Freed Slaves of Saro |
Saro in Nigeria
during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century were freed slaves who
migrated to Nigeria in the beginning of the 1830s.
They were known
locally as Saros (elided from Sierra Leone) or Amaros: migrants from Brazil and
Cuba. Saros and Amaros also settled in other West African countries such as the
Gold Coast (Ghana).
They were mostly freed and repatriated slaves from
various West African and Latin American countries such as Sierra Leone, Brazil
and Cuba Liberated "returnee" Africans from Brazil were more commonly
known as "Agudas".
Most of the Latin American returnees or Amaros started
migrating to Africa after slavery was abolished on the continent while others
from West Africa, or the Saros were recaptured and freed slaves already
resident in Sierra Leone.
The newly arrived immigrants resided in the Niger Delta,
Lagos Colony and in some Eastern Nigerian cities such as Aba, Owerri, and
Onitsha. Though, many were originally dedicated Anglophiles in Nigeria, they
later adopted an indigenous and patriotic attitude on Nigerian affairs due to a
rise in discrimination in the 1880s,and were later known as cultural
nationalists.
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