Question about Cape Verde for Historians

[thriftylefty]

Originally Posted by Jrellis

This is how I Understand Amerigo Vespucci's account of the Cape Verde Islands. Ptlomey, who lived 1400 years prior, called the Islands " Aethiopie promontory". Aethiopie, is a Greek word for dark-skinned people. Europeans then called it Cape Verde and the Ethiopians who lived there Beseghice. In other words, ETHIOPIANS LIVED THERE and were called some strange name which seems to be erased from all history, just like the inhabitants.

What is Beseghice? Why is it Amerigo's Letter is the only account of such a name?

As I study History more, the more questions I have and the more intrigued I am getting. This is no longer just about getting a grade, that's for sure.

I have a theory, which is off-topic, but in my opinion, not all blacks come from the same gene pool( kinda like how Japanese and Vietnamese are different). I also theorize, that Ptolemy's account of Ethiopia does not just limit it to the country Ethiopia but they migrated out west and eventually to the Cape Verde Islands.

Melanesian people have African features but they are "not of African decent." They also have blond hair.

[AntonioR]

Originally Posted by Jrellis

No. I meant if Mandingha and Ethiopia both mean sub- Sahara Africa. Why didn't he just call the Mandingha region in his letter Ethiopia? Why separate the two?

You mean why someone today would talk about Nigeria and then talk about Africa? Ivory Coast and Africa? Namibia and Africa? Kenya and Africa? Zimbabwe and Africa?

Also, why would he call Ethiopians Beseghice? Wouldn't that also make the Mandingha people to be called Beseghice as well? But clearly, he just referred them as tribes and a nation of blacks?

He didn't called the Ethiopians that. What he said is that we (the Europeans) call those islands as Cape Verde while the Ethiopians call them Beseghice. Similar how the Europeans called many places in the Americas one thing while the indian tribes called those same places something else (Puerto Rico was called Borinken by the Taino indians). Cape Verde is well away from modern Ethiopia the country. If Africa was a small place I can definitely see that, but Africa is a huge continent. You can fit the 48 states together of the USA and way more than half of Africa remains untouched.

I stand by my assertion that something doesn't add up? What is Beseghice? Why did he call the Ethiopians Beseghice? Why didn't he refer the Mandingha as Beseghice if in fact that 'Ethiopia at that time was referred to as Sub- Saharan?

Very clearly he refer to the region of Mandingha, the area today known as Senegambia. It's on the other side of the continent and well north of the Cape Verde Islands.

[caribny]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

What this lead is three things:

1) The African genetic legacy among Spanish Americans is much older than in Francophone and Anglo Americas.

2) Spanish Americans, especially around the Caribbean Sea, can be detected two pulses of African genetic legacy while in the former French and English colonies only one pulse is detected (mostly in the 1700s).

3) Spanish Americans have more European ancestry mixed in than from former French or English colonies.

Yes there were 3 phases in the pan Caribbean region.


1. The 16thC mainly to Mexico and Colombia with some enslaved peoples moved on to the Spanish controlled islands and to Pacific Coast.


2. The mid 17th through to the late 18th C movement to the English/French/Dutch as plantation systems developed in these islands, and North America. Consider however that some islands like Curacao were trading points and many slaves sent to places like Barbados and St Kitts were smuggled into Spanish controlled territories as in this period severe shortages in these places existed due to tight Spanish controls and a reduced ability to source enslaved peoples outside of the regimes dominated by the English and Dutch especially.


3. 19th C focus on Cuba with some spill over to Puerto Rico. By then importation of enslaved peoples into the rest of Spanish America had mainly ended as there was limited demand for this type of labor.


By 1775 over 75% of the enslaved peoples taken to North America had already arrived. 90% of those taken DIRECTLY to Cuba arrived after 1800. Prior to that slaves to Cuba would have been sourced from alternate points like Jamaica or Curacao, with some also out of Cartagena which was a major slave transshipment point.


The English/French/Dutch former colonies are less European because Europeans never settled there. Their purpose was to establish plantations, derive wealth, and then return to Europe, leaving these estates either to others to manage, or to sell to a new "sucker".