An African in America, 1800
”Africa : Corrected from the Observations of the Royal Society,” c. 1725, detail (Library of Congress)
In the late 1700s, most African Americans in the Chesapeake region had either been born in the New World or brought here in slavery from the Senegambia region of West Africa. Few came from the Kongo region, which lay some 2,500 miles to the southeast. Congo’s origins thus would have made him stand out among his Black neighbors in Maryland. This distinction — or simply pride in his homeland — might explain his given name.
Most Africans from the Kongo region were already familiar with European culture to some degree, due to centuries of Portuguese colonization. Some had adopted the Christian faith (either freely or through forced conversion) and spoke European languages.
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