Gambian Creole people

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Gambian Creoles
Total population
1-2% of The Gambia's population
Languages
Afro-Caribbeans

The Gambian Creole people, or Krio or Aku, are a minority

Gambia with connections to and roots from the Sierra Leone Creole people.[1][2] In Gambia the Aku account for about 2% of the population. Some estimates put the figure higher. However, according to the 2013 Gambian Census, the Aku make up 0.5% of the population or around 8,477 people.[3]

Origins

Gambian Creoles are the descendants of

Liberated African ancestry, who migrated to the Gambia, along with liberated Africans released in the Gambia directly.[1]

Gambian Creoles are partly an extension of the Sierra Leone Creole community, and some Gambian Creoles have roots in the West Indies, North America, England, and various African communities. Some Gambian Creoles also have some European heritage through intermarriage and through their connections to Sierra Leone Creoles who settled in the Gambia between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[2]

Historical population
YearPop.±%
19735,596—    
198310,741+91.9%
19937,458−30.6%
200324,492+228.4%
20138,477−65.4%
Population Change [4]

Language

Many Gambian Creoles speak the Krio language, an English-based creole also spoken by Sierra Leonean Creoles.[5][2]

Aku Marabouts

In Sierra Leone, the term 'Aku Marabout' or 'Aku Mohammedan' refers to the

Oku people, while in the Gambia, the term 'Aku' refers to the Creole people,[6] who are Christians residing mainly in and around Banjul.[2] The Aku Marabout people of the Gambia are a non-Creole migrant community descended from the Oku people of Sierra Leone.[7][8]

Notable Gambian Creole people

This is a list of notable Gambian Creole people.

References

  1. ^ a b Frederiks, M. (2002). The Krio in the Gambia and the Concept of Inculturation, Exchange, 31(3), 219-229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157254302X00399
  2. ^ a b c d Shaka Ashcroft (2015) Roots and Routes: Krio Identity in Postcolonial London, Black Theology, 13:2, 102-125, DOI:10.1179/1476994815Z.00000000051
  3. ^ "Distribution of the Gambian population by ethnicity 1973,1983,1993,2003 and 2013 Censuses - GBoS". www.gbosdata.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  4. ^ "Distribution of the Gambian population by ethnicity 1973,1983,1993,2003 and 2013 Censuses - GBoS". www.gbosdata.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  5. ^ Frederiks, M. (2002). "The Krio in the Gambia and the Concept of Inculturation", Exchange, 31(3), 219–229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157254302X00399
  6. S2CID 144809053
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  7. .
  8. ^ Othman, Ramatoulie Onikepo (1999). A Cherished Heritage: Tracing the Roots of Oku Marabou--early 19th to Mid 20th Century. Edward Francis Small Printing Press. p. 31.
  9. ^ Saikou Jammeh, "A Hand of Destiny" Archived 2012-04-19 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily News, 21 January 2011. Accessed 21 November 2012.

Sources