I have started to add pages about
African small business doing well in the capital city, St John's, which
is on the island of Antigua in the small Caribbean nation of Antigua
& Barbuda.
These pages are a personal reference, an endorsement of them.
Antigua
has a history of the original inhabitants being genocided to make way for the
European colonizers and their African slaves. To grow sugar.
The
African slaves were largely, maybe entirely, stolen in an undeclared war
on Ghana, and shipped with their pride and memories intact.
Prince Klaas organized a rebellion in 1736, after he had been crowned
king and led a rally which declared war on the colonizers who had stolen
them. It ended tragically, likely because someone talked and someone
heard and Prince Klaas was murdered brutally, publicly. In 2011, on
November 1, the 30th anniversary of independence from Britain, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer granted him and his soldiers official pardons.
Enslaved Africans stolen in an undeclared was were freed in Antigua in 1836, long before North America. Some sugar plantations were run better than others, those that could survive on hired labor hired Africans and Portuguese, who showed up in large number. The Portuguese were happy to live in Antigua, and happily married African women, and today, many of the 90% of Antiguans with African ancestry also have Portuguese ancestry.
I found out about the Portuguese ancestors after I asked why the honorary consul from Portugal laid a wreath on the War Memorial on Remembrance Day. Portugal still has strong ties with Antigua, and it is a happy relationship, with no history of subjugation or theft. God bless both countries for this remarkable feat!