This article delineates the historical process and the social conditions whichgave birth to the variety of languages known as "Creoles" in Linguistics. Thefirst part of the study places Creoles in the new domain called "LanguageContact", due to the multiethnic origin of these dialects. The second partdeals with the African languages which came to the New World, the Euro-African contact vernaculars which emerged during the centuries of the slavetrade, and the communications network which obtained in colonialCartagena. The final part sketches the "life cycle" of Creoles and refers to R.Chaudenson's "sociohistorical" approach.