With the growth in human trafficking between the two shores of the Mediterranean basin, their numbers increased dramatically. Finally, whether moving willingly or displaced by force, large groups of black men, women and children were quick to mix with Hispanic-Arab society. Despite the ethnic barriers and the violence they had to endure, many of them ended up putting down roots. This was a lasting phenomenon that would deeply mark the history of Spain and the Christian West. We do not have significant quantitative  
data, but literary, legal and historical sources offer analogous and consistent testimonies regarding the roles and activities that were attributed to such people at all levels of Andalusian society.