ABSTRACT
Historically, the blackening of Spain started in the eighth century when the Moors invaded the Andalusian region in the south. When this first period of black influence in Spain ended with the Moors being expelled by force at the end of the fifteenth century, the Moorish influence could be felt almost all over the country. As a result of their superior culture, they had left behind many architectonic treasures, a sophisticated social and political organization, and some of the most astonishing developments in mathematics, music, and philosophy. Soon Spain experienced a completely different kind of blackening: On the other side of the Atlantic-and together with other European imperial powers-Spain participated in the colonial expansion and became involved in the slave trade from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, and, as a consequence, people of African descent
populated the Spanish landscape once more. However, these were relations based on power and supremacy, and there was little respect for black culture. The twentieth century opened a new chapter for black influences in Spain. Surely one of the most important blackening influences is twentieth-century postcolonial migration to contemporary Spain, but this essay will concentrate on the African American impact on Spanish culture.
