Cocolo

Cocolo is a term used in the Hispanic Caribbean to refer to Afro-Caribbean migrant descendants. The term originated in the Dominican Republic and is historically used to refer to the Anglophone Caribbean immigrants and their descendants and more rarely, towards those from the Francophone Caribbean.^[1] It is mainly used to refer to the migrants in San Pedro de Macorís, Puerto Plata, the Samaná Peninsula, and other Afro-descendants who arrived in the Atlantic coastal areas of the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s. At the time these migrants were culturally distinct from the lighter Dominicans who primarily lived in the northern interior of the country and had a higher degree of colonial European ancestry.^[2][3]

The usage, outside the specific ethnicity of the Cocolos of San Pedro de Macorís, is vague, and at times the word can mean all black or all poorer people of any race living in less developed coastal areas. It can also be used to refer to those who identify with the Afro-Latino culture and music, such as palos, salsa and other Spanish Afro-Caribbean musical genres. The term is often used with pride to refer to oneself, yet can be taken as an insult when others use it.