For hundreds of years, the slave trade forcibly removed Africans from the continent and placed them in the African diaspora. Africans influenced the culture everywhere they were transplanted. Here are 8 non-African countries with the highest black populations.
Venezuela: 3,000,000
Around 10 percent of Venezuela, population 31.5 million, is of African origin. With a history of Spanish colonialization came slavery. In 1999, a constitutional change that provided some protection for Afro-Venezuelans also unearthed some racism.
People of African descent make up over 90 percent of Jamaica’s 2.8 million population. The first African slaves arrived in 1513 to serve Spanish settlers. More African salves arrived during the Sugar Revolution in the 1600s.
It has been difficult to count minorities since President Francois Hollande vowed to eliminate the word “race” from the Constitution. An estimated 3.8-to-6 percent of the 65 million French are black. Some say Hollande further marginalized black people.
About 90 percent of the Dominican Republic, population 10.6 million, is black. Black Dominicans often identify as Indian rather than African, describing skin tones such as “oscuro” for the darkest skin, “canela” for medium, and “claro” for very light skin.
About 20 percent of the Colombian population of 49 million has African blood, but few identify as African. Colombia has the second largest Afro-descendant population in Latin America. They make up a majority of those living in poverty in urban areas.
In Haiti, 95 percent of the 10.9 million population is black. In the late 1700s, 35,000 slaves rebelled, burning down plantations and forming a militia. They drove out French, English, and Spanish occupiers, making Haiti became the first black sovereign country in the modern world. Many African cultural traditions remain.
People of African descent make up 14 percent of the U.S., population 323.9 million. The U.S. is becoming a minority-majority country, with 50.2 percent of children under age 5 identifying in a minority group.
People of African descent make up about 50 percent of Brazil, population 209.4 million. Africans first came to Brazil in the 1500s when the Portuguese began trading slaves from West and Central Africa. Nearly 40 percent of all slaves ended up in Brazil.