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. 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. The usage, outside the specific ethnicity of the Cocolos of San Pedro de Macorís, is vague, and at times the word can mean all blacks 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. History The immigration of Cocolos began in the late 1800s with the rise and development of the sugar industry in the Dominican Republic, although immigrants are preferably placed in coastal communities with active ports (Sánchez, Samaná, Monte Cristi, Puerto Plata). The main Dominican ports were in the "North Band" so that a large majority of these immigrants came from the Bahamas and the Turks, especially in Puerto Plata, due to proximity. Many also came from Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Antigua, Anguilla, St. Vincent, Montserrat, Tortola, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. The first Turks and Caicos Islander immigrants began arriving in Puerto Plata after the Dominican War of Restoration, long before the modern sugar industry was established. There were carpenters, blacksmiths and schoolteachers who emigrated due to the economic crisis in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. Many also came as stevedores boats line Clyde Steamship Company, which dominated trade for many years. When the railroad of Puerto Plata-Santiago was built in the late 19th century, many came from these islands to work on the railroad as well as others from Saint Thomas, which was then a Danish colony, they also settled in large numbers in