Number of slaves: 4,150

Creole (i.e. born in the Americas) 545
African specified ethnically/regionally 1,218

TOP 3 BREAKDOWN OF AFRICAN BORN SLAVES

“Eboe” (Nigeria) 196 – 16% of African specified
“Congo” (Congo) 183 – 15% of African specified
“Coromantee” (Ghana) 166 – 14% of African specified
Source

Jamaican Runaway Slaves 1810-1817

SUMMARY

Number of slaves 3,278
Creole (i.e. born in the Americas) 1,411
African specified ethnically/regionally 1,739

TOP 3 BREAKDOWN OF AFRICAN BORN SLAVES

“Eboe” (Nigeria) 335 – 19% of African specified
“Mungola” (DRC, Congo Brazzaville) 327 – 19% of African specified
“Congo” (Congo/Angola) 301 – 17% of African specified
Source

Above summaries are based on the HUGELY interesting data to be found in Jamaican Runaway Slave advertisements published in the 18th and 19th century! They have been collected by Dr. Douglas Chambers (see this link for more details). Besides the ethnic/regional origins being mentioned you can actually find out on many more fascinating details about these advertised runaway slaves if you read the texts closely. In the remaining part of this blogpost will provide a full overview of the slave ethnicities to be found in the advertisements (or at least the ones i was able to pick up on). Plus i will highlight some intriguing clues about African ethnicity in Jamaica found within these short but often very informative newspaper advertisements. But first let me emphasize the following:

African Origins

These are all the ethnic/regional references to the African origins of the runaway slaves i could personally pick up on from the advertisements. It’s quite possible i didn’t catch them all, plus i may have made some miscalculations or typo’s. It’s easily verifiable though by searching the PDF-files yourself. I first mention the number of “hits” in the PDF-file for 1718-1795 followed by the one for 1810-1817. Also the terms are ranked from most frequently mentioned to least. The interpretation of these socalled “nations” can be problematic (see also “Ethnic identities of African-born slaves: valid or imposed?“). But it should still be very valuable for correlating with documented regional slave trade patterns for Jamaica.

“Eboe” (=Igbo and related southeast Nigerians): 196+335 times mentioned
“Congo” (=blanket term for people shipped from Congo Brazzaville & western DRC & northern Angola, mostly Bakongo but not exclusively) 183+301 times mentioned
“Mungola” (=possibly people from the Upper Congo river area and not Angolans, similar terms used in Brazil: Monjolo, Mandongo in Louisiana and Cuba, and Mondongue in St. Domingue) : 59+327 times mentioned
“Mundingo” (=people from Senegambia+Guinea Conakry+Sierra Leone, usually but not always Mandé speakers/Mandingo) : 170+193 times mentioned
“Moco” (=non-Igbo’s from southeast Nigeria/western Cameroon, mostly Efik and Ijaw?) 162+184 times mentioned
“Coromantee” (=blanket term for people shipped from Ghana, would be mostly Akan but not exclusively) : 166+165 times mentioned
“Chamba” (=blanket term for people from the interior area of Ghana/Togo/Benin, would be mostly Gur speakers but not exclusively) : 99+69 times mentioned
“Nago” (=Yoruba’s from Benin/western Nigeria) : 58+51 times mentioned
“Papaw”/”Popo” (=blanket term for people shipped from Benin, could be mostly Fon but not exclusively) : 33+47 times mentioned
“Canga” (=blanket term for people shipped from Liberia & southern Sierra Leone) : 37+8 times mentioned
“Wakee”/’Wawee” (=possibly same as “Wankyi” from Berbice census or “Wawu”, “Watje” by Oldendorp? referring to an ethnic group from Ghana?) : 15+28 times mentioned
“Angola” (=most likely referring to northern Angola but perhaps also Benguela in southern Angola) : 7+25 times mentioned
“Portuguese Congo” (=most likely referring to northern Angola + Cabinda) : 15+6 times mentioned
“Succo” (=possibly Mande speaking group from northern Ghana/Ivory Coast, see also future blogpost) :8+5 times mentioned
“Fantee” (=Akan subgroup from Ghana) : 6+0 times mentioned
“Fuller” (=Fula/Fulani from Upper Guinea): 1+1 times mentioned
“Wanga” (=?): 1+0 times mentioned
“Callabar” (=people shipped from southeast Nigeria) : 1+0 times mentioned
“Sosu country” (=Sosu from Guinea Conakry) :1+0 times mentioned
“Mayow country” (=possibly Maio island, Cape Verde??): 1+0 times mentioned
“Malagascar” (=Malagassy) : 1+0 times mentioned (advertisement from 1718)

As already seen from the summaries the most frequently mentioned ethnic groups are the “Igbo” and the “Congo”. These groups also increase in number when comparing the two timeperiods 1718-1795 & 1810-1817. This finding correponds very well with what we know about the English slave trade patterns of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, when the Bight of Biafra and Central Africa overwhelmingly became the primary sources of slaves brought to the English West Indies (see this chart). This stands in sharp contrast with earlier periods when the Bight of Benin and especially the Gold Coast were main slave suppliers. The rather prominent mentioning of the “Moco” aside from the “Eboe” also underlines the importance of the Bight of Biafra in both timeperiods.

It’s interesting to see that the number of “Coromantee” from Ghana remains unchanged in later time periods unlike the “Igbo” and “Congo” , hinting that there was no expansion of their importation into Jamaica. It should be noted again that the period of 1755-1774 is not covered by these datasets of advertisements. However this would be the period when the “Coromantee” presence would presumably be peaking. Possibly the locally born “Creole” slaves or the racially mixed ones mentioned in the advertisements had a disproportionate share of Gold Coast origins instead. It’s also interesting that besides the “Coromantee” other groups are mentioned as well as being possibly from the Gold Coast area or interior. Confirming the diversity of people being brought in from Ghana. These groups being the “Chamba”, the “Wakee”, the “Succo” as well as a few isolated mentions of the “Fantee”.

A third place in overall numbers goes to the “Mungola”, a surprising specification of Central African ethnicity beyond “Congo”. They were not really heavily present in the early period, only appearing strongly in between 1810-1817. It’s unclear therefore how important they might be for Jamaican’s ancestral origins during the whole slave trade period. Also there’s uncertainty to which exact region/ethnicity reference is being made of. The term “Mungola” seems rather similar to “Angola”, which also shows up in the advertisements with some frequency but to a much lesser degree. It should be remembered that the English used to have a different geographical interpretation of Angola than the Portuguese, referring more so to the area north of the Congo river (see also future blogpost).

[img]http://tracingafricanroots.files./2015/01/birthplaces-of-african-slaves-st-kitts-st-lucia-trinidad-berbeice-and-anguilla-1813-1827.jpg?w=869[/img]

https://tracingafricanroots./2015/02/01/berbice-guyana-slave-census-of-1819-much-less-specified-but-still-representative/

If only the real number of Igbo blood on planet earth could be accurately determined, one quarter of blacks have Igbo blood in them.