Trading on a thalassic network: African migrations across the Indian Ocean

Abstract

African migration eastwards has received far less academic attention than that across the Atlantic. While westwards migration was concentrated over a few centuries, migration across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean has been continuing for over a millennium. Migration eastwards was both free and forced. Nevertheless, slavery and the slave trade were a major force in this phenomenon. Displaced Africans found themselves amongst people who had diverse cultural values and who spoke different languages. Within this context, the ethnicity of the slaves was not important to the slavers. Often slaves were separated from their kith and kin. This situation gave rise to cultural transformations but music and dance are among the striking cultural retentions. Creolisation resulted in some instances, while contemporary Afro‐Asian communities are marginalised. This article considers the plight of the descendants of African migrants to the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka.