Cocolo is a term used in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean to refer to non-Hispanic African descendants. The term originated in the Dominican Republic and is historically used to refer to Anglophone Caribbean immigrants and their descendants and more rarely, towards those from the Francophone Caribbean. Namely the Cocolos of San Pedro de Macorís, Puerto Plata, the Samaná Peninsula, and other Afro-descendants who lived in coastal areas and were culturally distinct from the hispanicized Dominicans. However,the term is also sometimes applied to Dominicans who are Hispanicized, but are of darker skin tones and live primarily in coastal regions of the country. Traditionally, both of these groups were culturally distinct from the Dominicans who primarily lived in the interior of the country and tend to have a higher degree of European ancestry.