Nigerian-American
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
380,785 total, 2016 277,027 Nigerian-born, 2012-2016 |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Texas, Maryland, New York, California, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey | |
| Languages | |
|
American English, Nigerian English, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Edo, Ibibio-Anaang-Efik, Esan, Urhobo, Isoko, Idoma, Ijaw, Fulani, Kalabari, Igala, Ikwerre, Tiv, Ebira, Nembe, Etsako, Itsekiri, Nupe, Nigerian Pidgin Others Nigerian languages and various languages of Nigeria |
|
| Religion | |
|
Christianity (Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism) Sunni Islam, Animism, West African Vodun, agnosticism, atheism minorities |
Nigerian Americans are Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The 2016 American Community Survey estimates that 380,785 US residents report Nigerian ancestry. The 2012-2016 ACS estimates that 277,027 American residents were born in Nigeria.
Nigeria is both the most populous country in Africa--186.0 million as of 2016--and the African country of origin with the most migrants in the United States, as of 2013.
Slavery was part and parcel of some African Empires, so the visiting Arabians and Europeans after a longtime of trading and close diplomatic relations with the welcoming African empires, started participating in it little by little, it was always a part of gesture and hospitality from most African Empires to assist their guest by giving them people (house-boy/house-girl in pidgin) to help them in their daily activities, farming and other commercial activities. As time goes by; after more than 2 centuries, generations past, times changed and priorities changed as well with the mass invention of gun powder and due to the start of industrialization in Europe, there was a deep need of African resources more than before, so these created an increase in the export of man power resources from Africa, since they have the skills and culture to maintain and develop the agricultural part feeding the industrialization. That is how things went out of control in Europe due to the competitions and wars taking place in Europe during this stage of history. The African Empires also started their expansion and wars, this is how free workers where taking by force to work for free. By that time; most part of the world were not civilized, so the mentality of the average person in African and Europe caused some of the people of "Now-Modern-Day" "Nigerian" ancestry to be imported to the "Now-Modern-Day" America in what is Slavery in Colonial America slaves or indentured laborers from the 17th century onwards. Calabar, Nigeria, became a major point of export of slaves from Africa to the Americas during the 17 and 18th centuries. Most slave ships frequenting this port were English. Most of the slaves of Bight of Biafra – many of whom hailed from the Igbo hinterland – were imported to Virginia (which accounted for 60% of the Biafra´s slaves imported to United States, as well most of all slaves of Virginia). Under conditions in the European colonies, most English masters were not interested in the tribal origins, and often did not bother to record them at all, or if they did, accurately. After two and three centuries of residence in the United States and the lack of documentation because of enslavement, African Americans have often been unable to track their ancestors to specific ethnic groups or regions of Africa. More to the point, like other Americans, they have become a mixture of many different ancestries. Most slaves who came from Nigeria were likely to have been Igbo,Yoruba, and Hausa. Other ethnic groups, such as the Fulani and Edo people were also captured and transported to the colonies in the New World. The Igbo were exported mainly to Maryland and Virginia. They comprised the majority of all slaves in Virginia during the 18th century: of the 37,000 African slaves imported to Virginia from Calabar during the eighteenth century, 30,000 were Igbo. In the next century, people of Igbo descent were taken with settlers who moved to Kentucky. According to some historians, the Igbo also comprised most of the slaves in Maryland, although other sources say that most there were from Gambia. This group was characterized by rebellion and its high rate of suicide, as the people resisted the slavery to which they were subjected.
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Wikipedia