Nagos
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The word Nagos refers to all Brazilian
Yoruba people The Yoruba people ( ; , , ) are a West African ethnic group who inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo, which are collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outsid ...
, their African descendants, Yoruba myth, ritual, and
cosmological Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
patterns. ''Nagos'' derives from the word ''anago'', a term Fon-speaking people used to describe Yoruba-speaking people from the kingdom of Ketu, Toward the end of the slave trade in the 1880s, the Nagos stood out as the African group most often shipped to Brazil. The Nagos were important to the history of the slave trade at that time in the 19th century, as Brazil requested more enslaved persons as demand for products from this region grew and harsh conditions on plantations entailed a high turnover. This particular group of
Africans The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each ethnicity generally having their own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Sahara ...
comprises the largest ethnic group in Brazil, with much influence since it was the most recent group to immigrate to Brazil, and Brazilian-African enslaved persons greatly helped the Brazilian economy. High demand for labor in plantations led Brazil to import enslaved persons of the ''Nagos'' tribe. In colonial times, Brazilian enslaved persons, given their low status and poor prospects, could expect only to work until they died.
African culture The Culture of Africa is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various peoples depicting their unique characteristic and trait from the continent of Africa. It is a product of the diverse populations that inhabit the ...
, however, was passed on through religion and cultural practices, and has influenced other peoples in Brazil. The Nagos were forced to occupy the lowest status ranking in
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
and adapted. One of the most important cultural aspects to be discovered in Brazil is the
Yoruba religion The Yorùbá religion (Yoruba language, Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), West African Orisa (Òrìṣà), or Isese (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in pres ...
. This African religion has survived since slavery, and today a large portion of Brazil's population still practices and upholds it.


Slavery in Brazil

Enslaved people from Africa were cheaper than those from Europe, which may explain why the Portuguese used Africans to fuel the new economies in
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
. The common slave received minimal respect. The understanding between master and slave had far less cost in reciprocal obligations than any other labor group in society. This created a
schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
or struggle for resources in social exchange. Slaves did not control their lives like the average, higher-class citizen and were distinguished from all other classes throughout societyby
kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
, family, and community duties. Some 4.8 million slaves were transported to Brazil. African people spread across the world. Heavy labor performed by slaves was the main source of wealth there. Throughout Latin America, African people helped shape the plantations and industrial communities. The
African Slave Trade Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were once commonplace in parts of Africa, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient and medieval world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Red Sea s ...
did not start in Latin America but was adopted in Europe in 1455 by
Pope Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V (; ; 15 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene IV made him a Cardinal (Catholic Chu ...
, who gave the right to reduce to slavery inhabitants of the southern coast of Africa who resisted
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. The Portuguese created a slave trade in
West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
, exporting slaves to Iberian cities such as
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and
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. African slavery had a steady but limited demand in Europe. Indigenous Brazilian people could not meet the plantation economy's demand for labor so the labor force swelled with the importation of West African slaves. Enslaved persons were victims of the demand for their physical strength and endurance to perform tasks in extreme climates. An average
slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
had limited
social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given socie ...
. enslaved persons fought their masters in many ways: through
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
, escape,
sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
, and defiance of laws and social or religious norms. Practicing their own culture in a self-preserving way helped them to adapt to the new social and cultural order. Enslaved persons were not free to roam around in
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
but enforcement of marriage and other laws depended on regional and local considerations. As a means of combating the oppression of slavery, Africans did their best to preserve their native cultures. For example, in the Republic of Palmares,
Afro-Brazilians Afro-Brazilians (; ), also known as Black Brazilians (), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are mo ...
who escaped from slavery formed a settlement of about 20,000 black people who were governed by West African customs and cultural elements taken from the Portuguese slave society from which they had fled.


Mixing

African culture had to adapt to new challenges in the New World. As minorities with no social power, they needed help from any source.
Miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities. It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describin ...
or commingling of races was a direct effect of colonization in Brazil and wider Latin America, and created a mixed people and new ''mestizaje'' culture. The Portuguese called the children of Africans and native people ''cafuzos''. Extensive mixing forced Spanish authority to create a legal category for this new racial group that now dominated many areas of Latin America, who they called ''
Zambo Zambo ( or ) or Sambu is a racial term historically used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Amerindian, Indigenous Amerindian and West African people, African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the ...
s''. Mexico also saw the mixing of Africans and natives, and outlawed interracial marriages. In addition, the Portuguese and Spanish colonial authorities often promoted miscegenation as a population policy in underpopulated regions. The effect of slavery on Afro-Brazilian society is similar to that on blacks in post-slavery North America. As a result, a
caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...
based on color emerged; blacks occupied the lowest economic class. Africans experienced racism and oppression in their attempts to climb the social ladder. Reforms and social movements for rights throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries paved the way for Africans in Latin America. According to social scientists, policymakers, and activists, Brazil's essential nature is to be a mixed-race country. In addition, black movements in Brazil during the 1990s resulted in great change in the 21st century through affirmative action policies in governmental spheres throughout Brazil.


Yoruba religion

Yoruba ritual practices include singing, dancing, drumming, spirit possession, ritual healing, respect for ancestors, and
divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...
.
Yoruba religion The Yorùbá religion (Yoruba language, Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), West African Orisa (Òrìṣà), or Isese (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in pres ...
is a ritual negotiation with the spirits of the Dead. The Yoruba religion stems from western Nigeria, which is where the Nagos people originated from and also where the Yoruba religion mixed with Christian practices.


References

{{reflist, 2 * Slavery in Brazil Yoruba people Yoruba religion