scholarly journals New Insights and Consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on African Ancestry in the Americas

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Caspermeyer
Keyword(s):  
Slave Trade ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade

scholarly journals Ancient viral genomes reveal introduction of human pathogenic viruses into Mexico during the transatlantic slave trade

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel A Guzmán-Solís ◽  
Viridiana Villa-Islas ◽  
Miriam J Bravo-López ◽  
Marcela Sandoval-Velasco ◽  
Julie K Wesp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Slave Trade ◽  
Parvovirus B19 ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Clinical Importance ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Virus Genome ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Viral Genomes ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
European Colonization

After the European colonization of the Americas there was a dramatic population collapse of the Indigenous inhabitants caused in part by the introduction of new pathogens. Although there is much speculation on the etiology of the Colonial epidemics, direct evidence for the presence of specific viruses during the Colonial era is lacking. To uncover the diversity of viral pathogens during this period, we designed an enrichment assay targeting ancient DNA (aDNA) from viruses of clinical importance and applied it to DNA extracts from individuals found in a Colonial hospital and a Colonial chapel (16th c. - 18th c.) where records suggest victims of epidemics were buried during important outbreaks in Mexico City. This allowed us to reconstruct three ancient human parvovirus B19 genomes, and one ancient human hepatitis B virus genome from distinct individuals. The viral genomes are similar to African strains, consistent with the inferred morphological and genetic African ancestry of the hosts as well as with the isotopic analysis of the human remains, suggesting an origin on the African continent. This study provides direct molecular evidence of ancient viruses being transported to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade and their subsequent introduction to New Spain. Altogether, our observations enrich the discussion about the etiology of infectious diseases during the Colonial period in Mexico.

Remembering Indian Ocean Slavery through Film

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Abstract Due to assimilation, the diversity of the region, and the problems of identification, the presence of Asians with African ancestry in some parts of the Indian Ocean goes largely unnoticed. Whilst Ethiopians came to Sri Lanka voluntarily during the sixth century, the largest known Afro-Sri Lankan community’s history dates back to the island’s colonial era, which began in the sixteenth century. Oral traditions and archival records demonstrate that the Indian Ocean slave trade carried on even after abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Although their numbers have dwindled due to out-marriage and assimilation, this community’s presence is marked out through its strong cultural memories. This article highlights the significance of film as a medium for making Sri Lankans of African ancestry visible and giving them a space to reflect about their ancestors, cultural traditions and sociolinguistic transformations.

scholarly journals Ancient viral genomes reveal introduction of HBV and B19V to Mexico during the transatlantic slave trade

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel A. Guzmán-Solís ◽  
Daniel Blanco-Melo ◽  
Viridiana Villa-Islas ◽  
Miriam J. Bravo-López ◽  
Marcela Sandoval-Velasco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Slave Trade ◽  
Parvovirus B19 ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Clinical Importance ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Virus Genome ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Viral Genomes ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
European Colonization

ABSTRACTAfter the European colonization of the Americas there was a dramatic population collapse of the Indigenous inhabitants caused in part by the introduction of new pathogens. Although there is much speculation on the etiology of the Colonial epidemics, direct evidence for the presence of specific viruses during the Colonial era is lacking. To uncover the diversity of viral pathogens during this period, we designed an enrichment assay targeting ancient DNA (aDNA) from viruses of clinical importance and applied it on DNA extracts from individuals found in a Colonial (16th c. – 18th c.) hospital and a Colonial chapel where records suggest victims of epidemics were buried during important outbreaks in Mexico City. This allowed us to reconstruct three ancient human parvovirus B19 genomes, and one ancient human hepatitis B virus genome from distinct individuals. The viral genomes are similar to African strains, consistent with the inferred morphological and genetic African ancestry of the hosts as well as with the isotopic analysis of the human remains, suggesting an origin on the African continent. This study provides direct molecular evidence of ancient viruses being transported to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade and their subsequent introduction to New Spain. Altogether, our observations enrich the discussion about the etiology of infectious diseases during the Colonial period in Mexico.

scholarly journals Origins, admixture dynamics and homogenization of the African gene pool in the Americas

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateus H. Gouveia ◽  
Victor Borda ◽  
Thiago P. Leal ◽  
Rennan G. Moreira ◽  
Andrew W. Bergen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Gene Pool ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Population Diversity ◽  
Genomic Diversity ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
Historical Factors

AbstractThe Transatlantic Slave Trade transported more than 9 million Africans to the Americas between the early 16th and the mid-19th centuries. We performed genome-wide analysis of 6,267 individuals from 22 populations and observed an enrichment in West-African ancestry in northern latitudes of the Americas, whereas South/East African ancestry is more prevalent in southern South-America. This pattern results from distinct geographic and geopolitical factors leading to population differentiation. However, we observed a decrease of 68% in the African gene pool between-population diversity within the Americas when compared to the regions of origin from Africa, underscoring the importance of historical factors favoring admixture between individuals with different African origins in the New World. This is consistent with the excess of West-Central Africa ancestry (the most prevalent in the Americas) in the US and Southeast-Brazil, respect to historical-demography expectations. Also, in most of the Americas, admixture intensification occurred between 1,750 and 1,850, which correlates strongly with the peak of arrivals from Africa. This study contributes with a population genetics perspective to the ongoing social, cultural and political debate regarding ancestry, race, and admixture in the Americas.Significance StatementDifferently from most genetic studies, that have estimated the overall African ancestry in the Americas, we perform a finer geographic analysis and infer how different African groups contributed to North-, South-American and Caribbean populations, in the context of geographic and geopolitical factors. We also perform a formal comparison of information from demographic history records of the Transatlantic Slave Trade with inferences based on genomic diversity of current populations. Our approach reveals the distinct regional African ancestry roots of different populations from North-, South-America and the Caribe and other important aspects of the historical process of mestizaje and its dynamics in the American continent.

African Slavery and Spanish Empire

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
African Descent ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Spanish Empire ◽  
Demographic Situation ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Racial Slavery

This article traces a philosophical shift that opened the door to a new departure in eighteenth-century Spanish empire: a newly emerging sense that the slave trade and African slavery were essential to the wealth of nations. Contextualizing this ideological reconfiguration within mid-eighteenth century debates, this article draws upon the works of political economists and royal councilors in Madrid and puts them in conversation with the words and actions of individuals in and from Cuba, including people of African descent themselves. Because of the central place of the island in eighteenth-century imperial rivalry and reform, as well as its particular demographic situation, Cuba served as a catalyst for these debates about the place of African slavery and the transatlantic slave trade in Spanish empire. Ultimately, between the mid-eighteenth century and the turn of the nineteenth, this new mode of thought would lead to dramatic transformations in the institution of racial slavery and Spanish imperial political economy.

Slavery and Abolition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Lee
Keyword(s):  
Slave Trade ◽  
Breaking Point ◽  
African Origin ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries

During the British transatlantic slave trade, which lasted from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, millions of people were taken from their home in Africa and sold in the Americas where they were forced to work for nothing. But these people continually resisted slavery through acts small and large, and during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, slavery reached a breaking point. British poets, novelists, and artists gave voice injustices slavery created, but the most powerful anti-slavery writing of the era came from those of African origin living in England.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document