Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Africans (primarily from Central and West Africa) taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries to work primarily on various sugar plantations and in domestic households. Other names for the ethnic group include Black Caribbean, Afro- or Black West Indian, or Afro- or Black Antillean. The term West Indian Creole has also been used to refer to Afro-Caribbean people,[8] as well as other ethnic and racial groups in the region,[9][10][11] though there remains debate about its use to refer to Afro-Caribbean people specifically.[12][13] The term Afro-Caribbean was not coined by Caribbean people themselves but was first used by European Americans in the late 1960s.[14]
People of Afro-Caribbean descent today are largely of West African and Central African ancestry, and may additionally be of other origins, including European, Chinese, South Asian and Amerindian descent, as there has been extensive intermarriage and unions among the peoples of the Caribbean over the centuries.
Although most Afro-Caribbean people today continue to reside in English, French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations and territories, there are also significant diaspora populations throughout the Western world, especially in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. Caribbean peoples are predominantly of Christian faith, though some practice African-derived or syncretic religions, such as Santeria, Vodou and Winti. Many speak creole languages, such as Haitian Creole, Jamaican Patois, Sranantongo, Saint Lucian Creole, Martinican Creole or Papiamento.
Both the home and diaspora populations have produced a number of individuals who have had a notable influence on modern African, Caribbean and Western societies; they include political activists such as Marcus Garvey and C. L. R. James; writers and theorists such as Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon; US military leader and statesman Colin Powell; athletes such as Usain Bolt, Tim Duncan and David Ortiz; and musicians Bob Marley, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna.
- ^ Results Archived 12 February 2020 at archive.today American Fact Finder (US Census Bureau)
- ^ INSEE. "Populations légales 2017 des départements et collectivités d'outre-mer" (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ "Archived copy". www.miamiherald.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ 2011 Census UK Government Web Archive
- ^ "Trinidad and Tobago 2011 population and housing census demographic report" (PDF). Central Statistical Office. 30 November 2012. p. 94. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ "Martinique Population 2024 (Live)". worldpopulationreview.com. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ "Archived copy". www.stats.gov.vc. Archived from the original on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Cassidy, Frederic Gomes, ed. (2009). Dictionary of Jamaican English (2. ed., digitally printed version ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-521-11840-8.
- ^ "Creole | History, Culture & Language | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 27 July 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
- ^ "Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
- ^ "Definition of CREOLE". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
- ^ Cohen, Robin (30 September 2007). "Creolization and Cultural Globalization: The Soft Sounds of Fugitive Power". Globalizations. 4 (3): 369–384. doi:10.1080/14747730701532492. ISSN 1474-7731.
- ^ Allen, C., 1998. "Creole then and now: the problem of definition". Caribbean Quarterly, 44(1-2), pp.36–7.
- ^ Committee on Foreign Affairs, United States Congress House (1970). "Hearings". pp. 64–69.