This is a new beginning to the Afro-Mexio webpage. I sure hope you enjoy the site. This first thread was started by a reader with questions about Olmec heads, which follows.
An informational website of Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica by Bobby Vaughn
Bobby what about those giant heads with negro features found in those areas? Could the so call afromexican descend from that cilivisation ? I have serious doubt about this slave trade. And why do so many churches throughout South America look like they could have been mosque?
Hi Levonna,
Thanks for your comment. you are referring to the giant Olmec heads That seem to clearly show African features, such as a wide nose and thick lips. When you look at the heads it seems just so obvious that they are African. The theory that those heads are evidence of early contact between Africans and indigenous people was popularized by Ivan Van Seritima in the book “They Came Before Columbus,” published in 1976. The book is provocative, but it really doesn’t stand up to serious archaeological scrutiny. The theory is not accepted by archaeologists and anthropologists who have looked at it carefully. Maybe the best analysis of the theory is in the following peer-reviewed article which I found to be available online Haslip-Viera (1997). Anyone interested in the Olmec head theory should check it out.
Your question about Latin American churches looking like mosques is a good one. We know that Spanish architecture (and even the Spanish language!) is strongly influenced by Arab cultures, since the Moors of North Africa controlled Spain for some 700 years. That architectural influence is what you might be noticing, and it really is striking!