Afro-Brazilians ( pt, afro-brasileiros; ) are
Brazilians who have predominantly
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n ancestry (see "
preto"). Most members of another group of people,
multiracial Brazilians or ''pardos'', may also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Depending on the circumstances (situation, locality, etc.), the ones whose African features are more evident are always or frequently seen by others as "africans" - consequently identifying themselves as such, while the ones for whom this evidence is lesser may not be seen as such as regularly. It is important to note that the term pardo, such as preto, is rarely used outside the census spectrum. Brazilian society has a range of words, including negro itself, to describe multiracial people.
Preto and pardo are among five ethnic categories used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, along with ''
branco'' ("white"), ''
amarelo'' ("yellow", East Asian), and ''
indígena'' (Native American). In 2010, 7.6% of the Brazilian population, some 15 million people, identified as ''preto'', while 43% (86 million) identified as ''pardo''. Brazilians have a complex classification system based on the prominence of skin and hair pigmentation, as well as other features associated with the concept of race (''raça'').
Since the early 21st century, Brazilian government agencies such as the
Special Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality
Special Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality, ''Secretaria Nacional de Políticas de Promoção da Igualdade Racial'' (SEPPIR) is a government agency in Brazil. The agency has been headed by Luiza Helena de Bairros and Edson Santo ...
(SEPPIR) and the
Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada The Institute of Applied Economic Research ( Portuguese: ''Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada'', Ipea) is a Brazilian government-led research organization dedicated to generation of macroeconomical, sectorial and thematic studies in order to ...
(IPEA), have considered combining the categories ''preto'' and ''pardo'' (individual with varied racial ancestries) into a single category called ''negro'' (Black, capital initial), because both groups show socioeconomic indications of discrimination. They suggest doing so would make it easier to help people who have been closed out of opportunity. This proposal has caused much controversy because there is no consensus about it in Brazilian society.
Brazilians rarely use the American-style phrase "African Brazilian" as a term of ethnic identity
and never in informal discourse: the IBGE's July 1998 PME shows that, of Black Brazilians, only about 10% identify as being of "African origin"; most identify as being of "Brazilian origin". In the July 1998 PME, the categories ''Afro-Brasileiro'' (Afro-Brazilian) and ''Africano Brasileiro'' (African Brazilian) were not chosen at all; the category ''Africano'' (African) was selected by 0.004% of the respondents.
[José Luiz Petruccelli. A Cor Denominada. Anexo 1. p. 43 (unavailable online)] In the 1976 National Household Sample (PNAD), none of these terms was used even once.
[Cristina Grillo,]
Brasil quer ser chamado de moreno e só 39% se autodefinem como brancos
, ''Folha de S. Paulo
''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã co ...
'', 25 June 1995. (PDF) Accessed 19 September 2010.
Brazilian geneticist
Sérgio Pena has criticised American scholar
Edward Telles
Edward Telles is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses ...
for lumping ''pretos'' and ''pardos'' in the same category. According to him, "the autosomal genetic analysis that we have performed in non-related individuals from
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
shows that it does not make any sense to put ''pretos'' and ''pardos'' in the same category".
An autosomal genetic study of students in a school in the poor periphery of Rio de Janeiro found that the ''pardos'' among the students were found to be on average more than 40% European in ancestry. Before testing, the students identified (when asked) as ⅓ European, ⅓ African and ⅓ Native American.
According to
Edward Telles
Edward Telles is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses ...
,
three different systems related to "racial classification" along the White-Black continuum are used in Brazil.
The first is the Census System, which distinguishes three categories: ''branco'' (White), ''pardo'', and ''preto''.
The second is the popular social system that uses many different categories, including the ambiguous term ''moreno'' (literally meaning "tanned", "brunette", or "with an
olive complexion").
The third is the Black movement, which distinguishes only two categories, summing up ''pardos'' and ''pretos'' ("blacks", lowercase) as ''negros'' ("Blacks", with capital initial), and putting all others as "whites".
[Telles (2004), ''Race in Another America'', p. 85.] More recently, the term ''afrodescendente'' has been adopted for use, but it is restricted to very formal discourse, such as governmental or academic discussions, being viewed by some as a cultural imposition from the "politically correct speech" associated with the United States.
Brazilian race/colour categories
The first system referred by Telles is that of the
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). In the Census, respondents may identify their ethnicity or color from five categories: ''branca'' (white), ''parda'' (brown), ''preta'' (black), ''amarela'' (yellow) or ''indígena'' (indigenous). The term ''parda'' needs further explanation; it has been systematically used since the Census of 1940. In that census, people were asked for their "colour or race"; if the answer was not "White", "preta" (black), or "Yellow", interviewers were instructed to fill the "colour or race" box with a slash. These slashes were later summed up in the category ''pardo''. In practice this means answers such as ''pardo'', ''moreno'', ''mulato'', ''caboclo'', etc., all indicating mixed race. In the following censuses, ''pardo'' was added as a category on its own, and included Amerindians. The latter were defined as a separate category only in 1991. It is a term for people of color who are lighter than blacks, and does not imply a black-white mixture, as there are some entirely indigenous persons.
Telles' second system is that of popular classification. Two IBGE surveys made more than 20 years apart (the 1976 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) and the July 1998 Monthly Employment Survey (PME) have been analyzed to assess how Brazilians think of themselves in racial terms. The IBGE thought the data might be used to adjust classifications on the census (neither survey, however, resulted in changes to the Census classifications). Data Folha has also conducted research on this subject. The results of these surveys are somewhat varied, but seem to coincide in some fundamental aspects. First, a great number of racial terms are in use in Brazil, indicating a flexibility in thinking about the topic. The 1976 PNAD found that people responded with a total of 136 different terms to the question about race;
the July 1998 PME found 143. However, most of these terms are used by small numbers of people. Telles notes that 95% of the population used one of 6 different terms for people of color and at least some African ancestry (''branco, moreno, pardo, moreno-claro, preto'' and ''negro''). Petruccelli shows that the 7 most common responses (the above plus ''amarela'') sum up 97% of responses, and the 10 most common (the previous plus ''mulata'', ''clara'', and ''morena-escura'' - dark brunette) make 99%.
[José Luiz Petruccelli. ''A Cor Denominada'', p. 19 (unavailable online).]
Petruccelli, analysing the July 98 PME, finds that 77 denominations were mentioned by only one person in the sample. Twelve are misunderstandings, as respondents used terms of national or regional origin (''francesa, italiana, baiana, cearense''). Many of the racial terms are (or could be) remarks about the relation between skin colour and exposure to sun (''amorenada, bem morena, branca-morena, branca-queimada, corada, bronzeada, meio morena, morena-bronzeada, morena-trigueira, morenada, morenão, moreninha, pouco morena, queimada, queimada de sol, tostada, rosa queimada, tostada''). Others are clearly variations of the same idea (''preto, negro, escuro, crioulo, retinto'', for black, ''alva, clara, cor-de-leite, galega, rosa, rosada, pálida'', for White, ''parda, mulata, mestiça, mista'', for ''parda''), or refinements of the same concept (''branca morena, branca clara''), and can be grouped together with one of the chiefly used racial terms without falsifying the interpretation.
Some responses seem to express an outright refusal of classification: ''azul-marinho'' ("navy blue"), ''azul'' ("blue"), ''verde'' ("green"), ''cor-de-burro-quando-foge''. In the July 1998 PME, the categories ''Afro-Brasileiro'' ("Afro-Brazilian") and ''Africano Brasileiro'' ("African Brazilian") were not used at all; the category ''Africano'' ("African") was used by 0.004% of the respondents.
In the 1976 PNAD, none of these terms was used even once.
The notable difference in the popular system is the widespread use of the term ''moreno''. This is difficult to translate into English, and carries a few different meanings. Derived from Latin ''maurus'', meaning inhabitant of Mauritania, it has traditionally been used to distinguish White people with dark hair, as opposed to ''ruivo'' ("redhead") and ''loiro'' ("blonde"). It is also commonly used as a term for people with an
olive complexion, a characteristic that is often found in connection with dark hair.
In this connection, it is applied as a term for suntanned people, and is commonly opposed to ''pálido'' ("pale") and ''amarelo'' ("yellow"), which in this case refer to people who are not frequently exposed to sun. Finally, it is also often used as a euphemism for ''pardo'' and ''preto''.
Finally, the Black movement has combined the groups ''pardos'' and ''pretos'' as a single category of ''negro'' (it does not use ''Afro-brasileiro'' or any other hyphenated form).
This appears to be similar to the Black Power movement in the United States, or, historically, the discriminatory
one drop rule. But in Brazil, the Black movement understands that not everybody with some African ancestry is Black. It knows that many White Brazilians have African (or Amerindian, or both) ancestrys – so a "one drop rule" isn't what the Black movement envisages, as it would make affirmative action impossible. Second, the main issue for the Black movement is not cultural, but rather economic: its members are not seeking a supposed cultural identification with Africa, but rather to rectify a situation of economic disadvantage, common to those who are non-White (with the exception of those of East Asian ancestry), that groups them into a ''negro'' category.
However, this effort to divide Brazilians between ''brancos'' and ''negros'' is seen as influenced by American one-drop rule, and attracts much criticism. For instance, sociologist
Demétrio Magnoli considers classifying all ''pretos'' and ''pardos'' as Blacks as an assault on the racial vision of Brazilians. He believes that scholars and activists of the Black movement misinterpret the ample variety of intermediate categories, characteristic of the popular system, to be a result of Brazilian racism, and that causes Blacks to refuse their identity and hide in euphemisms. Magnoli refers to a survey about race, conducted in the town of
Rio de Contas
Rio de Contas is a municipality in the Bahia state, in the eastern part of Brazil. Its estimated population was 12,932.
Rio de Contas has its origins in the 18th century. In 1718 the town of Santo Antônio de Mato Grosso was founded. It was l ...
, Bahia, in which the choice of ''pardo'' was replaced by ''moreno''. The town has about 14,000 people, 58% of whom White. Not only ''pardos'' chose the ''moreno'' category, but also almost half of the people who previously had identified as white, and half the people previously identified as ''pretos'' also choose the ''moreno'' category.
According to a 2000 survey held in Rio de Janeiro, the entire self-reported ''preto'' population reported to have African ancestry. 86% of the self-reported ''pardo'' and 38% of the self-reported White population reported to have African ancestors. It is notable that 14% of the ''pardos'' (brown) from Rio de Janeiro said they have no African ancestors. This percentage may be even higher in
Northern Brazil
The North Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Norte do Brasil; ) is the largest region of Brazil, corresponding to 45.27% of the national territory. It is the second least inhabited of the country, and contributes with a minor percentage in the national ...
, where there was a greater ethnic contribution from Amerindian populations.
[
Racial classifications in Brazil are based on ]skin color
Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one's biological parents and or individu ...
and on other physical characteristics such as facial features, hair texture, etc. This is a poor scientific indication of ancestry, because only a few genes are responsible for someone's skin color: a person who is considered White may have more African ancestry than a person who is considered Black, and vice versa.[Silvia Salek]
"BBC delves into Brazilians' roots"
BBC Brasil, 10 July 2007, accessed 13 July 2009. But, as race is a social construct, these classifications relate to how people are perceived and perceive themselves in society. In Brazil, class and economic status also affect how individuals are perceived.
Conception of Black and prejudice
In Brazil, a person's race is based primarily on physical appearance. In Brazil it is possible for two siblings of different colors to be classified as people of different races. Children who are born to a black mother and a European father would be classified as black if their features read as African, and classified as white if their features appeared more European.
With no strict criteria for racial classifications, lighter-skinned mulattoes (who obviously were descendants of some Europeans) were easily integrated into the white population. Historically, Europeans took African women as concubines or sexual partners, resulting in mulatto children. Through years of integration and racial assimilation, a white Brazilian population has developed with more historic African ancestry, as well as a black population with European ancestry. In the United States, slavery became a racial caste, and children of slave mothers were considered born into slavery. The efforts to enforce white supremacy after the Civil War and Reconstruction resulted in southern states adopting a one drop rule at the turn of the 20th century, so that people with any known African ancestry were automatically classified as Black, regardless of skin color. At the same time, the United States was receiving millions of European immigrants. In the 21st century, many Black Americans have some degree of European ancestry, while few white Americans
White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
have African ancestry.[
The Brazilian approach to classification by visible features is criticized by geneticist Sérgio Pena: "Only a few genes are responsible for someone's skin colour, which is a very poor indication of ancestry. A white person could have more African genes than a black one or vice versa, especially in a country like Brazil".]
Sociologist Simon Schwartzman
Simon Schwartzman (born July 1939 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil) is a Brazilian social scientist. He has published extensively, with many books, book chapters and academic articles in the areas of comparative politics, sociology of science, social po ...
points out that to "substitute ''negro'' for ''preto'', suppressing the ''pardo'' alternative would mean to impose unto Brazil a vision of the racial issue as a dichotomy, similar to that of the United States, which would not be true."
A 2007 study found that White workers received an average monthly income almost twice that of blacks and ''pardos'' (browns). The blacks and browns earned on average 1.8 minimum wages, while the whites had a yield of 3.4 minimum wages.
Gilberto Freyre
Gilberto de Mello Freyre (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist, congressman born in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is commonly associated with other ...
has described that few wealthy Brazilians admit to having African ancestry. People of darker complexion from the dominant classes usually associate their skin color with an Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
rather than African ancestry.
Revaluation of Black identity
In the last years, Brazil has been undergoing a process of reclamation of its Black identity. This process was also reflected in national censuses. Each year the percentage of Brazilians who self-report to be non-Whites (''pretos'' or ''pardos'') is growing, while there is a decrease of the population that self-reports to be White. According to IBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...
this is because of the "revaluation of the identity of historically discriminated ethnic groups". In the social context of Brazil, where Blacks are seen as suffering higher rates of poverty, disease, crime and violence, to claim Black identity was unusual. This trend is being changed for many reasons. First of all, it was because of the direct influence of African Americans, who are seen by Brazilians as the "race victory". It was also because of the social mobility of many Black Brazilians, through education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
and expansion of employment opportunities. If before only the very dark Blacks would be considered ''pretos'' by Brazilian standards of race, this ethnic revaluation is now also affecting many Mulattos. Brazilians in general may be willing to affirm their European ancestry, and any person with a significant amount of European ancestry was systematically classified as White.[ Thus, it was extremely difficult for the Mulattoes to jump to the Black side of their dual nature, because they rarely wanted to be confused with the mass of poor Blacks that makes up the racial imaginary of Brazilians. . The Brazilian racism is peculiar, because the widespread miscegenation has not formed a racial democracy, due to the strong anti-Black oppression, prejudice and discrimination that it has.][
According to Darcy Ribeiro, Brazilian racist assimilationism is perverse because it gives the impression that there is a greater social acceptance of people of color. He suggests that by dividing the African-descended population into ranges of skin colors, ethnic solidarity is reduced and they lose political power. He contrasts it with the racial segregation in the United States, which ultimately united all the population of African descent, regardless of skin color. He believes they developed a deep internal solidarity of the discriminated group, which enabled many to fight for their civil rights. But Ribeiro also says that what he describes as the US Apartheid model is worse than Brazilian assimilationism when other aspects are considered).][
The Government of President ]Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...
created the "Ministry for racial equality", seeking to support work for civil rights in their policies. His administration established quotas in universities to encourage admission of Black students. These measures have been advocated by a part of Brazilian society that believes Blacks are socially disadvantaged and deserves government incentives. Encouraging a Black identity is a way to promote political unity of this population to fight against poverty and discrimination.
Another portion is against such measures. Sociologist Demétrio Magnoli worries that to encourage the division of the Brazilian population in races and to privilege a certain segment of the society is dangerous, as it would promote racial rather than national identification, leading to more violence and segregation Segregation may refer to:
Separation of people
* Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space
* School segregation
* Housing segregation
* Racial segregation, separation of humans ...
.[Magnoli, Demétrio. ''Uma Gota de Sangue'' (One Drop of Blood), Editora Contexto, 2008.]
Affirmative action issue
In recent years, the Brazilian government has encouraged affirmative action programs for persons considered to be "African-descendant" and also for Amerindians. This is happening, in part, through the created systems of preferred admissions (quotas) for racial minorities. Other measures include priority in land reform for areas populated by remnants of ''quilombolas
A ''quilombola'' () is an Afro-Brazilian resident of ''quilombo'' settlements first established by escaped slaves in Brazil. They are the descendants of Afro-Brazilian slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until ab ...
''. The government notes that these groups have historically been discriminated against because of slavery and the Portuguese conquest of the indigenous peoples. They became landless and are represented among the poorest segments of Brazilian society, while the European or White population dominates the upper classes. Such efforts in affirmative action have been criticized because of the ambiguity of racial classification in Brazil. Some people have tried to use this system for personal advantage.
In 2007, the twin brothers Alex and Alan Teixeira applied for places in the University of Brasília
The University of Brasília ( pt, Universidade de Brasília, UnB) is a federal public university in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. It was founded in 1960 and has since consistently been named among the top five Brazilian universities and the ...
through quotas reserved for "Black students". In the university, a team of specialists and professors used photos of the candidates to determine who was Black or not. The Teixeira brothers were identical twins
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
, but in this process, only Alan was classified as Black, while his identical brother Alex, whose application was reviewed by different people, was not accepted in this program.
Since that case, governmental affirmative action programs have been widely criticized. Given the high degree of miscegenation of the Brazilian people, critics say the definition of who is Black or not is very subjective. Magnoli describes Brazilian society as not divided between races, but between the poor and the rich, while acknowledging that it is widely agreed that people of darker skin color have suffered an "additional discrimination".
History
Slavery
Iberian explorers and early slavery in the Americas
The first Spaniards and Portuguese explorers in the Americas initially enslaved Amerindian populations.[Klein, Herbert S. ''African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 22.] Sometimes this labor was available through existing Native American states that fell under the control of invading Europeans; in other cases, Native American states provided the labor force. In the case of the Portuguese, the weakness of the political systems of the Tupi-Guarani Amerindian groups they conquered on the Brazilian coastline, and the inexperience of these Amerindians with systematic peasant labor, made them easy to exploit through non-coercive labor arrangements.
However, several factors prevented the system of Amerindian slavery from being sustained in Brazil. For example, Native American populations were not numerous or accessible enough to meet all demands of the settlers for labor.[Thornton (1998), ''Africa and Africans'', p. 134.] In many cases, exposure to European diseases caused high levels of mortality among the Amerindian population, to such an extent that workers became scarce. Historians estimate that about 30,000 Amerindians under the rule of the Portuguese died in a smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic in the 1560s. The Iberian conquerors could not attract sufficient settlers from their own countries to the colonies and, after 1570, they began increasingly to bring enslaved people who had been kidnapped in Africa as a primary labor force.
Enslaved People of African Ancestry in the Americas
Over nearly three centuries from the late 1500s to the 1860s, Brazil was consistently the largest destination for African slaves in the Americas. In that period, approximately 4.9 million enslaved Africans were imported to Brazil. Brazilian slavery included a diverse range of labor roles. For example, gold mining in Brazil began to grow around 1690 in interior regions of Brazil, such as modern-day region of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
. Slaves in Brazil also worked on sugar plantations, such as those found in the Captaincy of Pernambuco. Other products of slave labor in Brazil during that era in Brazilian history included tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
, textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
s, and cachaça
''Cachaça'' () is a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Also known as ''pinga'', ''caninha'', and other names, it is the most popular spirit among distilled alcoholic beverages in Brazil.Cavalcante, Messias Soares. Todos os n ...
, which were often vital items traded in exchange for slaves on the African continent.
Slave life, Creole populations, and abolition
The nature of the work that slaves did had a direct effect on aspects of slaves' lives such as life expectancy and family formation. An example from an early inventory of African slaves (1569–71) from the plantation of Sergipe do Conde in Bahia shows that he owned nineteen males and one female. These uneven gender-ratios combined with the high mortality rate related to the physical duress that working in a mine or on a sugar plantation (for example) could have on a slave's body. The effect was often that many New World slave economies, including Brazil, relied on a constant importation of new slaves to replace those who had died.
Despite the changes in the slave population demographic related to the constant importation of slaves through the 1860s, a creole generation in the African population emerged in Brazil. By 1800, Brazil had the largest single population of African and creole slaves in any one colony in America. In 1888 Brazil abolished slavery.
Travel
In Africa, about 40% of Blacks died on the route between the areas of capture and the African coast. Another 15% died in the ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and Brazil. From the Atlantic coast, the journey could take from 33 to 43 days. From Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
it could take as many as 76 days. Once in Brazil, from 10 to 12% of the slaves also died in the places where they were taken to be bought by their future masters. In consequence, only 45% of the Africans captured in Africa to become slaves in Brazil survived.[Laurentino Gomes. 1808. São Paulo, Editora Planeta, 2007. . Not available online. ] Darcy Ribeiro estimated that, in this process, some 12 million Africans were captured to be brought to Brazil, even though the majority of them died before becoming slaves in the country.
Violence and resistance
The African slaves in Brazil were known to have suffered various types of physical violence. Lashes on the back was the most common repressive measure. About 40 lashes per day were common and they prevented the mutilation of slaves.[ The colonial chroniclers recorded the extreme violence and ]sadism
Sadism may refer to:
* Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation
* Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...
of White women against female slaves, usually due to jealousy or to prevent a relationship between their husbands and the slaves.
Military service to the crown
Blacks served in the militias and during the Dutch occupation of Brazil in the seventeenth century, Henrique Dias
Henrique Dias (died 8 June 1662) was a Portuguese soldier and militia leader born in the colony of Brazil. There is no consensus among historians whether he was born free or captive.
Military career
Dias led a military regiment composed of ensl ...
was a distinguished leader of black militiamen. For his service to the crown, he was accorded the knighthood of the Order of Christ. Dias gained the freedom for the enslaved men who served with him, and the military unit was given all the rights and privileges of white units.
Origins of Blacks in Brazil
The Africans brought to Brazil belonged to two major groups: the West African and the Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
people. The West Africans mostly belong to the Yoruba people
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitut ...
, who became known as the "nagô". The word derives from ''ànàgó'', a derogatory term used by the Dahomey to refer to Yoruba-speaking people. The Dahomey enslaved and sold large numbers of Yoruba, largely of Oyo heritage. Slaves descended from the Yoruba are strongly associated with the Candomblé religious tradition. Other slaves belonged to the Fon people and other neighboring ethnic groups.[John Geipel]
"Brazil's African Legacy"
''History Today'', Vol. 47, Issue 8, August 1997.
Bantu people
The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Southern ...
were mostly brought from present-day Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
and the Congo, most belonging to the Bakongo or Ambundu ethnic groups. Bantu slaves were also taken from the Shona
Shona often refers to:
* Shona people, a Southern African people
* Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today
Shona may also refer to:
* ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing
* Shona (given name)
* S ...
kingdoms of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and coastal Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
. They were sent in large scale to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
, and Northeastern Brazil.
Gilberto Freyre
Gilberto de Mello Freyre (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist, congressman born in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is commonly associated with other ...
noted the major differences between these groups. Some Sudanese peoples, such as Hausa
Hausa may refer to:
* Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa
* Hausa language, spoken in West Africa
* Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states
* Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse
See also
...
, Fula
Fula may refer to:
*Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe)
*Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani)
**The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language
**The Fula variety known as the Pular language
**The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde
*Al-Fula ...
and others, were Islamic and spoke Arabic and many of them could read and write in this language. Muslim slaves were brought from northern Mozambique. Freyre noted that many slaves were better educated than their masters, because many Muslim slaves were literate in Arabic, while many Portuguese Brazilian
Portuguese Brazilians ( pt, luso-brasileiros) are Brazilians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Portugal. Most of the Portuguese who arrived throughout the centuries in Brazil sought economic opportunities. Although present since t ...
masters could not read or write in Portuguese. These slaves of greater Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and Berber influence were largely sent to Bahia. These Muslim slaves, known as ''Malê'' in Brazil, produced one of the greatest slave revolts in the Americas, known as the Malê Revolt
Male, in biology, is the half of a sex system that produces sperm cells.
* Male plant, a plant that gives rise to male gametophytes
Male may also refer to:
Gender
* Male, the gender of men and boys
** Man, a male adult
** Boy, a young male person ...
, when in 1835 they tried to take control of Salvador, until then the largest city of the American continent and all of the New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
.[Freyre, Gilberto. ''Casa-Grande e Senzala'', 51st edn, 2006. .]
Despite the large influx of Islamic slaves, most of the slaves in Brazil were brought from the Bantu regions of the Atlantic coast of Africa where today Congo and Angola are located, and also from Mozambique. In general, these people lived in tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
s, kingdom
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
s or city-states. The people from Congo had developed agriculture, raised livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...
, domesticated animals such as goat, pig, chicken and dog and produced sculpture in wood. Some groups from Angola were nomadic
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
and did not know agriculture.
File:Rugendas - Escravos de Benguela e Congo.jpg,
File:Rugendas - Escravos de Cabinda, Quiloa, Rebola e Mina.jpg,
File:Rugendas - Escravos de Moçambique.jpg,
File:Rugendas - Escravos Benguela, Angola, Congo, Monjolo.jpg,
Abolition of slavery
According to Petrônio Domingues, by 1887 the slave struggles pointed to a real possibility of widespread insurrection. On 23 October, in São Paulo, for instance, there were violent confrontations between the police and rioting Blacks, who chanted "long live freedom" and "death to the slaveowners". The president of the province, Rodrigues Alves, reported the situation as following:
:The massive flight of slaves from several ''fazendas'' threatens, in some places in the province, public order, alarming the proprietaries and the productive classes.
Uprisings erupted in Itu
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
, Campinas
Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...
, Indaiatuba
Indaiatuba is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population is 256,223 (2020 est.) in an area of . The elevation is . The city's name derives from the Tupi language
Ol ...
, Amparo, Piracicaba
Piracicaba ( or ) is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population is 407,252 (2020) in an area of 1378.07 km². It is at an elevation of 547 m above sea level.
Name
The place name comes from a word in the Tupi langua ...
and Capivari
Capivari is a municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 56,379 (2020 est.) in an area of 323 km².
People
*Tarsila do Amaral (1886–1973), painter, born in the area of ''Fazenda São Bernardo'' ...
; ten thousand fugitive slaves grouped in Santos. Flights were happening in daylight, guns were spotted among the fugitives, who, instead of hiding from police, seemed ready to engage in confrontation.
It was as a response to such situation that, on 13 May 1888, slavery was abolished, as a means to restore order and the control of the ruling class, in a situation in which the slave system was almost completely disorganised.
As an abolitionist newspaper, ''O Rebate'', put it, ten years later,
:Had the slaves not fled en masse from the plantations, rebelling against their masters ... Had they not, more than 20,000 of them, gone to the famous ''quilombo'' of Jabaquara (out of Santos, itself a center of abolitionist agitation), then maybe they would still be slaves today ... Slavery ended because slaves no longer wanted to be slaves, because slaves rebelled against their masters and against the law that enslaved them ... The law of 13 May was nothing more than the legal recognition – so as not to discredit public authority – of an act that had already been accomplished by the mass revolt of slaves.
Evolution of the African population in Brazil
Before abolition, the growth of the black population was mainly due to the acquisition of new slaves from Africa. In Brazil, the black population had a negative growth. This was due to the low life expectancy
Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...
of the slaves, which was around seven years.[Ribeiro, Darcy. O ''Povo Brasileiro'', Companhia de Bolso, fourth reprint, 2008. ] It was also because of the imbalance between the number of men and women. The vast majority of slaves were men, black women being a minority. Slaves rarely had a family and the unions between the slaves was hampered due to incessant hours of work. Another very important factor was that black women were held by white and mixed-race men. The Portuguese colonization, largely composed of men with very few women resulted in a social context in which white men disputed indigenous or African women.[ According to ]Gilberto Freyre
Gilberto de Mello Freyre (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist, congressman born in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is commonly associated with other ...
, in colonial Brazilian society the few African women who arrived quickly became concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubi ...
s, and in some cases, officially wives of the Portuguese settlers. In large plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s of sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
and in the mining areas, the white master often choose the most beautiful black slaves to work inside the house. These slaves were raped by their masters, producing a very large Mulato
(, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...
population. The diplomat and ethnologist
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
wrote that "Mulatism became a necessary evil" in the captaincies in the interior of Brazil. He noticed a "strange aversion to marriage" in the 19th century Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
, arguing that the colonists preferred to have quick relationships with black slaves rather than a marriage.
According to Darcy Ribeiro the process of miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
between whites and blacks in Brazil, in contrast to an idealized racial democracy
Racial democracy ( pt, Democracia racial) is a term used by some to describe race relations in Brazil. The term denotes some scholars' belief that Brazil has escaped racism and racial discrimination. Those researchers contend that Brazilians ...
and a peaceful integration, was a process of sexual domination, in which the white man imposed an unequal relationship using violence
Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...
because of his prime condition in society.[ As an official wife or as a concubine or subjected to a condition of sexual slave, the black woman was the responsible for the growth of the "parda" population. The non-White population has grown mainly through sexual intercourse between the black female slave and the Portuguese master, which, together with assortative mating, explains the high degree of European ancestry in the black Brazilian population and the high degree of African ancestry in the white population.
Historian Manolo Florentino refutes the idea that a large part of the Brazilian people is a result of the forced relationship between the rich Portuguese colonizer and the Amerindian or African slaves. According to him, most of the Portuguese settlers in Brazil were poor adventurers from ]Northern Portugal
The North Region ( pt, Região do Norte ) or Northern Portugal is the most populous region in Portugal, ahead of Lisbon Region, Lisbon, and the third most extensive by area. The region has 3,576,205 inhabitants according to the 2017 census, and its ...
who immigrated to Brazil alone. Most of them were men (the proportion was eight or nine men for each woman) and then it was natural that they had relationships with the Amerindian or Black women. According to him the mixture of races in Brazil, more than a sexual domination of the rich Portuguese master over the poor slaves, was a mixture between the poor Portuguese settlers with the Amerindian and Black women.
The Brazilian population of more evident black physiognomy is more strongly present along the coast, due to the high concentration of slaves working on sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
plantations. Another region that had a strong presence of Africans was the mining areas in the center of Brazil. Freyre wrote that the states with strongest African presence were Bahia and Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
, but that there is no region in Brazil where the black people have not penetrated. Many blacks fled to the hinterland of Brazil, including the Northern region, and met Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
and Mameluco
''Mameluco'' is a Portuguese word that denotes the first generation child of a European and an Amerindian. It corresponds to the Spanish word ''mestizo''.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, ''mameluco'' was also used to refer to organized bands of ...
populations. Many of these acculturated blacks were accepted in these communities and taught them the Portuguese language and the European culture. In these areas the blacks were "agents for transmitting European culture" to those isolated communities in Brazil. Many blacks mixed with the Amerindian and caboclo
A caboclo () is a person of mixed Indigenous Brazilian and European ancestry, or, less commonly, a culturally assimilated or detribalized person of full Amerindian descent. In Brazil, a ''caboclo'' generally refers to this specific type of '' ...
women.
Geographic distribution of Black Brazilians
, the Brazilian Metropolitan Area with the largest percentage of people reported as Black was Salvador, Bahia, with 1,869,550 Pardo
''Pardos'' (feminine ''pardas'') is a term used in the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas to refer to the triracial descendants of Southern Europeans, Amerindians and West Africans. In some places they were defined as ne ...
people (53.8%) and 990,375 ''pretos'' (28.5%). The state of Bahia has also the largest percentage of "pardos" (62.9%) and ''pretos'' (15.7%). Other cities with significant Afro-Brazilian populations are Rio de Janeiro (where a 2013 study estimated that 31.1% of Rio de Janeiro's population is African-descended) and Belo Horizonte.
Genetic studies
A recent genetic study of African Brazilians made for BBC Brasil analysed the DNA of self-reported native Africans from São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
.
The research analysed 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
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes (allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or abse ...
, that is present only in male
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization.
A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...
s 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 one can have in mind that they are only a fraction of the human genome, and reading ancestry from Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes (allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or abse ...
and mtDNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...
only tells 1/23rd the story, since humans have 23 chromosome pairs in the cellular DNA.
Analysing the Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes (allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or abse ...
, which comes from male ancestors through paternal line, it was concluded that half (50%) of Brazilian "negros" Y chromosomes come from Europe, 48% come from Africa and 1.6% come from Native Americans. Analysing their mitochondrial DNA, that comes from female ancestors though maternal line, 85% of them come from Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, 12.5% come from Native Americans and 2.5% come from Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
The high level of European ancestry in African Brazilians through paternal line exists because, for much of Brazil's History, there were more Caucasian males than Caucasian females. So inter-racial
Interracial topics include:
* Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races
** Interracial marriage in the United States
*** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident
* Interracial adoption, placing a child of one raci ...
relationships between Caucasian males and native Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n or Native American females were widespread.
Over 75% of Caucasians from North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
and Northeastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
Brazil would have over 10% native Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n genes, according to this particular study. Even in Southeastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
and Southern Brazil, regions which received large waves of European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
immigration beginning in the 1820s and growing strongly in the late nineteenth century, 49% of the Caucasian population would have over 10% native Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n genes, according to that study. Thus, 86% of Brazilians would have at least 10% of genes that came from Africa. The researchers however were cautious about their conclusions: "Obviously these estimates were made by extrapolation of experimental results with relatively small samples and, therefore, their confidence limits are very ample". A new autosomal study from 2011, also led by Sérgio Pena, but with nearly 1000 samples this time, from all over the country, shows that in most Brazilian regions most Brazilians "whites" are less than 10% African in ancestry, and it also shows that the "pardos" are predominantly European in ancestry, the European ancestry being therefore the main component in the Brazilian population, in spite of a very high degree of African ancestry and significant Native American contribution. Other autosomal studies (see some of them below) show a European predominance in the Brazilian population.
Another study (based on blood polymorphisms, from 1981) carried out in one thousand individuals from Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...
city, Southern Brazil, and 760 from Natal
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
city, Northeastern Brazil, found whites of Porto Alegre had 8% of African alleles and in Natal the ancestry of the samples total was characterized as 58% White, 25% Black, and 17% Amerindian". This study found that persons identified as White or Pardo in Natal have similar ancestries, a dominant European ancestry, while persons identified as White in Porto Alegre have an overwhelming majority of European ancestry.
According to an autosomal DNA genetic study from 2011, both "whites" and "pardos" from Fortaleza have a predominant degree of European ancestry (>70%), with minor but important African and Native American contributions. "Whites" and "pardos" from Belém
Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...
and Ilhéus
Ilhéus () is a major city located in the southern coastal region of Bahia, Brazil, 211 km south of Salvador, the state's capital. The city was founded in 1534 as Vila de São Jorge dos Ilhéus and is known as one of the most important touris ...
also were found to be predominantly European in ancestry, with minor Native American and African contributions.
According to another study conducted at a school in the poor periphery of Rio de Janeiro, autosomal DNA study (from 2009), the "pardos" there were found to be on average over 80% European, and the "whites" (who thought of themselves as "very mixed") were found out to carry very little Amerindian and/or African admixtures. "The results of the tests of genomic ancestry are quite different from the self made estimates of European ancestry", say the researchers. In general, the test results showed that European ancestry is far more important than the students thought it would be. The "pardos", for example, thought of themselves as ⅓ European, ⅓ African and ⅓ Amerindian before the tests, and yet their ancestry was determined to be at over 80% European. The "blacks" (pretos) of the periphery of Rio de Janeiro, according to this study, thought of themselves as predominantly African before the study and yet they turned out ''predominantly European'' (at 52%), the African contribution at 41% and the Native American 7%.
According to another autosomal DNA study (see table), those who identified as Whites in Rio de Janeiro turned out to have 86.4% – and self identified pardos 68.1% – European ancestry on average (autosomal). ''Pretos'' were found out to have on average 41.8% European ancestry.
Another study (autosomal DNA study from 2010) found out that European ancestry predominates in the Brazilian population as a whole ("whites", "pardos" and "blacks" altogether). European ancestry is dominant throughout Brazil at nearly 80%, except for the Southern part of Brazil, where the European heritage reaches 90%. "A new portrayal of each ethnicity contribution to the DNA of Brazilians, obtained with samples from the five regions of the country, has indicated that, on average, European ancestors are responsible for nearly 80% of the genetic heritage of the population. The variation between the regions is small, with the possible exception of the South, where the European contribution reaches nearly 90%. The results, published in the ''American Journal of Human Biology'' by a team of the Catholic University of Brasília, show that, in Brazil, physical indicators such as skin colour, colour of the eyes and colour of the hair have little to do with the genetic ancestry of each person, which has been shown in previous studies"(regardless of census classification) "Ancestry informative SNPs can be useful to estimate individual and population biogeographical ancestry. Brazilian population is characterized by a genetic background of three parental populations (European, African, and Brazilian Native Amerindians) with a wide degree and diverse patterns of admixture. In this work we analyzed the information content of 28 ancestry-informative SNPs into multiplexed panels using three parental population sources (African, Amerindian, and European) to infer the genetic admixture in an urban sample of the five Brazilian geopolitical regions. The SNPs assigned apart the parental populations from each other and thus can be applied for ancestry estimation in a three hybrid admixed population. Data was used to infer genetic ancestry in Brazilians with an admixture model. Pairwise estimates of F(st) among the five Brazilian geopolitical regions suggested little genetic differentiation only between the South and the remaining regions." Estimates of ancestry results are consistent with the heterogeneous genetic profile of Brazilian population, with a major contribution of European ancestry (0.771) followed by African (0.143) and Amerindian contributions (0.085). The described multiplexed SNP panels can be useful tool for bioanthropological studies but it can be mainly valuable to control for spurious results in genetic association studies in admixed populations."
It is important to note that "the samples came from free of charge paternity test takers, thus as the researchers made it explicit: "the paternity tests were free of charge, the population samples involved people of variable socioeconomic strata, although ''likely to be leaning slightly towards the ‘'pardo'’ group''". According to it the total European, African and Native American contributions to the Brazilian population are:
An autosomal study from 2013, with nearly 1300 samples from all of the Brazilian regions, found a predominant degree of European ancestry combined with African and Native American contributions, in varying degrees. 'Following an increasing North to South gradient, European ancestry was the most prevalent in all urban populations (with values up to 74%). The populations in the North consisted of a significant proportion of Native American ancestry that was about two times higher than the African contribution. Conversely, in the Northeast, Center-West and Southeast, African ancestry was the second most prevalent. At an intrapopulation level, all urban populations were highly admixed, and most of the variation in ancestry proportions was observed between individuals within each population rather than among population'.
According to another autosomal DNA study from 2009, the Brazilian population, in all regions of the country, was also found out to be predominantly European: "all the Brazilian samples (regions) lie more closely to the European group than to the African populations or to the Mestizos from Mexico". According to it European ancestry was the main component in all regions of Brazil: Northeast of Brazil (''66.7% European 23.3% African 10.0% Amerindian'') Northern Brazil (''60.6% European 21.3% African 18.1% Amerindian'') Central West (''66,3% European 21.7% African 12.0% Amerindian'') Southeast Brazil (''60.7% European 32.0% African 7.3% Amerindian'') Southern Brazil (''81.5% European 9.3% African 9.2% Amerindian''). According to it the total European, African and Native American contributions to the Brazilian population are:
An autosomal study from 2011 (with nearly 1000 samples from all over the country, "whites", "pardos" and "blacks" included, according to their respective proportions) has also concluded that European ancestry is the predominant ancestry in Brazil, accounting for nearly 70% of the ancestry of the population: "''In all regions studied, the European ancestry was predominant, with proportions ranging from 60.6% in the Northeast to 77.7% in the South''". The 2011 autosomal study samples came from blood donors (the lowest classes constitute the great majority of blood donors in Brazil), and also public health institutions personnel and health students. In all Brazilian regions European, African and Amerindian genetic markers are found in the local populations, even though the proportion of each varies from region to region and from individual to individual. However most regions showed basically the same structure, a greater European contribution to the population, followed by African and Native American contributions: "Some people had the vision Brazil was a heterogeneous mosaic ..Our study proves Brazil is a lot more integrated than some expected". Brazilian homogeneity is, therefore, greater within regions than between them:
A 2015 autosomal genetic study, which also analyzed data of 25 studies of 38 different Brazilian populations concluded that: European ancestry accounts for 62% of the heritage of the population, followed by the African (21%) and the Native American (17%). The European contribution is highest in Southern Brazil (77%), the African highest in Northeast Brazil (27%) and the Native American is the highest in Northern Brazil (32%).
According to another study from 2008, by the University of Brasília (UnB), European ancestry dominates in the whole of Brazil (in all regions), accounting for 65,90% of the heritage of the population, followed by the African contribution (24,80%) and the Native American (9,3%).
According to an autosomal DNA study (from 2003) focused on the composition of the Brazilian population as a whole, "European contribution ..is highest in the South (81% to 82%), and lowest in the North (68% to 71%). The African component is lowest in the South (11%), while the highest values are found in the Southeast (18%-20%). Extreme values for the Amerindian fraction were found in the South and Southeast (7%-8%) and North (17%-18%)". The researchers were cautious with the results as their samples came from paternity test takers which may have skewed the results partly.
São Paulo state, the most populous state in Brazil, with about 40 million people, showed the following composition, according to an autosomal study from 2006: European genes account for 79% of the heritage of the people of São Paulo, 14% are of African origin, and 7% Native American. A more recent study, from 2013, found the following composition in São Paulo state: 61,9% European, 25,5% African and 11,6% Native American.
Several other older studies have suggested that European ancestry is the main component in all Brazilian regions. A study from 1965, "Methods of Analysis of a Hybrid Population" (''Human Biology'', vol. 37, no. 1), led by the geneticists D. F. Roberts and R. W. Hiorns, found out the average the Northeastern Brazilian to be predominantly European in ancestry (65%), with minor but important African and Native American contributions (25% and 9%). A study from 2002 quoted previous and older studies (28. Salzano F. M. ''Interciêência''. 1997;22:221–227. 29. Santos S. E. B., Guerreiro J. F. ''Braz J. Genet''. 1995;18:311–315. 30. Dornelles C. L, Callegari-Jacques S. M, Robinson W. M., Weimer T. A., Franco M. H. L. P., Hickmann A. C., Geiger C. J., Salzamo F. M. ''Genet. Mol. Biol''. 1999;22:151–161. 31. Krieger H., Morton N. E., Mi M. P, Azevedo E., Freire-Maia A., Yasuda N. ''Ann. Hum. Genet''. 1965;29:113–125. ubMed, saying that: "Salzano (28, a study from 1997) calculated for the Northeastern population as a whole, 51% European, 36% African, and 13% Amerindian ancestries whereas in the north, Santos and Guerreiro (29, a study from 1995) obtained 47% European, 12% African, and 41% Amerindian descent, and in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, Dornelles et al. (30, a study from 1999) calculated 82% European, 7% African, and 11% Amerindian ancestries. Krieger et al. (31, ''a study from 1965'') studied a population of Brazilian northeastern origin living in São Paulo with blood groups and electrophoretic markers and showed that whites presented 18% of African and 12% of Amerindian genetic contribution and that blacks presented 28% of European and 5% of Amerindian genetic contribution (31). Of course, all of these Amerindian admixture estimates are subject to the caveat mentioned in the previous paragraph. At any rate, compared with these previous studies, our estimates showed higher levels of bidirectional admixture between Africans and non-Africans."
File:Rugendas - Escravos Crioulos.jpg,
File:Debret - Esclaves Nègres de Differénts Nations.jpg,
File:Debret - Diferentes Nacoes Negras.jpg,
In 2007 BBC Brasil launched the project ''Raízes Afro-Brasileiras'' (Afro-Brazilian Roots), in which they analyzed the genetic ancestry of nine famous Brazilian blacks and "pardos". Three tests were based on analysis of different parts of their DNA: an examination of paternal ancestry, maternal ancestry and the genomic ancestry, allowing to estimate the percentage of African, European and Amerindian genes in the composition of an individual.
Of the nine people analyzed, three had more European ancestry than African, while the other six people had more African ancestry, with varying degrees of European and Amerindian admixture. The African admixture varied from 19.5% in actress to 99.3% in singer Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
He has toured across the world.
Nascimento has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his alb ...
. The European admixture varied from 0.4% in Nascimento to 70% in Silva. The Amerindian admixture from 0.3% in Nascimento to 25.4% in football player Obina.
Media
''Pretos'', along with other non-Europeans, have a low representation in the Brazilian media. Africans / Afro-Brazilians are under-represented in telenovela
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...
s, which have the largest audience of Brazilian television. The Brazilian soap operas, as well as throughout Latin America, are accused of under-representing the Black, Mixed and Amerindian population and over-representing white casts (with having preferences to upper-middle-class, blond and blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
/green-eyed
Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic character determined by two distinct factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris.
In humans, the ...
actors and actresses). Brazil has produced soap operas since the 1960s, but it was only in 1996 that a black actress, Taís Araújo
Taís Bianca Gama de Araújo (; born 25 November 1978) is a Brazilian actress, TV host and model.
Her first prominent role on television was in 1996 as protagonist of the Brazilian telenovela '' Xica da Silva'' by Walcyr Carrasco, in the Rede M ...
, was the protagonist of a telenovela, playing the role of the famous slave Chica da Silva
Francisca da Silva de Oliveira (–1796), known in history by the name Chica da Silvahttp://dicionarioegramatica.com/2015/12/06/chica-ou-xica-da-silva-o-certo-e-xica-ou-chica-da-silva/ Chica ou Xica da Silva? in: DicionarioeGramatica.com and wh ...
. In 2002, Araujo was protagonist of another soap, being the only Black actress to have a more prominent role in a TV production of Brazil. Black actors in Brazil are usually required to follow stereotypes and are usually in subordinate and submissive roles, as maids, drivers, servants, bodyguards, and poor favela
Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...
dos. Joel Zito Araújo wrote the book ''A Negação do Brasil'' (''The Denial of Brazil'') which talks about how Brazilian TV hides the Black population. Araújo analyzed Brazilian soap operas from 1964 to 1997 and only 4 black families were represented as being of middle-class. Black women usually appear under strong sexual connotation and sensuality. Black men usually appear as rascals or criminals. Another common stereotype is of the " old mammies". In 1970, in the soap ''A Cabana do Pai Tomás'' (based on American novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...
'') a white actor, Sérgio Cardoso, played Thomas, who was a black man in the book. The actor had to paint his body in black to look black. The choice of a White actor to play a black character caused major protests in Brazil. In 1975 the telenovela ''Gabriela'' was produced, based on a book by Jorge Amado
Jorge Leal Amado de Faria (10 August 1912 – 6 August 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in ...
, who described Gabriela, the main character, as a ''mulata
(, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...
''. But to play Gabriela on television Rede Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Grupo Globo. The TV stati ...
choose Sônia Braga
Sônia Maria Campos Braga (; born 8 June 1950) is a Brazilian actress. She is known in the English-speaking world for her Golden Globe Award–nominated performances in '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' (1985) and ''Moon over Parador'' (1988). She ...
, who is an olive-skinned woman. The producer claimed he "did not find any talented Black actress" for the role of Gabriela. In 2001 Rede Globo produced ''Porto dos Milagres'', also based on a book by Jorge Amado. In the book Amado described a Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...
full of blacks. In the Rede Globo's soap opera, on the other hand, almost all the cast was white. The same situation has been seen in the 2018 telenovela "Segundo Sol", leading to new protests, mainly in social medias. But once again the producer (TV Globo) denied racism, saying "We base our cast selection by talent, not by race".
In the fashion world blacks and "pardos" are also poorly represented. In Brazil there is a clear predominance of models from the South of Brazil, mostly of European descent. Many black models complained of the difficulty of finding work in the fashion world in Brazil. This reflects a Caucasian standard of beauty demanded by the media. To change this trend, the Black Movement of Brazil entered in court against the fashion show, where almost all the models were whites. In a fashion show during São Paulo Fashion Week
The São Paulo Fashion Week is an clothing trade show held semi-annually in São Paulo. It is notable as "Latin America's pre-eminent fashion event" and it is of the emerging fashion weeks, outside the ''Big Four'' of New York Fashion Week, New Y ...
in January 2008, of the 344 models only eight (2.3% of total) were blacks. A public attorney required the fashion show to contract Black models and demanded that during São Paulo Fashion Week 2009, at least 10% of the models should be "Blacks, Afro-descendants or Indians", under penalty of fine of 250,000 reais.
Religion
Most blacks are Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
, mainly Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
s.[Study ''Panorama of religions'']
Fundação Getúlio Vargas, 2003. Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda
Umbanda () is a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion that blends traditional African religions with Roman Catholicism, Spiritism, and Indigenous American beliefs. Although some of its beliefs and most of its practices existed in the late 19th ce ...
have many followers, but they are open to people of any race, and, indeed, while the proportions of blacks (in the strict sense, i.e., "pretos") are higher among practitioners of these religions than among the population in general, Whites are a majority in Umbanda, and a significant minority (bigger than blacks in the strict sense) in Candomblé. They are concentrated mainly in large urban centers such as Salvador, Recife
That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15)
, image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg
, mapsize = 250px
, map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco
, pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...
, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...
, Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
, São Luís. In addition to Candomblé, which is closer to the original West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
n religions, there is also Umbanda
Umbanda () is a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion that blends traditional African religions with Roman Catholicism, Spiritism, and Indigenous American beliefs. Although some of its beliefs and most of its practices existed in the late 19th ce ...
, which blends Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and Kardecist Spiritism
Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Riv ...
beliefs with African beliefs. Candomblé, Batuque, Xango
Xango, LLC, (sometimes stylized as XANGO and XanGo) was a privately owned Lehi, Utah-based multi-level marketing company founded in 2002. It was acquired by Zija International in May 2017. The company marketed and distributed Xango juice, a blen ...
and Tambor de Mina
Tambor de Mina is an Afro-Brazilian religious tradition, practiced mainly in the Brazilian states of Maranhão, Piauí, Pará and the Amazon rainforest.
Terminology
''Tambor'' means drum in Portuguese, and refers to the importance of the ...
were originally brought by enslaved Africans
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
shipped from Africa to Brazil.
These enslaved Africans would summon their gods, called Orixas, Voduns 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, the 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
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...
northwards there is also different practices such as Catimbo
African diaspora religions are a number of related Pagan beliefs that developed in the Americas in various nations of the Caribbean, Latin America and the Southern United States. They derive from Pagan traditional African religions with some influ ...
, Jurema with heavy, though not necessarily authentic, indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
elements.
Since the late 20th century, a large number of Afro-Brazilians became followers of Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
denominations, mainly Neopentecostal
The Neo-charismatic (also third-wave charismatic or hypercharismatic) movement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the post-biblical ...
churches. Among Brazil's predominant ethnicities, Blacks make up the largest proportion of Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement Protestants, while Whites make up the largest group of non-Pentecostal Protestants. As mentioned, some black Brazilians are Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
of Sunni sect whose ancestors were called ''Malê.''
Cuisine
The influence of African cuisine
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
in Brazil is expressed in a wide variety of dishes. In the state of Bahia, an exquisite cuisine evolved when cooks improvised on African
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
and traditional Portuguese dishes using locally available ingredients. Typical dishes include Vatapá
Vatapá (Yoruba: vata'pa, ) is an Afro-Brazilian dish made from bread, shrimp, coconut milk, finely ground peanuts and palm oil mashed into a creamy paste. It is a typical food of Salvador, Bahia and it is also common to the North and Northea ...
and Moqueca
Moqueca ( or depending on the dialect, also spelled muqueca) is a Brazilian seafood stew. Moqueca is typically made with shrimp or fish as a base with tomatoes, onions, garlic, lime and coriander. The name moqueca comes from the term ''mu'keka ...
, both with seafood and dendê palm oil ( pt, Azeite de Dendê). 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 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
''Feijoada'' () is a stew of beans with beef and pork. The name ''feijoada'' comes from ''feijão'', 'bean' in Portuguese. It is widely prepared in the Portuguese-speaking world, with slight variations.
The basic ingredients of feijoada are bean ...
was introduced from Portugal and has been one of the national dishes of for over 300 years. African slaves built upon its basic ingredients, but substituting more expensive ingredients with cheap ones such as pigs ears, feet and tail, beans and manioc flour. Basically a mixture of black beans, pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
and farofa
''Farofa'' () is a type of meal made from toasted cassava. It is eaten mainly in Brazil. It can be found commercially produced and packaged but can also be prepared at home based on family recipes. Most recipes will also contain varying amount ...
(lightly roasted coarse cassava manioc
''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...
flour), the dish has been adopted by other cultures, and there are hundreds of ways to make it.
Acarajé
Àkàrà (Yoruba)(English: Bean cake Hausa: kosai, Portuguese: Acarajé () is a type of fritter made from cowpeas or beans (black eye peas). It is found throughout West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines. The dish is traditionally encoun ...
is a dish made from peeled black-eyed pea
The black-eyed pea or black-eyed bean is a legume grown around the world for its medium-sized, edible bean. It is a subspecies of the cowpea, an Old World plant domesticated in Africa, and is sometimes simply called a cowpea.
The common commer ...
s formed into a ball and then deep-fried in ''dendê'' ( palm oil). It is found in Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
and Brazilian cuisine. The dish is traditionally encountered in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...
, especially in the city of Salvador, often as street food
Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumpt ...
, and is also found in most parts of Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
and the Republic of Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Republic of Dahomey, Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burki ...
.
Sports
Capoeira
Capoeira is a martial art
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...
developed initially by African slaves who came predominantly from Angola or Mozambique to Brazil, starting in the colonial period. Appeared in Quilombo dos Palmares
Palmares, or Quilombo dos Palmares, was a ''quilombo'', a community of escaped slaves and others, in colonial Brazil that developed from 1605 until its suppression in 1694. It was located in the captaincy of Pernambuco, in what is today the B ...
, located in the Captaincy of Pernambuco
Pernambuco () is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it List of Brazilian states by population, sev ...
. Documents, legends and literature of Brazil record this practice, especially in the port of Salvador, a city in which black Africans were discriminated against by colonial society and seen as villains. Despite being reprimanded, Africans continued to practice this martial art, on the pretext that it was just a dance. Until the present, Capoeira
Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th cent ...
confuses dance and fight, and is an important part of the culture of Brazil. It is marked by deft, tricky movements often played on the ground or completely inverted. It also has a strong acrobatic
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...
component in some versions and is always played with music. Recently, the sport has been popularized by Capoeira performed in various computer games and movies, and Capoeira music has been featured in modern pop music (see Capoeira in popular culture).
Music
The music of Brazil is a mixture of Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, Amerindian, 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.
Notable people
Many black Brazilians have been prominent in Brazilian society, particularly in the arts, music and sports.
Many important figures of Brazilian literature have been people of African-descendant, such as Machado de Assis
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (), often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis, ''Machado,'' or ''Bruxo do Cosme Velho''Vainfas, p. 505. (21 June 1839 – 29 September 1908), was a pioneer Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short sto ...
, widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature. Some of these individuals include João da Cruz e Souza, symbolist poet, João do Rio
João do Rio was the pseudonym of the Brazilian journalist, short-story writer and playwright João Paulo Emílio Cristóvão dos Santos Coelho Barreto, a Brazilian author and journalist of African descent (August 5, 1881, Rio de Janeiro – Ju ...
, chronicler, Maria Firmina dos Reis
Maria Firmina dos Reis (March 11, 1822 – November 11, 1917) was a Brazilian author. She is considered Brazil's first black female novelist. In 1859, she published her first book Úrsula, which is considered the first Brazilian abolitionist nov ...
, abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
and author, José do Patrocínio
José Carlos do Patrocínio (October 9, 1854 – January 29, 1905) was a Brazilian writer, journalist, activist, orator and pharmacist. He was among the most well-known proponents of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, and known as "O Tigre da Ab ...
, journalist, among others.
In popular music, the talents of black Brazilians have found fertile ground for their development. Masters of samba, Pixinguinha
Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, known as Pixinguinha (; April 23, 1897February 17, 1973) was a Brazilian composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Pixinguinha is considered one of the greatest Brazilian composers of pop ...
, Cartola
Angenor de Oliveira, known as Cartola (Portuguese for top hat), (; October 11, 1908 – November 30, 1980) was a Brazilian singer, composer and poet considered to be a major figure in the development of samba.
Cartola composed, alone or with p ...
, Lupicínio Rodrigues Lupicínio Rodrigues (Porto Alegre, September 16, 1914 – Porto Alegre, August 27, 1974) was a Brazilian singer and composer from Rio Grande do Sul. He was a prominent exponent of the samba-canção genre. He dubbed his own style, ''dor-de-cotovel ...
, Geraldo Pereira, Wilson Moreira, and of MPB, Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
He has toured across the world.
Nascimento has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his alb ...
, Jorge Ben Jor
Jorge Duílio Lima Menezes (born March 22, 1939) is a Brazilian popular musician, performing under the stage name Jorge Ben Jor since the 1980s, though commonly known by his former stage name Jorge Ben (). His characteristic style fuses samba, ...
, Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration ...
, have built the Brazilian musical identity.
Another field where black Brazilians have excelled is football: Pelé, Garrincha
Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha (, "little bird"), was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a right winger. He is widely regarded as one o ...
, right-forward Leônidas da Silva, nicknamed "Black Diamond", are well known historic names of Brazilian football; Ronaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional association football, footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deplo ...
, Romário, Dida
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA) is an optional information and communication technology (ICT) course, usually studied by Key Stage 4 or equivalent school students (aged 14-16). DiDA was introduc ...
, Fernandinho, Robinho
Robson de Souza ( or , born 25 January 1984), known as Robinho (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
In 1999, at 15 years of age, Robinho was picked by Brazil legend Pelé as his heir apparent and, in 2002 ...
and many others continue this tradition.
Important athletes in other sports include NBA players, Nenê
Nenê (; born Maybyner Rodney Hilário; September 13, 1982) is a Brazilian former professional basketball player. Known previously as Nenê Hilario, he legally changed his name to simply Nenê in 2003.
Early life
Born Maybyner Rodney Hilário i ...
and Leandro Barbosa
Leandro Mateus Barbosa (; born November 28, 1982), also known as Leandrinho Barbosa, is a Brazilian former professional basketball player who is an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also rep ...
, nicknamed "The Brazilian Blur", referring to his speed.[Associated Press]
"Barbosa runs away with Sixth Man Award"
ESPN, 23 April 2007. João Carlos de Oliveira Jadel Gregório
Jadel Abdul Ghani Gregório (born 16 September 1980 in Jandaia do Sul, Paraná) is a Brazilian athlete competing in long jump and triple jump. Based in São Paulo, he has competed in several international championships since 2001. ...
, Nelson Prudêncio, Adhemar da Silva.
Particularly important among sports is capoeira
Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th cent ...
, itself a creation of Black Brazilians; important "Mestres" (masters) include Mestre Amen Santo Mestre Amen Santo is an Afro-Brazilian mestre (master) of the acrobatic martial art of capoeira. He has acting, acted in roles practicing his art in two Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood movies, ''Only the Strong (film), Only The Strong'' and ''K ...
, Mestre Bimba
Manuel dos Reis Machado, commonly called Mestre Bimba (; November 23, 1899 – February 5, 1974), was a Brazilian capoeira ''mestre'' (a master practitioner). He founded the '' capoeira regional'' school, one of the art's two main branches.
E ...
, Mestre Cobra Mansa
Mestre Cobra Mansa (born Cinézio Feliciano Peçanha, 1960 in Duque de Caxias, Brazil) commonly known as ''Cobrinha'' and ''Cobrinha Mansa'', is a ''mestre'' or master of Capoeira Angola. He is one of the founders and the guiding light of an org ...
, Mestre João Grande, Mestre João Pequeno
Mestre () is a borough of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Venice, on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy.
Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the ''Municipalità di ...
, Mestre Moraes
Pedro Moraes Trindade, commonly known as Mestre Moraes, (born February 9, 1950, in Ilha de Maré in Salvador, Brazil) is a master of capoeira.
He lives in Salvador, Bahia, teaching at a public school and overseeing GCAP, which serves as a cultu ...
, Mestre Pastinha
Vicente Ferreira Pastinha (commonly called Mestre Pastinha) (April 5, 1889, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil – November 13, 1981) was a ''mestre'' (a master practitioner) of the Brazilian people, Brazilian martial art Capoeira.
Formative Years
Pastin ...
, Mestre Pé de Chumbo.
Since the end of the 1980s, the political participation of black Brazilians has increased. Some important politicians include former mayor of São Paulo Celso Pitta
Celso Roberto Pitta do Nascimento (; 1946–2009) was a Brazilian economist and politician. He had a Bachelor in Economics by Fluminense Federal University, master in Economics by University of Leeds and specialist in Advanced Administration b ...
, former governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Alceu Collares, former governor of Espírito Santo, Albuíno Azeredo. One of the justices of the Supremo Tribunal Federal
The Supreme Federal Court ( pt, Supremo Tribunal Federal, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for consti ...
, Joaquim Barbosa, is Black. There is only one Black Justice at the TST (Tribunal Superior do Trabalho) who was also Minister, Carlos Alberto Reis de Paula.
Black Brazilians have also excelled as actors, such as Lázaro Ramos
Luís Lázaro Sacramento Ramos (born November 1, 1978) is a prolific Brazilian actor, television presenter, director, writer, and voice actor. He started his acting career with the Flock of Olodum Theater group, in Salvador, and is best known f ...
, Ruth de Souza
Ruth Pinto de Souza (May 12, 1921 – July 28, 2019) was a Brazilian actress.
Biography
As a member of the Black Experimental Theater (''Teatro Experimental do Negro,'' TEN), she is one of the first Black actresses in dramatic theater in Brazi ...
, Zózimo Bulbul Zózimo Bulbul (September 21, 1937 – January 24, 2013) was a Brazilian actor, filmmaker, and activist. Bulbul was a prominent proponent of Afro-Brazilian culture within Brazilian cinema and society at-large. Bulbul co-founded and organized the En ...
, Milton Gonçalves
Milton Gonçalves (; 9 December 1933 – 30 May 2022) was a Brazilian actor and television director, who was one of the most famous black actors in Brazil, having collaborated twice with acclaimed director Héctor Babenco. One notable role with ...
, Mussum, Zezé Motta
Maria José Motta de Oliveira (born 27 June 1944), known as Zezé Motta, is a Brazilian actress and singer. She is considered one of the most important actresses in Brazil.
Life and career
Born in Campos dos Goytacazes, she moved with her famil ...
, and as dancers, like Isa Soares.
See also
* Afro-Latin Americans
* Batuque
* Candomblé
* Ethnic groups in Brazil
Brazilian society is made up of a confluence of people of several different origins, from the original Native Brazilians, with the influence of Portuguese colonists and people of African descent. Other major significant groups include Itali ...
* Haitian Brazilian
A Haitian Brazilian ( pt, Haitiano-Brasileiro, french: Haïtien Brésilien, ht, Ayisyen-Brezilyen) is a Brazilian person of full, partial, or predominantly Haitian ancestry, or a Haitian-born person residing in Brazil.
Haitian immigration to Bra ...
* Kalunga
The Kalungas are Brazilians that descend from people who freed themselves from slavery, and lived in remote settlements in Goiás state, Brazil. The Kalungas are one group of Quilombola, or people of African origin who live in hinterland s ...
* Liberated Africans in Nigeria
The Saro, or Nigerian Creoles of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were Yoruba Liberated Africans emancipated and initially resettled in Freetown, Sierra Leone by the Royal Navy, which, with the West Africa Squadron, enforced the abo ...
* Macumba
''Makumba'' () is a term that has been used to describe various religions of the African diaspora found in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. It is sometimes considered by non-practitioners to be a form of witchcraft or black magic.
The ...
* Quimbanda
Quimbanda () is an Afro-Brazilian religion practiced primarily in the urban city centers of Brazil. Quimbanda practices are typically associated with magic, rituals with Exus, and Pombagiras spirits. Quimbanda was originally contained under the ...
* Racial democracy
Racial democracy ( pt, Democracia racial) is a term used by some to describe race relations in Brazil. The term denotes some scholars' belief that Brazil has escaped racism and racial discrimination. Those researchers contend that Brazilians ...
* Tambor de Mina
Tambor de Mina is an Afro-Brazilian religious tradition, practiced mainly in the Brazilian states of Maranhão, Piauí, Pará and the Amazon rainforest.
Terminology
''Tambor'' means drum in Portuguese, and refers to the importance of the ...
* Umbanda
Umbanda () is a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion that blends traditional African religions with Roman Catholicism, Spiritism, and Indigenous American beliefs. Although some of its beliefs and most of its practices existed in the late 19th ce ...
References
Further reading
*Ankerl, Guy. ''Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western''. 2000, Geneva. INUPRESS, . pp. 187–210.
External links
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{{African diaspora
Ethnic groups in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
Race in Brazil