Afro-Bahamian
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Approx. 422,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|
|
|
| Languages | |
| Bahamian dialect, English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity |
Bahamas (Approx. 372,000)
Afro-Bahamians are Bahamians of entirely or predominantly African descent. The first Africans to arrive to The Bahamas came from Bermuda with the Eleutheran Adventurers.
According to the 2010 Census, 93% of The Bahamas' population is African or African mixed with European.
Most of the enslaved Africans brought to The Bahamas were West African. Slaves came from West Central Africa (3,967 Africans), the Bight of Biafra (1,751 Africans), Sierra Leone (1,187 Africans), the Bight of Benin (1,044 Africans), the Windward Coast (1,030 Africans), Senegambia (806 Africans) and from the Gold Coast (484 Africans).
Many Bahamians are also descendants of Gullah from South Carolina and Georgia,
In 1807, the British abolished the slave trade. During the following decades, they resettled thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy, which intercepted the trade, in the Bahamian islands. Slavery was abolished in the British Empire on 1 August 1834.
In the 1820s, hundreds of African American slaves and Seminoles escaped from Cape Florida to the Bahamas, settling mostly on northwest Andros Island, where they developed the village of Red Bays. In 1823, 300 slaves escaped in a mass flight aided by Bahamians in 27 sloops, with others using canoes for the journey. This was commemorated in 2004 by a large sign at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. Some of their descendants continue Seminole traditions in basket making and grave marking.
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Wikipedia