West Africans in Saint Domingue (Haiti)

 

One amazing feature of perusing the posted runaway notices in Saint-Domingue's press is the occasionally very detailed "nations" assigned to Africans in the colony, particularly "new" Africans. While some of the "nations" used for Africans in the colony were very broad or ambiguous, a few appear with very specific names linked to a region or ethnic group that is still identifiable. Take the above case, for example, of a newly arrived "Mandingue" or "Souraca" from the year 1776. While "Mandingue" could be very broad or ambiguous in Saint-Domingue, possibly being used to encompass Mandinka as well as other Mande groups, "Souraca" is rather specific. To a speaker of Bamana or Mandinka languages in Mali, suraka referred to "Arabs" or people from the north. Thus, it is possible that this anonymous "Mandingue" hailed from an area of Mali or Mauritania in the Sahel. Was he native to that region or was he formerly enslaved by Arabs or Tuaregs?

Another possible example of quite specific African "national" classification is the case of a runaway named Hector, from the year 1772. Of the Mende nation, it is quite certain that he was from the Mende peoples of Sierra Leone. 

Even very specific Mande-affiliated peoples like the Dioula, or Juula, were also in the colony of Saint-Domingue. In the above case from 1768, a female runaway named Marie was specified as Dioula. This is rather amazing to see the distinguishing of various "Mandingue" and Mande-associated peoples in the colony. Was she from the area of today's northern Ivory Coast or Ghana?

Also in Saint-Domingue were small numbers of people from the "Edo" group, associated with areas such as the Kingdom of Benin in today's Nigeria. The above example, of a woman who ran away in 1784, attests to the presence of Edo peoples in colonial Haiti. 

Even the Gurma peoples could be found in Saint-Domingue. In the above case, from 1786, a "Gourmand" African ran away. In this case, "Gourmand" is probably a reference to the Gurma people, who are mostly to be found in present-day Burkina Faso.

Also present were the Bobo peoples, likewise found in Burkina Faso. The case of Richard, from the 1770s, serves as proof of their presence among the captive West Africans in the colony. 

The Oyo Yoruba may be found under their specific name. The 1777 incident involving 2 runaway women of the "Ayo" nation may very likely refer to Oyo. We suspect, however, that more Oyo peoples than one realizes were in Saint-Domingue, but probably generically referred to as Yoruba. 

Last but certainly not least, the Susu peoples of Guinea and Sierra Leone were similarly caught in the hellscape that was Saint Domingue. Usually referred to as Soso or Sosso in the Caribbean, they were more numerous than several of the other "nations" mentioned here. 

Chronicles from Gonja

Chronicles from Gonja collects and translates several Arabic manuscripts of a historical nature from kingdom of Gonja. Founded sometime in the mid-16th century by a warrior from the Mali Empire, Gonja was later made a tributary of the Asante Empire. However, the longstanding ties of trade in gold, kola nuts, textiles, and other goods had connected northern Ghana with the Western Sudan region since the Middle Ages. Even before the foundation of Gonja as a conquest state, Wangara merchants had already been active in the region. After its establishment, the warrior "estate" then established a close alliance with the Wangara and Islamic scholars. Later, Asante expansion northward in the 18th century began to encroach upon Gonja, eventually reducing it to a vassal state. Nonetheless, Gonja's literate Muslims were active in Kumase, writing charms, serving as advisors, and recording chronicles, letters, and prayers. 

The texts translated by Levtzion and commented upon by Ivor Wilks and Bruce Haight mainly date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The more substantial ones, such as the Tarikh Ghinja and the Kitab Ghanja, essentially present the history of Gonja's rulers from its origins in the 16th century to the second half of the 18th century. One even adopts the typical form of annals of the style of Islamic historiography. Nonetheless, many of the texts translated here reflect low standards of literacy or fluency in the Arabic tongue. Perhaps the scarcity of paper or the lower state of scholars who produced copies of older manuscripts is to blame here. Despite these aforementioned problems, and issues of copyists incorrectly replacing Bighu with Segu or confusing the names of Gonja sultans, the texts do provide a wealth of information on the region of northern Ghana and surrounding areas. 

The Wangara and/or Malinke elements were a bridge who linked the Akan peoples to the south with the Western Sudan, trans-Saharan trade, and, undoubtedly, with the Hausa trade in kola nuts. Indeed, sources such as the Wangara Chronicle indicate how influential Muslim Malinke traders were in Hausaland, just as their presence in Gonja was inextricably linked to Gonja's ruling estate, the Ngbanya. So, in a sense, the Wangara were a bridge connecting areas like Gonja and Dagomba with the Western and Central Sudan. Indeed, a rare reference to a man of Borno in Kafaba in the Tarikh Ghunja, if reliable, indicates a Borno presence in this region early in Gonja's existence. In addition, an allusion to the death of a Gonja pilgrim in a village of Katsina, while returning from Mecca, testifies to another dimension of Gonja's ties to the Central Sudan. Instead of, say, taking a pilgrimage route that went to the Middle Niger Valley and then crossed the Sahara, this pilgrim, at least on his return trip, traveled through Hausaland. Thus, in our eyes, the northern region of Ghana offer an intriguing case of a region with close ties to both the Western and Central Sudan, contributing to the formation of trading diasporas linked by gold, kola nuts, and Islam.