It is believed to be a mixture of Kikongo (a language spoken in central Africa in the current countries of Congo, DRC, Gabon, and Angola, former member states of Kongo) and Spanish.

The village was formed in the early 17th century to the south of Cartagena by fugitive slaves who escaped from surrounding districts, under the leadership of Benkos Biohó.

The Palenqueros maintained their physical distance from ethnic Europeans as a form of anti-colonial resistance but they likely intermarried with indigenous women.

A 1913 document noted that residents of Palenque de San Basilio had a 'guttural dialect that some believe to be the very African language, if not in all its purity at least with some variations'.

Although it is spoken in parallel with Spanish, the latter has dominated the regular linguistic activity of Palenque de San Basilio.

[11] Three major events have contributed to the revived interest in the Palenquero creole: Antonio Cervantes, also known as Kid Pambelé, is an internationally recognized boxing champion born in Palenque de San Basilio.

Beginning in 1992, the educational system in Palenque de San Basilio started reintroducing Palenquero in the curriculum.

[12] Grammatical gender is non-existent, and adjectives derived from Spanish default to the masculine form: lengua africano ‘African language’.

This particle is believed to derive from Kikongo, a Bantu language, and is the sole Kikongo-derived inflection present in Palenquero.

This particle is usually dropped with cardinal numbers greater than two: ma ndo baka "two cows" but tresi año "13 years".

A comprehensive list and proposed etymologies are provided in Moñino and Schwegler's "Palenque, Cartagena y Afro-Caribe: historia y lengua" (2002).