African diaspora

The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities that descended from people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to emigrants of people of African heritage but could also refer to descendants of enslaved Africans. Scholars typically identify "four circulatory phases" of this migration out of Africa.

The phrase African diaspora gradually entered common usage at the turn of the 21st century. The term diaspora originates from the Greek word (diaspora, "scattering") which gained popularity in English in reference to the Jewish diaspora before being more broadly applied to other populations. Less commonly, the term has been used in scholarship to refer to more recent emigration from Africa.

The African Union (AU) defines the African diaspora as consisting: "of people of native or partial African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union". Its constitutive act declares that it shall "invite and encourage the full participation of the African diaspora as an important part of our continent, in the building of the African Union".