Description

Trade in the Senegambia Region deals with the local and trans-continental trading activities in the Senegambia Region. In this exposition, Patience Sonko-Godwin depicts trade as an agent of change and transposition of culture from one state to another and from one continent to another. She delves into aspects of the trans-Atlantic slave trade during which time millions of people from the Senegambia Region and West Africa were forcefully transported to Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean. Although they were subjected to dehumanizing treatment in captivity, they maintained much of their culture and tradition while adopting new ones. Many improved their social standing.
Emancipated, thousands of ex-slaves from the outside world were brought to Africa, notably Sierra Leone and Liberia. Likewise, hundreds of thousands of enslaved people were also liberated from the West African coast and the Atlantic Ocean and taken to Sierra Leone and the Gambia. All these people brought their hybrid cultures with them and juxtaposed them with what they found in their new environment. And although these people were victims of circumstances beyond their control, they made immense contributions to the development of the world.