Would you agree that African culture survived more strongly in the Caribbean colonies than in North America?.
In 1562 John Hawkins, the first English slave-trader arrived in Africa with a fleet of three ships. Into these ships he put the three hundred black Africans he had abducted from Sierra Leone. Who were these people? What were their cultural beliefs? How did they live and what did it mean to be snatched from their homeland? .
FAMILY:.
Hostile to family life slavery uprooted many Africans from their homeland and their extended family ties. Kinship and family ties provided the personal and collective character of Africans and when taken beyond their shores they became rootless and "all at sea". Only the young and adult males were at first taken, leaving behind wives and families, slave traders had no consideration or concept that the "savages" would ever feel anything when leaving loved ones behind. The general perception of the white slave traders and owners due to African men having a number of wives was that there could be no ties of family. African "promiscuity" was seen as proof that family life did not exist in Africa as Europeans knew it. However, this could not have been further from the truth, family ties and kinship was an integral part of African culture. .
Within some African societies females were highly prized, as they were the means by which status, kinship and family could be acquired. A characteristic of several West African societies was the emphasis placed on matrilineal and matrilocal kinship systems. Female slaves could be significant links in kinship networks, with their importance in the social system enhanced. .
In the beginning of the slave trade women were few and far between with a ratio of thirty-three females per one hundred males. With slaves spread over a vast region it was difficult to find a suitable female partner, many slaves died in the early years without ever doing so.
