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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Liberia would most definitely have the closest to African Americans. By extension, I wouldn't be surprised that it has a lot in common with Jamaica to. It was envisioned as the African Israel, although of course Africans have many countries, it was for returning blacks from the Americas.
I worked a long oilfield project in Nigeria and have vacationed several times to Jamaica. Many similarities. The Lagos night clubs often play pure Reggae music - even Bob Marley cover tunes! Have a similar slang street language based on grammatically-simplified English. Very good sense of humor, having endured British colonial rule for centuries. More recently, shared government corruption although Nigeria probably tops them all. Some religious similarities (see below). Many Anglicans in both countries.
Several big differences, though. Nigeria has only a small de-tribalized (most still speak a 2cd tribal language and retain some African customs) elite that is thoroughly British'ized. Jamaicans lost the tribal languages (although a few African terms are said to have been retained in Jamaican patois) and some but not all of the culture. For instance the dupies and obaya (sp?) spirit-based religion is thought to be derived from Yoruba (SW Nigeria and Benin) ju-ju. Same origin as Cuban and Columbian Santaria and Haitian Voodoo.
Honestly, I think the African influence of the West Indies as a whole is very overstated. We are more influenced by the British and depending on the country French and Spanish as well. We have taken these influence and woven a culture of our own.
nobody mentioned sierra leone. sierra leone has direct historic roots to Jamaica and the creole they speak has many similarities to Jamaican creole.
of course there are huge differences but they have links
:Haha: actually I did mention it, definitely agree its one of the most similar in Africa despite the big differences.
Several big differences, though. Nigeria has only a small de-tribalized (most still speak a 2cd tribal language and retain some African customs) elite that is thoroughly British'ized.
That's the biggest difference between Africa and the Western Hemisphere. In African countries, usually a very tiny minority (usually the upper crust) is westernized, while in the Americas the majority of the population, regardless of race, ethnicity, etc; is mostly westernized. This is why most countries in North and South America are part of the West, although the most racist of people usually exclude the non-white American countries, even though culturally it doesn't makes sense to exclude them since their populations have an overwhelmingly Western culture, tradition, religion, language, etc.
When you take countries and judge how westernized they are in every aspect of importance (language, religion, cultural values, etc), the countries in the Western Hemisphere have more in common with their European former colonial metropolises than with either Africa, Asia or Native American societies. But, as I said before, many people have a hard time accepting a mostly westernized, say, black person as Western than they would a half westernized white person from South Africa or something along those lines. Its pure racism, if you ask me.
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