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Mpongwe People
The Mpongwe are an ethnic group in Gabon, notable as the earliest known dwellers around the estuary where Libreville is now located. History The Mpongwe language identifies them as a subgroup of the Myènè people of the Bantus, who are believed to have been in the area for some 2,000 years, although the Mpongwe clans likely began arriving in only the 16th century, possibly in order to take advantage of trading opportunities offered by visiting Europeans. The Mpongwe gradually became the middlemen between the coast and the interior peoples such as the Bakèlè and Séké. From about the 1770s, the Mpongwe also became involved in the slave trade. In the 1830s, Mpongwe trade consisted of slaves, dyewood, ebony, rubber, ivory, and gum copal in exchange for cloth, iron, firearms, and various forms of alcoholic drink. In the 1840s, at the time of the arrival of American missionaries and French naval forces, the Mpongwe consisted of 6,000-7,000 free persons and 6,000 slaves, organ ...
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Mpongwe Language
Myene is a cluster of closely related Bantu varieties spoken in Gabon by about 46,000 people. It is perhaps the most divergent of the Narrow Bantu languages,Bantu Classification
, Ehret, 2009. though Nurse & Philippson (2003) place it in with the
Tsogo languages The Tsogo languages are a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone B.30 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the languages form a valid node. They are: : Tsogo (Getsogo), Himba (Simba), Pinzi, Vove, Kande Nurse & ...
(B.30). The more distinctive varieties are Mpongwe< ...
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Gum Copal
Gum copal is a resin produced by the sap of forest tree in the genus Daniellia. Due to common impurities and differences in regions, gum copal ranges in color from black to yellow to white. Gum copal, along with ivory and slaves, was a significant export from East Africa in the 19th century. It can have an appearance similar to amber and may be mistaken for it. Unlike amber, gum copal is usually only 100–1,000 years old and it has not yet fossilized.Aber, Susan Ward,Copal: An Immature and Controversial Resin. Emporia State University, 16 January 2004. Source locations Gum copal is most commonly found in East Africa and Indonesia, and is also found in tropical regions such as South America, Malaysia and the Philippines.Forestry Department.". FAO, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2015. Comparison to amber Throughout history, amber and gum copal have been mistaken for each other, as it is extremely difficult to discern between the two. A drop test using an alcohol or other solvent will leave a ...
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Simone Saint-Dénis
Simone Saint-Dénis (1934 2008) was a trade union leader from Gabon, who played an active role in politics in the post-independence era. Biography Saint-Dénis was born in Libreville in 1934, to parents from the Mpongwe ethnic group. Her father was Mathurin Anguiley, a politician; her mother's identity is unrecorded. Her father adopted the surname Saint-Dénis after he discovered that his birth father was a Danish sailor, rather than his mother's husband. Her father had served in the French military and the family had wine and bread at most meals. In 1948 Saint-Dénis completed her secondary education at a Catholic mission school and immediately became engaged to Balé - a timber camp worker. At the new, her father forced her out of the house, the engagement was short and broken off by Balé; Saint-Dénis then moved in with her mother. There were few jobs for educated women in post-war Libreville, so Saint-Dénis decided to train as a teacher. In 1950 she began to teach at t ...
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Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives from specific mixed European (primarily French) and Indigenous ancestry which became a distinct culture through ethnogenesis by the mid-18th century, during the early years of the North American fur trade. In Canada, the Métis, with a population of 624,220 as of 2021, are one of three major groups of Indigenous peoples that were legally recognized in the Constitution Act of 1982, the other two groups being the First Nations and Inuit. Smaller communities who self-identify as Métis exist in Canada and the United States, such as the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana. The United States recognizes the Little Shell Tribe as an Ojibwe Native American tribe. Alberta is the only Canadian province with a recognized Métis Nati ...
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Fetichism In West Africa; Forty Years' Observation Of Native Customs And Superstitions (1904) (14802960853)
A fetish (derived from the French , which comes from the Portuguese , and this in turn from Latin , 'artificial' and , 'to make') is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the attribution of inherent value, or powers, to an object. Historiography The term ''fetish'' has evolved from an idiom used to describe a type of object created in the interaction between European travelers and Africans in the early modern period to an analytical term that played a central role in the perception and study of non-Western art in general and African art in particular to increase the evil in the world. William Pietz, who, in 1994, conducted an extensive ethno-historical study of the fetish, argues that the term originated in the coast of West Africa during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Pietz distinguishes between, on the one hand, actual African objects that may be called fetishes i ...
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Beti-Pahuin
The Beti-Pahuin are a Bantu people, Bantu ethnic group located in rain forest regions of Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Though they separate themselves into several individual clans, they all share a common origin, history and culture Estimated to be well over 8 million individuals in the early 21st century, they form the largest ethnic group in central Cameroon and its capital city of Yaoundé, in Gabon, and in Equatorial Guinea. Their Beti language, Beti languages are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. Group distinctions The Beti-Pahuin are made up of over 20 individual clans. Altogether, they inhabit a territory of forests and rolling hills that stretches from the Sanaga River in the north to Equatorial Guinea and the northern halves of Gabon to Congo to the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the west to the Dja River in the east. Beti The first grouping, called the Beti, consists of the Ewondo (more pr ...
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Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980, making it the only human disease to be eradicated. The initial symptoms of the disease included fever and vomiting. This was followed by formation of ulcers in the mouth and a skin rash. Over a number of days, the skin rash turned into the characteristic fluid-filled blisters with a dent in the center. The bumps then scabbed over and fell off, leaving scars. The disease was spread between people or via contaminated objects. Prevention was achieved mainly through the smallpox vaccine. Once the disease had developed, certain antiviral medication may have helped. The risk of death was about 30%, with higher rates among babies. Often, those who survived had extensive scarring of their ...
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Fort D'Aumale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted ...
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Alcoholic Beverage
An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The consumption of alcoholic drinks, often referred to as "drinking", plays an important social role in many cultures. Most countries have laws regulating the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Regulations may require the labeling of the percentage alcohol content (as ABV or proof) and the use of a warning label. Some countries ban such activities entirely, but alcoholic drinks are legal in most parts of the world. The global alcoholic drink industry exceeded $1 trillion in 2018. Alcohol is a depressant, which in low doses causes euphoria, reduces anxiety, and increases sociability. In higher doses, it causes drunkenness, stupor, unconsciousness, or death. Long-term use can lead to an alcohol use disorder, an incre ...
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