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Afro-Haitians

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Afro-Haitians
 Haiti
Spinach sales in Port-au-Prince
Total population
c. 10,114,378[1]
Languages
Majority: Haitian Creole
Minority: French
Religion
Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholicism), Haitian Vodou, Islam
Related ethnic groups
White Haitians Indo-Haitians Chinese Haitians Zambo Indo-Caribbean people Arab Haitians Italian Haitians French Haitians German Haitians Mestizo Cajuns Mulatto Haitians Saint-Domingue Creoles

Afro-Haitians or Black Haitians (French: Afro-Haïtiens, Haïtiens Noirs; Haitian Creole: Afro-Ayisyen, Ayisyen Nwa) are Haitians of the African diaspora. They form the largest racial group in Haiti and together with other Afro-Caribbean groups, the largest racial group in the region.

The majority of Afro-Haitians are descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the island by Spanish Empire and French Colonial Empire to work on plantations. Since the Haitian Revolution, Afro-Haitians have been the largest racial group in the country, accounting for 95% of the population in the early 21st century. The remaining 5% of the population is made up of mixed persons (mixed African and European descent) and other minor groups (European, Arab, and Asian descent).[2]

History

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See also: Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, Saint-Domingue, History of Haiti, and History of the Dominican Republic

The Island of Ayiti was inhabited by the Arawak Peoples: Taino, Ciguayo and the Siboney. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sighted the Island on December 6, 1492. He named it La Isla Española (“The Spanish Island”), later Anglicized as Hispaniola. The Spanish controlled the Island from 1492–1697. The French in took control in the Treaty of Ryswick[3] and renamed the western portion of the island as Saint-Domingue, of what will later become known as Haiti, while the other still maintained their Spanish colony in the eastern two thirds of what later became the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo.

Further information: Slavery in Haiti § Saint Domingue (1625–1789)

The French Colonial empire had many colonies in the Caribbean:

All together known as the French West Indies

Slavery supported their plantation economy in which Saint-Domingue was their most important. Between 1681 and 1791 the labor for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 or 860,000 slaves,[4] to produce sugar, coffee, cacao, indigo, and cotton. The slave system in Saint-Domingue was considered brutal, with high levels of both mortality and violence.

Further information: Haitian Revolution
Further information: History of Haiti

Origins

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The African people of Haiti derived from various areas, spanning from Senegal to the Congo. Most of which were brought from West Africa, with a considerable number also brought from Central Africa. Some of these groups include those from the former Kongo kingdom (Kongo), Benin (Ewe, Yoruba) and Togoland. Many other people trace so much of their DNA from the native people.[5][6] Others in Haiti were brought from Senegal,[7] Guinea (imported by the Spanish since the sixteenth century and then by the French), Sierra Leone, Windward Coast, Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Southeast Africa (such as the Bara tribesmen of Madagascar, who were brought to Haiti in the eighteenth century).[8] Haitian culture is very tied to West African culture, especially that of pre-colonialism Benin, Haitian Vodou mostly has origins from the original West African Vodun of Benin and the French-based Haitian Creole language has influences from several African languages including the Fon language. At the time of the Haitian Revolution, an event that involved the massacre of many whites (mostly French) and mulattoes in the War of the Knives in Haiti, many of the black people in Haiti were African-born and had no non-African admixture. This was because the average African slave in colonial Haiti had a short life span and France continuously imported thousands of Africans yearly to keep the slave population up, by 1790 there were nearly 600,000 slaves, outnumbering whites about 20 to 1.

Demography

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Although Haiti averages approximately 250 people per square kilometre (650 per sq mi.), its population is concentrated most heavily in urban areas, coastal plains, and valleys. Haiti's population was about 11  million according to UN 2018 estimates,[9] with half of the population being under 20 years old.[10] The first formal census, taken in 1950, showed a population of 3.1 million.[11]

According to The World Factbook, 95% of Haitians are primarily of African descent; the remaining 5% of the population are mostly of mixed-race and European background,[1] and a number of other ethnicities.[12][13]

Genetics

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This section is an excerpt from Genetic history of the African diaspora § Haiti.[edit]
Y-Chromosomal DNA
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Afro-Haitians, who were sampled in 2012, were found to have carried haplogroup E1b1a-M2 (63.4%), within which were more specific sub-haplogroups, such as haplogroups E1b1a7-M191 (26.8%) and E1b1a8-U175 (26%), and subgroups within those sub-haplogroups, such as E1b1a7a-U174 (26.8%) and E1b1a8a-P278 (13%); there were also various sub-haplogroups of haplogroup R1b (e.g., R1b1b1-M269, R1b1b1a1b2-M529, R1b1b1a1b*-S116, R-M306, R1b2*-V88) as well as haplogroup R1a-M198.[14]

Autosomal DNA
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The ancestry of Afro-Haitians, who were sampled in 2013, were found to be 84% African.[15]

Medical DNA
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Risk allele variants G1 and G2 are associated with chronic kidney disease, which are common among populations of Sub-Saharan African ancestry; the G2 variant occurs at a 3%-8% rate among populations of western Central African ancestry and origin.[16]

Some infectious diseases are protected against due to African ancestry.[16] Hereditary blood disorders, such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia, produce an effect on the development of hemoglobin, which, consequently, prevents the reproduction of malaria parasites within the erythrocyte.[16] Populations with West African ancestry, including among the African diaspora brought via the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, tend to have occurrences of sickle cell anemia and thalassemia.[16]

Culture

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Kanaval in Jacmel, Haiti, February 2014

Culture, religion and social organization are the result in Haiti of a process of syncretism between French and African traditions, mainly Dahomey-Nigerian. A small minority cultural practice in Haiti is Haitian Vodou. This probably originated in Benin, although there are strong elements added from the Congo of Central Africa and many African nations are represented in the liturgy of Sèvis Lwa. A generally ignored but significant element is that of the Taino people, the indigenous people of Hispaniola. The Tainos were influential in the belief system of Haitian Vodou, especially in the Petro cult, a religious group with no counterpart on the African continent. Characterized by the worship of the loa, the sect has influences from Native American folklore zemis. The entire northern area of Haiti is influenced by the practices of the Congo. In the north, these are often called Rites Congo or Lemba. In the south, the Congo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many loa are of Congolese origin, such as Basimbi and Lemba.[17]

Polygyny persists alongside Catholic marriages. The dances and some forms of recreation tie in with African activities. The preparation of beans is done in the style of Western Africa. Popular literature retains fables and other forms that are expressed in the vernacular. Economic activities are typical of Western culture and clothing tends to be European, but the scarf worn by women over the head is typical of clothing worn throughout West Africa.[citation needed]

Two languages are spoken in Haiti. French is taught in schools and known by about 42% of the population,[18] but spoken by a minority of black and biracial residents, in Port-au-Prince and other cities. Haitian Creole, with roots in French, Spanish, Taino, Portuguese, English, and African languages, is a language with dialectal forms in different regions. It is spoken throughout the country, but is used extensively in rural areas.[19]

The music of Haiti is heavily influenced by the rhythms which came from Africa with the slaves. Two of these rhythms come directly from the harbour and the Congo; a third rhythm, the "petro", developed on the island during the colonial era. All are part of the rhythms used in Vodou ceremonies. These rhythms have created a musical style, rasin, where percussion is the most important musical instrument, and despite being closely related to religion has become a popular kind of folk music. Another type of music, which arises spontaneously from people with hand-held instruments, is twoubadou, a musical style that has endured to this day. Currently the music heard in Haiti's Compas genre is a little softer than the merengue, and combines Congo rhythms with European and Caribbean influences. Konpa is the most current version of this rhythm.[20]

Notable people

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See also

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References and footnotes

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  1. ^ a b "Haiti: People and society: Population". The World Factbook. July 2017.
  2. ^ See Slavery in Haiti and Demographics of Haiti
  3. ^ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATreaty_of_Ryswick.pdf
  4. ^ Coupeau, Steeve (2008). The History of Haiti. Westport, CN: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 18–19, 23. ISBN 978-0-313-34089-5.
  5. ^ Fernández Esquivel, Franco (2001). "Procedencia de los esclavos negros analizados a través del complejo de distribución, desarrollado desde Cartagena" [Origin of black slaves analyzed through a distribution complex developed from Cartagena] (in Spanish). Revistas Académicas de la Universidad Nacional. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  6. ^ "African Origins of Haitians". haiti360.com. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014.
  7. ^ Hall, Catherine, Review of The Birth of the Modern World 1780–1914: Global Connections and Comparisons, by Christopher Bayly online at history.ac.uk, accessed 7 August 2008
  8. ^ "Opinión: El merengue Dominicano y su origines" [Review: The Dominican merengue and its origins] (in Spanish). ciao.es. 16 August 2003. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  9. ^ "Country profile: Haiti". bbc.co.uk. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  10. ^ "New Haiti Census Shows Drastic Lack of Jobs, Education, Maternal Health Services". United Nations Population Fund. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Haiti: Population". Library of Congress Country Studies. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  12. ^ "The Virtual Jewish History Tour: Oceania: Haiti". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  13. ^ Shanshan, Wang; Huang Zhiling; Guo Anfei (19 January 2010). "Chinese in Haiti may be evacuated". chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  14. ^ Simms, Tanya M.; et al. (11 May 2012). "Y-chromosomal diversity in Haiti and Jamaica: Contrasting levels of sex-biased gene flow". American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 148 (4): 618–631. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22090. PMID 22576450. S2CID 38473346.
  15. ^ Fortes-Lima, Cesar A. (22 November 2021). "Disentangling the Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in African Diaspora Populations from a Genomic Perspective". Africa, the Cradle of Human Diversity Cultural and Biological Approaches to Uncover African Diversity. Brill. pp. 305, 308–321. doi:10.1163/9789004500228_012. ISBN 978-90-04-50022-8. S2CID 244549408.
  16. ^ a b c d Tříska, Petr (2016). "Genetic Legacy Of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade In Present Populations: Anthropological And Clinical Context" (PDF). University of Porto. pp. 47, 49–50, 52. S2CID 132835585.
  17. ^ "Zombis: Vudú haitiano" [Zombies: Haitian Voodoo] (in Spanish). linkmesh.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  18. ^ Wolff, Alexandre (2014). La langue française dans le monde 2014 [The French language in the world in 2014] (PDF) (in French). Paris: Nathan. ISBN 978-2-09-882654-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  19. ^ Michel DeGraff, "Language Barrier in Haiti," The Boston Globe, June 16, 2010
  20. ^ "Población haitiana" [Haitian population] (in Spanish). mondolatino.eu. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
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