The "Black Spaniards": did they say they came from Africa?

SUMMARYThe "Black Spaniards": did they say they came from Africa? (Nov 7, 2026; Tito: "The black Spaniards did they say they were from Africa"). WHO SAYS WHAT, by whose pen: (1) JUAN GARRIDO, his own words, Record: his 1538 petition (probanza, Archivo General de Indias, México 204, f.1) opens "I, Juan Garrido, black in color, resident of this city [Mexico]." In the English rendering available he gives his color, not a homeland. "Born in the Kingdom of Kongo about 1480, came to Portugal as a youth" is modern historians' reading (Martone 2008; Restall 2021), not a quote from him in what was opened. Test: read the Spanish facsimile and transcription in Alegría, Juan Garrido: el conquistador negro (Open). (2) ESTEVANICO, Spanish pen, Record: Cabeza de Vaca wrote "negro alárabe, natural de Azamor," an Arabic-speaking Black man native of Azemmour, on Morocco's Atlantic coast, Portuguese-held when Dorantes bought him there (1522). Africa, yes, but Moorish North Africa, written by the man who traveled with him; Estevanico's own words don't survive. (3) JUAN VALIENTE, Spanish records: "Western Africa," no people or country named; held under contract to Alonso Valiente (1533) and still not bought free when he died at Tucapel (1553), though he held land and an encomienda in Chile. (4) SEBASTIÁN TORAL: "most likely born in Africa" is historians' inference (BlackPast); his dates are unknown; he fought in Montejo's Yucatán campaign (1541)

PATTERNof these men, only Garrido speaks in his own record, and in what was found he names his color, not Africa. The "from Africa" label mostly comes from the Spaniards who held, sold or traveled with them, or from modern historians (Rule 14: who wrote the label). Where a place is named, Estevanico's Azemmour, it is Moorish Morocco, which ties to the Moors thread

OPENthe Spanish text of Garrido's probanza; other "negro" Spaniards' own testimony (Nuflo de Olano with Balboa; Juan Latino of Granada).