Afro-Saint Lucian
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Approx. 134,294) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Saint Lucia (Approx. 134,294) |
|
| Languages | |
| English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Afro-Caribbean |
Afro-Saint Lucians or African Saint Lucians are Saint Lucians whose ancestry lies within the continent of Africa, most notably West Africa.
As of 2013, people of African descent are the majority ethnic group in Saint Lucia, accounting for 82.5% of the country's population. An additional 11.9% of the country is multiracial, predominantly of Afro-European descent and Afro-Indian descent.
H.H. Breen, one of the earliest writers to write a detailed study of St Lucia, noted during his period little was known about the Island In its early French colonial period, the African slave population were imported from Martinique, or, during bouts of British rule, supplemented by slaves from Barbados. This dominance of Martinique merchants in monopolising the slave imports into the Island has raised the reasonable inference, supported statistically, that most slaves shared a common origin from the Senegambian coast. According to Dalphinis, the majority of slaves from 1695 onwards were indisputably from the Senegambia,comprising mainly Wolof and Mandingo ethnic groups. As a British possession, however, at the end of the eighteenth century, St Lucia increasingly imported large numbers of slaves from Akan and Igbo groups.
Consequently, the slave population, diverse but distinct, is shaped over the course of two centuries by Senegambian slaves (including slaves from the Malian hinterland, Fulani, Dyula, Bambara etc.) and Akan (Gold Coast slaves) and Igbo slaves (Bight of Biafra: roughly 3,000 slaves, or 53% of the slaves enter St Lucia before the end of Slavery). As to Yoruba, they constitute a strong cultural influence on the Island. In many areas, their cultural impact has left the strongest legacy since many Yoruba came as 'indentured servants' after slavery, introducing the Kele and Ogun ritual rites. Also present in big numbers were the Ambundus Central Africans slaves (more of 1,000 slaves, or 22%).
Between 1600-1700, most of the slaves, as noted, came from Senegambia. These slaves were mainly used as servants. Meanwhile, Ewe and Fon slaves, from the Slave Coast, exerted as rural slaves
The ethno-linguistic dominance of specific groups in certain areas of work, had a great importance in the origin of Creole identity
In 1763, when the British acquired the island by the Treaty of Paris, they imported enslaved Africans as workers. Caribbean conditions were harsh, and many African slaves, like the Caribs (also used as slaves in the island), died, requiring continued importation of new captives. The British continued to import slaves until they abolished the trade in 1808. By that time, people of ethnic African and less so Carib descent greatly outnumbered those of ethnic European background.
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Wikipedia