Afro-Dutch or Black Dutch people are Dutch people who are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry. The majority of Afro-Dutch in the Netherlands are Afro-Caribbean and hail from the former and present Dutch overseas territories Suriname and the former Netherlands Antilles (mostly from Curaçao, Aruba and St Maarten). Of the approximately 500,000 Afro-Dutch people, about 300,000 people, or 60%, are from these territories. Whilst only a minority of Black Dutch citizens are of Sub-Saharan African migrant background, there is a sizable population of Cape Verdean, Ghanaian, Nigerian, Somali, Angolan and other African communities of more recent immigrants. The majority of Afro-Dutch people migrated to the Netherlands from the 1970s onwards, most of the recent migrants arriving either as political refugees seeking freedom or, more often, to escape regional conflicts, such as from Eritrea.
There is also the Afro-Dutch Sephardic Diaspora of Barbados, who were historically part of the Dutch West India Company's infrastructure whose members travelled to and from The Netherlands and its Colonial Territories.
The earliest documented arrival of a Black person in the Netherlands occurred in November 1596. A group of approximately 100 Black men, women and children from Angola arrived at the port city of Middelburg in the province of Zeeland, brought by Dutch expeditions returning from overseas. Upon their arrival, local authorities declared them free, citing that there was no slavery in Zeeland and that the individuals were baptized Christians. For the context of individual arrivals, records suggest isolated visits by Black African servants and noblemen, such as those depicted in European portraiture, occurred in the broader Low Countries as early as the 1520s.
Demographics Source:
Sub-Saharan African population in 2021East Africa41,064Southern Africa31,693East Africa28,635West Africa26,694East Africa25,080West Africa23,150West Africa16,140Southern Africa9,363Central Africa8,827North Africa8,744West Africa5,869East Africa5,182West Africa4,854Central Africa3,481East Africa3,374West Africa3,080Southern Africa2,660East Africa2,479West Africa2,164West Africa2,057West Africa1,966West Africa1,940East Africa1,755Southern Africa1,732Central Africa1,545Southern Africa1,137Southern Africa732West Africa715Southern Africa546West Africa494West Africa473West Africa434West Africa409West Africa381Southern Africa347Central Africa313Southern Africa298East Africa267North Africa194Central Africa166Southern Africa154Southern Africa140East Africa129Central Africa106Central Africa79East Africa30East Africa22Total:266,216 CountryEthnic groupNative languagesAfro-Surinamese Sranan Tongo and Surinamese Dutch (Maroons: Ndyuka, Saramaccan, Kwinti, Aluku)170,565Former Netherlands Antilles & Dutch Mercantile Enclaves "Trade posts" CountryEthnic groupNative languagesAfro-CuraçaoansPapiamentu131,360Afro-ArubansPapiamento4,360 Papiamentu (Bonaire) and English (Saba and Sint Eustatius)6,080Sint MaartenersSaint Martin English4,904Total:146,704 Afro-Caribbean peopleCountryEthnic groupNative languagesAfro-DominicansDominican Spanish16,303Afro-CubansCuban Spanish2,645Afro-JamaicansJamaican English and Jamaican Patois1,917Afro–Trinidadians and TobagoniansTrinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian Creole and Tobagonian Creole1,203Afro-HaitiansHaitian French and Haitian Creole984French and Antillean Creole454Afro–Puerto RicansPuerto Rican Spanish256 Afro-BarbadiansBarbadian English and Bajan Creole164Afro-Dutch SephardimBarbadian English and Bajan CreoleUnknownAfro-DominicansDominican English and Dominican Creole143French and Antillean Creole129Afro–Saint LuciansSaint Lucian English and Saint Lucian Creole118Afro–Kittitians and NevisiansSaint Kitts and Nevis English and Creole116Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesAfro-VincentiansVincentian English and Vincentian Creole116Afro-BahamiansBahamian English and Bahamian Creole113Afro-GrenadiansGrenadian English and Grenadian Creole English68Afro-BermudiansBermudian English65Afro–Antiguans and BarbudansEnglish and Antiguan and Barbudan Creole55Virgin Islands English and Virgin Islands Creole31Afro-AnguilliansAnguillian English and Anguillian Creole28Afro-CaymanianCaymanian English24Virgin Islands English and Virgin Islands Creole22Montserratian English12Afro-Turks and Caicos IslandersEnglish and Turks and Caicos Creole1Total:
Notable Afro-Dutch people
Bibliography Appiah, Kwame Anthony and Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.(1999). Africana: the Encyclopedia of African and African American Experience. Basic Civitas Books, pp. 1413–1416. . Gowricharn, Ruben S. ( 2006 ). Caribbean Transnationalism: Migration, Pluralization, and Social Cohesion. Lexington Books.
References
See also
Zwarte Hollanders