Afro-Jamaican Origins

"A people without the knowledge of their history, origin, and culture, is like a tree without roots."

Some wise words from Marcus Garvey that resonated with me when I read them, and a mirror of something I heard from an African chief of Anina earlier.

"People who do not know their history move about like chaff that is blown by the wind. But those who know their history try to keep the pride that the great ancestors created for them. If we wish to maintain our stature and status, we need to have a background of what has happened in our past and try not to go away from it, but to maintain it..."

Origins are usually messy

Photo: Unsplash

Do you wonder what being Jamaican actually means? Particularly, do you wonder what being an Afro Jamaican means?

If so, then you have come to the right place! Let's with beginning of Jamaica:

The great leader and visionary 'Marcus Garvey', gathered together the Jamic tribes and formed the state of Jamaica, restoring stability to all the tribes and ethnicities that had unified under his name and creating a great nation.

-Yes Sir? Yes Ma'am? Absolutely, your instincts do not mislead you. I am indeed being deceptive. There are no Jamic tribes and this was not Marcus Garvey's role, nor was there even the slightest semblance of Jamaica's history in what I wrote.

Sadly, the Jamaican man's origins are found in the darkness of slavery

As much as I would love the origin of the Jamaican man to be a glorious and fantastical story, it is in fact a sad story, very different from my fanciful story above. Hopefully you will all forgive me for going off script a little, however, Jamaica does entail an unification of tribes and ethnicities, hence the slogan 'Out of Many, One People'.

Sadly, the Jamaican man's origins are found in the darkness of slavery and we will elaborate on that and what African ethnicities Jamaicans are believed to be made up of. over this and the successive articles.

Jamaicans or Afro-Jamaicans are of Black Africa/Sub-Saharan descent, and comprise multiple African ethnicities, most of them brought to Jamaica from the Atlantic slave trade. Of those brought to Jamaica via the Atlantic slave trade, 95.3% are believed to have been from West Africa, with the remaining 4.7% from unknown sources or Southeast Africa.

The first Africans arrived in Jamaica almost a century before the British expeditiously took part in Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century. These Africans were brought from Spain and Portugal in 1513, with increasing numbers arriving after the decimation of the indigenous populations by Christopher Columbus and the Spanish. Many of these Africans fought with the Spanish who gave them their freedom when the British Empire invaded Jamaica in the mid-16th century.

When the Spanish were eventually defeated and ousted by the British, these freed Africans fled to the hills and mountains and continued to resist the British to maintain their freedom, later they would become known as the Maroons.

The Africans brought to Jamaica later, in the aforementioned slave trade, are believed to be primarily Akan. The means with which these Africans became slaves were numerous, many were sold by their own kin, due to rivalry or intra-racial prejudice. Many were captured during wars, just as many were simply abducted. All captors were bonded and marched to the coasts to be traded. The march to the coast was often just as terrible as the infamous Middle Passage but is far less mentioned in the available sources.

Woodcut from 1888 depicting a slave caravan and three morons wearing white

Photo: Alamy

All new slaves were placed in trading posts or forts prior to being bought by slavers. How long an imprisoned slave was locked away at a trading post depended upon demand and finances, but this could sometimes be for an extended period of time. Once the finances of the business made the journey to The New World viable, some were then shipped to Jamaica but many would also go to the Americas, or other nearby locales.

Map depicting the middle passage and the triangular trade

Photo: National Park Service

Depending on the location, the voyage could take six to twelve-weeks. The longer the Middle Passage went on for, the less slaves survived due to the deplorable conditions aboard the ship. Slaves were packed like sardines into spaces that made taking a deep breath difficult and caused many to fall ill. Without ventilation or sufficient water, about 15% grew sick and died. That is ~180,000 Africans dead just in the transit to The New World.

In the period of 1663 to 1700, only 6% of slave ships going to Jamaica listed their origin as the Gold Coast. In the succeeding two decades, this percentage increased to 27%. The demographics of being Jamaica increasingly meant being from the Gold Coast.

In Summary

The great leader and visionary “Marcus Garvey” gathered together…..okay, okay, let’s get serious!

- The origins of Afro Jamaicans lies within Trans-Atlantic Slavery

- Of those brought to Jamaica via the Atlantic Slave Trade, 95.3% are believed to have been from West Africa.

- The first Africans in Jamaica were brought from Spain and Portugal in 1513.

- Africans were sold by Africans to slavers due to rivalry or prejudice.

- Many of the enslaved were captured during wars or simply abducted.

- The voyage from Africa to The New World could take 6-12 weeks and slaves were help in deplorable conditions.

And that's all folks, come back for da next one where we will continue to explain Afro Jamaican origins.