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Afro-Brazilian
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Afro-Brazilian, or Black Brazilian, is the term used to racially categorize Brazilian citizens who self-reported to be of black or brown (Pardo) skin colors to the official IBGE census. As of 2005, 91 million Brazilians were included in the black and brown category.
Brazil has the largest population of black origin outside of Africa with, in 2007, 7.4% classyfing themselves as preto (black skin color) and 42.3% as pardo (brown color).
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Encyclopedia
Afro-Brazilian, or Black Brazilian, is the term used to racially categorize Brazilian citizens who self-reported to be of black or brown (Pardo) skin colors to the official IBGE census. As of 2005, 91 million Brazilians were included in the black and brown category.
Brazil has the largest population of black origin outside of Africa with, in 2007, 7.4% classyfing themselves as preto (black skin color) and 42.3% as pardo (brown color). The latter classification is broad and encompasses Brazilians of mixed ancestry, including mulattos and caboclos making the total 49.5%.
The largest concentration of Afro-Brazilians is in the state of Bahia where over 80% of the people are descendants of Africans.
A large number of Brazilians have some African ancestry and Brazilian populations are remarkably heterogeneous. Due to intensive mixing with Europeans and Native Indians, Brazilians with African ancestors may or may not show any trace of black features.
History
Brazil obtained 37% of all African slaves traded, and close to 4 million slaves were sent to this one country. Starting around 1550, the Portuguese began to trade African slaves to work the sugar plantations once the native Tupi people deteriorated. During the colonial epoch, slavery was a mainstay of the Brazilian economy, especially in mining and sugar cane production.
The Clapham Sect, a group of Victorian Evangelical politicians, campaigned during most of the 19th century for England to use its influence and power to stop the traffic of slaves to Brazil. Besides moral qualms, the low cost of slave-produced Brazilian sugar meant that British colonies in the West Indies were unable to match the market prices of Brazilian sugar, and each Briton was using 16 pounds of sugar a year by the 1800s. This combination led to intensive pressure from the British government for Brazil to end this practice, which it did by steps over several decades. Slavery was legally ended May 13 by the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law") of 1888.
| African disembarkments in Brazil, from 1500 to 1855 |
|---|
| Period | 1500-1700 | 1701-1760 | 1761-1829 | 1830-1855 | Numbers | 510,000 | 958,000 | 1,720,000 | 618,000 |
Origins
The Africans brought to Brazil belonged to two major groups: the West African and the Bantu people.
The West African people (previously known as Sudanese, and without connection with Sudan) were sent in large scale to Bahia. They mostly belong to the Ga, Adangbe, Yoruba, Igbo, Fon, Ashanti, Ewe, Mandinka, and other West African groups native to Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria.
The Bantus were brought from Angola, Congo region and Mozambique and sent in large scale to Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and the Northeastern Brazil.
| Estimated disembarkment of Africans in Brazil from 1781 to 1855 |
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| Period | Place of arrival |
|---|
| Total in Brazil | South of
Bahia | Bahia | North of
Bahia |
|---|
Total period | 2.113.900 | 1.314.900 | 409.000 | 390.000 | 1781-1785 | 63.100 | 34.800 | ... | 28.300 | 1786-1790 | 97.800 | 44.800 | 20.300 | 32.700 | 1791-1795 | 125.000 | 47.600 | 34.300 | 43.100 | 1796-1800 | 108.700 | 45.100 | 36.200 | 27.400 | 1801-1805 | 117.900 | 50.100 | 36.300 | 31.500 | 1806-1810 | 123.500 | 58.300 | 39.100 | 26.100 | 1811-1815 | 139.400 | 78.700 | 36.400 | 24.300 | 1816-1820 | 188.300 | 95.700 | 34.300 | 58.300 | 1821-1825 | 181.200 | 120.100 | 23.700 | 37.400 | 1826-1830 | 250.200 | 176.100 | 47.900 | 26.200 | 1831-1835 | 93.700 | 57.800 | 16.700 | 19.200 | 1836-1840 | 240.600 | 202.800 | 15.800 | 22.000 | 1841-1845 | 120.900 | 90.800 | 21.100 | 9.000 | 1846-1850 | 257.500 | 208.900 | 45.000 | 3.600 | 1851-1855 | 6.100 | 3.300 | 1.900 | 900 |
Note: "South of Bahia" means, "from Espírito Santo to Rio Grande do Sul"; "North of Bahia" means, "from Sergipe to Amapá".
Main Afro-Brazilian communities
As of 2007, the Brazilian Metropolitan Area with the largest percentage of people reported as of African descent was Salvador, Bahia, with 1,869,550 Pardo (brown) people (53.8%) and 990,375 Black people (28.5%). The state of Bahia has also the largest percentage of Afro-Brazilians, with 62.9% of Brown and 15.7% of Blacks. As of 2000, the towns with the highest percentage of blacks were: Riacho Frio (PI) with 61.71%, Pugmil (TO) with 41.33% and Pedrão (BA) with 39.32%. The towns with the highest percentage of Pardos (Brown) were: Nossa Senhora das Dores (SE) with 98.16%, Santo Inácio do Piauí (PI) with 96.90% and Boa Vista do Ramos (MA) with 92.40%.
Genetic studies
A recent genetic study of Afro-Brazilians made for BBC Brasil analysed the DNA of self-reported Blacks from São Paulo.
The research analyzed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), that is present in all human beings and passed down with only minor mutations through the maternal line. The other is the Y chromosome, that is present only in males and passed down with only minor mutations through the paternal line. Both can show from what part of the world a matrilineal or patrilineal ancestor of a person came from, but on can have in mind that they are only a fraction of the human genome, and reading ancestry from Y chromosome and mtDNA only tells 1/23rd the story, since humans have 23 chromosome pairs in the cellular DNA.
Analyzing the Afro-Brazilians' Y chromosome, which comes from male ancestors through paternal line, it was concluded that half (50%) of African-Brazilian population have at least one male ancestor who came from Europe, 48% from Africa and 1.6% who was a Native American. Analyzing their mitochondrial DNA, that comes from female ancestors though maternal line, 85% of them have at least a female ancestor who came from Africa, 12.5% who was Native American and 2.5% from Europe.
The high level of European ancestry in Black Brazilians through paternal line exists because, for much of Brazil's History, there were more Caucasian males than Caucasian females. So inter-racial relationships between Caucasian males and Sub-Saharan African or Native American females were widespread.
The same genetic research concluded that 45% of Brazilians (77 million people) would have 90% or over Sub-Saharan African genes. Over 75% of Caucasians from North, Northeast and Southeast Brazil would have over 10% Sub-Saharan African genes, according to this particular study. Even Southern Brazil that received a large group of European immigration, 49% of the Caucasian population would have over 10% Sub-Saharan African genes, according to that study. However, a research showed that the average European American type as approximately 10% to 12% non White genetic material.
Thus, according to those studies, 86% of Brazilians would have at least 10% of genes that came from Africa.
As an example, one thousand individuals from Porto Alegre city, Southern Brazil, and 760 from Natal city, Northeastern Brazil, were studied in relation to 12 and 8 genetic systems, respectively. The gathered data were used to estimate quantitatively the ethnic composition of individuals from these communities. More than half of the genes present in individuals classified as Black in Porto Alegre city are of European origin, while the Whites from this city have 8% of African alleles genes.
The estimated degree of admixture in persons identified as White or Mixed in Natal city is not much different. The ancestry of the total sample can be characterized as 58% White, 25% Black, and 17% Indian
Religion
Most Afro-Brazilians are Christians, mainly Catholics. Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda have many followers, mainly Afro-Brazilians. They are concentrated mainly in large urban centers such as Salvador de Bahia, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Brasília, São Luís. In addition to Candomblé which is closer to the original West African religions, there is also Umbanda which blends Catholic and Kardecist Spiritism beliefs with African beliefs. Candomblé, Batuque, Xango and Tambor de Mina were originally brought by black slaves shipped from Africa to Brazil.
These black slaves would summon their gods, called Orixas, Vodous or Inkices with chants and dances they had brought from Africa. These religions have been persecuted in the past, mainly due to Catholic influence. However, Brazilian government has legalized them. In current practice, Umbanda followers leave offerings of food, candles and flowers in public places for the spirits. The Candomblé terreiros are more hidden from general view, except in famous festivals such as Iemanjá Festival and the Waters of Oxalá in the Northeast.
From Bahia northwards there is also different practices such as Catimbo, Jurema with heavy, though not necessarily original, indigenous elements. All over the country, but mainly in the Amazon rainforest, there are remnanst of the original Indian population still practicing their original traditions.
Cuisine
The cuisine created by the Afro-Brazilians has a wide variety of foods. In the State of Bahia, an exquisite cuisine evolved when cooks improvised on African, American-Indian, and traditional Portuguese dishes using locally available ingredients. Typical dishes include Vatapá and Moqueca, both with seafood and dendê palm oil . This heavy oil extracted from the fruits of an African palm tree is one of the basic ingredients in Bahian or Afro-Brazilian cuisine, adding a wonderful flavor and bright orange color to foods. There is no equivalent substitute, but it is available in markets specializing in Brazilian or African imports.
Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil (for over 300 years). It is basically a mixture of black beans, pork and farofa (lighly roasted coarse cassava manioc flour). It started as a Portuguese dish that the African slaves built upon, made out of cheap ingredients: pork ears, feet and tail, beans and manioc flour. It has been adopted by all the other cultural regions, and there are hundreds of ways to make it.
Capoeira
Capoeira is a martial art developed initially by African slaves came especially from countries as Angola or Mozambique in Brazil, starting in the colonial period. It is marked by deft, tricky movements often played on the ground or completely inverted. It also has a strong acrobatic component in some versions and is always played with music. Recently, the art has been popularized by the addition of Capoeira performed in various computer games and movies, and Capoeira music has featured in modern pop music (see Capoeira in popular culture).
Music
The music created by Afro-Brazilians is a mixture of Portuguese, European, and African music, making a wide variety of styles. Brazil is well known for the rhythmic liveliness of its music as in its Samba dance music. This is largely because Brazilian slave owners allowed their slaves to continue their heritage of playing drums (unlike U.S. slave owners who feared use of the drum for communications).
Literature
Afro-Brazilian literature has existed in Brazil since the mid-19th century with the publication of novel Ursula in 1859. Yet, Afro-Brazilian literature did not gain national prominence in Brazil until the 1970s with the revival of Black Consciousness politics known as the .
See also
Further reading
- Ankerl, Guy. Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. 2000, Geneva. INUPRESS, ISBN 2881550045. Pp.187-210.
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