People of African descent have been part of the multiracial/multicultural mix in the Americas since the day Columbus first sited the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. As both slaves and free people, Africans spread throughout the Americas over time as part of the process of European imperial conquest of the ‘new world’.

The goals of this demographic history are to document and to briefly profile the population of African descendants in relation to Monterey County on the central coast of California from the Spanish colonial era to the present.

While this web site does not attempt to provide a fuller history of the lives and experiences of African-Spaniards/Mexicans/Americans in the Monterey area, it is hoped that it might provide some contextual support for others who are developing those richer historical narratives.

Joe Larkin, Ph.D.

Humanities  & Communication

CSU Monterey Bay