Land of the blacks

The term "land of the blacks" was one applied to regions of Africa by almost all outsiders. Today, because the continent's countries were named by outsiders a good number of them have names that translate as "land of the blacks":

*Ethiopia, from the Ancient Greek via Latin
*Sudan, from Arabic
*Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau, from Berber via Portuguese
*Niger and Nigeria, from Latin.

It is also a term that refers to the part of Manhattan, New York that was given to slaves as a reward for protecting an area from the defensive tactics of the Native Americans. It existed from 1643-1664 [http://www.nyscss.org/resources/publications/NYandSlavery/Chapter%20B/Documents/1643-1664.%20Landowners.pdf. ] http://www.nyscss.org/resources/publications/NYandSlavery/Chapter%20B/Documents/1643-1664.%20Landowners.pdf. The slaves that received the land were told that they were no longer slaves. However, they had to give a portion of the profits they received from the land to the Dutch East India Company. Also, the children of the ex-slaves could not be born as free people. They were born as slaves. For this reason, Prince Kusi, an African American writer who currently resides in New York, compares the situation to the modern day sublet. Today, the area that was once known as "The Land of the Black," is Washington Square Park.

The ex-slaves who owned "The Land of the Blacks" included Paulo D'angola. More information can be found at the exhibit "Slavery In New York" at the New-York Historical Society of Manhattan.