Igbo people in Jamaica
Jamaica received the largest number of enslaved people from the biafra region than anywhere else in the diaspora during the slave trade.
Some slave censuses detailed the large number of enslaved Igbo people on various plantations throughout the island on different dates throughout the 18th century.
Originating primarily from what was known as the Bight of Biafra on the West African coast, Igbo people were trafficked in relatively high numbers to Jamaica as a result of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, beginning around 1750.
[4] The slave ships arriving from Bristol and Liverpool trafficked enslaved people to the British colonies including Jamaica.
[6] Olaudah Equiano, a prominent member of the movement for the abolition of the slave trade, was an African-born Igbo formerly enslaved person.
Enslaved Igbo people were known to have committed mass suicides, not only for rebellion, but in the belief their spirits will return to their motherland.
[4][11] In a publication of a 1791 issue of Massachusetts Magazine, an anti-slavery poem was published called Monimba, which depicted a fictional pregnant enslaved Igbo woman who committed suicide on a slave ship bound for Jamaica.
[15] Archibald Monteith, whose birth name was Aniaso, was an enslaved Igbo man taken to Jamaica after being tricked by an African slave trader.
In slave runaway advertisements held in Jamaica workhouses in 1803 out of 1046 Africans recorded, 284 were described as "Eboes and Mocoes", 185 "Congoes", 259 "Angolas", 101 "Mandingoes", 70 Coromantees, 60 "Chamba" of Sierra Leone, 57 "Nagoes and Pawpaws" and 30 "scattering".
[18] Some notable rebellions of enslaved people involving Igbo include: Oh me Good friend, Mr. Wilberforce, make we free!God Almighty thank ye!
Igbo(bight of biafra) disembarkation were mostly in colonial Jamaica's international ports of Kingston and Montego Bay.
[30][31] Enslaved Igbo and Akan people affected drinking culture among the Black population in Jamaica, using alcohol in ritual and libation.
[32] Jonkonnu, a parade that is held in many West Indian nations, has been attributed to the Njoku Ji "yam-spirit cult", Okonko and Ekpe of the Igbo.
[33]John Canoe was an Ahanta -Akan general that lived around 1708 to 1720, making it impossible for the Jamaican Christmas week celebration to be of Igbo origin.
Du Bois Institute database[9] supports obeah being traced to the "dibia" or "obia" meaning "doctoring"[6] traditions of the Igbo people.
[51][52] Specialists in "Obia" (also spelled Obea) were known as "Dibia" (doctor, psychic) practiced similarly as the obeah men and women of the Caribbean, like predicting the future and manufacturing charms.[53][54].
[59] There were reports by Europeans who visited and lived in Jamaica that enslaved Igbo believed they would return to their country after death.
