Two-thirds of slaves in the 1790s in Saint-Domingue were born on the African continent, and were “almost” all nègres.1Louis Élie Médérique Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle de Saint-Domingue … (Philadelphia, 1797), 23.
At the turn of the 16th century, the Portuguese began introducing nègres in the Americas, who were originally from around present-day Sénégal, which included, Moreau reminded us, a small number of Moors or Arabs, who lived all along the Sénégal River.2Ibid., p. 25
But the Moors may not have been Arabs in the way that many people think of Arabs phenotypically today. For example, Cornelius Franciscus de Pauw, a Dutch philosopher, geographer, and diplomat at the court of Frederick-the-Great of Prussia, noted in his 1772 tome, that the Moors were “nègre-like,” with kinky hair, skin “black as soot” or ashy black (couleur de suie/bistre). A century later, Filippo Sassetti observed Moors whose complexion was at the halfway point between the dark olive-hued Gypsy and the black-skinned African. So, firsthand accounts of the Moors seem to share a pattern, that the Moors were overwhelmingly of brown and black complexions.3Cornelius de Pauw, Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains …, p. 217; Filippo Sassetti, Lettere, E. Marcucci éd.: Florence, 1885, p. 120-28 as found in Couleurs de l’esclavage sur les deux rives de la Méditerranée (Moyen-Âge au XXe siècle), Roger Botte and Alessandro Stella, eds. (Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2012), 298.
The slaves
Moreau de Saint-Méry noted that the Senegalese nègres (Sénégalais) were the first to be brought to the French colonies by the Compagnies de l’Est and des Indes. These nègres were tall, thin-framed, but well-built and were Ebony in complexion (rich dark brown with gold or red tonation). They had long noses that, Moreau observed, were very similar to that of whites. Their hair was less kinky, easier to grow long and to make plaits with, “than the wool that typically covers the head of the African.” Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, who has conducted more primary-source research on slaves in colonial and early national Louisiana, and locates at least 158 slaves in Louisiana described as being from the coast of Senegal and likely this group Moreau described.4Ibid. Moreau’s probably right on the dominance of the Senegalese in the French colonies, since the Compagnie du Sénégal, a trade company based there, enjoyed a monopoly in providing slaves to French colonies since 1675 and 1679. See Pierre Joseph André Roubaud, Histoire générale de l’Asie, de l’Afrique, et de l’Amérique … (Paris: des Ventes de la Doué, 1775), 583. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Coast of Senegal, with no other criteria.
The Wolof (Yoloffes) in Saint-Domingue came in a complexion even darker than that of the Ebony-hued Senegalese. They were also taller than the Senegalese and had “keen features” ( traits heureux ) and if their women’s necks were not sometimes too long, the French and Francophone Creoles in the Caribbean basin would generally regard them as beautiful with their sensationally white teeth and soft mouths. At the time of Moreau de Saint-Méry’s writing (18th century), the Wolof lived as neighbors of the Senegalese before being sold in the slave trade. For modern Senegalese (national rather than ethnic identity sense), the Wolof originate in what is now Mauritania where they were called Bafours and mixed with Berbers, Fulani, Mandingo, and others. Beyond Mauritania, oral tradition points to the Nile as their more distant homeland. Hall finds 574 Wolof-identified slaves throughout the colony and state.5Ibid., p. 27. For the Senegalese oral tradition on the Mauritanian origin of the Wolof, see, for example http://www.boolumbal.org/LES-ORIGINES-DES-WOLOFS-EN-MAURITANIE_a13747.html. For more on the Nilothic origin, consider http://www.shenoc.com/Migration_entre_la_vallee_du_Nil_et_l’Afrique_Occidentale.htm. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Wolof with no other criteria.
Moreau de Saint-Méry went on to describe the Fulani (Foules, Fulbe, Poules, Poulards)–also neighbors of the Senegalese and Wolof, but more from the interior reaches of the region–as being similar to the Senegalese in height only, because complexion-wise, theirs was reddish rather than Ebony. Hall has found 195 Fulani-identified slaves in Louisiana documents.6Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 27; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Fulbe/Pular with no other search criteria.
Next, he spoke of the Bambara, “the men of Africa’s highest stature,” as he put it. They had a sad countenance with a face striated by long marks from the temple to the neck. He offered no more clues about their phenotype, nor did he offer any for the Quiambas (sometimes Quiaba), neighbors of the Bambara, who were equally as tall and also had long marks on both sides of the face. This is unfortunate, since Hall has located 440 Bambara- (or, Bamana-) identified slaves in Louisiana. 7Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 27; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Bamana with no other search criteria.
All he offered on the physique of the Mandingos (Mandingues, Manding, Manéga) is that blackness of complexion decreased among them (their skin being lighter than the previous populations mentioned). They lived south of the Wolof on the Atlantic coast in the vicinity of the Gambia River in an area that in the 18th century carried their name. This description is useful since Mandingos were especially numerous in Louisiana. Hall has found 876 of them in Louisiana records.8Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 27; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Manding with no other search criteria.
The various communities comprising the Gold Coast (la côte d’Or), at least in the physical sense for Moreau, had sparkly eyes, little ears, flat but slightly curved noses, perfectly white straight teeth in a large mouth, rich/sheeny skin, and hair that could be plaited. Moreau de Saint-Méry noted that the Gold Coast include a highly diverse set of kingdoms, each distinct from the other, and that on Saint-Domingue, one typically referred to all of the slaves from the Gold Coast as Aradas, a term deriving from Ardra, the name of one of the kingdoms of the Slave Coast. But he warned that the term was a bit of a misnomer due to the diversity of that “group” on Saint-Domingue, and that the French and Creoles in the Caribbean could distinguish “the real Aradas” from others from the region.9Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 28-29.
There was a region in the Ivory Coast (la côte d’Ivoire/des Dents) known as Cape Laho or Lahou, from which some Saint-Domingue slaves originated. Moreau described them as short and strong. They were called the Caplaous on Saint-Domingue in reference to the Cape Lahou.10Ibid., p. 29
Moreau offered a better description in the Mina (Mine), Agoua, Soso (Soço, Soussou), and Fantins (Fanti). He noted that the they were all from the Gold Coast, too, but were physically distinguishable from others by their complexion, which lay perfectly at the junction of black and copper. The only difference between these 4 populations was linguistic; they spoke different languages or varieties of the same language. In Louisiana, the Mina, like the Mandingos, were numerous. Hall’s database has 603 Mina in Louisiana slave documents. Additionally, her database includes 29 Soso, and 10 Fanti.11Ibid. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search terms: Mina, Soso, Fanti, with no other search criteria.
Yet, as Moreau noted, the Juda (Fida/Foëda, Juida, Ouidah), Aradas (Aja, Fon) and Dahomey (Déhomet), as well as others from the Gold and Slave coasts, were so yellow and red in complexion that on Saint-Domingue, they often were mistaken for (and described as) mulâtres, unless they had facial markings which showed evidence of their true African ethnicity. Louisiana became home to at least 35 Juda and 232 Aradas. This explains the possibility of Charlotte–the 18-year-old Arada slave at the German Coast discussed on page 1 of this article–being described as a mulâtresse in Spanish colonial Louisiana.12Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, p. 29, also p. 82 for the Foëda; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search terms: Juda, or Aja, with no other search criteria.
As far as the slaves collectively and commonly referred to as the Congos (les Congos), who came from the immense territories of present-day Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Congo, their complexion lay between that of the Senegalese (Ebony-hued) and those of the Gold Coast (yellow- or red-hued). Jean-Baptiste Douville, visited the Congo in the 1820s, and wrote that the inhabitants of Cassange, a village, were easy to identify, as they had “regular” features somewhat similar to that of Europeans, but very black complexions. As far as documents specifying ethnicity, it is this group that predominated numerically during the Spanish and early national period in Louisiana as slaves. Hall finds at least 2,910 of them.13Ibid., p. 32; Jean-Baptiste Douville, Voyage au Congo (Congo: Chez J. Renouard, 1832), 362-63. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search terms: Congo, with no other search criteria.
References
| 1. | ↑ | Louis Élie Médérique Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle de Saint-Domingue … (Philadelphia, 1797), 23. |
| 2. | ↑ | Ibid., p. 25 |
| 3. | ↑ | Cornelius de Pauw, Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains …, p. 217; Filippo Sassetti, Lettere, E. Marcucci éd.: Florence, 1885, p. 120-28 as found in Couleurs de l’esclavage sur les deux rives de la Méditerranée (Moyen-Âge au XXe siècle), Roger Botte and Alessandro Stella, eds. (Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2012), 298. |
| 4. | ↑ | Ibid. Moreau’s probably right on the dominance of the Senegalese in the French colonies, since the Compagnie du Sénégal, a trade company based there, enjoyed a monopoly in providing slaves to French colonies since 1675 and 1679. See Pierre Joseph André Roubaud, Histoire générale de l’Asie, de l’Afrique, et de l’Amérique … (Paris: des Ventes de la Doué, 1775), 583. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Coast of Senegal, with no other criteria. |
| 5. | ↑ | Ibid., p. 27. For the Senegalese oral tradition on the Mauritanian origin of the Wolof, see, for example http://www.boolumbal.org/LES-ORIGINES-DES-WOLOFS-EN-MAURITANIE_a13747.html. For more on the Nilothic origin, consider http://www.shenoc.com/Migration_entre_la_vallee_du_Nil_et_l’Afrique_Occidentale.htm. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Wolof with no other criteria. |
| 6. | ↑ | Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 27; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Fulbe/Pular with no other search criteria. |
| 7. | ↑ | Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 27; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Bamana with no other search criteria. |
| 8. | ↑ | Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 27; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search term: Manding with no other search criteria. |
| 9. | ↑ | Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, 28-29. |
| 10. | ↑ | Ibid., p. 29 |
| 11. | ↑ | Ibid. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search terms: Mina, Soso, Fanti, with no other search criteria. |
| 12. | ↑ | Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de l’Isle, p. 29, also p. 82 for the Foëda; Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search terms: Juda, or Aja, with no other search criteria. |
| 13. | ↑ | Ibid., p. 32; Jean-Baptiste Douville, Voyage au Congo (Congo: Chez J. Renouard, 1832), 362-63. Hall, Afro-Louisiana, search terms: Congo, with no other search criteria. |
Do you mean French speaking / Caribbean slaves were only bought in Louisiana, though? My ancestors bought Caribbean and French speaking slaves regularly, but took them to Maryland. (It was actually one of the reasons they resented having to put up the Cajuns while they were homeless in the 18th century — they were worried they would encourage them in French speaking, Catholicism, and desire for freedom.) I thought N.O. was a huge slave port and people came from all over to buy there. I further thought that with the difficulties in transatlantic slave trade in 19th century, more and more had to be brought in from the Caribbean. ?
There were 3 separate waves of slave importation in Louisiana. From 1718-1935/40, the Compagnie des Indes, under John Law, enjoyed a trade monopoly in the French colonies, and this was most manifested in the slave trade from Senegambia and Guinea. The Compagnie imported the same ethnic groups from those French comptoirs in west Africa to Mauritius and Louisiana during that period. They also imported to other French colonies.
During the Spanish period, the orientation shifted from upper west Africa’s muslim population to regions from present-day Ghana all the way to present-day Congo. A majority of all slaves imported during the Spanish period came from the vast region including today’s Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo, and parts of Angola. A number of these slaves from the Congo and Angola arrived already Catholic.
When looking at colonial ecclesiastic and parochial records in, say, 1790, on individual plantations, the difference in the slave arrivals per colonial period is pretty clear: Congos dominate in young ages, and Wolof, Bambara, Mandingos, Senegalese, Fulani, Soso, Kisi, et al. dominate in the older generation of the slaves.
Few of these slaves, in either period, came from the Caribbean. In 1706, at old Mobile, the first slaves attested were from St. Kitts. I wrote about them here: http://www.mylhcv.com/louisiana-st-kitts-nevis/
After 1803, the U.S. began to halt the importation. The importation of slaves directly from Africa ended in 1807: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/slavery/europe/abolition.aspx
American administrators in Louisiana were extremely concerned about the situation in Saint-Domingue already upon arrival in December 1803. Emily Clark has a great study on how Americans reacted to the S-D revolution in her 2013 study American Quadroon. She demonstrates how that impacted territorial Louisiana (1803-1812). Gary B. Mills and Elizabeth Shown Mills’s Forgotten People (LSU Press: 2013) and Judith Kelleher Schafer’s two legal studies are the best out there on how the S-D revolution and growth of American legislators in the Louisiana legislature impacted slavery during the Antebellum period.
But to sum up the Antebellum period: there were no (legal) importation of slaves to Louisiana from Africa or the Caribbean. Saint-Domingue and Cuban refugees who arrived between 1809 and 1810 in New Orleans did bring slaves with them. But they remained mostly in New Orleans and to a lesser extent in Pointe-Coupée, the Acadian and German Coasts (all along the Mississippi River). Nathalie Dessens’s study (From Saint-Domingue to New Orleans) as well as Emily Clark’s discuss this. The vast majority of slaves entering Louisiana during the Antebellum period entered New Orleans slave market by way of the US interstate market, mostly from Virginia, with smaller numbers from Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee. This is why so many Creoles in Grand Côteau and Sunset have English surnames – the Jesuits were ousted from Maryland in 1821 and they established a colony, with their slaves, at Grand Côteau that year. That colony became Sacred Heart Convent, Sacred Heart Church (now St. Charles Borromeo) and St. Charles College school for (white) boys.
So by 1860, on all Creole plantations, there was a mixture of Creole, American, and really old African slaves; whereas on American plantations in Louisiana, virtually all slaves were Americans, with few Africans.
Hope that helps.