Saro people
The Saro, or Nigerian Creoles of the 19th and early 20th centuries, were
A related community of people were likewise known as Amaro, and were migrants from Brazil and Cuba.[2] Saro and Amaro also settled in other West African countries such as the Gold Coast (
.The returnees mostly resided in the Lagos Colony, with substantial populations in Abeokuta and Ibadan. Some also settled in Calabar, Port Harcourt and other cities in the Niger Delta. Though many were originally dedicated Anglophiles in Nigeria, they later adopted an indigenous and patriotic attitude on Nigerian affairs due to a rise in discrimination in the 1880s,[3] and were later known as cultural nationalists.
Life in Sierra Leone
While living in Sierra Leone, many
Life in Lagos and Abeokuta
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Lagos was a strategic and important
In Lagos, the Saro chose Ebute Metta, Olowogbowo, and Yaba as primary settlements.[6] Mostly of Egba heritage, they established a few of the oldest churches in Lagos and also expanded the missionary work of the British in Nigeria. The Saro also emerged as a dominant commercial group in Lagos. Having developed a migratory forte, they had an edge as travelers who were able to go into the interiors to meet directly with various commodity producers and traders. They were the pioneer Southern Nigerian traders in Kola, a cash crop that later emerged as a viable and important export commodity for the Western region in the early twentieth century.[7] The Saro introduced the crop which was bought from Hausa traders across the River Niger into Southern Nigerian agriculture. The first Kola farm and the dominant trading firm in Kola were both orchestrated by Saros.[7] Their owner, Mohammed Shitta Bey, was himself a Saro. The Saros also did not drop their yearning for Western education as they dominated the ranks of professions open to Africans. They were lawyers, doctors, and civil servants.[8][9][10]
Skirmishes in western Nigeria
Early on, the Saro who had acquired Western education and European cultural mores during their time in Sierra Leone, began to show paternal characteristics in their relationship with native residents of Lagos. The perceived disrespect extended to some Lagos citizens led to the Saro being expelled from Lagos in the 1850s, although they soon returned.
In 1867, another conflict emerged, this time in
Life in the delta
The Niger delta was a little bit dissimilar to Lagos and western Nigeria where the Yorubas were dominant. Lagos was much more
The Saro emerged in the city as pioneers of African commerce as they became suppliers to the residents of the new city. However, life in Port Harcourt was rough for many Saro. Some came to the city as workers for British merchant houses and the colonial government. However, there was no job security afforded the immigrants in the new city. Some Saro workers were retired without
Notable Saro people
- Munirudeen Adekunle Muse
- Crispin Adeniyi-Jones
- Kitoye Ajasa
- Herbert Bankole-Bright
- R.B. Blaize
- Henry Rawlingson Carr
- G.B.A. Coker
- Mohammed Shitta Bey
- Samuel Ajayi Crowther
- J.P.L. Davies
- Sara Forbes Bonetta Davies
- Adegboyega Edun
- Christiana Abiodun Emanuel
- Charles Joseph George
- James "Holy" Johnson
- Obadiah Johnson
- Samuel Johnson
- Herbert Macaulay
- Thomas Babington Macaulay
- Akinola Maja
- Orisadipe Obasa
- Charlotte Blaize Obasa
- John Otunba Payne
- Samuel Herbert Pearse
- Charles Phillips
- John Randle
- Victoria Davies Randle
- Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
- Steven Bankole Rhodes
- Oguntola Sapara
- Agnes Yewande Savage
- Richard Akinwande Savage
- Emanuel Peter John Adeniyi Thomas
- Stella Thomas
- William Vivour
- Christopher Sapara Williams
Amaro
Unlike the Saro who were principally from Sierra Leone, the Amaro, who were sometimes called
The Brazilian returnees were notably technically skilled
Prominent Amaro include Oloye Sir Adeyemo Alakija and Chief Antonio Deinde Fernandez.
See also
- Assimilados
- Bourgeoisie of Nigeria
- Emancipados
- Sierra Leone Creole people
References
- ISBN 9781580460385.
- ^ ISBN 9780253021441.
- ^ Matory, Lorand, "The English Professors of Brazil: On the Diasporic Roots of the Yoruba Nation", Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 41, No. 1, January 1999, p. 89.
- ISBN 978-0-19-027773-4. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
- ^ Faluyi, Kehinde, Migrants and the Economic Development of Lagos, From the Earliest of Times to 1880, p. 1.
- ^ Faluyi, p. 9.
- ^ a b Agiri, Babatunde "The Introduction of Nitida Kola into Nigerian Agriculture, 1880–1920", African Economic History, No. 3, Spring 1977, p. 1.
- ^ Sawada, Nozomi (PhD thesis, Univ. of Birmingham, 2012)Sawada, Nozomi (2012). The educated elite and associational life in early Lagos newspapers : in search of unity for the progress ofsociety. ethos.bl.uk (British Library) (Ph.D).
- ^ a b Dixon-Fyle, Mac, "The Saro in the Political Life of Early Port Harcourt, 1913–49", The Journal of African History, Vol. 30, No. 1, p. 126.
- ^ Derrick, Jonathan, "The 'Native Clerk' in Colonial West Africa", African Affairs, Vol. 82, No. 326, p. 65.
- ^ Derrick, Jonathan, "The 'Native Clerk' in Colonial West Africa", African Affairs, Vol. 82, No. 326, p. 65.
- The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 97, No. 383, January 1984, p. 6.
- ^ Faluyi, pp. 11, 12.