Marronnage — African Origins and Ethnic Identity

The Saint-Domingue marronnage advertisements record African ethnic designations ('nations') identifying where enslaved people originated before the Middle Passage. The most common are Congo (West Central Africa), Nago (Yoruba-speaking, West Africa), Arada (Allada region, Benin), Bambara (present-day Mali), and Ibo/Igbo (southeastern Nigeria). These ethnonymes are colonial categories imposed by slave traders and owners, not self-identifications, but they preserve real demographic information about the African sources of the colony's enslaved population. Ethnic identity persisted in Saint-Domingue through language, spiritual practice, and mutual aid networks — forming one basis for the solidarity that made collective resistance and eventually revolution possible.