African Migrations Up to the 19th Century

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Migrations have taken place by slaves and by free people of sub-Saharan Africa for over seventy thousand years, beginning with the tropical areas of the Old World and followed by Eurasia and the Americas. These migrations, or Diasporas, began with religious voyages and cultural exchanges and evolved to the slave trade and the deportation of black men, women and children to new colonies as workers and servants. Long before the Atlantic slave trade grew, merchants from Greece and the Roman Empire traveled to the East African coast. Patrick Manning points out in, African Diaspora: A History Through Culture, that migrants came from southern Arabia to Eretria and Ethiopia in the first millennium BCE (Manning 36). As time went on, contacts grew with other regions of Africa and trade developed with Asia and Europe. This resulted in further migrations of black Africans as both slaves and free men. The Africans brought with them customs, music food preparation techniques and minerals. For example, the discovery of copper in Central Africa brought about a substantial trans-Saharan trade and more exchange of culture and migrations. As more Africans migrated to various parts of the world, they carried with them their culture and learned new techniques and ways of life. Whether they migrated as slaves or as free men, the Africans influenced their new lands and African identity was influenced forever. This paper will look at the effects of these migrations on African identity throughout the Diaspora. It will examine migration patterns, issues of race, racial hierarchy and culture. MIGRATION PATTERNS Before the slave trade began sub-Saharan Africans traveled. Manning writes: Mansa Musa, [the Emperor of Mali], in the 1320s and, seven centu... ... middle of paper ... ...vated to their circumstances, creating new identifies while holding on to as much of their old culture as possible. Africans changed or rebuilt their societies as a result of their travels and interactions with other cultures. The enslaved black people built a tradition of opposition to slavery that manifested itself in significantly weakening the systems of slavery. They developed new traditions and a new sense of identity that incorporated appreciation for their ancestral life as well as the new realities or slavery. Migration, whether forced or done freely contributed to a new identity (Manning 338). Works Cited Manning, Patrick. African Diaspora: A History Through Culture. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2010. Print. Williams, Paul. The African Slave Trail, Ghana (pt 1). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y Mt1g4pC908. Web. 07 February 2014.

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