West African country is offering citizenship to descendants of enslaved persons taken from the continent, sparking huge interest in Brazil. I saw similarities. The Brazilian chef was familiar with his surroundings in a way, despite it being his first trip to Africa.
Diamante was born in Salvador — the Blackest major city in the country with the largest black population outside Africa — and grew up steeped in the Afro-Brazilian culture and cuisine produced by the uprooting of millions of enslaved Africans who were forced to travel to the South American country to work in goldmines or sugar and coffee plantations.
Sacramento said the government of Benin, which has a population of about 15 million people, did not expect tens of millions of citizens of Brazil, which has a population of million, would suddenly seek citizenship because of the new law.
Brazilian and Beninese authorities hope a low-cost flight connecting Salvador with Cotonou will be inaugurated at the end of the year, slashing the time it takes travelers to move between the two nations from more than 20 hours to less than six. Benin is not the first country in the region to embrace a return of the descendants of enslaved people. In the s, the American superstar musician Nina Simone enjoyed a three-year stint living in Liberia, where thousands of formerly enslaved African Americans had migrated to in the 19th century, to escape the impact of racial segregation.
Nearby in Ghana, , the th anniversary of enslaved Africans in the United States, was dubbed the Year of Return. The president, Nana Akufo-Addo, granted citizenship to African Americans and removed visa requirements for a number of Caribbean countries.
