Aku (Other Keyword)
1-3 (3 Records)
The Gambian capital of Banjul was founded as part of British abolition efforts in West Africa. A planned urban center, its earliest residents included the Aku, or Liberated Africans resettled from Sierra Leone and captured slave vessels. The Aku identity formed over several decades in The Gambia largely through self-identification as the ‘other’ African and British subjects in the 19th century. In the early 20th century they were the Gambian elite and became the driving force behind the...
Analysis of the faunal remains from a 19th century Aku property in Banjul, The Gambia (2016)
During the Summer of 2014, excavations were carried out in Banjul, The Gambia, formerly known as Bathurst, at a 19th century Aku site as part of the Banjul Heritage Project. This paper focuses on the analysis and interpretation of the faunal remains from the site. The Aku ethnic group, formed from a Liberated African population in Bathurst during the colonial period, were a socially, politically, and economically prominent group in colonial Bathurst, often highlighting their Christian, English...
Globalizing Lifeways: An Analysis of Local and Imported Ceramics at an Aku Site in Banjul, The Gambia. (2016)
Following the 1807 British abolition of the slave trade, the West African coast saw the rise of a new phenomenon: the liberation of captive Africans found aboard illegal slaving ships and their resettlement in Sierra Leone and The Gambia. This diaspora group became known as the Liberated Africans, and eventually transformed into the creole ethnic group known as the Aku in The Gambia. After its establishment in 1816 Bathurst (now Bathurst) welcomed the Liberated Africans as a source of low-paid...