Most enslaved Africans came out of West Africa, particularly Nigeria, Benin, and Senegambia. The Senegalese were preferred slaves, said my Dad (From Africa to Black Power) because of their intelligence and skills as mechanics and artisans.
The Wolof (Senegal and Gambia) and the Mandingo (upper Niger River Valley) were prominent in developing jazz in New Orleans. The Ashantes of Ghana were either warriors, the best and most faithful of slaves, or prone to revolt, escape, or hang themselves). The Yoruba and Nagoes tribes of Nigeria, Dahoney's Whydahs and Paw-paws, and the Gambians were submissive, lusty, industrious, and cheerful. The Gaboans were physically weak.
Tribes involved in the slave trade of Central and Southern Africa came from Chad, Central African republic (Ubangi-Shair, Oubangui-Chari), Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Angola, Namibia, Zambia (Rhodesia), Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa. Tribes of the Cameroon Highland included the Bayon, Bakom, Bagba, Beli, Bamun, Nwala, Bamenyam, Bafia, Bagam, Fut, Mbem, and Nsaw, Noob.
Others were the Wute, Nen, Bongkeng, Kossi, Duala, Isuwu, Lundu, Akuna Kuna, Yako, Ekoi, Boki, Anyang; Ngoteng, Gayi, and Anang, from the Congo: the Seke, Rungu, Mbeti, Obamba, Kalai, ondasa, Tsaye, Teke, Ntandu, and Mboma; from Angola: Lueno, Ambundu, Kisama, Songo, Imbangala, Ovimbundu. Most slaves shipped from the west coast came from the immediate hinterland of Luanda, Angola - from such groups as the Ambundu; others from the hinterland of the slave-trade ports north of the Congo mouth -- from such groups as the Vili, Yombe, Boma, Nsundi, and Kongo.
Tribes in other central African countries were mainly as far north as Chad -- the Manga, Buduma, Kanem, Wadai, Bagirmi, and Agades. The number of tribes in the slave trade decreased with an increasing distance from the coast. The inland sources were mainly along the principle trade routes into the interior. Like the Eboes of Nigeria, many of the Congoes and Angolas ran away or committed suicide rather than be enslaved.
Countries of East Africa are the Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, and the island of Madagascar. Tribes involved in the slave trade to the Americas were mainly in the Sudan and Mozambique (and its hinterland). The latter were the Makwa and Inhamane (Tonga) on the coast, and the Medo, Yao, Maravi, and Cuabo more inland.
A most striking pattern of the east coast trade was the absence of slaves from the swahili coast and its hinterland (from Somalia to Mozambique). The trade apparently divided in the vicinity of Cape Delgado -- the northern segment flowing to Zanzibar (an island off Tanzania), the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. To the south the Portuguese sailed both to the islands of the Indian ocean and to the Americas.
The "Mozambique slaves" were a generic term for all Africans shipped from the east coast of Africa.
Other generic terms for tribes were "Kakanjas" for the Nupe and those from Kakanda; "Mokos" for the Cameroons, "Binnees" (Benin) for all the people from the forest belt west of Yoruba and East of Ibo; "Congos" (Bakongo), referring to all Bantu-speakers of Central Africa; "Kromantees" for all Akan people; "Bushmen" (San) for a wide range of people of South Africa, Angola, Botswana, and Namibia; "Foulahs" for the Fulbe of Sierra Leone and Nigeria (Fulani); "Koosoos" (Koso) for Mende and Sierra Leone hinterland people; "Jolofs" for all Wolof-speakers and those from the kingdom of Jolof; "Bassas" for Sierra Leone and Liberia tribes; and "Calabahs" for Efik and Ibidio from Eastern Nigeria. "Sudan" often referred to the upper middle part of Africa and Benin to the entire coastal area between "Guinea" and "Angola."
Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.
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