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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Afro-British integration on the Sherbro Coast: 1665-1795
Author:Day, L.R.
Year:1982
Periodical:Africana Research Bulletin
Volume:12
Issue:3
Pages:82-107
Language:English
Geographic term:Sierra Leone
Subjects:Krio
social integration
Sherbro
history
1600-1699
1700-1799
Abstract:The incorporation of kinship groups descended from Englishmen into the ranks of the ruling lineages along the coast of present-day Sierra Leone illustrates an intriguing pattern of integration characteristic of Sherbro society. Many foreign traders of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were assimilated so thoroughly into Sherbro society that today their names identify well-known chiefly families of the coastal region. It suggested that Afro-British integration in Sherbro-Land was fostered on the one hand by features of the Sherbroes' own social structure and on the other by new economic developments which gave British settlers effective means through which to gain influence on the coast. The two features of Sherbro social structure which particularly aided the assimilation of foreign strangers are 1) a cognatic descent system which includes a strong emphasis on maternal familial ties and 2) a largely de-centralized political structure with the main focus of political loyalty at the village. Notes.
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