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Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 2003-08 > 1060555731
From: "Sara Weiss" <>
Subject: Re: Slave Immigrants from West Africa/British Guiana/Guyana/Berbice/Essequibo/Demerara
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 23:48:51 +0100
References: <20030810191607.00705214C@fep2.cogeco.net>
The first few lines of a person's message comes up on my screen and, if I don't want it, I immediately delete it. Don't you have the same facility?
I remember why now, Russ, why your name was in my address book. You were the one who was so scathing about my naivety - you knocked me down badly. Here you go again!
If you want to start a new subject of interset to many, do so, and delete all that you aren't interested in. That's my suggestion
Sadie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Russ Campbell" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2003 8:16 PM
Subject: RE: Slave Immigrants from West Africa/British Guiana/Guyana/Berbice/Essequibo/Demerara
> I thought we decided this thread was off-topic -- interesting
> but not Caribbean genealogy.
>
> Can't these long dissertations be exchanged among those
> persons who have an interest in them and not to the list in
> general?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Russ
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Allicock [mailto:]
> Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 5:56 PM
> To:
>
> I am continuing my identification of the origins of the
> Africans who were taken to Dutch Colonies of Berbice,
> Essequibo and Demerara,(1600's to 1796, British Colonies
> thereafter) which altogether became British Guiana in 1831
> and Guyana in 1966.
>
> I am still using the work of Dalton/Hartsinck. In my Email of
> 20/07/03 D'Elmina was mentioned as a point of export. In the
> case of the last, Dalton points out, following Hartsinck, that
> the people who were sent from there included the Asiantyn,
> Hautaschi, Fantysche, Alguirasche/Acquirras, Wassaches, and
> Akinsche countries. He mentioned also that the Fantynes were
> called Annamboes, and among this nation were also found the
> Akinsche and the Ashantees. Dalton also mentiones the Abo and
> Papa, the Cormantyn and
> the Loango or Goango. Richard Bond was correct in pointing
> out that the names of the above tribes were the Dutch
> equivalents of the names, but I think transliterated from
> Portuguese who were first to West Africa.
>
> I have already dealt with the Annamboes, the Papa or Papaws,
> the Cormantyns, and Loango and Goango (also mentioned by Tim
> Anderson in the case of Antigua, as a place in the Congo). I
> think instead however, as the names of tribes, these may have
> been the Gua/Huanga.
>
> I did not deal with the Abo. This last group I think are of or
> from Abomey. We are told that the Aja (Ardras) living at
> Abomey mixed with the locals thus forming the Fou or Dahomey
> ethnic group. The Abo may thus have been also called
> Dahomeans. But we should note that the City of Abomey is now
> in Benin.
>
> I can entertain the possibiity that Abo can also be Ibo (also
> spelt Igbo) from a spelling like Ebo/Eybo or Aybo, becoming
> Abo. If the Abo are really Ibo, the latter are in Equatorial
> Guinea, and Nigeria.
>
> In a previous email, I had also pointed out that the
> Ardras/Aja of Little Ardra, Porto Novo (now in Benin on the
> coastal border with Nigeria) spoke Ewe. The Ewe are present in
> Togo, Benin and Ghana, and in the last probably because Ghana
> was formed from the Gold Coast and the Togoland Trust
> Territory. The Ardras/Aja/Adja are also found inTogo.
>
> The other names mentioned by Dalton Asiantyn, Hautasche and
> Fantyn, are most likely the Ashanti, Hausa, and Fanti. The
> last Dalton points out were also called Annamboes. Could this
> be because they came from the Fort/Castle of Annaboe? This is
> now in Benin.
>
> Dalton also mentions the Akinshe, which are most likely Akan.
>
> We should note that Dalton also uses the word Ashantee as well
> as Asiantyn. I think that they are one and the same. My guess
> is that by the time he was writing, the English name Ashantee
> was common, but citing Hartsinck, he uses the Dutch
> equivalent.
>
> Dalton also mentioned the Alquirasche/Acquirras and the
> Wassache. The last is most likely the Wasa, while I am yet
> unable to ascertain who the Alquirasche/ Acquirras were. Could
> these be the Awerri mentioned by John Barbot in one of his
> books? (Books mentioned in a previous email on the use of the
> name Ethiopia in regard to West Africa. Email of 24/07/03).
> The Alquirasche/Acquirra might well be the Awerri.
>
> Many of these names mentioned by Hartsinck / Dalton look
> suspiciously like Portuguese (who were first to West Africa)
> transliterated to Dutch, so Alquirasche/Acquirras might indeed
> be the Awerri in the English of John Barbot's works.
>
> According to Barbot, the Awerri were of the "kingdom of Ouwere
> or Oveiro, [which] lies along Rio Forcado, which falls into
> the ocean about eighteen leagues south south-east of Rio
> Fermosa or Benin river; the inhabitants were by the ancients
> called Derbici Aethiopes...In this chapter I shall speak of
> the kingdom of Ouwere or Forcado, and of the coast from cape
> Fermosa, where the Ethiopian gulph or bight of Guinea
> commences, to the river of new Calabar or Calbary.."
>
> From this we can guess the probable location of Ouwere. The
> area described by Barbot now seems to be in Nigeria. It spans
> Benin of today, including Porto Novo, where the Gulf of Guinea
> begins to Calabar City, i.e., the coast of the whole of
> Nigeria. There is Benin City in Nigeria and South-East of it
> is the City of Warri. Could this be where the
> Alquirasche/Acquirras/Awerri came from?
>
> See Map at:
> http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/africa/nigeria/nigeria.h
> tm
>
> The Akan, Wasa, Gua/Huanga can still be found in present day
> Ghana.
>
> The Akan are also found in the Cote D'Ivoire.
>
> The Fou and Foin mentioned by Dalton may also be the Fon found
> in Benin as the majority (90%) of the population. Could these
> also be the Fang of Gabon?
>
> Dalton/Hartsinck also mentioned the Nagas. Benin also is the
> home of the Nagos, which sounds suspiciously like the Nagas
> mentioned by Hartsinck/Dalton.
>
> There are also Yorubas in Benin, which I indentitied in an
> earlier email as Ayois from Oyo a Yoruba city and the people
> of which were called Oyeos or Eyeos by the old writers.
>
>
> Dalton / Hartsinck also mentioned the Kru. There are Krous in
> Cote D'Ivoire, and Kru in Liberia.
>
> The Hausa also mentiond are in Niger and Nigeria.
>
>
> Dalton/Hartsinck stated that the Ardras, also called Dongos
> from the cut marks on their bodies, and all slaves so marked,
> were called Dongos. But there are also the Dong in Nigeria
> (Adamawa State) and the Dungu (Kaduna State) and there are
> also the Dongotono in Southern Sudan.
>
> The Tibou also mentioned by Dalton/Hartsick I have not been
> able to identify positively, but I wonder if they may not have
> been the speakers of Tem/Temou languages in Togo?
>
> ______________________________
>
>
>
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