ABSTRACT

The earliest African population nucleus in the Spanish colonies of the Americas was made up of groups referred to as negros ladinos. They were so named because of their partial, or perhaps in most cases total, linguistic and cultural assimilation and acculturation of Iberia. These negros ladinos were the Africans—some of whom were born in Lisbon, Coimbra, Madrid, Sevilla, and other major cities of the Iberian Peninsula—who would later accompany numerous Spanish explorers and adventurers on their expeditions to the new territories. We know, for example, that perhaps one of the very first African ladinos in America had piloted one of Columbus’s ships, La Niña, during the historic 1492 voyage. He was Pedro Alonso Niño. Other such Africans of renown included Nuflo de Olano, who sailed with Balboa to Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean. Estebánico journeyed with Coronado through territory of the United States Southwest. Juan Garrido was alongside Ponce de León in Puerto Rico and Florida. Pedro Mejía was the personal servant to Ovando when he arrived to govern Hispaniola. Ladinos were with Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico, with Juan de Esquivel when he settled Jamaica, with Diego de Velásquez when he established a colony in Cuba, with Pedro de Alvarado in Central America, and with Pizarro in Peru. From the very beginning, then, the African presence in the Americas was a definite reality. However, the story of that presence begins well before ladinos found themselves in significant roles as they accompanied European adventurers across the Atlantic on those initial voyages.