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[Odler]

This question has been posed to me so far under different forms.

Since modern carnival is associated with neo-African and catholic

cultures, it is puzzling to know whether the biggest European

carnival involves people of African ascent. The answer is no;

almost none.

In Santa Cruz, among the 300,000 people assembled on Plaza de Espana,

on Carnival Monday, I saw about five or six Blacks.

In my days in Puerto de la Cruz, I saw a couple of black tourists, all with Caucasian companions. I also saw several black peddlers in the streets. But, there was not one Black in costume, taking part to the festivities.

Spain?s relationship with Africa explains why one would not find many

Blacks there, except, of course, in Madrid. While countries like

France, England, and the Netherlands, ex-European colonial empires,

have retained until recently or presently some black colonies and

territories, Spain has been out of the colonial business since the 19th century (except for Equatorial Guinea)

Many Blacks live in Portugal. Remember: Blacks from Angola, Mozambique, etc. were made Portuguese citizens in the 1960s. In Holland lives a sizeable black colony from the Caribbean Dutch territories. England entertains a close relationship with the Caribbean Commonwealth countries (all recently independent). But Spain has no historical reason to have a strong black presence on its territory.

African economic refugees would not find in the Canarias the economic

structure they seek after. Paris, London, and all the capitals of

the E.U are more attractive. You need no passport to go from one to

the next, once you are inside the Union.

Finally, Spain, even as a Black slavery imperialist power, has never

had the kind of relationship that England and France entertained with their Blacks.

Spain never had many slaves. Why? Because Spain was never involved in sugar cane production that requires much higher manpower than the spice, banana, tobacco, tomato, and other vegetables Spain was interested in.

The resulting small proportion of Blacks in ex-Spanish colonies can easily be observed in studying the populations of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico for example. The percentage of Blacks is comparatively small, but also the population is far more mixed (brown) than it is in ex-French colonies like Haiti, or ex-English colonies like Jamaica.

Why are these populations of lighter complexion? Because sugar cane production requires a high level of segregation, considering the large number of Blacks on the latifundae. This reality was different in Spanish colonies.

As a footnote, though the Portuguese were involved in cane production

in Brazil, they started early sleeping with their black servants.

This explains the difference in population and? attitude.

In the street of Lisbon, mixed couples are quite part of the

landscape. Racial strife is unheard of.

I have obviously overstepped the boundaries of the question being

debated; I hope you will forgive my reflexive loquacity.

(The Traveller, Saturday, February 17, 2002)