During the heyday of the Transatlantic slave trade, millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homes and sold into slavery on the African continent. Unfortunately, it is difficult to track down every single African who ended up in the Caribbean, America, or Europe, primarily due to the fact that white slave dealers did not keep track of names on documents. Furthermore, the names of Africans were modified by their white owners in order to make them simpler to identify and pronounce.
Several enslaved Africans and their offspring have been identified and traced back to their African origins as a result of the extraordinary life they led, and several surviving blacks in the diaspora have been able to trace their roots back to Africa as well.
African royals were not exempt from capture or abduction during the heyday of the Transatlantic slave trade, as several kings and queens, princesses, and princes were seized or abducted for a variety of reasons. Because of their royal status, it was much easier to track down and document their whereabouts.
Here is a list of five African princes who were heirs to great thrones but were taken away by Westerners when they were very little children.
Ghanaian William Kofi Nti
His real name is Nana Kofi Ntim, and he was the son of (Asantehene) King Karikari, who reigned as the tenth monarch of the strong Ashanti Kingdom in present-day Ghana during the reign of King Karikari. Prince Nana Kofi Ntim, like several other royals from the Gold Coast (now Ghana), was sent to the United Kingdom to further his education. After the death of another Ashanti prince with whom he had embarked on the expedition, he was sent to Barbados, which had better weather conditions. He received an education and eventually became a member of the British army. A large Victorian-style edifice built-in 1883 on the hills to the west of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, which was later utilized as a signal station for both the port and the army is his most well-known achievement. The signal station that replaced parts of Fort George was designed by Prince Kofi Ntim, who was inspired by ideas from his native Africa and the United Kingdom. The British awarded him the commission to design the station after seeing his designs. Prince Ntim returned to his homeland later in life, but he chose to stay in England as a result of internal problems he was experiencing with his people’s traditions and culture.
Ghanaian Prince William Ansah Sessarakoo
Prince William Ansah Sessarakoo, whose original name was Eno Baise Kurentsi, was born to a chief in Ghana’s Central Region and was the son of a chief in the region. In 1748, his father, Chief John Corrente, placed his 12-year-old son in the care of British officials who were on their way back to England in the hope that he would receive western education. Captain David Bruce, the captain of the ship, unfortunately, sold the prince into slavery. He was transferred to Jamaica where he labored as a slave for several years until he was recognized by a Fanti trader who informed Chief John Corrente of his whereabouts. He was returned to England under the protection of George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who had arranged for his return. Eventually, Prince William Ansah was returned to his father, where he later worked as an interpreter and writer for the Cape Coast Castle.
Guinean Prince Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori
Known as Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, he was born in Timbo, modern-day Guinea, in 1762. He was of aristocratic descent, notably of the Torodbe Fulani Muslim tribe, and he held the position of commander at the time of his birth. The title of Emir was bestowed upon him by his father in 1788 when he was 26 years old. The army he was in command of numbered 2000 soldiers. When they were conducting one of their military operations, he was captured and enslaved, and he was finally sold to the English. A slave master in Natchez, Mississippi by the name of Thomas Foster bought him from the British and sold him to him after that. Foster owned and enslaved Sori for 40 years, during which time he became his property. In 1826, Sori wrote a letter to his family members in Africa, which they received in return. Andrew Marschalk, a newspaper printer from the Netherlands, was the one who intercepted the message. The letter was read by the Sultan of Morocco, Abderrahmane, who immediately wrote to President John Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay, requesting that Sori be released. Foster agreed to Sori’s release in 1829 in exchange for receiving no compensation. The restriction was that Sori had to leave the United States immediately and return to his home country of Ethiopia. He set sail towards the Liberian capital of Monrovia. After four months of living in Liberia, Sori acquired a fever and died at the age of 67 as a result of the illness.
Ethiopian Prince Alemayehu
Prince Alemayehu is said to have been kidnapped by British forces during the looting of his father’s imperial castle in 1868 when he was seven years old. His father was Emperor Tewodros II, who ruled Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in the Battle of Maqdala in 1868 when he was only 35 years old. Prince Alemayehu died of an illness at the age of 18 after being subjected to racism. He was buried at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, at the request of Queen Victoria, who had requested that he be buried in the chapel. Ethiopians have been fighting the British for 150 years to reclaim seized relics from the Emperor’s castle, including his hair and the body of his son, which were taken by the British.
Senegalese Prince Ayuba Suleiman Diallo
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo was born in Bundu, Senegal, around 1701. He was the son of a slave named Suleiman Diallo. Diallo, also known as Job Ben Solomon, was a descendant of Muslim Fulbe religious leaders who lived in the West Indies. Bundu was founded by his grandpa, who was also its founder. Diallo was also a businessman and a scholar, among other things. On July 30, 1730, Diallo and his interpreter Loumein Yoas (also known as Lamine Jay, Lahamin Joy, Lahmin Jay, Lahamin Ndiaye, and Loumein Ybai) were caught by members of the Mandinka tribe, who later executed them. In this case, the river Gambia was involved. They were afterward sold to the Royal African Company for a sum of money. Diallo eventually lived in Annapolis, Maryland, where he continued to practice his faith until he gained notoriety as a result of his extensive grasp of theological issues. Diallo was dispatched to England in 1733 at the request of the British government. It was in this environment that he learned to converse well in English. In addition, he was successful in infiltrating the clique of the London elite. Diallo was ultimately able to return to the Gambia in July of 1734, after a long absence. In the meantime, his newly discovered homeland had been decimated by battle, his wife had remarried, and his father had died.
This article was originally written by Face2FaceAfrica