Atlantic Creole
Encyclopedia
Atlantic Creole is a term used in North America
to describe the Charter Generation of slaves
during the European colonization of the Americas
before 1660. These slaves had cultural roots in Africa
, Europe
and sometimes the Caribbean
. They were of mixed race, primarily descended from European fathers and African mothers. Some had lived and worked in Europe or the Caribbean before coming (or being transported) to North America. Examples of such men included John Punch and Emanuel Driggus
(his surname was possibly derived from Rodriguez).
region in the 17th century. He traced the Atlantic creoles to descendants of European sailors and traders as fathers and African mothers. They were born generally in the port cities of the west coast of Africa, where Portuguese traders had been active since the mid-16th century. Growing up in multi-lingual environments, the men, whether enslaved or free, often worked as interpreters or go-betweens for Africans and Europeans; others worked as sailors, merchants and traders. Later some traveled to the Caribbean, North America, or Europe.
Berlin writes that Atlantic creoles were among what he called the Charter Generation of slaves in the Chesapeake Colony, up until the end of the seventeenth century. Through the first 50 years of settlement, lines were fluid between black and white workers; often both worked off passage as indentured servants, and any slaves were less set apart than they were later. The working class lived together, and many white women and black men developed relationships. Many of the new generation of creoles born in the colonies were the children of European indentured servants and bonded or enslaved workers of primarily West African ancestry (some Native Americans were also enslaved, and some Indian slaves were brought to North America from the Caribbean, Central and South America.).
According to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, incorporated into colonial law in 1662, children born in the colony took the status of the mother; when the mothers were enslaved, the children were born into slavery, regardless of paternity, whether by free Englishmen or enslaved workers. This was a change from English common law, which had asserted that children took the status of the father. Paul Heinegg and other twentieth-century researchers have found that 80% of the free people of color
in the Upper South in colonial times were born to white mothers (thus gaining freedom) and African or African-American fathers. Some male African slaves were freed in the early years as well, but free mothers were the source of most of the free families of color.
According to Berlin, some of these mixed-race "Atlantic Creoles" were culturally what today is called "Latino
" in the United States
, as they were descended from Portuguese and Spanish fathers, primarily in the trading ports of West Africa; they had surnames such as Chavez
, Rodriguez, and Francisco
. In the Chesapeake Bay Colony, many of the Atlantic Creoles intermarried with their English neighbors, adopted English surnames, became property owners and farmers, and owned slaves in turn. The families became well-established, with numerous free descendants by the time of the American Revolution
.
In 2007, Linda Heywood and John Thornton
used "newly available data from the DuBois Institute and Cambridge University Press on the trade and transportation of slaves" in their new work on the relation of Central Africans to the Atlantic Creoles. They found strong support for Berlin's thesis of the Charter Generations of slaves, before 1660, coming primarily from West Africa. They also noted that in the Kingdom of Kongo
(northern present-day Angola
), the leaders adopted Catholicism
in the late 15th century due to Portuguese influence. This led to widespread conversion of the people. They formed a type of African-Catholic spirituality unique to the region, and the people frequently adopted Portuguese names in baptism. The kingdoms were Christian for nearly 400 years and many of their people were taken as slaves by the Portuguese. The historians argue that numerous people from Kongo were transported to the North American colonies as slaves, especially to South Carolina and Louisiana. Kongolese Catholics led the Stono Rebellion
in 1739. They estimate about one in five African Americans are descended from Kongolese ancestors.
These slaves, rather than the small mixed-race communities around European trading posts, were the source of most early Atlantic Creoles with Iberian surnames in North America. Many were Christian, were multi-racial and multi-lingual, and familiar with some aspects of European culture. The Dutch colonies in South America, the Caribbean and New York were also populated by numerous enslaved Atlantic Creoles from the Kingdom of Kongo.
The authors suggest that as the English and Dutch imported more slaves from outside the Atlantic Creole areas to supply the increased labor needs of the Plantation Generation, they found the non-Christian Africans more ethnically and culturally different. Such differences, especially as the slaves were not Christian, made it easier for the English to gradually adopt the concept of chattel slavery and the colonial equation of Africans with slaves that prevailed through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This was the change institutionalized in partus, which made all children of slave mothers born into slavery. By the late eighteenth century, decades of interaction between white men and enslaved women led to slaves who were primarily of European ancestry. For instance, the slave Sally Hemings
and her siblings at Monticello
were three-quarters white (three of her grandparents were white) and descended from two generations of white fathers. Her children by Thomas Jefferson
were seven-eighths white (or European) in ancestry. The Hemings children were legally "white" under Virginia law of the time but, born to a slave mother, they were slaves.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to describe the Charter Generation of slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
during the European colonization of the Americas
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
before 1660. These slaves had cultural roots in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and sometimes the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. They were of mixed race, primarily descended from European fathers and African mothers. Some had lived and worked in Europe or the Caribbean before coming (or being transported) to North America. Examples of such men included John Punch and Emanuel Driggus
Emanuel Driggus
Emanuel Driggus and his wife Frances were Atlantic Creole slaves in the mid-seventeenth century in Virginia, of the Chesapeake Bay Colony. They first appear in a record of sale in 1640 to Captain Francis Potts; at the time they arranged for a contract of limited indenture for their two children...
(his surname was possibly derived from Rodriguez).
History
The historian Ira Berlin (1998) identified the arrival of the "Atlantic Creoles" in the Chesapeake BayChesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
region in the 17th century. He traced the Atlantic creoles to descendants of European sailors and traders as fathers and African mothers. They were born generally in the port cities of the west coast of Africa, where Portuguese traders had been active since the mid-16th century. Growing up in multi-lingual environments, the men, whether enslaved or free, often worked as interpreters or go-betweens for Africans and Europeans; others worked as sailors, merchants and traders. Later some traveled to the Caribbean, North America, or Europe.
Berlin writes that Atlantic creoles were among what he called the Charter Generation of slaves in the Chesapeake Colony, up until the end of the seventeenth century. Through the first 50 years of settlement, lines were fluid between black and white workers; often both worked off passage as indentured servants, and any slaves were less set apart than they were later. The working class lived together, and many white women and black men developed relationships. Many of the new generation of creoles born in the colonies were the children of European indentured servants and bonded or enslaved workers of primarily West African ancestry (some Native Americans were also enslaved, and some Indian slaves were brought to North America from the Caribbean, Central and South America.).
According to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, incorporated into colonial law in 1662, children born in the colony took the status of the mother; when the mothers were enslaved, the children were born into slavery, regardless of paternity, whether by free Englishmen or enslaved workers. This was a change from English common law, which had asserted that children took the status of the father. Paul Heinegg and other twentieth-century researchers have found that 80% of the free people of color
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
in the Upper South in colonial times were born to white mothers (thus gaining freedom) and African or African-American fathers. Some male African slaves were freed in the early years as well, but free mothers were the source of most of the free families of color.
According to Berlin, some of these mixed-race "Atlantic Creoles" were culturally what today is called "Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
" in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as they were descended from Portuguese and Spanish fathers, primarily in the trading ports of West Africa; they had surnames such as Chavez
Chávez (surname)
Chávez or Chavez is an American Spanish variation of "Chaves", and may refer to:*Angélico Chávez, , American Franciscan priest, historian, author, poet, and painter...
, Rodriguez, and Francisco
Francisco
Francisco is a Spanish and Portuguese male name form of the name "Francis".In Spanish, people with the name Francisco sometimes are nicknamed "Paco": San Francisco de Asís was known as Pater Comunitatis when he founded the Franciscan order, "Paco" is a short form of "Pater Comunitatis"...
. In the Chesapeake Bay Colony, many of the Atlantic Creoles intermarried with their English neighbors, adopted English surnames, became property owners and farmers, and owned slaves in turn. The families became well-established, with numerous free descendants by the time of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
.
In 2007, Linda Heywood and John Thornton
John Thornton (historian)
John K. Thornton is an American historian specializing in the history of Africa and the African Diaspora. He is a professor in the history department at Boston University.-Early life and education:...
used "newly available data from the DuBois Institute and Cambridge University Press on the trade and transportation of slaves" in their new work on the relation of Central Africans to the Atlantic Creoles. They found strong support for Berlin's thesis of the Charter Generations of slaves, before 1660, coming primarily from West Africa. They also noted that in the Kingdom of Kongo
Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo was an African kingdom located in west central Africa in what are now northern Angola, Cabinda, the Republic of the Congo, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
(northern present-day Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
), the leaders adopted Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
in the late 15th century due to Portuguese influence. This led to widespread conversion of the people. They formed a type of African-Catholic spirituality unique to the region, and the people frequently adopted Portuguese names in baptism. The kingdoms were Christian for nearly 400 years and many of their people were taken as slaves by the Portuguese. The historians argue that numerous people from Kongo were transported to the North American colonies as slaves, especially to South Carolina and Louisiana. Kongolese Catholics led the Stono Rebellion
Stono Rebellion
The Stono Rebellion was a slave rebellion that commenced on 9 September 1739, in the colony of South Carolina...
in 1739. They estimate about one in five African Americans are descended from Kongolese ancestors.
These slaves, rather than the small mixed-race communities around European trading posts, were the source of most early Atlantic Creoles with Iberian surnames in North America. Many were Christian, were multi-racial and multi-lingual, and familiar with some aspects of European culture. The Dutch colonies in South America, the Caribbean and New York were also populated by numerous enslaved Atlantic Creoles from the Kingdom of Kongo.
The authors suggest that as the English and Dutch imported more slaves from outside the Atlantic Creole areas to supply the increased labor needs of the Plantation Generation, they found the non-Christian Africans more ethnically and culturally different. Such differences, especially as the slaves were not Christian, made it easier for the English to gradually adopt the concept of chattel slavery and the colonial equation of Africans with slaves that prevailed through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This was the change institutionalized in partus, which made all children of slave mothers born into slavery. By the late eighteenth century, decades of interaction between white men and enslaved women led to slaves who were primarily of European ancestry. For instance, the slave Sally Hemings
Sally Hemings
Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
and her siblings at Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
were three-quarters white (three of her grandparents were white) and descended from two generations of white fathers. Her children by Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
were seven-eighths white (or European) in ancestry. The Hemings children were legally "white" under Virginia law of the time but, born to a slave mother, they were slaves.