My History | Senegal Ancestry

[infopane color="6" icon="0182.png"] My History explores recent DNA revelations concerning Black Sovereign's genetic past.

Black Sovereign's DNA Test Results

[one_third] AFRICA (86%)

• Nigeria - 57%


• Mali - 17%


• Southeastern Bantu - 3%


• Senegal - 3%


• South-Central Hunter-Gatherers - 3%


• Cameroon - 1%


• Benin - less than 1%


• Ghana - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third] EUROPE (13%)

• Britain - 6%


• Europe West - 5%


• Italy - less than 1%


• Iberian Peninsula - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third_last] PACIFIC ISLANDER (< 1%)

• Melanesia - less than 1%

[/one_third_last] [/infopane]

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Senegal

Primarily located in: Senegal, the Gambia

Also found in: Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania

Africa’s westernmost nation, Senegal, lies about 1,000 miles above the equator and boasts miles of beaches along the Atlantic. It’s bordered by Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau and almost completely encircles the Gambia. The country’s current population is just about evenly divided between urban and rural dwellers, with more than 2 million Senegalese now living in and around the capital city of Dakar. Senegal is widely known for its music, including mbalax (“rhythm” in Wolof, the working language of Senegal) and dazzling sabar drumming.

How Black Sovereign compares to the typical person native to the Senegal region

[infopane color="1" icon="0101.png"]Black Sovereign : 3% ... ... ... Typical native : 100%[/infopane]

 

Genetic Diversity in the Senegal Region

People living in the Senegal region are not very admixed, which means that when creating genetic ethnicity estimates for people native to this area, we don’t often see similarities to DNA profiles from other nearby regions. We’ve found that about 100% of the typical Senegal native’s DNA comes from this region.

We have used our reference panel to build a genetic profile for Senegal. The blue chart above shows examples of ethnicity estimates for people native to this region. For Senegal, we see a very narrow range. For most natives, between 80% and 100% of their DNA looks similar to the profile. However there are some exceptions, and we see some with as little as 52% of their DNA from this region. For those who show similarity to DNA profiles from neighboring regions, about 46% have at least some DNA from the Mali region. (See green chart above.)

Population History

Archeological findings indicate that the Senegal area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. For the last millennium at least, trade routes have helped shape the area. Trans-Saharan trade flowing to and from the interior of Africa helped establish and maintain the Ghana, Mali, and Wolof (or Jolof) Empires, each of which bordered or included portions of modern-day Senegal. Trade and conquest brought wealth, Islam and people into the region—and sometimes pushed people out.

Portuguese traders reached the estuary of the Senegal River in the mid-1400s. Over the next four centuries the direction of trade shifted. Instead of heading inland, toward the Sahara, it began to flow outward, toward the European traders on the Atlantic Coast. As colonial powers began to push farther inland themselves in the 19th century, they eventually brought an end to local kingdoms and actually furthered the spread of Islam, which became a way of uniting against the European invaders.

Slave raiding and trading were major sources of revenue for the region’s kings, and the island of Gorée (just a mile off the coast of Senegal, opposite Dakar) became the largest slave-trading center in Africa. Controlled at various times by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French, the island served as a warehouse where, over a 200-year period, millions of slaves were taken from their homeland. The island, with its House of Slaves museum and memorial, is now a pilgrimage destination for the African diaspora from the slave trade.

House of Slaves on Gorée Island

View of Gorée Island off the coast of Senegal

The French took control of Senegal in the 19th century, while the Gambia became a British colony. Senegal gained independence in 1960; the Gambia, in 1965.

Migrations and ethnic groups in the Senegal region

Senegal’s current population is believed to be a mixture of peoples who moved into the region from the north and the east. Despite its relatively small size, the area is home to several ethnic groups. Today, the predominant population groups are the Wolof (43%), the Fula (23%) and the Serer (14%). Others include the Jola and the Mandinka.

Wolof

Many believe the Wolof (or Jolof) people migrated into Senegal from the northeast sometime around the 11th century. By 1350, they had established their own empire, a federation of several Wolof kingdoms, or states. The Wolof Empire came to an end when the French took control of the interior during the 19th century. Most Wolof identify themselves as Muslim. Their culture once had a three-tiered caste system—freeborn, of slave descent, and artisans—though this has broken down somewhat in recent times. The Wolof language has become the lingua franca of Senegal.

Fula

Historically, the Fula (Fulani, Fulbe, Peul) were a nomadic people known for keeping cattle. Some evidence suggests that their presence in West Africa goes back centuries, possibly including North African and Middle Eastern ancestry. They spread outward from Senegal, through western and central Africa and east to the Sudan. They are also strongly linked to Islam, and some Fulani led jihads in West Africa as late as the 19th century. In modern Senegal, they primarily live in the Fouta Toro area, in the northeastern part of the country; and near Casamance, south of the Gambia.

Wolof in war costume

Serer

Some scholars believe that the Serer people have the oldest roots in the region, and Serer oral traditions claim their original ancestors came from the Upper Nile area. The Serer people resisted Islam for centuries, and some still practice their traditional religion of Fat Rog (or Fat Roog). Many also speak one of the Serer languages, and most occupy the west-central part of modern Senegal. Although the Serer are a minority in the country, Senegal’s first and second presidents were Serers. Senegalese wrestling also has roots in Serer forms of wrestling, which was once used to train warriors for combat.

Senegalese wrestling. Photo by Pierre-Yves Beaudouin

Mandinka

The Mandinka are a minority population in Senegal, but a significant one because of their experience with the slave trade. The Mandinka group is a branch of the Mandé peoples, who came south into the areas of Senegal and Mali and were instrumental in founding the Ghana and Mali Empires. During the slave trade era, up to one third of the Mandinka people were enslaved and shipped to the New World. (Mandinka make up more than 40% of the population in neighboring Gambia.)

Note that genetic ethnicity estimates are based on individuals living in this region today. While a prediction of genetic ethnicity from this region suggests a connection to the groups occupying this location, it is not conclusive evidence of membership to any particular tribe or ethnic group.

Did You Know?

Senegal’s famous sabar drums, played with one hand and one stick, were once used to communicate among villages and could be heard for miles.

Two sabar drums from Senegal. Photo by Michael Brouwer.

My History | SE Bantu Ancestry

[infopane color="6" icon="0182.png"] My History explores recent DNA revelations concerning Black Sovereign's genetic past.

Black Sovereign's DNA Test Results

[one_third] AFRICA (86%)

• Nigeria - 57%


• Mali - 17%


• Southeastern Bantu - 3%


• Senegal - 3%


• South-Central Hunter-Gatherers - 3%


• Cameroon - 1%


• Benin - less than 1%


• Ghana - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third] EUROPE (13%)

• Britain - 6%


• Europe West - 5%


• Italy - less than 1%


• Iberian Peninsula - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third_last] PACIFIC ISLANDER (< 1%)

• Melanesia - less than 1%

[/one_third_last] [/infopane]

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Africa Southeastern Bantu

Primarily located in: South Africa, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda

Also found in: Nigeria, Congo

Extending through the heart of Africa, the vast region now inhabited by the Bantu was the stage for one of the greatest migrations in human history. In time, that migration would become the seedbed for a broad family of related ethnic groups and languages that would wield enormous influence on the ancient and contemporary history of Africa: from kingdoms and trade networks to colonial independence movements and Nobel Prize-winning leaders.

How Black Sovereign compares to the typical person native to the Africa Southeastern Bantu region

[infopane color="1" icon="0101.png"]Black Sovereign : 3% ... ... ... Typical native : 72%[/infopane]

 

Genetic Diversity in the Africa Southeastern Bantu Region

Individuals from the Africa Southeastern Bantu region are admixed, which means that when creating genetic ethnicity estimates for people native to this area, we frequently see see similarities to DNA profiles from other regions. We’ve found that approximately 72% of the typical Southeastern Bantu region native’s DNA comes from this region.

Examples of people native to the Africa Southeastern Bantu region

From a collection of 18 people:

Other regions commonly seen in people native to the Africa Southeastern Bantu region

From a collection of 18 people:

We have used our reference panel to build a genetic profile for the Africa Southeastern Bantu region. The blue chart above shows examples of ethnicity estimates for people native to this region. For most natives, between 58% and 100% of their DNA looks similar to our profile. It’s also possible, however, to find people whose DNA shows very little similarity, some as little as 14%. For people with DNA from other regions, the most common is the neighboring Cameroon/Congo region—about 44% of people from the Africa Southeastern Bantu region have at least some DNA from Cameroon/Congo. In addition, about 39% of people from the Africa Southeastern Bantu region have some DNA from the Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers region. (See green chart above.)

Population History

Oddly, the Africa Southeastern Bantu region has its roots in West Africa, an area that includes Nigeria and Cameroon. In that area, perhaps 3,000 years ago, a group of Niger-Congo languages called Bantu (meaning “people”) had their origins. As West Africa’s population grew, members of the Bantu-speaking group migrated in two directions. Some went south along Africa's west coast. Others headed east across the continent, north of the Congo River and its dense forests—a formidable natural barrier. Then they turned south. These migrations spread the Bantu languages—and the population’s genes—over a wide swath of the continent.

The Africa Southeastern Bantu region is enormous, extending more than 2,500 miles north to south. It stretches from modern-day Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in the north; encompasses Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in its center; and finally opens into Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Angola.

Not only is it large, but this region also exhibits almost unparalleled ethnic and linguistic diversity. The Bantu language group is among the world’s most diverse, comprising more than 500 languages. All of them, from Bemba to Zulu, share linguistic features (some 250 are mutually intelligible) that originate from a common ancestral language. All told, more than 240 million people speak a Bantu language, and many more use a Bantu tongue (such as Swahili) as a second or third language.

The Bantu migrations

The earliest Bantu people arose in modern-day Cameroon and Nigeria. A Neolithic people who farmed yams and oil palms (but not grains), they lived on the edges of forests where resources were richer and they could supplement their diet with bushmeat. No archaeological evidence of metallurgy appears in the region, but a stable and somewhat varied food supply led to population growth and expansion to the east and the south.

The Eastern Bantu acquired grains and learned how to grow them as they migrated east toward the Great Lakes region—modern-day Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. There they learned how to smelt iron and make a kind of steel. The combined assets of reliable tools and the addition of cereals to the simple farming and herding skills they had practiced in Cameroon and Nigeria gave rise to large communities. Growing populations—and the mobility that herding, farming and metal-smithing provided—kept Bantu groups moving south and, in some cases, back west toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Bantu Cradle

The Western Bantu are part of the same great swath of Bantu who inhabit eastern and southern Africa. They moved south from Cameroon along the west coast of Africa in the same time frame as the Eastern Bantu (beginning about 1000 B.C.), ending up in what we know today as Angola and Namibia. As some groups moved deeper into central Africa’s rainforests and riverine environments, they added fishing to their skills.

Bantu kingdoms

A 19th-century illustration of a traditional village of Zulus, a Bantu group in southern Africa.

Bantu communities flourished and became powerful over time as people began to specialize in trades, engage in commerce with Arabs and other merchants, and develop standing armies. Chiefdoms turned into kingdoms as power was centralized among clans and other groups. The Baganda state in the Great Lakes region became so powerful by 1000 A.D. that, some 900 years later when the British took control of Uganda, they made the Baganda their colonial administrators and overlords of smaller kingdoms in the area.

To the south lay the Great Zimbabwe civilization, with its fortress architecture and wide reach, formed by early Shona settlers. The Shona were another Bantu group whose successful use of resources and strong organization displaced the hunter-gatherer Bushmen tribes. Great Zimbabwe was dominant for about 1,000 years, from 500 to 1500 A.D. Even farther south, Zulu clans consolidated into a kingdom under the military leadership of Shaka and his successors, battling the Afrikaners and holding the British at bay for a time during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879.

Many of the kingdoms along Africa’s east coast or with river access developed sophisticated networks of trade with Portuguese, Arab and Indian traders. Landlocked kingdoms exchanged goods with other African kingdoms and groups, many of which had embassies and ambassadors to facilitate military alliances and trade relationships.

Ruins of the Great Zimbabwe civilization

The Defence of Rorke's Drift 1879 by Alphonse de Neuville. The Battle of Rorke's Drift took place during the Anglo-Zulu War.

European colonization

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bantu kingdoms that spanned eastern and southern Africa fell to relentless European colonization backed by armies, money and the technology to exploit African resources. Britain controlled the largest chunks of the Southeastern Bantu region, including South Africa, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Bechuanaland (Botswana), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar. Britain tried to exploit divisions between groups and manipulate existing native administrations as part of a policy called “indirect rule.”

Portugal, Germany and Belgium had much more centralized colonial administrations. Portugal colonized Mozambique and Angola. Germany claimed German East Africa (modern-day Tanzania, minus Zanzibar), German West Africa (Namibia), Rwanda and Burundi. Belgium claimed the Congo and, after 1916, Rwanda and Burundi.

African independence movements

After a long period of resistance to the colonial regimes, a wave of independence movements swept Africa in the 1960s and ’70s. Freedom, along with new roads, trains and planes, improved the mobility of many Africans and connected them to the world. As a result of post-colonial trade and cultural relationships, many African communities have been established in European cities. With those emigrations came the spread of Bantu genes far beyond Africa’s borders.

The region today

The countries in the Southeast Bantu region are culturally vibrant, highly diverse, resource-rich and hungry for opportunity. However, Africa’s progress is curbed by struggles with poverty, war, corruption, political and ethnic strife, disease, indebtedness, limited access to education and medical care, and undiversified economies driven by subsistence or cash crops.

Yet there are bright spots. Uganda managed to turn around one of the world’s highest HIV infection rates through education. South Africa is a country with modern banking, transportation and manufacturing sectors that can build nearly everything it needs. Namibia has remained a peaceful multiparty democracy since its independence from South Africa in 1990. Angola and Mozambique, not many years free from brutal civil wars, have economies growing at double-digit rates.

Cape Town, South Africa

The Southeastern Bantu region shares a genetic thread spanning thousands of miles and several thousand years. Part of that genetic inheritance, as the region’s history shows, is a deep resilience.

Note that genetic ethnicity estimates are based on individuals living in this region today. While a prediction of genetic ethnicity from this region suggests a connection to the groups occupying this location, it is not conclusive evidence of membership to any particular tribe or ethnic group.

Did You Know?

During the transatlantic slave trade, more than 1 million slaves were sent from Angola to the New World.

Random Reflections | Never give up your pursuit

My History | Malian Ancestry

[infopane color="6" icon="0182.png"]

My History explores recent DNA revelations concerning Black Sovereign's genetic past.

Black Sovereign's DNA Test Results

[one_third]

AFRICA (86%)

• Nigeria - 57%


• Mali - 17%


• Southeastern Bantu - 3%


• Senegal - 3%


• South-Central Hunter-Gatherers - 3%


• Cameroon - 1%


• Benin - less than 1%


• Ghana - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third]

EUROPE (13%)

• Britain - 6%


• Europe West - 5%


• Italy - less than 1%


• Iberian Peninsula - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third_last]

PACIFIC ISLANDER (< 1%)

• Melanesia - less than 1%

[/one_third_last]

[/infopane]

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Mali

Primarily located in: Mali, Guinea

Also found in: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal

Mali’s modern boundaries were drawn in 1890, when French Sudan was created, and united two very different regions: the Sudanian savannas in the south and the Sahara Desert to the north. These manmade borders make modern Mali a multi-ethnic country of diverse peoples as well, but geography has always played a key role in Mali’s history and people. The savannas at the edge of the desert made the area a natural locus for trans-Saharan trade, which connected western Africa with Europe and Asia in precolonial times. For centuries, Mali was a fabled land of gold, scholarship and empires.

How Black Sovereign compares to the typical person native to the Mali region

[infopane color="1" icon="0101.png"]Black Sovereign : 17% ... ... ... Typical native : 39%[/infopane]

Genetic Diversity in the Mali Region

People living in the Mali region are quite admixed, which means that when creating genetic ethnicity estimates for people native to this area, we frequently see similarities to DNA profiles from other nearby regions. In fact, we’ve found that only approximately 39% of the typical Mali native’s DNA comes from the Mali region.

Examples of people native to the Mali region

From a collection of 16 people:

Other regions commonly seen in people native to the Mali region

From a collection of 16 people:

We have used our reference panel to build a genetic profile for the Mali region. The blue chart above shows examples of ethnicity estimates for people native to the area. For this region we see a very wide range: for natives of the region, anywhere from 14% to 100% of their DNA may look similar to the profile. It is unclear whether this wide range should be attributed to the sample size tested or to normal genetic diversity in the area. The typical person native to this area displays an ethnicity estimate of only 39%, which means 61% of his or her DNA is more similar to other regions, such as the neighboring Ivory Coast/Ghana and Senegal regions. About 69% of people from the Mali region have at least some DNA similar to profiles from these two regions. (See green chart above.)

Population History

A land of empires

Historically, parts of Mali fell within three great West African empires: the Ghana, the Mali, and the Songhai.

Ghana Empire

The modern country of Ghana (which actually lies miles to the southeast of modern-day Mali) takes its name from the ancient empire of Ghana. Founded by the Soninke people, the Ghana Empire lay between the Senegal and Niger rivers and dominated trans-Saharan trade from about 700 to 1100 A.D. Ghana was rich in gold, and gold, salt, ivory and slaves all moved along the trade routes. Ghana also amassed wealth by taxing commodities that passed through its territory. Muslim traders from North Africa introduced Islam to the region, and today, more than 90% of Malians identify themselves as Muslim.

Mali Empire

[one_half]
After Ghana’s decline, the Mali Empire, founded by Sundiata Keita in about 1230 A.D., rose to take its place. Like Ghana, Mali had gold mines, and the empire’s wealth also came from trade, which included gold, salt and agricultural products from the fertile lands around the upper Niger River. Islam’s influence grew as the empire’s royalty adopted the religion, and at its height, the Mali Empire was a center of Muslim scholarship, with a famous university at Timbuktu.

Arab writers told of Mali’s fabulous wealth, and Mali began to appear on European maps in the 14th century.
[/one_half][one_half_last]

Sundiata Keita

[/one_half_last]

Songhai Empire

The Mali Empire was supplanted by the Songhai (or Songhay) Empire in the 15th century after the Songhai people rebelled against Mali. Led by Sonni Ali, who came to power in roughly 1464, the Songhai began expanding their holdings, taking Timbuktu, Gao and Jenne (or Djenne). By about 1530 the Songhai Empire had become the largest empire in West Africa and ruled an area larger than Europe. Like the empires before them, their strength and wealth lay in gold and trans-Saharan trade.

After the Empires

As empires expanded and contracted, conquest and trade resulted in migrations to and from regions throughout western Africa. With the dissolution of the Ghana Empire, Soninke people dispersed through what is now Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, the Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Traders from Mali extended their reach south into the areas of modern-day Ghana and Ivory Coast. As the Songhai Empire collapsed, and as trade shifted toward the Atlantic Coast, many migrated in that direction.

The Mali Empire was originally founded and ruled by kings from the Malinké, or Mandinka, people, a branch of the Mandé ethnic group. Later, between 1500 and 1900 during the height of the slave trade, up to one-third of the Mandinka were enslaved and shipped to the New World. As a result, many African Americans in the United States are descended from Mandinka ancestors.

Ethnic groups of modern Mali

Half of Mali’s population today belongs to the Mandé ethnic group—comprising the Bambara, Malinké and Soninke. The Fula (Fulani, Fulbe, Peul) account for 17% of Mali’s modern population. Historically, the Fula were nomads, known for keeping cattle. Some evidence suggests their presence in West Africa goes back centuries and possibly includes North African and Middle Eastern ancestry. They are also strongly linked to Islam, and some Fulani led jihads in West Africa as late as the 19th century.

Voltaic ethnic groups, named for the Volta River Basin, account for another 12% of Mali’s population. Another important group is the Tauregs, a Berber people who live primarily in the north and have traditionally been nomadic herders. (“Berber” is the name given to the indigenous people of North Africa.)

While each group has its own language, most Malians can speak a dialect of Bambara.

Modern people of Mali, courtesy of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation

 

Note that genetic ethnicity estimates are based on individuals living in this region today. While a prediction of genetic ethnicity from this region suggests a connection to the groups occupying this location, it is not conclusive evidence of membership to any particular tribe or ethnic group.

 

Did You Know?

During his epic hajj (1324–1325), Mali emperor Mansa Kankan Musa I spent so lavishly on his way to Mecca that the worth of gold in Cairo dropped and didn’t regain its value for several years.

Depiction of Mansa Musa from the 1375 Catalan Atlas, drawn by Abraham Cresques

My History | Nigerian Ancestry

[infopane color="6" icon="0182.png"]

My History explores recent DNA revelations concerning Black Sovereign's genetic past.

Black Sovereign's DNA Test Results

[one_third]

AFRICA (86%)

• Nigeria - 57%


• Mali - 17%


• Southeastern Bantu - 3%


• Senegal - 3%


• South-Central Hunter-Gatherers - 3%


• Cameroon - 1%


• Benin - less than 1%


• Ghana - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third]

EUROPE (13%)

• Britain - 6%


• Europe West - 5%


• Italy - less than 1%


• Iberian Peninsula - less than 1%

[/one_third][one_third_last]

PACIFIC ISLANDER (< 1%)

• Melanesia - less than 1%

[/one_third_last]

[/infopane]

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Nigeria

Primarily located in: Nigeria

Also found in: Niger, Benin, Cameroon, Congo

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with more than 168 million people living in an area about twice the size of California. In fact, Nigeria has six cities with populations over 1 million (the United States has nine). From its tropical south to the arid north, Nigeria as a country is a concept and product of colonialism, bringing together more than 250 ethnic groups within fairly arbitrary borders.

How Black Sovereign compares to the typical person native to the Nigeria region

[infopane color="1" icon="0101.png"]Black Sovereign : 57% ... ... ...  Typical native : 69%[/infopane]

Genetic Diversity in the Nigeria Region

The people living in Nigeria are among the most admixed of any of our regions, which means that when creating ethnicity estimates for people native to this area, we usually see similarities to DNA profiles from nearby regions. We’ve found that approximately 69% of the typical Nigeria native’s DNA comes from this region.

Examples of people native to the Nigeria region

From a collection of 67 people

Other regions commonly seen in people native to the Nigeria region

From a collection of 67 people

We have used our reference panel to build a genetic profile for the Nigeria region. The blue chart above shows examples of ethnicity estimates for people native to this region. For the Nigeria region, we see an extremely wide range: for some natives to the area, 100% of their DNA looks similar to the profile, while others do not look similar to the region at all. For Nigeria natives with DNA from neighboring regions, we most commonly see similarities to the profile for Benin/Togo. About 45% of people from the Nigeria region have at least some DNA from Benin/Togo. (See the green chart above.)

Population History

Geography

Nigeria’s seacoast in the south, with its mangrove swamps in the Niger Delta, gives way to a band of tropical rainforest and then savanna and drier Sahel grasslands in the north. Along with the landscape, the climate varies: from wet and tropical along the coast to more arid conditions in the Sahel, where a three to four-month rainy season is followed by hot, dry temperatures. Modern-day Nigeria’s northern area once encompassed the southern end of trans-Saharan trade routes, where salt, cloth and other goods were brought across the desert to trade for gold, ivory, slaves, kola nuts and other items from the south.

An acacia tree in the Niger Delta

 

Religion

Throughout West Africa, Muslim traders brought Islam as well as goods with them across the Sahara, and the religion was adopted by some in Nigeria’s northern Sahel and savanna regions by at least the 9th century. Islam made its way to the south during the reign of Mali emperor Mansa Musa, if not before. Christianity came later, with European traders who interacted with groups in the south. Religious preferences still maintain this north-south divide, with Islam predominating in the north among the Fulani and Hausa, and Christianity in the south. Today, Nigeria is about 50% Muslim and 40% Christian, with about 10% embracing traditional or indigenous beliefs.

Kingdoms of the Past

The oldest human remains found in Nigeria have been dated to 9000 B.C., though the region was likely inhabited before then. There is evidence of iron working from around 600 B.C. The earliest known Iron Age civilization in Nigeria is the Nok, who lived in northern and central Nigeria between about 1000 B.C. and 300 A.D. They are known for their life-sized terracotta statues. Following the Nok, large kingdoms and smaller, village-based groups established themselves in the area over the next millennia.

One of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria today, the Yoruba trace their roots back to the city of Ile-Ife in southwestern Nigeria. The city came to prominence as a center of trade in the 12th century. Like the Nok before them, the Yoruba of this period were sculptors, creating works in terracotta, iron and bronze. The city was also known for its courtyards paved in shards of pottery. Unlike Ile-Ife, the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo maintained an army and established a kingdom that dominated western Nigeria during the 17th and early 18th centuries.

[one_half]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="287"] Ife bronze casting of a king, dated around 12th century, in the British Museum[/caption]

[/one_half][one_half_last]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="287"] Location of the city of Ile-Ife[/caption]

[/one_half_last]

To the south, the Edo people established the Kingdom of Benin, which expanded from a magnificent city into a powerful empire during the 15th century. When Portuguese traders first visited the city, they were impressed by its size and splendor, and Benin sent an ambassador to Lisbon in the early 16th century. Benin is known for its carvings and its “bronzes” (which are actually brass).

In the north, on the edge of the Sahel, the Hausa established states that thrived on trans-Saharan trade, especially after the collapse of the Mali and Songhai Empires, when trade moved farther east. The Hausa states adopted Islam, establishing madrassas and building beautiful mosques—while also warring against one another. The Hausa states were incorporated into the Sokoto Caliphate during a jihad led by the Fulani people in the early 19th century.

The Slave Trade

Slaves had always been part of West African trade across the Sahara, but gold was the chief commodity that built the great empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai. This changed once Portuguese traders began plying West Africa’s coasts in the late 15th century. Early Portuguese traders actually bought slaves from the Nigerian coast to sell to the Akan people along the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana). After the Europeans began using Africa as a source of slaves for the sugar plantations in the New World, the transatlantic market grew exponentially. On Nigeria’s southern coast, slave traders often contracted with local kings or chiefs to provide slaves, with the kingdom of Oyo and the Aro Confederacy, an Igbo group, becoming two major suppliers. Great Britain abolished slavery in 1807, but a profitable trade continued well into the 19th century, with traders running British blockades off Nigeria. Some estimates put the number of slaves sent to the Americas from Nigeria at 3.5 million.

Slaves being transported, 19th-century engraving

 

Colonialism

After the Berlin Conference of 1884 and 1885, which parceled Africa out among European powers, Nigeria fell within the British sphere. The Royal Niger Company represented and pursued British interests in the area until 1890, when the British government took control. The area was divided into northern and southern protectorates until 1914, when they were merged into the colony of Nigeria. Nigeria became independent in 1960. Four years earlier, in 1956, oil had been discovered in the Niger Delta, and Nigeria is now among the top 10 oil exporters in the world.

Ethnic groups

While modern-day Nigeria is home to more than 250 ethnic groups, the four largest account for almost 70% of the population.

The Hausa and Fulani

The Hausa people form one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are located primarily in northern Nigeria and southern Niger. The Hausa language is spoken as a first language by around 40 million people, more than any other language in sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, the Hausa have integrated with the Fulani to the extent that the group is often referred to as Hausa-Fulani.

The Fulani are spread over many West African countries, including Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. Historically, the Fulani were nomads who kept cattle. They are also strongly linked to Islam; the Fulani led the jihads that helped establish the Sokoto Caliphate in Hausa lands during the 19th century. They are a minority population in each country they inhabit, with the exception of Guinea, where they represent 40% of the population. In Nigeria, the Hausa-Fulani account for about 30% of Nigeria’s population.

The Yoruba

The Yoruba live in southwestern Nigeria and the southern portion of neighboring Benin. They make up about 20% of Nigeria’s population. The Yoruba were greatly affected by the transatlantic slave trade; their territory was one of the most significant slave-exporting regions in Africa during the 1800s. The largest concentrations of Yoruba ended up in Cuba, Brazil and Trinidad. The Igbo and Yoruba peoples from the Bights of Benin and Biafra constituted roughly one-third of all enslaved Africans transported to the Americas.

The Igbo

The Igbo people are another large and influential ethnic group in Nigeria. With a population of about 30 million, they are found primarily in southeastern Nigeria, as well as Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea.

The transatlantic slave trade also had a massive impact on the Igbo. Many of those sold into slavery were kidnapped or captured as prisoners of war. Others were debtors or had been convicted of crimes. Several scholars assert that Igbo slaves were reputed to be especially rebellious; some would even commit suicide rather than endure enslavement. Elements of Igbo culture can still be seen in former New World colonies. For instance, Jamaican Creole uses the Igbo word for “you,” and a section of Belize City is named Eboe Town after its Igbo inhabitants. In the United States, a high concentration of slaves in Maryland and Virginia were Igbo, and they still constitute a large proportion of the African-American population in the area.

Note that genetic ethnicity estimates are based on individuals living in this region today. While a prediction of genetic ethnicity from this region suggests a connection to the groups occupying this location, it is not conclusive evidence of membership to any particular tribe or ethnic group.

Random Reflections | Commit to your role

My History | Taking a DNA Test

Recently, I decided to take a DNA Test for Ethnicity from AncestryDNA.com.  All they needed was a saliva sample to do the test.  A relative of mine did the test last year and it inspired me to delve into the mysteries of my own bloodline.  I never met my Dad's father since he divorced my grandmother when my dad was 12.  He simply disappeared never to be heard from again.  I do know that he was Native American,  Creek Indian to be exact; and some say that he may have returned to the Reservation.  Again, that is just hearsay.  Word of mouth is all most African-Americans have to go on when it comes to defining our genetic past.  Most records were either destroyed when the buildings they were housed in burned or never recorded period.  A common occurrence during "those" times.

I never go by what people tell me.  I prefer to find out or verify information on my own.  Taking this test is a step towards unlocking secrets from my own genetic past on both sides of my family.

Once I get the results,  I will update this post.  I am excited to unlock the secrets to my past.  It will be interesting to compare knowledge that's been passed down through generations with information decoded from the DNA found in my saliva.  I know of my history going back to the 1700's, on my mom's side.  My dad's is the real mystery so I'm hoping this test will shed more light.

This is NOT an ad for Ancestry.com.  I did take advantage of their 14 day trial and ended up finding the 1940 census records for both sets of my grandparents.  So I do advise you to try it out and see what you find... if you are into history and genealogy.  It's always good to know where you come from.

I'll update this post once the results are in.  This will be the first in my personal history series.

 

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UPDATE:  05/17/14

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Black Sovereign's DNA Test

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Some of the information correctly matches most of my known history.  Others are a mystery... but I love mysteries.

AFRICA (86%)

• Nigeria - Already known and documented


• Mali - Now I have a reason to visit Timbuktu


• Southeastern Bantu - Not known but am enjoying learning more


• Senegal - Not known but am enjoying learning more


• South-Central Hunter-Gatherers - Not known yet very fascinating


• Cameroon - Handsome people :)


• Benin - Not known but am enjoying learning more


• Ghana - This surprises me knowing that I'm less than 1% since I have family from Ghana

EUROPE (13%)

• Britain - I think this may  be on my dad's side since his background is still largely a mystery


• Europe West - This would include France and my grandmother is French Creole


• Italy - Very surprising that I'm less than 1% since my bi-racial great grandfather is from there


• Iberian Peninsula - This is truly surprising but am enjoying learning more

PACIFIC ISLANDER (< 1%)

• Melanesia - These dark skinned people get blue eyes and blond hair!  That surely explains some things.

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[biginfopane textcolor="#ffffff" title="My History" href="http://blacksovereign.com/category/bs/bs-myhistory/" button_title="Click here to begin" full_width="true"]To learn more about Black Sovereign's genetic makeup and history, view all posts under the My History category.[/biginfopane]