Gambian Creole people

Gambian Creoles
Total population
	1-2% of The Gambia's population
Languages
	Krio language, English
Religion
	Anglican • Methodist • Catholic • Baptist
Related ethnic groups
	Americo Liberian, African American, Black British, Gold Coast Euro-Africans, Sierra Leone Creoles, Afro-Caribbeans

The Gambian Creole people, or Krio or Aku, are a minority ethnic group of Gambia with connections to and roots from the Sierra Leone Creole people.^[1]^[2] In Gambia the Aku account for about 2% of the population. Some estimates put the figure higher. However, according to the 2013 Gambian Census, the Aku make up 0.5% of the population or around 8,477 people.^[3]

Origins

Gambian Creoles are the descendants of Sierra Leoneans of Nova Scotian, Jamaican Maroon and Liberated African ancestry, who migrated to the Gambia, along with liberated Africans released in the Gambia directly.^[1]

Gambian Creoles are partly an extension of the Sierra Leone Creole community, and some Gambian Creoles have roots in the West Indies, North America, England, and various African communities. Some Gambian Creoles also have some European heritage through intermarriage and through their connections to Sierra Leone Creoles who settled in the Gambia between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.^[2]

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1973	5,596	—
1983	10,741	+91.9%
1993	7,458	−30.6%
2003	24,492	+228.4%
2013	8,477	−65.4%
Population Change ^[4]

Language

Many Gambian Creoles speak the Krio language, an English-based creole also spoken by Sierra Leonean Creoles.^[5]^[2]

Aku Marabouts

In Sierra Leone, the term 'Aku Marabout' or 'Aku Mohammedan' refers to the Oku people, while in the Gambia, the term 'Aku' refers to the Creole people,^[6] who are Christians residing mainly in and around Banjul.^[2] The Aku Marabout people of the Gambia are a non-Creole migrant community descended from the Oku people of Sierra Leone.^[7]^[8]

Notable Gambian Creole people

This is a list of notable Gambian Creole people.

Belinda Bidwell, first female speaker of the National Assembly of The Gambia
Mark Bright, sports correspondent and former footballer
Crispin Grey-Johnson, current Secretary of State for Higher Education of the Gambia
Augusta Jawara (née Mahoney), was a nurse, playwright, women's rights activist and former first lady^[9]
Julia Dolly Joiner, politician and Commissioner of Political Affairs for the African Union
Joshua King, Norwegian footballer
Florence Mahoney, author, historian, and first Gambian woman to be awarded a PhD
Basiru Mahoney, lawyer and Judge
Dej Mahoney, legal and business consultant
Louise N'Jie, teacher, feminist and first woman to serve as a cabinet minister in The Gambia
Lenrie Peters, surgeon, novelist, poet and educationist
Edward Francis Small, trade unionist, nationalist and pan-Africanist
Susan Waffa-Ogoo, politician and former Minister of Foreign Affairs
John Carew
Nicolas Jackson
Ebrima Colley
Omar Colley
Lamin Colley

References

^ ^a ^b Frederiks, M. (2002). The Krio in the Gambia and the Concept of Inculturation, Exchange, 31(3), 219-229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157254302X00399
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Shaka Ashcroft (2015) Roots and Routes: Krio Identity in Postcolonial London, Black Theology, 13:2, 102-125, DOI:10.1179/1476994815Z.00000000051
^ "Distribution of the Gambian population by ethnicity 1973,1983,1993,2003 and 2013 Censuses - GBoS". www.gbosdata.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
^ "Distribution of the Gambian population by ethnicity 1973,1983,1993,2003 and 2013 Censuses - GBoS". www.gbosdata.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
^ Frederiks, M. (2002). "The Krio in the Gambia and the Concept of Inculturation", Exchange, 31(3), 219–229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157254302X00399
^ Bassir, Olumbe (July 1954). "Marriage Rites among the Aku (Yoruba) of Freetown". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 24 (3): 251–256. doi:10.2307/1156429. JSTOR 1156429. S2CID 144809053.
^ Sonko-Godwin, Patience (2004-01-01). Trade in the Senegambia Region: From the 12th to the Early 20th Century. Sunrise Publishers. p. 68. ISBN 9789983990041.
^ Othman, Ramatoulie Onikepo (1999). A Cherished Heritage: Tracing the Roots of Oku Marabou--early 19th to Mid 20th Century. Edward Francis Small Printing Press. p. 31.
^ Saikou Jammeh, "A Hand of Destiny" Archived 2012-04-19 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily News, 21 January 2011. Accessed 21 November 2012.