Yes, Portuguese people have African ancestry, primarily North African (Moorish) from historical occupation and Sub-Saharan African due to the transatlantic slave trade and colonial history, with genetic studies showing varying levels of both, especially in southern Portugal and islands like Madeira, where West African slaves were integrated into the population.
(2020) identified 11.17 ± 1.87% North African ancestry in southern Portuguese samples (from a population similar to modern northern Moroccans and Algerians), 9.28 ± 1.79% of such ancestry in western Andalusians, and an average of 1.41 ± 0.72% sub-Saharan ancestry in southern Iberians (using Yoruba as a proxy source).
Genetic comparisons
The results of the present HLA study in Portuguese populations show that they have features in common with Basques and some Madrid-area Spaniards: a high frequency of the HLA-haplotypes A29-B44-DR7 (ancient Western Europeans) and A1-B8-DR3 are common characteristics.
Slightly over 1 percent of the Portuguese population is black or of mixed race. It should also be noted that Portugal once had a colony in China called Macau. There are still a number of Portuguese-speaking people in this former colony and a number of ethnic Chinese who live in mainland Portugal.
Studies of genome-wide variation, uniparental markers and ancient DNA agree that Iberians are primarily West European populations, but with a geographically structured layer of North African-related ancestry that is highest in the south and west of the Peninsula and very low or absent in the Basque Country and ...
We all descended from the same African ancestors, with little genetic separation from each other. The different colors or tones of skin are the result of an evolutionary response to ultraviolet light in local environments. Everybody has brown skin tinted by the pigment melanin. Some people have light brown skin.
Most people of Spanish or Portuguese descent have some percentage of North African because of the moorish presence.
Mediterranean Skin
Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Yugoslavian, South American or Central American origin. This skin type presents as sallow with some reddish pigment. There is a good degree of melanin present which obscures the colour of the blood vessels.
Portuguese is spoken in a number of African countries and is the official language in five African countries: Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique.
Portugal is a country located in Southwestern Europe, occupying most of the westernmost edge of the continent on the Iberian Peninsula. Known for its rich maritime history, Portugal was a key player during the Age of Discoveries, establishing a global empire that spanned continents.
Portugal, however, is a nation in southwestern Europe, and its people speak Portuguese, which is distinctive from Spanish. Thus, Portuguese is more often categorized under the umbrella of "White" or "European" rather than "Hispanic."
Portugal has about 10 million native inhabitants, and of these, around 25% have light-colored eyes . This means that approximately 2 million and 500 thousand Portuguese people have blue/green eyes in the country , while the remaining 75% ( about 7 million and 500 thousand ) have brown eyes .
A neighbor-joining dendrogram place Basques, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Algerians closer to each other and more separated from other populations.
During transport to Portugal, enslaved people were fastened and chained with manacles, padlocks, and rings around their necks. Portuguese owners could whip, chain, and pour burning hot wax and fat onto the skin of their slaves, and punish their slaves in any way that they wished, as long as the slaves remained alive.
Portuguese people features include, stereotypically, wavy brown hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. But Portugal is a diverse country, so these stereotypes don't reflect all Portuguese people. Portuguese heritage comes from a mixture of different groups that have settled or traded in the region over the centuries.
The African country with the largest population of European descendants both numerically and proportionally is South Africa, where white South Africans number 4,504,252 people, making up 7.3% of South Africa's population, according to the 2022 South African census.
Although Portugal would eventually establish several large colonies in Africa, its enterprises on the continent were seldom successful, and its achievements are not highly regarded, particularly given its extensive involvement in the African slave trade.
Afro-Portuguese (Afro portugueses or Lusoafricanos), African-Portuguese (Portugueses com ascendência africana), or Black Portuguese are Portuguese people with total or partial ancestry from any of the Sub-Saharan ethnic groups of Africa.
Every Portuguese has Arab blood running through their veins, and I am proud of every drop. Autosomic analysis has shown that around 5% of North African DNA is found in the western half of the Iberian Peninsula, the “highest proportion of African ancestry in Europe.”
It is a common skin tone of people from the Mediterranean, Latin America, and Western Asia.
In Spanish "moreno" comes from moro("moor") and is the most widespread word to mean someone of brown or black skin in Spain and Spanish speaking Latin America meanwhile on the other side of the planet in the Philippines Moro means muslim believers, both come from the Spanish use of moor.
Afro-Mexicans are most concentrated in largely isolated communities, including the populations of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca and Guerrero, Veracruz, and in some cities in northern Mexico. According to recent DNA studies, most Mexicans have a small amount of African, averaging to about 5% African DNA.
Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern and Western European populations, exhibiting a high degree of continuity with other Indo-European-derived ethnic groups in the region.