Afro-Colombians
Country · Colombia
San Basilio de Palenque, founded by escaped Africans around 1600, was the first free Black town in the Americas — and its language is still spoken.
Afro-Colombians at a glance
- Country
- Colombia
- Main centres
- Cali · Cartagena · Buenaventura · Quibdó
- Region
- South America
- How many
- Roughly one in ten Colombians, concentrated on both coasts
- Languages
- Spanish · Palenquero · Creole (San Andrés)
- Dialling code
- +57
The African connection
Benkos Biohó led escapees out of Cartagena and founded Palenque, which won a Spanish guarantee of freedom in 1691. Palenquero, its creole, is the only Spanish-lexicon creole in Latin America with African grammar still intact.
Key dates for Afro-Colombians
The dates this community marks — independence, emancipation, and the festivals that fill a hall wherever its people have settled.
Diaspora meets diaspora
AfricAsia began with Africans in Asia. The same story runs through every entry in this section — people of African descent building a life a long way from where their ancestors started.
If you are from Afro-Colombians and you are anywhere in Asia — studying, working, playing, passing through — there are people here who will know what you are asking before you finish the question.
Every Asian country →The Afro-Colombians channel
Every entry in the diaspora section has its own free channel in the Hub, alongside the 108 country channels and the topic rooms.
Open the channel →