A long history of the song at this site, in Spanish, by Dr. Elfidio Alonso. It seems that the song can be traced to mid-18th century, but there is some question about it being found from the 14th century in Sephardic literature. A lot of speculation. Did it pass from Cuba to Spain? African predecessor? No habla Español, so guessing.
Website: Senor Don Gato

I hope someone who knows Spanish will summarize the highlights of this article.
Did the song enter North America from the south, or did it come across from Spain?