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Sri Lanka Kaffirs
The Sri Lankan Kaffirs (cafrinhas in Portuguese language, Portuguese, කාපිරි ''kāpiriyō'' in Sinhalese language, Sinhala, and காப்பிலி ''kāppili'' in Tamil language, Tamil) are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th-century Portugal, Portuguese traders and Bantu peoples, Bantu slaves who were brought by them to work as labourers and soldiers to fight against the List of Sri Lankan monarchs, Sinhala kings. They are very similar to the Zanj-descended populations in Black Iraqis, Iraq and Afro-Arab, Kuwait, and are known in Pakistan as Sheedis and in India as Siddis. The Kaffirs spoke a distinctive creole language, creole based on Portuguese language, Portuguese, and the "Sri Lankan Kaffir language" (now extinct). Their cultural heritage includes the dance styles Kaffringna and Manja and their popular form of dance music Baila (genre), Baila. Etymology The word ''Kaffir (racial term), Kaffir'' is an obsolete English language ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Western Province, Sri Lanka
North Western Province ( ''Wayamba Paḷāta'', ''Vada Mael Mākāṇam'') is a province of Sri Lanka. It is the fourth-largest province by land area, covering , and the fourth-most populated province with a population of over 2,592,000 people. North Western Province is bordered by the North Central Province, Sri Lanka to the north, Central Province, Sri Lanka to the east, Sabaragamuwa Province to the southeast, Western Province, Sri Lanka to the south, and is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the west. The province encompasses a variety of climates and geographical features, from its coastal regions to the central highlands and plains. The majority of the population is concentrated in the urban centers of Kurunegala, the provincial capital, and Puttalam. Kurunegala is the largest city in the province and serves as a major commercial and administrative hub. Puttalam, located on the western coast, is known for its lagoon and salt production. The region has numerous archaeolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Iraqis
Afro-Iraqis are Iraqi people of African Zanj heritage. Historically, their population has concentrated in the southern port city of Basra, as Basra was the capital of the slave trade in Iraq. Afro-Iraqis speak Arabic and mostly adhere to Islam. Some Afro-Iraqis can still speak Swahili along with Arabic. Afro-Iraqi leaders claim that there are roughly between 500,000 and 1,500,000 Afro-Iraqis, however this is not verified by official figures. Their origins date back to the time of the Arab slave trade and slavery in Iraq between the 9th century AD to the 19th century AD. Many are from the district of Zubair, descendants of the people who came to Iraq from East Africa. Some came as sailors, whereas others came as traders, immigrants, religious scholars, or enslaved people over the course of many centuries, beginning in the 9th century CE. Mythical origin Arab myths agree that the Cushitic king Nimrod crossed from beyond the waters of East Africa in the earliest times with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabs
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years. In the 9th century BCE, the Assyrians made written references to Arabs as inhabitants of the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. Throughout the Ancient Near East, Arabs established influential civilizations starting from 3000 BCE onwards, such as Dilmun, Gerrha, and Magan, playing a vital role in trade between Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean. Other prominent tribes include Midian, ʿĀd, and Thamud mentioned in the Bible and Quran. Later, in 900 BCE, the Qedarites enjoyed close relations with the nearby Canaanite and Aramaean states, and their territory extended from Lower Egypt to the Southern Levant. From 1200 BCE to 110 BCE, powerful kingdoms emerged such as Saba, Lihyan, Minaean, Qataban, Hadhramaut, Awsan, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oral Tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985), reported statements from present generation which "specifies that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung or called out on musical instruments only"; "There must be transmission by word of mouth over at least a generation". He points out, "Our definition is a working definition for the use of historians. Sociologists, linguists or scholars of the verbal arts propose their own, which in, e.g., sociology, stresses common knowledge. In linguistics, features that distinguish the language from common dialogue (linguists), and in the verbal arts features of form and content that define art (folklorists)."Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: "Methodology and African Pre-history", 1990, ''UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kafir (Islam)
''Kāfir'' (; , , or ; ; or ) is an Arabic-language term used by Muslims to refer to a non-Muslim, more specifically referring to someone who disbelieves in the Islamic God, denies his authority, and rejects the message of Islam as the truth. ''Kafir'' is often translated as ' infidel', 'truth denier', 'rejector', 'disbeliever', 'unbeliever', The term is used in different ways in the Quran, with the most fundamental sense being ungrateful towards God. ''Kufr'' means 'disbelief', 'unbelief', 'non-belief', 'to be thankless', 'to be faithless', or 'ingratitude'. The opposite term of ''kufr'' ('disbelief') is ''iman'' ('faith'), and the opposite of ''kafir'' ('disbeliever') is ''mu'min'' ('believer'). A person who denies the existence of a creator might be called a dahri. One type of ''kafir'' is a '' mushrik'' (مشرك), another group of religious wrongdoer mentioned frequently in the Quran and other Islamic works. Several concepts of vice are seen to revolve a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabic Language
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as ( "the eloquent Arabic") or simply ' (). Arabic is the List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language, third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and the Sacred language, liturgical language of Islam. Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and the #Definitions and Usage, physical geography definition based on the physical characteristics of the land. The most restrictive definition considers the region of Southern Africa to consist of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa, while other definitions also include several other countries from the area. Defined by physical geography, Southern Africa is home to several river systems; the Zambezi, Zambezi River is the most prominent. The Zambezi flows from the northwest corner of Zambia and western Angola to the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. Along the way, it flows over Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world and a major tourist a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tanganyika, the world's second-largest freshwater lake by volume and depth; Lake Malawi, the world's eighth-largest freshwater lake by area; and Lake Turkana, the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. Collectively, they contain of water, which is more than either Lake Baikal or the North American Great Lakes. This total constitutes about 25% of the planet's unfrozen surface fresh water. The large rift lakes of Africa are the ancient home of great biodiversity, and 10% of the world's fish species live in this region. Countries in the area which are bounded by the lakes of the Great Lakes region include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples that Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, migrated to Britain after its End of Roman rule in Britain, Roman occupiers left. English is the list of languages by total number of speakers, most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations) and the United States. English is the list of languages by number of native speakers, third-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish language, Spanish; it is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in list of countries and territories where English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaffir (racial Term)
Kaffir () is an exonym and an ethnic slur the use of it in reference to Black South Africans, black people being particularly common in South Africa and to some degree Namibia and the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In Arabic, the word ''kāfir'' ("unbeliever") was originally applied to paganism, non-Islam, Muslims of any ethnic background before becoming predominantly focused on pagan ''zanj'' (sub-Saharan African) who were increasingly used zanj slaves, as slaves. During the Age of Exploration in early modern Europe, variants of the Latin term (pl. ) were adopted in reference to non-Muslim Bantu peoples even when they were monotheistic. It was eventually used, particularly in Afrikaans (), for any black person during the Apartheid era, Apartheid and History of South Africa (1994–present), Post-Apartheid eras, closely associated with South African racism. While originally not pejorative, it became a pejorative by the mid-20th century and is now considered extremely offensiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baila (genre)
Baila (also known as bayila; from the Portuguese verb ''bailar'', meaning ''to dance'') is a form of music, popular in Sri Lanka and among Goan Catholics in India. The genre originated centuries ago among the Portuguese Burghers and Sri Lankan Kaffirs. Baila songs are played during parties and weddings in Sri Lanka, Goa, and Mangalore accompanied by dancing. Baila music, as a form of folk art, has been popular for centuries in Sri Lanka. During the early 1960s, it entered into Sri Lanka's mainstream culture, primarily through the work of police officer turned singer Wally Bastiansz. He began adapting the 6/8 "''kaffirhina''" rhythms to accommodate Sinhala lyrics. By the 1970s musicians, including MS Fernando and Maxwell Mendis, had helped Baila grow into a well known and respected style of Sri Lankan popular music. It is primarily considered dance music. History After their arrival in 1505, the Portuguese began to convert the Sinhalese to Roman Catholicism, building their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or by its History of dance, historical period or List of ethnic, regional, and folk dances by origin, place of origin. Dance is typically performed with Music, musical accompaniment, and sometimes with the dancer simultaneously using a musical instrument themselves. Two common types of group dance are Concert dance, theatrical and Participation dance, participatory dance. Both types of dance may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, Competitive dance, competitive, Erotic dance, erotic, War dance, martial, Sacred dance, sacred or Liturgical dance, liturgical. Dance is not solely restricted to performance, as dance is used as a form of exercise and occasionally training for other sports and activities. Dance perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
