Afro-Caribbean people

Afro-Caribbean people

Total population
23,620,599
Regions with significant populations
Haiti	8.9 million
United States	2.88 million
Jamaica	2.2 million
Dominican Republic	2.0 million[1]
France	1.2 million[2]
Cuba	1.03 million[3]
United Kingdom	1.0 million[4]
Trinidad and Tobago	452,536[5]
Canada	383,533
Bahamas	372,000
Puerto Rico	342,000
Martinique	273,985[6]
Barbados	253,771
Guyana	225,860
Suriname	202,500
Saint Lucia	173,765
Curaçao	148,000
Grenada	101,309
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	98,693[7]
Belize	93,394
Antigua and Barbuda	82,041
U.S. Virgin Islands	80,868
Dominica	72,660
Honduras	51,000 (approx) in Bay Islands Department
Saint Kitts and Nevis	38,827
Cayman Islands	18,837
Languages
English Caribbean English Bahamian, Barbadian, Bay Islands, Bermudian, Belizean, Cayman Islands, Jamaican Standard, Puerto Rican, Samaná, Trinidadian and Tobagonian English Creole Antiguan and Barbudan, Bahamian, Bajan, Belizean, Bocas del Toro, Garifuna, Guyanese, Grenadian, Jamaican, Limonese, Miskito Coast, Montserrat, Rama Cay, Saint Kitts, San Andrés–Providencia, Sranan Tongo, Tobagonian, Trinidadian, Turks and Caicos, Vincentian, Virgin Islands French French Creole Antillean, Dominican, Grenadian, Guadeloupean, Haitian, Martinican, Saint Lucian, San Miguel, Trinidadian Spanish Caribbean Spanish Papiamento
Religion
Predominantly: Christianity Minority: Islam Baháʼí Judaism Traditional African religion Afro-American religion Obeah Rastafari Santería Orisha Trinidad Orisha Yoruba Vodou Winti Others
Related ethnic groups
Afro–Latin Americans, Americo-Liberians, African Americans, Sierra Leone Creoles, West Africans

Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Africans (primarily from West and Central Africa) taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries to work primarily on various sugar plantations and in domestic households. Other names for the ethnic group include Black Caribbean, Afro- or Black West Indian, or Afro- or Black Antillean. The term West Indian Creole has also been used to refer to Afro-Caribbean people,^[8] as well as other ethnic and racial groups in the region,^[9][10][11] though there remains debate about its use to refer to Afro-Caribbean people specifically.^[12][13] The term Afro-Caribbean was not coined by Caribbean people themselves but was first used by European Americans in the late 1960s.^[14]

People of Afro-Caribbean descent today are largely of West African and Central African ancestry, and may additionally be of other origins, including European, Chinese, South Asian and Amerindian descent, as there has been extensive intermarriage and unions among the peoples of the Caribbean over the centuries.

Although most Afro-Caribbean people today continue to reside in English, French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations and territories, there are also significant diaspora populations throughout the Western world, especially in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. Caribbean peoples are predominantly of Christian faith, though some practice African-derived or syncretic religions, such as Santeria, Vodou and Winti. Many speak creole languages, such as Haitian Creole, Jamaican Patois, Sranantongo, Saint Lucian Creole, Martinican Creole or Papiamento.

Both the home and diaspora populations have produced a number of individuals who have had a notable influence on modern African, Caribbean and Western societies; they include political activists such as Marcus Garvey and C. L. R. James; writers and theorists such as Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon; US military leader and statesman Colin Powell; athletes such as Usain Bolt, Tim Duncan and David Ortiz; and musicians Bob Marley, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna.