Nago/Yoruba Slaves in Saint Domingue

The above refers to the percentage of enslaved peoples on plantations in different provinces of colonial Haiti who were of "Nago" or Yoruba origins, coming from the Bight of Benin. Apparently, during the 18th century, nearly 2 out of every 10 slaves were sold to work in Saint Domingue with the majority of the rest going to Bahia, Brazil, according to this wondrous site here. As the author of the piece explains, the concept of a Yoruba identity really did not exist until the 19th century. Like other ethnonyms projected upon Africans sold into slavery in the Americas, Nago reflected a distorted European view of enslaved peoples' ethnic and cultural identities as well as something redefined by slaves on the ground as they mixed with one another in the Americas. The link above explains that Nago referred to a specific group of Yoruba-speaking peoples (who occupy what is now southwestern Nigeria and parts of Benin) and somehow spread to refer to other presumably Yoruba-speakers sold into slavery. In other parts of the Americas, Nago was also widely used to refer to people who are now called Yoruba. In Cuba, the word Lucumi was also used, perhaps referring to a sub-group that was over-represented or conflated with the entirety of the Yoruba in 19th century Cuba. Regardless, the concept of a "Yoruba" identity really dates to the 19th century and most of the "Nago" in Saint Domingue would have not understood or considered themselves Yoruba. Either way, the "Yoruba" diaspora in the Americas is clearly quite extensive and their influence lives on to this day in Nago rites of Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santeria, Brazilian Candomble, and elsewhere.