Marco Schaumloeffel

Category: Ghana

  • Tabom – The Afro-Brazilian community in Accra

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     Publicado em 03.06.2004 no Daily Graphic (ISSN 0855-1529), página 14

    SCHAUMLOEFFEL, Marco Aurelio. Tabom: The Afro-Brazilian community in Accra. Daily Graphic, Accra, v. 149143, p. 14 – 14, 03 jun. 2004.

    A Brazilian in Ghana – V

     
    Tabom – The Afro-Brazilian community in Accra

    It was very strange for me as a Brazilian to arrive in Ghana and hear tales of a people called “Tabom”, because of the familiarity of the term with greetings in the Brazilian Portuguese. The Tabom People is an Afro-Brazilian community of former slaves, who decided to come back to the African continent of their ancestors, after they bought their own freedom in Brazil*. When they arrived in Accra they could speak only Portuguese, so they greeted each other with “Como esta?” (How are you?) to which the reply was “Ta bom”, so the Ga people of Accra started to call them the Tabom People.

    We in Brazil already know about various communities of Afro-Brazilian descendants in West Africa, most of them spread through Benin, Nigeria and Togo. Some studies estimate that in the 19th Century approximately 10,000 former slaves decided to return to Africa. Throughout these countries we can find estates, schools and museums with the name “Brazil”. In Lagos there is an estate called “Brazilian Quarter” and a club with the name “Brazilian Social Club”; in Benin we can find a school called “Ecole Bresil”. In those countries it is very common to find family names like Souza, Silva, Olympio or Cardoso. Some of them were very well known in their countries. Sylvanus Epiphanio Kwami Olympio e.g. was elected the first President of Togo in 1960, unfortunately killed in 1963 because of a military coup. The first Chacha of Benin, that means the chief and controller of trade and relations with foreigners, was the Afro-Brazilian Francisco Felix de Souza, he became very rich due to his involvement in the slave traffic. He had 53 wives, 80 children and about 12,000 slaves. When he died, he left an empire of an estimated 120 Millions Dollars to his successors. The royal line of the Chachas still exists nowadays in Togo. The first Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana arrived in 1961. He was an Afro-Brazilian called Raymundo de Souza Dantas. He cites in his book “Africa dificil”, that he received a letter from a Togolese called Benedito de Souza, who alleged to be his cousin.

    In Ghana, the only representative group of people that decided to come back from Brazil is the Tabom People. They came back on a ship called S. S. Salisbury, offered by the English Government. About seventy Afro-Brazilians of seven different families arrived in Accra, in the region of the old port in James Town in 1836, coming from Nigeria as visitors. The reception by the Mantse Nii Ankrah of the Otoblohum area was so friendly, that they decided to settle down in Accra. The leader of the Tabom group at the time of their arrival was a certain Nii Azumah Nelson. Since than time the Nelson family has been very important to the History of the Tabom People. The eldest son of Azumah Nelson, Nii Alasha, was his successor and a very close friend to the Ga King Nii Tackie Tawiah. Together they helped in the development of the whole community in commerce and environmental sanitation.

    At the present moment the Tabom Mantse is Nii Azumah V, descendant of the Nelson’s. The Tabons are also known as the founders of the First Scissors House in 1854, the first tailoring shop in the country, which had amongst other activities, the task to provide the Ghanaian Army with uniforms. Proof of these skills is without any doubt Mr. Dan Morton, another Tabom and one of the most famous tailors nowadays in Accra.

    Because they were welcomed by the Ga people and received by their king as personal guests, the Tabons received lands in privileged locations, in places that are nowadays very well known estates, like Asylum Down, the area near to the central train station and around the Accra Breweries. In those areas, the mango trees planted by them bear silent witnesses to their presence. In the estate of North Ridge there is a street called “Tabon Street”, which is a reminder of the huge plantations that they formerly had there. Some of the Tabons live nowadays in James Town, where the first house built and used by them as they arrived in Ghana is located. It is called the “Brazil House” and can be found in a short street with the name “Brazil Lane”.

    The Tabons did not arrive poor, but rather with much wealth. Because of their agricultural skills, they started plantations of mango, cassava, beans and other vegetables. They brought also skills such as irrigation techniques, architecture, carpentry, blacksmithing, gold smithing, tailoring, amongst others, which certainly improved the quality of life of the whole community.

    Apart from all these contributions, they also influenced the religious life of the community, helping in the definitive establishment of the Islamic religion and the preservation of some African religions that they modified in Brazil, like the shango. Nowadays the Tabons are completely integrated in the Ghanaian society and are a part of the Otublohum Section of the Ga People.

    * Up to now it is not very clear, if they really bought their freedom and decided to immediately come back or if they were at that time free workers in Brazil, but were deported after the Male Revolt of 1835. A lot of Afro-Brazilians were deported back to Africa, especially Moslems who organised the Male Revolt. Since they arrived accidentally in 1836 in Accra and most of them were Moslems, it can possibly be the case. Only detailed and deeper studies can prove one of the suppositions.

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel

    Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

    Picture 1: The Tabom Nii Alasha, extreme left, with Ga Chiefs including Nii Tackie Tawiah.

    Picture 2: Nii Azumah III with from left to right on the front row Naa Abiana II, Queen Mother of the Tabom, H.E. Raymundo De Souza Dantas the Ambassador of Brazil to Ghana from 1961 to 1963, Mrs De Souza Dantas, the Ambassador’s wife, and their child between them.  Nii Azumah III on the extreme right and other members of the Tabom Community in the background (1961).

    Picture 3: Tabom Mantse Nii Azumah V dancing during the outdooring ceremony at the Stool House (February 26th, 2000).

     

  • The links between West Africa and Brazil in the Culinary Arts and Food

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     A Brazilian in Ghana – IV

    SCHAUMLOEFFEL, Marco Aurelio. The links between West Africa and Brazil in the Culinary Art. Daily Graphic, Accra, v. 149137, p. 14 – 14, 27 maio 2004.
     
    The links between West Africa and Brazil in the Culinary Arts and Food

    Both Brazilians and Africans have a lot in common in the way that they prepare their meals, not only common ingredients, but also alimentary habits. In Brazil, especially in areas like the Northeast of the country, the region with the biggest African influences, it is very common to see people preparing and selling food on the streets. It can be food like fried “acaraje” (a little spicy ball made of bean paste, onions and fried in palm oil, well-spiced with chilli and filled with a sauce of dried shrimps) or “pastel” (pies of different types e.g. with meat, cheese, chicken, maize or banana). In Ghana they also sell fried or grilled food and fruits. In Brazil and in Ghana the women carry their “shops” over their head or simply install it over a box or a small table at any point that seems to bring good deals in the streets.

    One of our national main dishes is “feijoada”. It is stew that combines black beans cooked with pork meat and as accompaniment we eat rice, salad of green leafs of cabbage, roasted cassava flour and oranges. This dish is clearly a creation of Africans in Brazil. In the past unfortunately they were slaves of the Portuguese big landowners and received from them only the offal of meat, when they slaughter e.g. a pig. But they were very creative and cooked with the pork the “feijoada”, since black beans and the other accompaniment like the roasted cassava flour were abundant. We call our roasted cassava flour “farofa”, which is the same than your “gari”. In Brazil and in Ghana we use it accompanying bean dishes. We eat it normally on Saturdays at lunch, because it demands a long time for digestion, so that we can sleep in the afternoon, if necessary, especially if you have before the “feijoada” our national drink, the “caipirinha”, made of lemon, sugar, ice cubes and a sugar cane schnaps.

    One of the main foods used by Ghanaians when they prepare their dishes is cassava. Cassava is native from South America. It was used as food by the aborigines (indios) a long time before the discovery of the Continent by the Europeans. It was probably brought to Africa by Afro-Brazilians. In Brazil we call cassava “mandioca”, a term that comes from the aboriginal language Tupi. Because it is wide spread throughout the country, we have, apart from the name “mandioca”, other names for it: “aipim”, “macaxeira”, “castelinha” and “maniveira”. Normally we use only its root, but in the last years we are also using the leaves, because of its high protein values. From the cassava it is also possible to extract alcohol.

    Cocoa and coffee are also very common in Brazil and in West Africa. Cocoa is native from Central America. The people called Olmeca in Mexico knew the uses of it already around the year 3000 B.C., amongst other as a drink and in the religious ceremonies. Coffee, on the other hand, is native from Africa, precisely from the province of Kaffa (where the name “coffee” probably comes from) in Ethiopia. Brazil is the main coffee producer in the world, while Cote D’Ivoire is the main producer of cocoa.

    A lot of other alimentary habits are the same in our countries. The food street vendors also offer green coconut juice, fried food made with palm oil (“oleo de dende”, originally from Angola), roasted peanuts as a snack, we have also rice as a side dish (not potatoes), we dry the shrimps. Some other habits are similar, but with some differences. We like to eat both cashew fruits and the roasted nuts. Sugar cane is normally sold as fresh juice, not as sticks. As a variation, it can be mixed with lemon or pineapple juice. “Vatapa” is a spicy stew made of fish or chicken, coconut milk, leftover bread, dried and fresh shrimps, roasted peanuts and cashew nuts, palm oil and other spices like onions, parsley and spring onion. “Caruru” is another stew made of fish, shrimps, okra (originally from West Africa) etc., that can be compared to the sauce that you use for the traditional “banku”. We don’t have the habit of eating plantain or yam, even though we have them as a plant.

    The similarities in the culinary arts and food available are big, so that a Ghanaian probably will feel at home in Brazil, especially in the Northeast region.

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
    Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

    Source: Marco

  • The African influence on Brazilian Music

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     A Brazilian in Ghana – III

    SCHAUMLOEFFEL, Marco Aurelio. The African influence on Brazilian Music. Daily Graphic, Accra, v. 149132, p. 14 – 14, 21 maio 2004.

    The African influence on Brazilian Music

    To think of Brazilian Music without the African influence is simply impossible. The big melting pot Brazil has one of it roots in the African Continent. The contribution of the African element in Brazilian music is vast. Very important influences are the polyrhythmic variations and cadences, which brought, together with the Portuguese and Europeans melodies, new, unexpected creations. The combination of elements of different cultures is responsible for the typical Brazilian music styles like samba, gafiera, choro, pagode, maxixe, maracatu, forró, frevo, embolada, coco (dancing and singing on the beach), lundu (brought by the southern African tribe Bantos)  and the MPB (Música Popular Brasileira).

    A lot of percussion instruments were brought from Africa to our country or new ones created by Afro-Brazilians. We have various drums with different sounds. The general name for this kind of drums in Brazil is atabaque. Other instruments are the ganzá, a type of rattle-box, the marimba (xylophone with wooden slats) and the cuíca, a type of small drum with a rod in the inside, that produces a strident sound, when vibrated with the palm of the hands, just to quote a few amongst them of African origin.

    The fetishists ritual chants, dramatic dances like Congos, Congadas and Quilombos, the nasal twang in the Brazilian singing voice, some choreographic steps are also Afro-Brazilian musical manifestations.

    Drumming, singing and dancing were certainly the first manifestations of the cultural treasure that the Africans brought to Brazil. Already in the year 1610, just a Century after the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese, it is possible to read a report about an orchestra of 30 Africans musicians in Brazil. The great poet Mário de Andrade refers to the African music as the “pererequice rítmica dos africanos”, i.e. “the vibrating (like a tree frog) rhythm of the Africans”. In the USA they created another very important style for the History of the development of music: the jazz.

    Samba is our national product. It comes from “semba” in the Banto language (southern Africa), what means dance and clap the hands in a circle. Apart from the big samba-party in the Sambódromo of Rio de Janeiro (a commercial and nowadays more for tourism purposes street Carnival celebration), the Carnival celebration is a huge democratic ball-room or street party in Brazil, where everybody can take part, sing, dance and enjoy the biggest national celebration, commemorated 40 days before of Easter. The five days of joy and fun start on Friday evening and end on Wednesday at noon. All types of dresses are allowed, from masks and plumes to long white dresses or simply beach shorts and t-shirts. In cities like Rio, São Paulo and Porto Alegre big samba academies, that we call samba schools, present every year a new parade. Each samba school chooses a theme to present, the choice is free, but it is normally an up-to-date choice about politics, environment, general Brazilian reality or an homage to a very important person of the present days or of the past.

    In Ghana, I was surprised in the first days of my stay here, when I listened to music. I could find something like Cuban music in it. Researching and reading about it, I knew that in the 1960s and 1970s the West African pop music was influenced by Latin styles. So music is an intercultural manifestation. The band Osibisa recorded in 1976 the famous “Coffee song”, in which they mention Brazil.

    One of the symbolic examples of the presence of the African roots in Brazilian Music is our present Minister of Culture, the famous musician Gilberto Gil. He is nowadays together with other Afro-Brazilians like Milton Nascimento, Daúde, Martinho da Vila, Sandra de Sá, Djavan, Jorge Aragão, Robertinho Silva, Jorge Ben amongst many others, proof that we would have only poor developed Brazilian music without African blood and rhythm in our veins. Throughout our History of music we have plenty famous and representative examples of Afro-Brazilians, who wrote decisive lines in the Brazilian music.

    By the way: Ghanaians like to tell me that they like so much the Brazilian music, principally salsa and lambada. These types of music are not from Brazil, but this is another story.

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel

    Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

    Source: Marco

  • The influence of the Portuguese Language in Ghana

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     A Brazilian in Ghana – I
    SCHAUMLOEFFEL, Marco Aurelio. The African influence on Brazilian Music.. Daily Graphic, Accra, v. 149132, p. 14 – 14, 21 maio 2004.

    The influence of the Portuguese Language in Ghana

    Last year, when I arrived in Accra, I was surprised to hear some strange expressions in the English language, even though I’m a Brazilian and English is not my mother tongue. At the traffic lights I could hear people saying e.g. “dash me”. In the dictionary the meaning for the verb “dash” is “to shatter or smash”, which confused me. Searching for a solution, I arrived finally, to my surprise, at a logical explanation: it comes from the corrupted Portuguese “dás-me” (give me). The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive at the Gold Coast and build the Elmina Castle in 1482; they started an intensive and horrible slave trade. After that, Africa and Brazil built cultural and origin links, so that Brazil has nowadays, after Nigeria, the second biggest black population in the world. One of this links is the Tabom People, who came back to Accra in 1836, after they bought their own freedom in the Brazilian State of Bahia. Nowadays they have a Brazil House in James Town and roots to the Brazilian culture and language. Their own name Tabom comes from the Portuguese expression “Está bom” (“it’s ok” or “I’m fine”), because on their arrival, they could speak only Portuguese, so they greeted each other with “Como está?” (“How are you?”) to which the reply was “Está bom”, so that the people of Accra started to call them the Tabom People. All these facts can explain, why it is possible to find some influences of the Portuguese language in the everyday life of the Ghanaians. Another very common expression is “palaver” (gossip, to chat), that comes from “palavra” (word). “Panyar” or “panyarring” are terms from the Portuguese “apanhar” (to be beaten or to catch). In the standard English the word “fetish” comes from “feitiço”. “Sabola” is usual in Ewe and comes from the word “cebola” (onion); in Fanti people use the word “paano” for bread, what probably comes from our “pão”.

    Family names of the Tabom People like Azumah, Nelson, Antônio or Faustino also show the Brazilian influence. Geographical names of Portuguese origin are very common in Ghana: Elmina (“A mina” – the mine), River Volta (“Rio Volta” – “River U-Turn”), Cape Three Points (“Cabo Três Pontas”), Cape Coast (“Cabo Corso” – in a free translation means “Cape of the Pirate”).

    These few examples show us only a part of the influence of the Portuguese language in Ghana, however it is a sign that the own language changes and always displays the cultural, economic, political or social contacts that our people formerly made or is nowadays making. The Brazilian Portuguese also has a lot of influences of African languages, but this could be a theme for another article.

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
    Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

    P.S.: Portuguese is together with English and French one of the official languages of the ECOWAS.

    Source: Marco

  • The African influence in Brazil

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    A Brazilian in Ghana – II

    SCHAUMLOEFFEL, Marco Aurelio. African influence in Brazil. Daily Graphic, Accra, v. 149122, p. 7 – 7, 10 maio 2004.   

    The African influence in Brazil

    Last time I wrote about the influence of the Portuguese language in Ghana. This influence is certainly tiny, when compared with the African influences in Brazil. The Africans were brought to Brazil by the Portuguese because of the slave traffic. It started less than 50 years after the discovery of Brazil in 1500 by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral and ended officially in 1831 by decree, but records prove that it continued principally from the Gold Coast (Ghana) and the so called by historians Slave Coast (Togo/Dahomey and Benin) on an illegal basis until 1888, when the slavery was definitively abolished in Brazil. In the most horrific part of our History, Africans, normally sold as captives by enemy African tribes, were used during more than 300 years by the Portuguese colonialists in Brazil as slave workers in the mining of gold and in the sugar cane and coffee farms, as domestic servants in the houses of the their masters or as urban workers. Many of them developed skills such as special agriculture techniques, water-well installation, carpenter, tailoring, metal works, especially gold smithing. The biggest part of Africans went to Brazil and never again returned to their homeland. The whole slave traffic History in the Gulf of Benin was very well studied by the Frenchman Pierre Verger and the life of the Africans in the New Continent by Brazilians like Nina Rodrigues. Studies show that approximately half of the Africans brought to Brazil were from West Africa, precisely from castles and ports in Ghana (one of the most significant was the Elmina Castle), Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Of course, captured slaves of the whole region were brought to these castles (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger amongst others).

    Africans from these regions were sent principally to the Brazilian State of Bahia. Logically we can conclude that the African influence in Brazil must be big, because the Portuguese not only dragged humans as working power away, those human beings also had a soul and knowledge in many spheres, so that they brought their own culture, habits, foods (way of cooking), costumes, music, dances and language to Brazil. The figures below show us more clearly the presence of Africans in Brazil: if we take as example the data of the Brazilian population in the year 1818, it shows that 2,515,000 inhabitants of a total of 3,817,000 were Africans or of African origin (66% of the total). Nowadays the distribution of our 170 Million Population is more or less the same.

    Walking in the streets in Brazil, we can not clearly classify the origin of the population by their appearance, like it is here in Ghana. In my country in principle both oburoni and obibini are Brazilians. By the way: it is considered an offence in my country to call unknown people at the streets by their skin colour. We have skin colour graded from black to white, from red to yellow, from bright to dark brown.

    Nowadays the influence of different African cultures in Brazil is very clear and enriching. We are a melting pot, not only of various African cultures, but also of cultures of various peoples from Europe (Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish, Spanish people amongst others) and Asia (specially Japanese and Chinese people). In the next articles, I will tackle the African influences in aspects like music (e.g. our present Minister of Culture is black, the famous singer Gilberto Gil), religion, language, arts, economy and others in the Brazilian society.

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel

    Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

  • História do Povo Tabom

    Tabom – The Afro-Brazilian community of Accra

    Causa estranheza chegar em Gana e ouvir falar de um povo chamado „Tabom“. Os Tabom formam uma comunidade brasileiro-ganense, de ex-escravos, que voluntariamente retornaram à África de seus antepassados, depois de terem comprado sua liberdade no Brasil*. Como na sua chegada a Gana somente sabiam falar português, usavam os cumprimentos conhecidos “Como está?” e a resposta “Tá bom”, daí provavelmente a origem do nome dado a eles pelo povo Ga, que os recebeu amigavelmente.

    Nii Alasha, na extrema esquerda, filho mais velho de Azumah Nelson, com os chefes do povo Ga, incluindo Nii Tackie Tawiah.

    Sabe-se de várias comunidades de descentes de brasileiros em solo africano, grande parte delas no Benin, na Nigéria e no Togo, formando clãs com nomes como Souza, Silva ou Cardoso.  Estudos estimam que no Século XIX aproximadamente 10.000 afro-brasileiros libertos voltaram à África. Em vários países da África Ocidental é possível encontrar bairros, escolas e museus com o nome “Brasil”. Em Lagos (Nigéria) há um “Brazil Quarter” e um clube com o nome “Brazilian Social Club”; no Benin há uma escola chamada “École Brésil”. Alguns afro-brasileiros são (ou foram) muito conhecidos em seus países. Um deles foi Sylvanus Epiphanio Kwami Olympio, eleito primeiro presidente do Togo em 1960. O primeiro Chachá do Benin, o chefe e controlador do comércio e da relações com os estrangeiros, foi o afro-brasileiro Francisco Félix de Souza, que ficou muito rico através de seu envolvimento com o tráfico de escravos. Ele teve 53 esposas, 80 filhos e 12.000 escravos. Quando faleceu, deixou de herança a seus descendentes uma fortuna estimada em US$ 120 milhões. A linha real dos Chachás existe até hoje no Togo. O primeiro  Embaixador do Brasil em Gana, Raymundo Souza Dantas, cita em seu livro “África difícil”, ter recebido uma carta de um togolês chamado Benedito de Souza, que alegava ser seu primo (p. 76).

    Chefe Tabom Nii Azumah V dançando durante a cerimônia de entronamento realizada em 26 de fevereiro de 2000 na Stool House.

    Em Gana, o único grupo significativo de que se tem notícia é o dos Tabom. Segundo relatos, a viagem do Brasil para o Golfo da Guiné foi feita em um navio chamado S. S. Salisbury, oferecido pelo Governo inglês. Em Acra chegaram por volta de 1836, vindos da Nigéria, como visitantes. Foram tão bem recebidos pelo Mantse (chefe) Nii Ankrah, da área de Otublohum (na capital Acra), que resolveram ficar. O líder do grupo na época da chegada dos Tabom a Gana chamava-se Nii Azumah Nelson. A família Nelson tem grande importância entre os Tabom. O filho mais velho de Azumah Nelson e seu sucessor, Nii Alasha, foi grande amigo do ilustre Rei Ga, Nii Tackie Tawiah. Juntos, eles ajudaram no desenvolvimento comercial e na melhoria das condições sanitárias do país. O atual Mantse, Nii Azumah V (foto ao lado, no centro), é descente dos Nelson, conhecidos por também terem a First Scissors House, a primeira alfaiataria do país, fundada em 1854, que, entre outras atividades, tinha a tarefa de fazer uniformes para o exército ganense. Prova dessas habilidades dos Tabom é o Sr. Dan Morton, atualmente um dos costureiros mais famosos em Acra.

    Do povo Ga, receberam terras com localizações privilegiadas, em bairros hoje muito conhecidos da capital, como é o caso de Asylum Down, da área próxima à estação central de trens e da região em torno da Accra Breweries; nesses locais  grandes árvores de manga são, ainda hoje, testemunhas da presença dos Tabom. No bairro de North Ridge, há uma “Tabon Street”, que lembra as plantações que eles tinham no lugar. Muitos Tabom atualmente vivem em James Town, uma área hoje pobre, que fica de frente para o mar e próxima ao antigo porto de Acra. Lá há uma rua chamada Brazil Lane, onde está localizada a primeira casa que abrigou os Tabon, a Brazil House. Os Tabom iniciaram o cultivo de manga, mandioca, feijão e outros vegetais, além de trazerem do Brasil várias habilidades como técnicas de irrigação, carpintaria, arquitetura, trabalhos com metais, especialmente os  preciosos, alfaiataria, entre outros, melhorando, dessa forma, a qualidade de vida de toda a população ganense. Além disso, os Tabom contribuíram no campo da religião, uma parte deles no estabelecimento do maometanismo, outra na preservação de cultos religiosos como o shangô. Hoje eles estão completamente integrados a Acra, são aceitos como parte integrante da divisão de Otoblohum.

    * Até o presente momento ainda não está claro se eles realmente compraram sua liberdade e decidiram voltar à África, ou se já eram trabalhadores libertos que foram deportados depois da revoltas dos Malês em 1835. Um grande número de afro-brasileiros foi deportado para a África, especialmente os de origem islâmica, que organizaram a revolta. Como os Tabom coincidentemente chegaram a Accra em 1836 e a maioria deles era de islâmicos, a hipótese da deportação não pode ser descartada. Somente estudos aprofundados poderiam provar uma ou outra tese.

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel, leitor brasileiro em Gana. 2004©

    Nota: Este texto foi originalmente publicado no website da Embaixada do Brasil em Gana de 2004 a 2007 em seu então website brasilghana.org (desativado desde 2007).

    Fontes:

    – DANTAS, Raymundo Souza. África difícil. (Missão condenada : Diário). Rio de Janeiro : Editora Leitura S/A, 1965.

    – Programme of the Swearing In Ceremony of Tabon Mantse Nii Azumah V. February 26th, 2000. Pages 2-3.

    – Relatos de integrantes do Povo Tabom gravados pelo autor.



  • Short History of the Tabom People of Ghana

    Tabom – The Afro-Brazilian community of Accra

    It was very strange for me as a Brazilian to arrive in Ghana and hear tales of a people called “Tabom”, because of the familiarity of the term with greetings in the Brazilian Portuguese. The Tabom People is an Afro-Brazilian community of former slaves, who decided to come back to the African continent of their ancestors, after they bought their own freedom in Brazil*. When they arrived in Accra they could speak only Portuguese, so they greeted each oth er with “Como está?” (How are you?) to which the reply was “Tá bom”, so the Ga people of Accra started to call them the Tabom People.

    Nii Alasha, extreme left, with Ga Chiefs including Nii Tackie Tawiah.

    We in Brazil already know about various communities of Afro-Brazilian descendants in West Africa, most of them spread through Benin, Nigeria and Togo. Some studies estimate that in the 19th Century approximately 10,000 former slaves decided to return to Africa. Throughout these countries we can find estates, schools and museums with the name “Brazil”. In Lagos there is an estate called “Brazilian Quarter” and a club with the name “Brazilian Social Club”; in Benin we can find a school called “Ecole Bresil”. In those countries it is very common to find family names like Souza, Silva, Olympio or Cardoso. Some of them were very well known in their countries. One was the late Sylvanus Epiphanio Kwami Olympio who was elected the first President of Togo in 1960. The first Chacha of Benin, that means the chief and controller of trade and relations with foreigners, was the Afro-Brazilian Francisco Felix de Souza, he became very rich due to his involvement in the slave traffic. He had 53 wives, 80 children and about 12,000 slaves. When he died, he left an empire of an estimated 120 Millions Dollars to his successors. The royal line of the Chachas still exists nowadays in Togo. The first Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana arrived in 1961. He was an Afro-Brazilian called Raymundo de Souza Dantas. He cites in his book “Africa dificil”, that he received a letter from a Togolese called Benedito de Souza, who alleged to be his cousin.

    Tabom Mantse Nii Azumah V dancing during the outdooring ceremony at the Stool House (February 26th, 2000).

    In Ghana, the only representative group of people that decided to come back from Brazil is the Tabom People. They came back on a ship called S. S. Salisbury, offered by the English Government. About seventy Afro-Brazilians of seven different families arrived in Accra, in the region of the old port in James Town in 1836, coming from Nigeria as visitors. The reception by the Mantse Nii Ankrah of the Otoblohum area was so friendly, that they decided to settle down in Accra. The leader of the Tabom group at the time of their arrival was a certain Nii Azumah Nelson. Since that time the Nelson family has been very important to the History of the Tabom People. The eldest son of Azumah Nelson, Nii Alasha, was his successor and a very close friend to the Ga King Nii Tackie Tawiah. Together they helped in the development of the whole community in commerce and environmental sanitation.

    At the present moment the Tabom Mantse is Nii Azumah V, descendant of the Nelson’s. The Tabons are also known as the founders of the First Scissors House in 1854, the first tailoring shop in the country, which had amongst other activities, the task to provide the Ghanaian Army with uniforms. Proof of these skills is without any doubt Mr. Dan Morton, another Tabom and one of the most famous tailors nowadays in Accra.

    Because they were welcomed by the Ga people and received by their king as personal guests, the Tabons received lands in privileged locations, in places that are nowadays very well known estates, like Asylum Down, the area near to the central train station and around the Accra Breweries. In those areas, the mango trees planted by them bear silent witnesses to their presence. In the estate of North Ridge there is a street called “Tabon Street”, which is a reminder of the huge plantations that they formerly had there. Some of the Tabons live nowadays in James Town, where the first house built and used by them as they arrived in Ghana is located. It is called the “Brazil House” and can be found in a short street with the name “Brazil Lane”.

    The Tabons did not arrive poor, but rather with much wealth. Because of their agricultural skills, they started plantations of mango, cassava, beans and other vegetables. They brought also skills such as irrigation techniques, architecture, carpentry, blacksmithing, gold smithing, tailoring, amongst others, which certainly improved the quality of life of the whole community.

    Apart from all these contributions, they also influenced the religious life of the community, helping in the definitive establishment of the Islamic religion and the preservation of some African religions that they modified in Brazil, like the shango. Nowadays the Tabons are completely integrated in the Ghanaian society and are a part of the Otublohum Section of the Ga People.

    * Up to now it is not very clear, if they really bought their freedom and decided to immediately come back or if they were at that time free workers in Brazil, but were deported after the Male Revolt of 1835. A lot of Afro-Brazilians were deported back to Africa, especially Moslems who organised the Male Revolt. Since they arrived accidentally in 1836 in Accra and most of them were Moslems, it can possibly be the case. Only detailed and deeper studies can prove one of the suppositions.

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel, Brazilian lecturer in Ghana. 2004©

    Note: This text was originally posted on the website of the Embassy of Brazil in Ghana from 2004-2007 on its then website brasilghana.org (deactivated since 2007).

    Sources:

    – DANTAS, Raymundo Souza. África difícil. (Missão condenada : Diário). Rio de Janeiro : Editora Leitura S/A, 1965.

    – Programme of the Swearing In Ceremony of Tabon Mantse Nii Azumah V. February 26th, 2000. Pages 2-3.

    – Conversations with members of the Tabom People, recorded by the author of this text.