Draft:Mina (diaspora)

Mina is a English, Spanish and Portuguese-language term that was used across the Americas as an ethnicity for enslaved Africans and their descendants who originated from the Costa da Mina. The term was broadly

In some places outside of the Costa da Mina and the Gold Coast, Mina began to be used as a term for people from that region.^[1]

Names

As the term Mina referred to those who originated from the Costa da Mina, a loosely defined region in coastal West Africa, the people it represented had a variety of religious, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. These differences are seen in how different Mina people used the term.

more specific names in certain places

In colonial Brazil, where enslaved Afro-Brazilians were said to belong to different African nations, the term nação Mina (Mina nation) was also used.

History

who are they and where are they from

how did they end up in the places they ended up in

whats their history once they arrived in these places

Once in the Americas,

organized themselves in religious communities,

Countries

Brazil

The name of the region led to the usage of Mina as an ethnicity in Brazil to refer to enslaved people who were either descendants of those sent from that area or were themselves transported from there. Despite the term referring to a shared common background in departing Africa from the Costa da Mina, the Mina people in Brazil were not a monolith as many were captured from different parts of Africa, spoke different languages, and had different cultures.^[2] The term Mina was also used in the phrase Nação Mina (Mina nation), which was said to be the nation that the Mina people originated from.^[3] Within this large grouping, the most numerous were speakers of Gbe languages (such as Fon, Ewe, and Mahi)^[4] and the Yoruba people.^[5] Specific groups of Gbe languages speakers who were considered Mina include the Fon and the Mahi.^[6] Peoples unrelated to either Gbe speakers or the Yoruba, such as the Chamba, were sometimes also considered Mina.^[6]

The Mina were sought out by some Portuguese and Brazilian slave traders as they were considered stronger and more resilient than enslaved people from Central Africa.^[7] Slave traders in Bahia specifically sought out slaves from the Costa da Mina,^[6] with the slave port of Salvador receiving 80% of all slaves who departed from there.^[8] It is believed that two-thirds of all enslaved people received in Bahia between 1710 and 1770 were from the Costa da Mina.^[8] Researchers Daniel Domingues and David Eltis estimate that seven out of every eight enslaved people to disembark in nearby state Pernambuco between 1720 and 1735 were from the Costa da Mina.^[8]

Large communities of Mina people were established in Salvador and the city of Rio de Janeiro,^[9] which were the two main points of entry for enslaved Africans arriving in Brazil.^[10]

Bahia

Bahia had more people from Western Africa than Central Africa, so Mina were the majority EXPAND WITH CURRENT SOURCES

The majority of enslaved Africans in the province of Bahia were from West Africa, so the term Mina had more specific variants and coexisted with several other terms to indicate West African origin. Speakers of Gbe languages, which included the Fon and Mahi, were known as Gêges or Jejes, whereas the Yoruba were known as Nagôs. Two subgroups of Mina existed in Bahia, the Minas-Santés and the Minas-Popos. The first group refered to the Ashanti people, whereas the second refered to Akan and Ga speakers from Little Popo.^[11]

Rio de Janeiro

Rio had more people from central africa rather than west africa, so Mina were the minority people EXPAND WITH CURRENT SOURCES

In the state of Rio de Janeiro, enslaved Africans were designated into three categories based on their region of origin: Guiné, Mina, and Angola. Whereas Angola referred to the entirety of Central Africa, Guiné and Mina referred to the western and eastern portions of the West African coast around the Ivory Coast respectively.^[12]

Maranhão

In the state of Maranhão, all Africans were refered to as Mina despite their ethnic, linguisitc or cultural backgrounds.^[12]

Costa da Mina

When used in the Costa da Mina and the surrounding region, Mina as an ethnicity specifically referred to people from the town of Elmina.^[1]

Cuba

The term Mina appears alongside many other terms for enslaved Africans from the West African coast in an inventory compilied by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz Fernández of classic African ethnicities in Cuba. While Mina was used to broadly represent people from the Gold coast, more specific terms to desiginate regions within coastal West Africa such as Arará and Sabalú for those whose origins were the Kingdom of Ardra or Kingdom of Savalou respectively were used as well.^[11]

There were Cabildos using the term Mina, such as the 1909 Cabildo Minas Popó Costa de Oro or the 1974–1812 Cabildo Mina Guagui.^[11]

Haiti

In the latter half of the eighteenth century, the term Mina was distinct from other terms to refer to Gbe speakers such as Adja for the Aja people or Foeda for those from the Kingdom of Whydah. Mina coexisted with Coromanti, an English term which like Mina referred to enslaved Africans from the Gold Coast.^[13]

Mexico

ADD

United States

Louisiana

The Mina were a prominent group of enslaved Africans in the state of Louisiana. The term Mina in Louisiana is argued by American historian Gwendolyn Hall to have been used to differentiate Western Gbe speakers such as the Ewe, Ouatchi, Adja, Gen, and Hula from other groups such as the Fon.^[14]

Notable people

Antonio Cofi Mina, key figure in the Pointe Coupée Slave Conspiracy of 1791^[15]^[16]^[17]

References

Citations

Bibliography

^ ^a ^b Law 2005, p. 251.
^ da Silva Jr 2016, p. 9.
^ Barreto Farias & Carvalho Soares 2018, p. 53.
^ Barreto Farias & Carvalho Soares 2018, p. 49.
^ Barreto Farias & Carvalho Soares 2018, p. 48.
^ ^a ^b ^c da Silva Jr 2016, p. 19.
^ da Silva Jr 2016, p. 11.
^ ^a ^b ^c da Silva Jr 2016, p. 23.
^ da Silva Jr 2016, p. 8.
^ Barreto Farias & Carvalho Soares 2018, p. 46-47.
^ ^a ^b ^c Law 2005, p. 260.
^ ^a ^b Law 2005, p. 259.
^ Law 2005, p. 260–261.
^ Law 2005, p. 261-262.
^ Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo (1992). "The 1795 slave conspiracy in Pointe Coupée: Impact of the French Revolution". Proceedings of the Meeting of the French Colonial Historical Society. 15: 130–141. ISSN 0362-7055.
^ Ricard, Ulysses S. (1992). "The Pointe Coupée Slave Conspiracy of 1791". Proceedings of the Meeting of the French Colonial Historical Society. 15: 116–129. ISSN 0362-7055.
^ https://muse.jhu.edu/article/187885/pdf