Slave roots

Investigating the imprints of African culture on Venezuela's popular culture is important when addressing the issue of the roots of slavery.

Solving this problem is not easy.

Not because of the lack of statistical data, but because of the widespread roots of the blacks who have been taken.

Therefore, it is necessary to reconstruct a new record based on the slightly existing data.

Slavery has destroyed African culture in the New World and has fundamentally changed the social position and economic environment of blacks.

The slaves have been completely overturned in human and cultural values.

Another important factor is tribal mixing and compulsory cultural ingestion between tribes.

Afro Americano and others have succeeded in creating a new and original culture based on the cultures of Africa, Europe and indigenous peoples.

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An analysis of the few existing available literature to identify the roots of the slaves revealed that approximately half of the blacks were brought from the Gulf of Guinea coast (from the Gold Coast to Benin) and the other half from the Congo-Angola region. It seems that it was carried.

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The first black slaves brought to the New World by Portugal were from Cabo Verde and Guinea (West Indies Archives at the History Academy in Caracas, Volume 4).

In 1570, 500 slaves from Cape Verde and Guinea arrive at Kumaner (National Museum, 1575 Farm List, Volume 7). In the 17th century Portugal shipped slaves from Guinea, Angola and Benguela.

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France was looking for slaves in Senegal and Dahomey.

Britain, on the other hand, imported slaves from Sierra Leone, Dahomey, The Gambia and Nigeria.

According to Lisker, the Fon tribes of the Dahomey kingdom sold to European countries the following tribes:

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Wida, Arda, Popo, Arara, Aja, Keto, Ewe, Mai

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Later in life, the Fon conquered some of the Yoruba towns and sold their prisoners to Portugal.

In the late 19th century, many Yoruba tribes crossed the sea, leaving their mark on Cuba and Brazil in the late slave trade.

On the other hand, there are not many Yoruba people in Venezuela, where the slave trade was abolished around 1800.

In the 18th century, blacks were transported from the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast to Barlovent.

The most important port in the region was named San Jorge de Mina, so the blacks sent from this port were named "Mina".

There is still a drum called the same name in Valvent, Venezuela.

England had a banana factory at the mouth of the Congo River. France to Roango and Dahomey.

Portugal had commercial activities in Nigeria, Dahomey, Benguela, Angola and later in Mozambique.

In the 18th century, Britain imported Ganga and Tenbe from Sierra Leone, and Mandinga, Hula, Serere, Sosa, Timneo and Wolof from Senegal.

The literature on the Royal Farms in the National Institute of Japanese Literature gives us a list of 114 blacks on their respective nationalities.

Will provide.

Also, in 1729, in the town of Nueva Segovia in Barquisimeto, Rhea's Don Juan Angel's book mentions several names of African tribes.

Below is the alphabetical order of the names of all the tribes found in those documents scattered around.

It is arranged side by side. I referred to Murdoch's book Africa to identify each tribe.

A: Anagachi, Angola, Arara, Arache, Arobi

B: Bambi, Benyon Barira, Binga, Benba, Blanc

C: Kachanga Kafo, Kambind, Kabuta, Kamoranda, Kamakonda, Camofunda, Kandara, Karabari, Kashinba, Katangara, Kataroaki, Katende, Congo, Shire

CH: Charara, Chara

E: Ebia, Embuira

F: Flo, Foropo,

G: Ganga, Guachi, Guasa, Guinea, Guunga

J: Jerero, Jiri

L: Luango

M: Mabara, Maremba, Mandinga, Mandinga, Mina, Mobangombe, Mozinga, Monda,

Mondongo, Mosanga, Matangombe, Mugunchi,

N: Nago

P: Popo

Q: Kibot, Kinene, Kisungo, Kisuro

S: Sapeh, Soso, Suchi, Sundy

T: Takanga, Tari

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It was a difficult task to distinguish each tribe by relying on Murdoch's books. This is because most of them were written based on the pronunciation in Spanish, and some were unreadable.

However, most of the names were written in modern names, so I could distinguish them.

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The following groups are tribes belonging to the Mandé tribe.

Kanga, Mandinga, Mandinga, Soso.

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They speak Mande and are characterized by their social structure in that they form patrilineal settlements.

They have clan totems, live in conical houses, and have esoteric sibling relationships.

Slavery is important and they had a partial belief in Islam even before they had relationships with European countries.

Economically, it built several important empires based on the Trans-Saharan trade with Berbers.

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From the southern part of the Niger River to the Volta River basin, and in northern Nigeria, the Volta tribe lived.

According to our list, the following tribes belong to this group:

Ngaga (Agachi), Barilla (Barilla), Shanga (Kaobanga), Moshi (Mohinga),

Shanga (Mosanga), Kibito, Kinene, Kisungo, Kisuro

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The last four tribes belong to the Gin Senufo tribe.

The Mossi belong to the More tribe, the Ngaga tribe belongs to the Gurma tribe, and the Bariba tribe belongs to the Barg tribe.

The Shanga tribe who came to this area in later years belong to the Mande tribe.

The culture of the region is very uniform, although there are various tribes.

There is a patrilineal clan society, forming a patrilineal settlement.

The dwellings are mainly conical, some of which are rectangular.

Each family lived in a separate house and used slaves until very recently.

Women are also engaged in work in local markets.

On the other hand, the Senufo are a matrilineal society.

The highlands of Nigeria and Cameroon are inhabited by the Nigerian Plateau tribe.

They speak Bantu.

According to our list, the following tribes belong to this group:

Nbemba (Bambi), Chara, Donkey (Aroba), Camba (Camoanda), Tarok (Kataroaki),

Kuru (Kure), Nbra (Embira), Guungawa (Guunga), Guri (Hiri), Munga (Monda), Munga (Muguchi)

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They also built patrilineal clans, lived in rectangular and conical homes, and lived in ruggedly reinforced villages.

Murdoch seems to consider this area the birthplace of the Bantu language family.

People in southern Nigeria have long been in contact with European countries.

With those people

Kalabari, Ebia, Yoruba (Nago)

Is.

The Yoruba tribe has been transported to the New World in large numbers since 1800.

Their culture has been preserved in Brazil and Cuba to this day because of the large number of Yoruba people brought to these countries throughout the 19th century, when slavery was carried out in these countries until the late 19th century. It is largely due to the fact that it continued.

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The Yoruba have another name.

Rukumi or Ajo. Ajo is a group derived from Ojo, and the capital of the Yoruba country (Kingdom of Ojo) was an important town until around 1900.

The name Lucumi is derived from the tribe names Urukumia and Urkami, which Dapper (1668) mentioned in his book.

"The mighty kingdom of Urkuma is located between Arda and Benin and extends to the coastal areas. Many slaves are exported from the kingdom's Little Arde, Porto Novo, to the West Indies by slave ships in the Netherlands and Portugal. "

Tribes that lived in Dahomey (kingdom), such as Mina, Arara, Fanti, and Ashanti, are often confused with Rukumi.

In any case, the Yoruba were brought to the new continent in the 16th century.

However, most Yoruba were carried between 1790 and 1875.

Under the watchful eye of the Royal Navy, slaves from the port of Dahomey, Nigeria until the 1890s

Smuggling was flourishing.

The culture of southern Nigeria is also very similar. Each tribe speaks Kwa.

Along with the patrilineal clan society, there are also some matrilineal groups.

They live in rectangular, ceiling-mounted dwellings like those found in Barlovento, Venezuela, whose settlements stretch along roads and rivers.

There is also a dwelling with a courtyard, where the daily life of the family is unfolded.

Social status depends on the title that can be bought with money.

The Yoruba people live in the city and have their own large farms a short distance from their homes.

The Yoruba and Benin (Binin) built a mighty empire, where handicrafts and art flourished.

The Yoruba faith remains in the mixed beliefs of Afro-America and is therefore important to our study.

They are the creators of the world and humans, and believe in the Supreme Being on the gods called Oricha.

Many of Oricha are gods of each tribe or clan, and others are spirits of nature, including water.

Each Oricha has a brace, a coat of arms, a sacred color, an annual celebration, a temple, and each has a priest and a congregation.

Among the main Orichas, the one that must be mentioned is Obatara, or Orisanla, who carries out the will of the Supreme God, Orunmira.

Ornmila is the god of knowledge and the guardian deity of Ifa's oracle. It is the object of worship of Babalao.

Ogun is the guardian deity of blacksmiths and, in recent years, the guardian deity of taxi drivers.

Chango was also an important oricha, who ruled thunder and, legendarily, was the king of Ojo (kingdom).

Shakupana is the god of smallpox and is very feared by the Nigerian people.

Etchu is a "mischievous god" and is also called Elegbara or Elegua. Etchu is of other gods

A messenger.

There is also a female god who has something to do with her belief in water.

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As we will see later, these gods, Oricha, are still alive in the Afro-American faith.

The Yoruba religion has a very well-organized religious system and is based on rich mythology.

The Twis live to the west of the Yoruba Ojo kingdom, and some groups of the Dahomey Fon, Togo Ewe, Ghanaian Akan, Ashanti, Fante, and ivory coasts belong to the Twi. It is a tribe.

Thousands and tens of thousands of slaves were carried from all over the region for three centuries.

The contribution of the tribe to Afro-American culture is important.

The Fon faith remains in Haiti's voodoo.

The Fante and Ewe have their footsteps in the Antijas Islands and Suriname, South America.

According to our list, the following tribes belong to this group:

Arara, Araja (Arache), Wachi (Guachi), Ewe, Fon, Wasa (Guasa), Akan, Ashanti, Popohehe (Mina), Popo, Tari, Tuwi
 

The Ewe are patrilineal and the Akan are matrilineal, living in conical or rectangular dwellings.

The Ashanti and Dahomey kingdoms are historically important.

Slavery was a well-known system throughout the region, and the King of Dahomey relied on the slave trade with European countries for its power. In the 18th century, its power extended to the slave export ports of Arda and Wida.  

The Fon often fought with their neighbors, the Yoruba, and sold their prisoners to European countries.

The whites have fueled the conflict between the two in order to extend the exchange of slaves and weapons.

Export ports are Arda, Wida, Porto Novo, Badagry and Lagoz.
 

   The Fon are a polygamous patrilineal society, with each wife living in her own home with her own children.

In the village, men organize work groups to cultivate communal farmland.

This system is called "Docpwe" and is reminiscent of Venezuela's "Kayapas".

The supreme deity of the Fon people is Mau Lisa, who uses an altar like the Yoruba. In addition, each god has its own believer, and there are the god of the earth, the god of heaven, the god of nature, the god of water, and so on.

Large festivals include priests and mediums who welcome spirits.  

Also, the temple of Wida had a belief in worshiping the holy cobra, but it died in the time of Ellis.
 

The absolute god of the Ashanti and Akan people is Nyame, and a god of the same name also exists among the fugitive slaves of Suriname in South America.

In Ghana, there is also a belief in the lower gods Suramantun and Sasabosun, who often dwell in the Ceiba tree.

In ancient times, human sacrifice was performed as a sacrifice to God.

There is also faith in the god of water.
 

The following tribes live on the coast of Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast.

Kuru and Mande languages. The Nguere (Herero) tribe and the tribe collectively known as the "Guineans" in the United States.

They were brought to the colony by England in the 18th century.

The cultures of the region are also very similar, with patrilineal societies and secret societies by age-specific groups of men. They also live in rectangular dwellings, and the settlements are built around the central square. Slavery always exists and both men and women are circumcised.
 

The next group on our list is from Senegal (now Senegal, Gambia).

Banun (Banyon), Blanc, Tender and Tende (Katende), Wolof (Foropo), Wolof (Flo), Zape and Baga (Sapeh)

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These groups lived along the Atlantic Ocean from Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) to Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara). Most of the slaves in the area were transported by France and Portugal to the New World via Goree Island in Senegal. These groups have established a matrilineal society and have long traded with northern Africa through Mauritania.
 

The other group of great significance in the Americas is the Congolese.

The Congolese (Bantu) were worked in plantations, while the slaves from Guinea were worked as mansion servants and craftsmen. The Guineans were more sophisticated, more intelligent, more urban, and given more freedom of assembly, so it was easier for them to maintain their culture and customs.

Venezuela seems to have many descendants of the Congolese tribe. This is supported by the large number of Congolese names on our list. In addition, some words in Bantu and Congolese drums have been handed down to the present day.

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The following groups exist from northwestern Cameroon to the Central African Republic.

Kafo (Bafo), Manda (Kandara), Simba (Kashinba), Katagara, Tende (Katende), Mubang (Mobangonbe)

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They live in rectangular dwellings with sun-dried brick walls and thatched roofs built along the road.

Social roles are inadequate, leaders are less powerful, and all important things are determined by the advice of the elderly.

Secret societies are also powerful.

There is a farmland called Konuko in the jungle, where yams, floors, and corn are cultivated.
 

The Bantu live in the Congo River basin, which has cultural similarities to the people of the Nigerian coast.

The following tribes belong to this group:

Binga (Babinga), Babenba (Bemba), Kamafunda, Mondongo, Ngonbe (Motoangonbe), Bakongo (Takanga), a tribe simply called "Congo".  

Britain had a factory at the Banana Port at the mouth of the Congo River, so many Bantu tribes arrived there between 1715 and 1730.
The social structure is very similar to the tribes along the "Guinea" coast.

It has a patrilineal clan organization, but lacks a political structure to cross the settlement.
 

It was from central Congo to Venezuela

Bindi (Babindi), Mongoles, Luba

Only.

The region is a matrilineal society, and the Lunda have built a tyrannical kingdom.
The beliefs of all these Bantu Congolese are very similar.

According to Anderson, the Congolese worship the Supreme God, the creator of the heavenly world of Nzambi.

Although there is no institutionalized belief, he worships the god of the earth and the god of nature.

Worship to ancestors is of paramount importance.

There is also a belief in the vitality of Birongo, which allows you to get inside an object. This belief derives from fetishism (reification).

However, it is a wrong idea that the Congolese worship something like a mere object. What they worship is the power that is always present in an object.

They believe in the permanence of the soul, and magic is of great significance.

It is believed that sorcerers can also transform themselves into animals.

Also, trance prayers and necromancy are common among Congolese.

Portugal came to the throne of Congo, and in the 15th century many became its people, but later Christianity was lost. However, the remnants of Christianity remain to this day. It can be found in the crosses used in certain magical rituals and in sculptures of mothers and children.
 

A characteristic of the Congolese religion remains in the religion of Rio de Janeiro called "Macumba". However, it has been altered by the influence of the Yoruba people and necromancy.

The culture of the Bantu tribe in the Congo and Angola regions is very similar.

Portugal sent tens of thousands of slaves from the region to Brazil and Spanish territory.

Our list has the names of the following groups:

Angola, Camba (Camba), Bakonda (Kamaconda), Bakonga, Congo, Karanga (Chalara) Luanggo, Mabara, Maremba, Basti (Sthi), Asundi (Sundi)

Build a matrilineal society and live in a rectangular dwelling. Totemism is often seen, farming, fishing and hunting are just as important.
 

We must also mention the tyrannical kingdom of the Congolese.

Its history is closely linked to the history of Portugal's settlement in this region in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Rivas writes about the beliefs of modern Angola tribes.

The Supreme God is called Zambi, the creator of the world, and governs life and death. Mionda is the lord of all rivers, Chianda is a good spirit to assist fortune-tellers, Marunga is a jungle spirit, and Quimbamba and Quimbamba are priests who practice magic and folk remedies.

The priest communicates with the spirit world through dreams and in a trance.

Murohi is a magician who performs black magic, and often holds séance meetings. Today, he worships the Congolese gods mixed with Christian saints called Orapira. There is also a mixed belief that resembles the Afro-American belief.
 

It was valuable to investigate other sources for more information about Venezuelan blacks.

According to Acosta Sineth, the king of Angola was called Ngora and ruled the land of Ndongo.

The origin of the name is that Portugal mistaken the name of the king Ngora for the name of the territory and named it Angola.  

In addition, the slaves sent out via Calabar were called Calabar in Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, etc. The tribes in this area, called Karabari, are thought to include warts, ecos, ibbios, and Ijos.  

Aguile Bertrand points out that the Mandés were one of the tribes that made up the Mandinga, as the Arabs called them "Gangara."  

Fernando Ortiz also mentioned the Ganga, but he suspected that Ortiz might have belonged to the Roango. Because they called the sorcerer "Nganga".

The slaves brought to the Americas in the early days included many Mandinga tribes. They were very feared because they were famous as great sorcerers.  

It is believed that some of the Mandinga tribes brought to the Americas were Muslims and had a more advanced culture than most whites in Brazil at the time.

The planters also hated to own Islamic blacks because of their rebellion among the slaves.
 

According to Ramos, the tribe called Mina is thought to be the Congolese.

Researchers agree that slaves from the coast of Ghana and Togo are considered to be the most logical when they are called Mina.

Venezuela's "Mina" drum has its roots in this area.  

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Ramos also equates Gar, Si, Ewe, Yoruba and Nago. Some researchers call the Yoruba tribe by this name alone.

According to Ramos, Nago's language has become a "simple language" among black Brazilians, and Yoruba is still the language of rituals used in the Candomblé rituals of the Bahia district.

There were many Tari tribes in Venezuela. There is an area called Tari in Yaracuy.

During the colonial period, the Tari tribe in Caracas had a tribal union (Cofradia) like Cabildo in Cuba.

According to Aguile Bertrand, they belonged to the Ewe Fon tribe and were sent from Ghana to Venezuela via Elmina.

To summarize the above analysis, there are three African groups in the Americas.

a) West Coast, or Guinean culture (Ghana, Slave Coast, Nigeria).  Fanti, Ashanti, Ewe, Fon, Yoruba, Tari, Karabari, etc.

b) Bantu culture in the Congo and Angola regions

c) Islamic Mande culture
 

The elements of Bantu are scattered here and there, but often mixed with group a).

Fanti Ashanti culture predominates in the southern United States, British colonies, and Dutch colonies (Jamaica, Guajana, Antija). The influence of the Yoruba people can be seen in Trinidad.
 

The contribution of Ewe von culture can be seen in French territories (Haiti, Martinique) and French Louisiana, but the contribution of the Congolese is also important.  

In Brazil, the Yoruba element stands out above all in music and religion, but the contributions of the Fon (religion in Maranhão), Congo (organization called "King of Congo"), and Mandinga (amulet) are also important.

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In Cuba, the Yoruba (Lukmi) belief called Santeria is predominant, but the influence of Karabari (Nyanigismo) and the Congolese (a festival dedicated to the "King of Congo") can also be seen.

In Venezuela, elements and characteristics of African-derived culture can be found, but it is difficult to find them in their complete form. Because it was customary to distribute slaves among planters, the blacks lost their ties to their relatives.

Blacks from different tribes or Venezuelan-born blacks were used as slaves on the farms, and those of the same family never worked on the same farm.

This decentralization of slavery reduced the assimilation of slaves into Venezuelan culture and the risk of organized rebellion. On the other hand, slaves of the same family or in the same country were gathered in a family union called Cofradia. In Venezuela, one African culture has never dominated other African cultures, and indigenous cultures have always played an important role.

Profile Angelina Porak Erz: Descendants of Slave, Book "The Traces of Africa in the Venezuelan People"                  Andres Bejo Catholic University, Institute of Historical Research,                   Lives in Caracas

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