Afro-Colombians are Colombians of African descent. Colombia has the third largest black population outside of Africa and the second largest in Latin America, after Brazil. The black population officially is 26% of the population, experts put it at 36-40% or 11 million. Afro-descendants can be found in regions such as Choco, Buenaventura, Cali, Cartegena, San Andres Island, and throughout the country.
History
Some slaves were able to save and purchase their freedom. Some were freed by their masters. By the 1770s, 60% of Colombia was made of free people of color. Numerous runaway slaves formed guarded villages called palenques. Many freed slaves intermarried with the white, indian population producing the complex racial stew of Colombia. Slavery ended in 1851. After slavery Afro-Colombians formed associations called cabildos, which perpetuated the development of Afro-Colombian culture. RevoltsThe first slave revolt in Colombia occurred in Santa Marta in 1530. The town was completely burned down by slaves. Rebuilt in 1531, it was burnt down again in another revolt in 1550. In 1545, a group of mining slaves in present day Popayán, escaped from the mines and took over the town of Tofeme. They killed twenty whites and carried off 250 indian hostages to the mountains. In 1555 and 1556, Popayán also experience revolts. A Popayán revolt in 1598, had a devastating impact on Spain. 4,000 slaves destroyed the gold mine of Zaragoza, one of the most profitable and productive mines. In 1557, an expedition led by Juan Meléndez de Valdés retook the mine, and slaves who were recaptured were executed.
PalenqueAgain in Popayán, in 1732 fugitive slave formed a palenque near the town of Castillo. The local government was unable to destroy the palenque so they declared amnesty, providing no new fugitive slaves were accepted. This requirement was ignored. Because of the latter, in 1745, an expedition was launch to destroy the encampment. The dwellings were destroyed, but the ex-slaves escaped and founded another encampment.
Price of Slaves
AbolitionIn 1819, Símon Bolívar began recruiting slaves in Colombia. Five thousand were recruited for battle. Símon Bolívar initially refused to allow blacks, mulattos, and zambos into the independence army, but seeing that he could not win without those population, he conceded. To Bolívar the slave was a child. In addition, because of the high white casuality in the Venezuelan war, he wanted to reduce the latter casualty count so more whites would enjoy the fruitage of independence and diminish the black population. The white elite was in constant fear of a large black population taking over or pardocracia. Bolívar harbored that fear. To him a revolt by blacks would be "a thousand times worse than a Spanish invasion." Although he received military aid from Haiti's president Petíon in return for ending slavery, he never openned formal diplomatic relation with the country. Bolivar feared Haiti was "fomenting racial conflict."
On July 21, 1821 , the congress at Cúcuta passed a free womb law creating a manumiso, a child born of a slave woman who was tied to the woman's master from ages 15 to 25. A junta de manumisión was formed to enforce this law and collect taxes to purchase the freedom of slaves born before July 21, 1821. This action was the process of gradual emancipation, favored by the elites, rather than outright freedom, since the economy of Gran Colombia was overly reliant on slavery.
The free womb laws were never enforced. Masters extended the terms of the manumiso, making them still slaves. The Junta de Manumisión was packed with slave owners, who completely ignored the law. The Junta de Manumisión only collected funds to free 461 slaves.
In 1830, the Republic of Gran Colombia broke into civil war. After the war in 1832, the slave plantation class held the upper hand and proceed to exclude all laws of manumission from Colombia's constitution. In 1839, another civil war broke out. This war plus slaves rebelling in the goldmines of Cauca and wreaking havoc and destroying the mindfields, caused many of the slaveholders to request permission to sell to their slaves to Peru for a profit. Eight hundred slaves were sold to Peru. The end of slavery was also hastened with the rise of anti-slavery politician Jose Hilario Lopez, influenced by the revolutionary thoughts and ideals of Europe. Lopez was elected to the presidency in 1849. He immediately pushed for emancipation by compensating slave owner for manumission. Some slaver owners began to release their slaves in 1850. On May 21, 1851 all slaves were ordered freed. The congress hammered the nail to slavery by declaring on January 1, 1852 all servitude in Colombia, abolished.
After emancipation, Afro-Colombians seemed to have become invisible. They were non-existent in the national life. Very little was written on them. The government did little to educate and provide skills for the ex-slave population. Most Afro-Colombians became squatters and subsistence farmers. Most could not vote because of provisions in the constitution, passed in 1821, 1832, and 1843, barring those who were illiterate, domestic servants, laborers, and non-property owners from voting. In 1910, laws were passed that made it even more difficult to vote by requiring comprehensive literacy and a certain amount of property. The invisibility, some scholars believed, stemmed from the government policy of portraying Colombia a one ethnic state and white.
ModernBeginning in the 1920s, the government of Colombia pursued a policy of whitening. Like most of Latin America, this was viewed in economic/biological terms. In 1922, Law 114 was passed banning immigration of peopled deemed "inconvenient" for the development of the Colombian race and nation. This law encouraged white immigration. Law 114 was the manifest of ideas and sentiments expressed by later president Laureano Gomez in 1928, who stated, "The black is a plague. In the countries where he has disappeared, as in Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, it has been possible to establish an economic and political organization on a strong and stable basis."
During the 1990s, black Colombian political organization gained ground, with a strong emphasis on "black identity." In 1993, Law 70 was passed, barring discrimination against blacks, and bringing about a mandate promoting black representation in government and industry. The law also gave collective land rights to Afro-Colombians. Even with the passing of Law 70, it has been unraveled by the conflict on the Pacific coast, mainly the Choco region, where conflict between guerrila groups, right-wing paramilitary, and army have cause widespread death and displacement of Afro-Colombians. Those regions are remote, with very little government control.
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