I put two and two together and realized my Ghanaian gf descends from slavers

[yardman]

Her grandmother is a royal in the Ga tribe. I don’t know too much about the hierarchical structure but they’ve been pestering for decades fot her to hail some seat or throne of sorts and if not her, then her grandson which is my gf’s brother. Her grandmother doesn’t associate with her royal side of her family because she converted to Christianity (her family are traditionalist as she calls it) and the arranged marriage her father set up with this older Portuguese man when she was a teen.

I was listening to Professor Akosua Perbi (she is really dismissive and reductive, unsurprisingly so) talking about how it was primarily royals from the Asante, Fante, Ga Adangbe involved in selling slaves. She was interviewing families who were involved in the slave trade that weren’t too forthcoming with information if their interviews would be recorded or names being noted.​

 

[get these nets]

Slave trade from Ghana ended ,realistically , perhaps in 1860.
If you and her are both young, that would mean that at least one of her 120+ ancestors, from 7 generations back, might be tied to the slave trade.

Out of all the ancestors from that generation, she likely has more ancestors with relatives who were enslaved than 1 in 120. If she does DNA testing, she would surely find cousins in the Americas.

 

[CopiousX]

Her grandmother is a royal in the Ga tribe. I don’t know too much about the hierarchical structure but they’ve been pestering for decades fot her to hail some seat or throne of sorts and if not her, then her grandson which is my gf’s brother. Her grandmother doesn’t associate with her royal side of her family because she converted to Christianity (her family are traditionalist as she calls it) and the arranged marriage her father set up with this older Portuguese man when she was a teen.

I was listening to Professor Akosua Perbi (she is really dismissive and reductive, unsurprisingly so) talking about how it was primarily royals from the Asante, Fante, Ga Adangbe involved in selling slaves. She was interviewing families who were involved in the slave trade that weren’t too forthcoming with information if their interviews would be recorded or names being noted.​

Slave trade from Ghana ended ,realistically , perhaps in 1860.
If you and her are both young, that would mean that at least one of her 500+ ancestors, from 7 generations back, might be tied to the slave trade.

Out of all the ancestors from that generation, she likely has more ancestors with relatives who were enslaved than 1 in 500. If she does DNA testing, she would surely find cousins in the Americas.

Also worth noting that it may not be the same lineage as the old slave traders. Just like modern political regimes,Those old kingdoms had lots of usurpers , coups,natural regime changes, and colonizer imposed ones. Additionally because of the hereditary nature of blood lines , lineages died off constantly due to heirs dying prematurely or not providing offspring.

it's highly unlikely her noble background is the same one from 500 years ago due to political instability . For perspective's sake, when you look at a long-lived, relatively stable, and uncolonized European royal family like the current King, their bloodline as British royals is less than 300 years and they are actually Germans who were artificially brought in. So now imagine the chaos of an African bloodline after colonization and much more instability.

 

[Ray D’Angelo Harris]

 

[MoshpitMazi]

Dude you're fukking someone who's technically a princess ?

 

[GrindtooFilthy]

Also worth noting that it may not be the same lineage as the old slave traders. Just like modern political regimes,Those old kingdoms had lots of usurpers , coups,natural regime changes, and colonizer imposed ones. Additionally because of the hereditary nature of blood lines , lineages died off constantly due to heirs dying prematurely or not providing offspring.

it's highly unlikely her noble background is the same one from 500 years ago due to political instability . For perspective's sake, when you look at a long-lived, relatively stable, and uncolonized European royal family like the current King, their bloodline as British royals is less than 300 years and they are actually Germans who were artificially brought in. So now imagine the chaos of an African bloodline after colonization and much more instability.

Are you sure they were Germans? I thought they were Danes/Danish ppl that came over during the Viking era?

 

[Amo Husserl]

Whose side are you on, OP?

 

[CopiousX]

Are you sure they were Germans? I thought they were Danes/Danish ppl that came over during the Viking era?

Good point. I was only referring to the most recent change. But they have had other bloodline changes beforehand.

They did have native britons in British royals families . Then they had The Viking invasions which you are referring to. Next, after them they were colonized by mainland France . William of Orange basically replaced the entire British royal family, and put in Frenchmen. But the most recent change was when the bloodline died out when queen Anne kept having botched pregnancies, with only one of her children living to age 11. The end result after Queen Anne's death was a German King George taking over the bloodline. And they have been German ever since.


This perfectly illustrates the chaos that can happen in the royal family. And once again this is the relatively stable British royal family which did not have to undergo colonization. So now imagine the upheaval that would happen in an African royal family after both colonization and social instability after national independence.

 

[get these nets]

Also worth noting that it may not be the same lineage as the old slave traders. Just like modern political regimes,Those old kingdoms had lots of usurpers , coups,natural regime changes, and colonizer imposed ones. Additionally because of the hereditary nature of blood lines , lineages died off constantly due to heirs dying prematurely or not providing offspring.

it's highly unlikely her noble background is the same one from 500 years ago due to political instability . For perspective's sake, when you look at a long-lived, relatively stable, and uncolonized European royal family like the current King, their bloodline as British royals is less than 300 years and they are actually Germans who were artificially brought in. So now imagine the chaos of an African bloodline after colonization and much more instability.

Good points. Transatlantic slave trade lasted for centuries.
And the wars, coups, etc would factor into which rulers and merchants had a hand in the slave trade at any particular time as well. And which ethnic groups/royal families would be captives as tides turned during those centuries.

In the recent thread about Benin, people didnt stop to think that as things shifted, some of the people, (and warriors) from that Kingdom were enslaved and sent to the Americas. As warriors, they and their children would have played key roles in the revolts in the Americas. As was the case in the Haitian Revolution.

And as tables turned during such a long period , Ga people, royalty and commoners , were likely captured and enslaved in this hemisphere.

This complicates the simple "they sold us" rhetoric that people are fed.

 

[UncleTomFord15]

@CouldntBeMeTho
.

Wouldn't be able to date someone knowing this.

 

[MajesticLion]

 

[Neuromancer]

For perspective's sake, when you look at a long-lived, relatively stable, and uncolonized European royal family like the current King, their bloodline as British royals is less than 300 years and they are actually Germans who were artificially brought in. So now imagine the chaos of an African bloodline after colonization and much more instability.

The house Hanover and Hapsburg right?

 

[Neuromancer]

What are you breh? Caribbean? American?

 

[Belize King]

Good point. I was only referring to the most recent change. But they have had other bloodline changes beforehand.

They did have native britons in British royals families . Then they had The Viking invasions which you are referring to. Next, after them they were colonized by mainland France . William of Orange basically replaced the entire British royal family, and put in Frenchmen. But the most recent change was when the bloodline died out when queen Anne kept having botched pregnancies, with only one of her children living to age 11. The end result after Queen Anne's death was a German King George taking over the bloodline. And they have been German ever since.


This perfectly illustrates the chaos that can happen in the royal family. And once again this is the relatively stable British royal family which did not have to undergo colonization. So now imagine the upheaval that would happen in an African royal family after both colonization and social instability after national independence.

Shout out to Thorfinn. If you haven’t seen it, Vinland Saga is a COLD anime. Season two is very different and very slow, but Thorfinn’s transformation to a pacifist is amazing.

 

[yardman]

What are you breh? Caribbean? American?​

West Indian, my username means of Jamaican origin.​