I have learnt a lot of things today…
Saint Nicolas, who in Dutch is called "Sinterklaas" or "Sint Nicolaas" was the bishop of Myra, which is now situated in Turkey.
According to the Dutch tradition, he comes from Spain...and I'm coming from Spain too!
Possibly it has something to do with the fact that St. Nicolas was the patron of sailors.
In the 17th century Holland was famous for its navigation.
Maybe by contact with Spanish sailors this story began.
It could also explain why St. Nicholas has "zwarte (black) pieten" to help him
because the Moors dominated Spain for several hundreds of years.
(Another [more popular] explanation for "zwarte piet" being black
is that he has come down the chimneys so often that he can't wash the dirt off.)
Anyway the Black Pedros exist and are saint Nicolas’ assistants,
you can see here that I met all of them this morning!