Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That's interesting. Panama is a puzzling place to me though. When I see pictures of Panama City, I see a population of people that does look more like Cuba/DR/Cartegena....i.e., Panama has more african-blood mixed in there, by appearance than they are stated statistically.
Statistically Panama is very MESTIZO...something like 60%+ Mestizo....but it doesn't seem right. I wonder if they just identify with that and click that box? But they seem like they have a lot more African genetics mixed in to me than other Mestizo-dominant countries.
At least half of the Mestizos in Panama are Tri-racial while the other half are legitimately Mestizo.
"Mestizo" is a variable term in Latin America that can vary from "White/Amerindian mix", "Mixed in general", or "Westernized Amerindian." In Bolivia and Peru, you can be a full blooded Amerindian and be considered Mestizo simply because you have no connection with your Amerindian heritage. In Venezuela and Puerto Rico, Tri-racials are considered Mestizo. In Cuba and DR, lighter toned Mulattoes are considered Mestizo.
Panama has Mestizos but I definitely wouldn't call it a Mestizo majority society like Mexico or El Salvador.
Would Black Cubans self-identify themselves first and foremost as 'Cuban' or 'African-Cuban'?
Usually I notice Dominicans see themselves as Dominicans first and foremost (probably partly because they are such a mix). Whereas African-Ecuadorians for example, might identify more with their African roots for various reasons.
Not sure about Cuba with that...I'm a bit curious.
Black Cubans tend to identify as both but they tend to be more likely to identify as "black" than Dominicans because of Cuba's historical racial segregation and Jim Crow laws. It wasn't until recent decades that Cuba had "mestzaje" like other Latin American countries.
The DR, by contrast, had a lot of mixing since its independence from Haiti and Spain.
Cuba as a whole is very African influenced, though, so black Cubans are basically treated as the norm in Cuba. Ecuador, by contrast, is mainly a Mestizo/Amerindian country with an isolated black community on its Pacific Coast so the dynamics are really different.
At least half of the Mestizos in Panama are Tri-racial while the other half are legitimately Mestizo.
"Mestizo" is a variable term in Latin America that can vary from "White/Amerindian mix", "Mixed in general", or "Westernized Amerindian." In Bolivia and Peru, you can be a full blooded Amerindian and be considered Mestizo simply because you have no connection with your Amerindian heritage. In Venezuela and Puerto Rico, Tri-racials are considered Mestizo. In Cuba and DR, lighter toned Mulattoes are considered Mestizo.
Panama has Mestizos but I definitely wouldn't call it a Mestizo majority society like Mexico or El Salvador.
Like Belize, Panama is a mix of Mestizos, Tri-racials, Blacks, Amerindians, Mulattoes, Asians, Whites, etc.
It would be interesting to see one of those genetic tests for Panama, much like I've seen for DR, Cuba, and the like. They always seem so much a part of that Cuba, DR, PR, northern Colombia sphere...
For cuisine, it's the same thing. Puerto Ricans have mofongo but Dominicans have their own version of mofongo as well. Dominicans have spaghetti but Puerto Ricans have their own version of Spaghetti as well. They all eat platanos, pollo, arroz, salami, empanadas, etc. with minor differences. The "Cuban sandwich" is an American invention(not even invented by a Cuban) but that's one thing that stands out about "Cuban" cuisine. All 3 cuisines also lack spiciness compared to their Mexican and Anglo Caribbean counterparts. Cuba has a stronger coffee culture as well.
I like this cuisine element into the discussion.
One thing I've been wondering for a long time, how come Mexican cuisine has stayed so strongly within Mexico, and never really spread throughout Latin America?
I was in South America for ten months, and I liked the food well-enough, but compared to Mexican...
In the Northeast, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are more similar due to neighborhoods and socioeconomics. In the islands, I'd say Cuba and DR are more similar.
I've been to Cuba many times. At least 20% of the population is black or Afro-Caribbean looking...maybe even slightly more. In DR, I'd say it's closer to 30% which isn't far off. Cuba has more whites(30%) but the mulatto populations are the biggest groups in both populations(50%+ of DR, 40%+ of Cuba). Puerto Ricans "white" population is vastly overstated(It's actually about 35% - 40% of the population as opposed to 70%+). However, mixed PR's have WAY more Taino admixture on average compared to DR's and Cubans. I've seen quite a few PR's who look similar to Venezuelans, Cartagena Colombians, and even Hondurans. There's a stronger Tri-racial look among them whereas mixed DR's and Cubans tend to be devoid of Taino admixture.
Also, both DR and Cuba have been influenced by Haitians historically, to the point where there's regional Haitian influenced dialects in both countries. People associate the DR with Haiti but Cuba has had strong ties with Haiti as well historically. In fact, a whopping 5% of Cuba today is of Haitian descent with is only half as high as the DR's percentage(10%). Haitian Creole are the second most common languages in both DR and Cuba today.
Also, Maximo Gomez(DR) played a huge role in liberating Cuba from Spain and Cubans celebrate him as though he were Cuban and Cubans introduced sugar cane to the DR.
Maybe historically Cuba and PR were more similar in the past but I don't get that vibe today. Maybe it'd be apt to say that they're all equally similar to each other today compared to the past where the DR may have been the "outlier" or whatever.
During the era of Colonial Spain, slavery of indigenous tribes was common. As the Spaniards expanded north into what is now AZ, NM and TX, they became in conflict with Apaches, Navajos, Comanches, and Kiowas who pushed them back. Captured indigenous women and children were often enslaved - but many often escaped successfully (albeit with mixed children due to rape). The repeated escapes led to the Spaniards' decision to send indigenous slaves from the southwest to Cuba. I am Native American from rural AZ but worked in Miami, FL for a year. When I saw Cubans I often wondered if a very few had distant Native American ancestry traced to the Southwestern USA (Kiowa, Comanche, Navajo, or Apache). The Cubans did have indigenous slaves from what is now AZ, TX and NM. The Spanish-Indigenous War lasted about four hundreds of years from Coronado's Expedition (1500s) into the early 1900s. Some of the Cubans and Puerto Ricans definitely look part indigenous and at a minimum have some degree of Taino (or other indigenous) ancestry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanc...%93Mexico_Wars
Yea, acouple extra things to had....
When Dominican Republic first become independent from Spain in the 1820s, it was known as Spanish Haiti (guess they couldn't come up with a name at the time). Immediately after it's original independence from Spain, it was invaded and occupied by Haiti, in 1844 it become independent from Haiti and the country abandoned the name "Spanish Haiti" in favor of the name "Dominican Republic" to try distance itself from Haiti.
Interesting with the name. It's rather unfortunate there is also a Dominicana country. I'd love to see 'Republic' dropped.
Has there been any recent suggestions for name changes instead of the 'Dominican Republic'? I do like the (Santo) Domingo/Dominican (Republic) though.
The 3 have such a strong link to the US, like die hard fans of baseball, while all the other countries stuck with Soccer. Some of the Best base ball players come from these countries, to a lessor extent PR. The 3 are mostly of Catholic Denominations. The 3 do have strong African roots, such as the types of vegetables Africans are familiar with. The foods are cooked very similar to the way Africans prepare the Dishes. If my memory is correct, Ethiopia is where many of the Slaves first came from.
The Ethiopian reference is usually because the women in Cuba/DR/PR have that more genetic mixed look, I think. I'm not sure what parts of Africa most were from originally, but I can't imagine it being Ethiopia. But, it would be super interesting to be proved wrong on that.
The arrival of hundreds of Lebanese/Syrians also influenced the Dominicans, specially in the culinary area, making Dominican cuisine somewhat different then Cuba and PR.
Lebanese/Syrians...that's an interesting one. I had the impression they went to many countries though...Brazil always seemed to be one. Interesting if they influenced Dominican Republic as well. They have some great foods in the Middle East.
PANAMA
In the general population of Panama, 38.72% of genes from the genetic pool have an African origin, 35.87%, an Amerindian origin and 25.40%, a Caucasian origin.
PANAMA CITY:
In the province of Panama there is a 57.01%, 26.25% and 16.74% contribution of African, Amerindian and Caucasian genes, respectively.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
