Harvard study showed that the practice of hypodescent classification persists. That is, biracial persons are typically classified by others as belonging to the race or ethnicity with lower social status, even if their ancestry is majority European. They found that persons with up to 69% European ancestry and the remainder African or African-American were still being classified as 'black'.

A DNA study in 2014 estimated the genetic admixture of the population of Cuba to be 72% European, 20% African and 8% Native American.Beatriz Marcheco-Teruel, Esteban J. Parra, Evelyn Fuentes-Smith, Antonio Salas, Henriette N. Buttenschøn, Ditte Demontis, María Torres-Español, Lilia C. Marín-Padrón, Enrique J. Gómez-Cabezas, Vanesa Álvarez-Iglesias, Ana Mosquera-Miguel, Antonio Martínez-Fuentes, Ángel Carracedo, Anders D. Børglum, Ole Mors, "Cuba: Exploring the History of Admixture and the Genetic Basis of Pigmentation Using Autosomal and Uniparental Markers", July 24, 2014. PLOS Genetics.

Although Afro-Cubans can be found throughout Cuba, they comprise a higher proportion of the population in Oriente Province in Eastern Cuba than in other parts of the island. As the biggest city, Havana has the largest population of Afro-Cubans of any city in Cuba.OECD Data Sheet

In the 21st century, many native African immigrants have been going to Cuba, especially from Angola. Also, immigrants from Jamaica and Haiti have been settling in Cuba. Most of them settle in the eastern part of the island, due to its proximity to their home countries, and further contributing to the already high percentage of ethnic blacks on that side of the island.

The percentage of Afro-Cubans on the island increased after the 1959 Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, because there was mass migration from the island of the largely white (or ethnic European) Cuban professional class, who were subject to violence, takeovers and losing their businesses and property.

A small percentage of Afro-Cubans left Cuba, mostly for the United States (particularly Florida). They and their U.S.-born children are known variously as Afro-Cuban Americans, Cuban Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans. Relatively few Afro-Cubans resided in the nearby Spanish-speaking country of Dominican Republic and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

The Minority Rights Group International says that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution".

Afro-Cuban descendants in Africa During the 17th century, ex-slaves from Cuba and Brazil were transported to Africa to work for colonists as indentured servants or workers. They were taken largely to present-day Nigeria, the home of the Yoruba cultures, and Spanish Guinea (present-day Equatorial Guinea) home of the Fang and Bubi cultures.

In the 19th century, the former slaves were taken to Africa under the Royal Orders of September 13, 1845 (by way of voluntary arrangement). When there were an insufficient number of volunteers, the colonial government arranged a June 20, 1861, deportation from Cuba. In Spanish Guinea, the indentured servants became part of the Emancipados. In the area of present-day Nigeria, they were called Amaros.

Although the indentured workers were nominally free to return to Cuba when their tenure was over, most settled in these countries, marrying into the local African indigenous tribes.

Angola has had more recent immigrant communities of Afro-Cubans, known as Amparos. They are descendants of Afro-Cuban soldiers who were transported to serve as military in the country in 1975 as a result of Cuban involvement in the Cold War. Cuba's Prime Minister, Fidel Castro, deployed thousands of troops to the country during the Angolan Civil War to support a faction of society. As a result of this era, a small Spanish-speaking community formed in Angola of Afro-Cubans; they number about 100,000 persons.

Haitian-Cubans

Haitian Creole language and culture first entered Cuba with the arrival of immigrants from Saint-Domingue at the start of the 19th century. This was a French colony on the island of Hispaniola. The violence associated with the final years of the 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution resulted in a wave of ethnic French settlers fleeing to Cuba, and often taking numerous African slaves with them. These refugees settled mainly in the east, and especially Guantánamo. There the French later introduced sugar cane cultivation, and constructed sugar refineries. They also developed coffee plantations for another important commodity crop.

By 1804, some 30,000 Frenchmen were living in Baracoa and Maisí, the furthest eastern municipalities of the province. Later, Afro-Haitians continued to emigrate to Cuba to work as braceros (Spanish for "manual laborers") cutting cane in the fields and processing it during harvest. Their living and working conditions were not much better than under slavery. Although many workers had planned to return to Haiti, most stayed on in Cuba.

For years, many Haitians and their descendants in Cuba did not identify as such or speak Creole, which is based in French and African languages. In the eastern part of the island, many Haitians suffered discrimination among the majority Spanish speakers.

In the 21st century, classes in Haitian Creole are offered in Guantanamo, Matanzas and the City of Havana, in an effort to preserve the traditional language of the Afro-Haitians. There is also a Creole-language radio program.

Religion

Afro-Cubans are predominantly Roman Catholic, with Protestant minorities. Afro-Cuban religion can be broken down into three main currents: Santería, Palo Monte and include individuals of all origins. Santería is syncretized with Roman Catholicism.

Music