African Diaspora

To fully understand the Global Dimension of the African Diaspora, you must first comprehend the meaning of the word Diaspora; which is when a group of ethnic people move from their motherland into another country. In America this is common among Africans, Asians, Mexicans, Indians, Persians, and Jewish people. While in their host country they abide by the rules and regulations, but at the same time sustain a relationship to their motherland. In the communities which they live businesses and restaurants are owned that represent their ethnic background. A great example of this is China Town. Many cities have a China Town which is very similar to being in China itself and show the connection they maintain to their homeland.

Now understanding the meaning of Diaspora, I move to more explain African Diaspora, which can be distinguished into two different eras. I like to call these eras: Before Slavery and After Slavery, or as the text calls Historic and Modern.

Slavery has been around for as far back as the Bible days, so that's nothing new. What I'm referring to is the Atlantic Slave Trade which popularized slavery world wide, portraying "blacks" as the primary target. Before then Africans traveled all over the world. There are historic accounts of African presence all over Europe in the middle ages, from art form to sports. Africans were residents of countries from there to the Middle East where Africans were also missionaries to spread there religious views to the different parts of "their world as they knew it," at the time. Our text talks about India having the largest number of enslaved Africans recorded. The slaves there however were not treated unjustly, and it was not race based slavery. The slaves there were worker form the fields to administration. Africans were sailors to soldiers, who traveled the trade ways. Queen Elizabeth I in 1556 recognized too many "blackamoores" and thought they should be sent back to Africa (The African Diaspora Experience, pg. 6). In these days Africans freely traveled to these different countries among the world, just like explores, they participated in the development of the Americas and Caribbean.

When the Atlantic Slave Trade came about it begun to target Africans, taking them from their motherland to other parts of the world. This is a more unwilling from of Diaspora, because slaves did not choose to enter slavery, they were taken. This