Atlantic Creole
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Atlantic Creole is a term used to describe the early slaves during the European colonization of the Americas . These slaves had cultural roots in Africa and Europe. Usually of a mixed race, with an European father and African mother. They were worked from sunrise to dusk as both manual and skilled laborers. Examples include John Punch and Emanuel Driggus.
There was an emergence in the Chesapeake Bay region in the 17th century of what historian Ira Berlin (1998) calls "Atlantic Creoles." These were freed slaves and indentured servants of European, West African, and Native American ancestry (and not just North American, but also Caribbean, Central and South American Indian: see Forbes (1993)). Some of these "Atlantic Creoles" were culturally what today might be called "Hispanic" or "Latino," bearing names such as "Chavez," "Rodriguez," and "Francisco." Many of them intermarried with their English neighbors, adopted English surnames, and even owned slaves.
