African-Americans in Viedma

African-American expatriates in Viedma, Rio Negro and the nearby metropolitan area are a prominent group within the "New City of the Caesars" whose presence goes back over two hundred years. Today the Viedma area possesses the largest African-American community in South America, who have dubbed the city as Little Atlanta, and many African-Americans refer to it as the second capital of the African-American community. Black Americans from Viedma have had a significant impact on politics in both the United States and Patagonia.

History
Before the British conquest of the Pampas, the first denizens to land and seize territory there were the African-Americans. Black Americans first sailed to the town of Carmen (today's Viedma) in 1783, having fled after the defeat of the Loyalists in the American Revolution. The Black Loyalists were accompanied by the first Baptist missionaries to Patagonia via Georgia in the United States. Descendants of Black Loyalists who lived in Viedma and are of mixed West African, British, Afro-Argentine and Caribbean descent, are collectively known as the Negritos de Viedma.

This group is characterized by being Baptist, sporting English and Spanish surnames and having its own distinctive English patois, known as Viedma Afro-English Patois. Many speakers are descended from emancipated African slaves who fled during the American Civil War and settled in Patagonia. Others have ancestors who are descendants of Afro-Caribbean people from Trinidad, Jamaica, the Windward Islands and Belize. A few Louisiana Creole people of mixed West and Central African, Native American French and Spanish descent are also living in Viedma.

Other African ethnic groups in Patagonia include Ethiopians, Black South Africans, and Ghanaians.

Notable people

 * Chris Clemons (b. 2004), EDM producer and rapper based in Viedma
 * DeAndre Peters (1962-2019), former Lord-Mayor of Viedma from 2010-2015