Jamaicans of African descent
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
c.2.7 million 91.4% of the Jamaican population |
|
| Languages | |
| Jamaican Patois, Jamaican English | |
| Religion | |
|
Christianity, Rastafarism, Minorities Practicing Atheism, Judaism or Islam |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Afro-Caribbean, West/Central Africans, African Americans, Black British, Black Canadians |
Afro-Jamaicans are Jamaicans of entirely or predominantly African descent. The first Africans to arrive came in 1513 from the Iberian Peninsula. They were servants, cowboys, herders of cattle, pigs and horses, as well as hunters. When the English captured Jamaica in 1655, many of them fought with the Spanish who gave them their freedom and then fled to the mountains resisting the British for many years to maintain their freedom, becoming known as Maroons. The British in this point in time, brought with them mostly Akan slaves, some of which ran away and joined with Maroons and even took over as leaders.
Africans were captured by war, as retribution for crimes committed, or by abduction, and marched to the coast in "coffles" with their necks yoked to each other. They were placed in trading posts or forts to await the horrifying six- to twelve-week Middle Passage voyage between Africa and the Americas during which they were chained together, underfed, kept in the ship's hold in the thousands [packed more like sardines than humans]:Editorial. Those who survived were fattened up and oiled to look healthy prior to being auctioned in public squares to the highest bidders.
According to phoenix ship records, enslaved Africans mostly came from the Akan people followed by Fon, Yoruba, Efik, Bantu, Igbo people and Moko people. Akan (then called Coromantee) culture was the dominant African culture in Jamaica.
Originally in earlier British colonization, however the island before the 1750s was in fact mainly Akan imported. But due to frequent rebellions from the then known "Coromantee" that often joined the slave rebellion group known as the Maroons, other groups were sent to Jamaica. The Akan population was still maintained because they were the preference of British planters in Jamaica because they were "better workers", according to these Planters. According to the Slave Voyages Archives, though the Igbo had the highest importation numbers, they were only imported to Montego Bay and St. Ann's bay ports, while the Gold Coast(mainly Akan) were more dispersed across the island and were a majority imported to 7 of 14 of the island's ports(each parish has one port).
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Wikipedia