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Tambor De Mina
Tambor de Mina is an Afro-Brazilian religious tradition, practiced mainly in the Brazilian states of Maranhão, Piauí, Pará and the Amazon rainforest. Terminology ''Tambor'' means drum in Portuguese, and refers to the importance of the rhythmic element to worship. ''Mina'' derives from the name São Jorge da Mina, now also known as Elmina Castle, and refers to a designation given to African slaves, although the name did not necessarily refer to slaves who had passed through the fortress/port of São Jorge da Mina itself, but rather to "different ethnicities over time and place". For example, 'Mina-Popo' was often the designation for people from Little Popo, originally Akan speakers who had migrated from west of the Volta River, and "Mina-Nago" and "Mina-Congo" were other designations sometimes found in Brazil. History Slavery in Maranhão was concentrated in the Itapecuru Valley, the Baixada Maranhense, and São Luís, which is the capital of the Brazilian state ...
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Afro-American Religion
African diaspora religions are a number of related Pagan beliefs that developed in the Americas in various nations of the Caribbean, Latin America and the Southern United States. They derive from Pagan traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam. Characteristics Afro-American religions involve ancestor veneration and include a creator deity along with a pantheon of divine spirits such as the Orisha, Loa, Vodun, Nkisi and Alusi, among others. In addition to the religious syncretism of these various African traditions, many also incorporate elements of Folk Catholicism including folk saints and other forms of Folk religion, Native American religion, Spiritism, Spiritualism, Shamanism (sometimes including the use of Entheogens) and European folklore. Various "doctoring" spiritual traditions also exist such as Obeah and Hoodoo which focus on spiritual health. African religious traditions in the Am ...
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São Luís, Maranhão
São Luís (, ''Saint Louis'') is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on Upaon-açu Island (Big Island, in Tupi Language) or Ilha de São Luís (''Saint Louis' Island''), in the Baía de São Marcos (''Saint Mark's Bay''), an extension of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the estuary of Pindaré, Mearim, Itapecuru and other rivers. Its coordinates are 2.53° south, 44.30° west. São Luís has the second largest maritime extension within Brazilian states. Its maritime extension is 640 km (397 miles). The city proper has a population of some 1,108,975 people (2020 IBGE estimate). The metropolitan area totals 1,605,305, ranked as the 15th largest in Brazil. São Luís, created originally as ''Saint-Louis-de-Maragnan'', is the only Brazilian state capital founded by France (see France Équinoxiale) and it is one of the three Brazilian state capitals located on islands (the others are Vitória and Florianópolis). The hist ...
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Boto
Boto is a Portuguese name given to several types of dolphins and river dolphins native to the Amazon and the Orinoco River tributaries. A few botos exist exclusively in fresh water, and these are often considered primitive dolphins. Classification The botos are a paraphyletic group, defined largely by their evolutionary convergences. The genus ''Sotalia'' is divided into two species. The costero (''S. guianensis'') is distributed in the Atlantic, from Florianópolis in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and northwards. The tucuxi (''S. fluviatilis'') lives in the rivers of the Amazon. Burmeister's porpoise is marine and lives from Santa Catarina to the south. The Amazon river dolphin (''Inia geoffrensis'') thrives in fresh water, is endemic to the Amazon basin, and is placed in the Endangered category of the IUCN. Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is data-deficient. The Araguaian river dolphin (''I. araguaiaensis'') is a newly identified species nat ...
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Cabinda Province
Cabinda (formerly called Portuguese Congo, kg, Kabinda) is an exclave and province of Angola in Africa, a status that has been disputed by several political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda, known locally as ''Tchiowa'', ''Tsiowa'' or ''Kiowa''. The province is divided into four municipalities—Belize, Buco-Zau, Cabinda and Cacongo. Modern Cabinda is the result of a fusion of three kingdoms: N'Goyo, Loango and Kakongo. It has an area of and a population of 716,076 at the 2014 census; the latest official estimate (as at mid 2019) is 824,143. According to 1988 United States government statistics, the total population of the province was 147,200, with a near even split between rural and urban populations. At one point an estimated one third of Cabindans were refugees living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; however, after the 2007 peace agreement, refugees started returning to their homes. Cabinda is separated from the rest ...
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Ketu (Benin)
Ketu is a historical region in what is now the Republic of Benin, in the area of the town of Kétou (Ketu). It is one of the oldest capitals of the Yoruba-speaking people, tracing its establishment to a settlement founded by a descendant of Oduduwa, also known as Odudua, Oòdua and Eleduwa. The regents of the town were traditionally styled "Alaketu", and are related directly to Ile-Ife in present-day Nigeria. Ketu is one of the sixteen original kingdoms established by the children of Oduduwa in Oyo mythic history, though this ancient pedigree has been somewhat neglected in contemporary Yoruba historical research, which tends to focus on communities within Nigeria. The exact status of Ketu within the Oyo empire however is contested. Oyo sources claim Ketu as a dependency with claims that the Ketu paid an annual tribute and that its ruler attended the Bere festival in Oyo. In any case, there is no doubt that Ketu and Oyo maintained friendly relations largely due to their historical, ...
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Ashanti People
The Asante, also known as Ashanti () are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine million Asante people as a first or second language. The wealthy, gold-rich Asante people developed the large and influential Ashanti Empire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea. The empire was founded in 1670, and the capital Kumase was founded in 1680 by Asantehene (emperor) Osei Kofi Tutu I on the advice of Okomfo Anokye, his premier. Sited at the crossroads of the Trans-Saharan trade, the Kumase megacity's strategic location contributed significantly to its growing wealth. Over the duration of the Kumase metropolis' existence, a number of peculiar factors have combined to transform the Kumase metropolis into a financial centre and political capital. The main causal factors included the unquestioning loyalty to the Asante rulers and the ...
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Fante People
The Mfantsefo or Fante ("Fanti" is an older spelling) are an Akan people. The Fante people are mainly located in the Central and Western coastal regions of Ghana. Over the last half century, due to fishing expeditions, Fante communities are found as far as Gambia, Liberia and even Angola. Major Fante cities in modern Ghana include Kasoa, Winneba, Agona Swedru, Tarkwa, Oguaa (Cape Coast), Edina (Elmina), Mankessim, Sekondi and Takoradi. Like all Akans, they originated from Bono state. Originally, "Fante" referred to "the half that left" and broke away from other Akans and initially settled at Mankessim. Some of the states that make up the Fante are Agona, Ahanta, Kurantsi, Abura, Anyan, Ekumfi, Nkusukum, Ajumako and Gomoa. The Fante, like other related Akans, trace their roots to the ancient Sahara in the Old Ghana Empire. The Fante then migrated south to modern-day Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region. It was from here that, legend says, their three great leaders – Oson, Od ...
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Fon People
The Fon people, also called Fon nu, Agadja or Dahomey, are a Gbe ethnic group.Fon people
Encyclopædia Britannica, undated, 1.7 million population, Retrieved June 29, 2019
They are the largest ethnic group in found particularly in its south region; they are also found in southwest and . Their total population is estimated to be about 3,500,000 people, and they speak the Fon language
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Dahomean Religion
The Dahomean religion was practiced by the Fon people of the Dahomey Kingdom. The kingdom existed until 1898 in what is now the country of Benin. People taken from Dahomey to the Caribbean used elements of the religion to form Vodou and other religions of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. ''Mawu'' and ''Lisa'' Lisa (male) and Mawu (female), married twin siblings of Nana Buluku, are the creator spirits, occasionally combined as Mawu-Lisa, an androgynous spirit. Mawu-Lisa created the world and made it orderly, then made plants, animals, and humans; the entire process took four days. *The first day, Mawu-Lisa created the world and humanity; *The second day the earth was made suitable for human life; *On the third day, humans were given intellect, language, and the senses; *Finally, on the fourth day, mankind received the gift of technology. Offspring-spirits of ''Mawu'' and ''Lisa'' *Gbadu *Da and Gu * Dan Other spirits * Agé * Avrikiti * Ayaba * Egberun * Fa * Gleti * Gu * Le ...
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Damballa
Damballa, also spelled Damballah, Dambala, Dambalah, among other variations ( ht, Danbala), is one of the most important of all loa, spirits in Haitian Voodoo and other African diaspora religious traditions such as Obeah. He is traditionally portrayed as a great white or black serpent, originating in the city of Wedo (Whydah or Ouidah) in modern-day Benin. Damballa is said to be the Sky Father and the primordial creator of all life, or the first thing created by Gran Met. In those Vodou societies that view Damballa as the primordial creator, he created the cosmos by using his 7,000 coils to form the stars and the planets in the heavens and to shape the hills and valleys on earth. In others, being the first thing created by God, creation was undertaken through him. By shedding the serpent skin, Damballa created all the waters on the earth. As a serpent, he moves between land and water, generating life, and through the earth, uniting the land with the waters below. Damballa i ...
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Nana Buluku
Nana Buluku, also known as Nana Buruku, Nana Buku or Nanan-bouclou, is the female supreme being in the West African traditional religion of the Fon people (Benin, Dahomey) and the Ewe people (Togo). She is one of the most influential deities in West African theology, and one shared by many ethnic groups other than the Fon people, albeit with variations. For example, she is called the ''Nana Bukuu'' among the Yoruba people and the ''Olisabuluwa'' among Igbo people but described differently, with some actively worshiping her while some do not worship her and worship the gods originating from her. In Dahomey mythology, Nana Buluku is the mother supreme creator who gave birth to the moon spirit Mawu, the sun spirit Lisa, and all of the universe. After giving birth to these, she retired and left the matters of the world to Mawu-Lisa. She is the primary creator, Mawu-Lisa the secondary creator, and the theology based on these is called Vodun, Voodoo or Vodoun. According to Maya Deren, s ...
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Dahomey
The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by expanding south to conquer key cities like Whydah belonging to the Kingdom of Whydah on the Atlantic coast which granted it unhindered access to the tricontinental triangular trade. For much of the middle 19th century, the Kingdom of Dahomey became a key regional state, after eventually ending tributary status to the Oyo Empire. European visitors extensively documented the kingdom, and it became one of the most familiar African nations to Europeans. The Kingdom of Dahomey was an important regional power that had an organized domestic economy built on conquest and slave labor, significant international trade and diplomatic relations with Europeans, a centralized administration, taxation systems, and a ...
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