Afro-Antiguans and Afro-Barbudans are Antiguans and Barbudans of entirely or predominantly African (notably

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

n) ancestry. According to the 2013 Census, 91% of Antigua and Barbuda's population is Black and 4.4% is Mulatto. Anucarnival1

Origins

Most of the enslaved Africans brought to Antigua and Barbuda disembarked from the Bight of Biafra (22,000 Africans) and the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

(16,000 Africans). Other African slaves came from the

Windward Coast The Windward Coast was used to describe an area of West Africa located on the coast between Cape Mount and Assini, i.e. the coastlines of the modern states of Liberia and Ivory Coast, to the west of what was called the Gold Coast. A related re ...

(11,000 Africans), the

West Central Africa West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

(9,000 Africans), the Bight of Benin (6,000 Africans), Senegambia (5,000 Africans), Guinea and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

(4,000 Africans).African origins of the slaves from British and former British Antilles
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History

Settlers raised

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

, ginger, and sugarcane as cash crops. Sir Christopher Codrington established the first large sugar estate in Antigua in 1674, and leased

Barbuda Barbuda (), is an island located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the sovereign state of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located north of the island of Antigua and is part of the Leeward Islands of the West Indies. The island is a popula ...

to raise provisions for his plantations. In the fifty years after Codrington established his initial plantation, the sugar industry became so profitable that many farmers replaced other crops with sugar, making it the economic backbone of the islands. Codrington and others brought slaves from Africa's western coast to work the plantations. Africans started arriving in Antigua and Barbuda in large numbers during the 1670s; they soon became the largest racial group of Antigua and Barbuda. With all others in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

, Antiguan and Barbudan slaves were emancipated in 1834, but remained economically dependent upon the plantation owners. Economic opportunities for the new freedmen were limited by a lack of surplus farming land, no access to credit, and an economy built on agriculture rather than manufacturing. Poor labour conditions persisted until 1939, when a member of a royal commission urged the formation of a trade union movement. In the 20th-century was redefined the role of Afro–Antiguans and Barbudans. The colonial social structure gradually started to be phased out with the introduction of universal education and better economic opportunities.

Statistics by Parish

References and footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afro-Antiguans and Barbudans Afro-Caribbean Antigua and Barbuda people of African descent Ethnic groups in Antigua and Barbuda People of African descent