✊🏾🇲🇽 Afro-Mexican History 📖 Lesson

✊🏾🇲🇽 Afro-Mexican History 📖 Lesson⠀ ⠀ The African presence in 🇲🇽 dates back to the early sixteenth century when Spanish conquistadors and colonialists arrived; with them they brought the slave trade.⠀ ⠀ Mexico soon became a slave trading country, with a population of an average of 250,000 enslaved Africans principally from West Africa used by the Spanish to oversee the indigenous people.⠀ ⠀ Although slavery was not officially abolished in 🇲🇽 until 1829, many Africans gained freedom much earlier. Some were freed by owners, others paid for their freedom or simply escaped to the country.⠀ ⠀ The history 📖 of Afro-Mexicans has been one of erasure and marginalization. Today, there are approximately 1.4 million citizens of African descent in Mexico, which the government did not officially recognized until the 2015 census count.⠀ ⠀ Today many Afro-Mexicans live in and around the southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and the state of Guanajuato.⠀ ⠀ Key figures include :⠀ ⠀ 👉🏾 Vicente Guerrero, the first and only Afro-Mexican president.⠀ ⠀ 👉🏾 Gaspar Yanga, a enslaved African rebel that formed the ☝🏾 free black community and led attacks against the Spanish army for over 30 years. Yanga was named a national hero by Mexico in 1871.⠀ ⠀ 👉🏾 Colonel Carmen Amelia Robles Avila, an Afro Mexican mujer who was a leader in the Mexican Revolution. She fought alongside Emiliano Zapata.⠀