Zambo

Zambo (Cafuzo in Brazil, Lobo in Mexico, Marabou in Haiti, Garifuna in Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala) is a term of Spanish origin describing Latin Americans of mixed African and Amerindian racial descent. The feminine form is zamba (not to be confused with the afro-Brazilian Samba folk dance or Samba music, or with Argentine Zamba folk dance).

Under the caste system of colonial Latin America, the term originally applied to the children of one African and one Amerindian parent, or the children of two zambo parents. During this era a myriad of other terms were in use to denote other individuals of African/Amerindian ancestry in ratios smaller or greater than the 50:50 of zambos: "Cambujo" (Zambo/Amerindian mix) for example. Today, zambo refers to all people with significant amounts of both African and Amerindian ancestry.

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