How Did Africans Come to Arrive in Argentina?

Especially in the field of the history Afro-Argentines two main sources are usually used. Firstly, Leslie B. Rout’s The African Experience in Spanish America, published in 1976, and secondly George Reid Andrews’ The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires 1800-1900, published in 1980. Since these are at the same time the most extensive works on the history of Afro-descendants in Argentina they are also a very important part of this project. However, since we are investigating and criticizing dominant Argentine discourse on Afro-descendants, we also have to be critical towards every other source that appears to create a dominant discourse, even if it is the counterpart, which is why we try to approach each of the sources used with a certain caution.

Keeping all of this in mind, according to our sources, most Africans were brought were brought to Argentina as slaves during Spanish colonialism. Starting in 1534, the Spanish crown granted concessions permitting the limited import of slaves into the Río de la Plata region (Andrews, Afro-Argentines 23). According to official documentation, until 1595 a mere 233 slaves were imported to Buenos Aires, which was far below the demand for labor force at the time (23). The harsh restrictions on slave trade by the Spanish Crown lead to a flourishing illegal market for slaves and ever-growing creativity in how to import new labor forces from Africa. It is, according to George Reid Andrews, especially this illegal importation and trade of slaves that makes it hard to say how many Africans actually arrived in Argentina (23 f.). Estimated numbers of imported slaves range from almost 23,000 to 100,000 between the late sixteenth and the eighteenth century (Williams 46).

In 1778, when the Spanish Crown opened its colonies to free trade, commerce boomed and Europeans as well as African slaves continued to arrive in growing numbers (Andrews 25). As a consequence of open trade and flourishing economics in the country, and Buenos Aires especially, slave trade increased drastically between 1779 and 1791 (25). By 1778 the black population of Buenos Aires already constituted 30% of the total population of the city (4) and the percentage grew towards 40% until the 1850s (64).