Aku (people)

The Aku are an ethnic group in the African state of Gambia .

The Aku are descendants of freed slaves who were first settled in Sierra Leone in the 19th century . Later, when Freetown was heavily populated in Sierra Leone, there was a move to resettle freed slaves in Bathurst (old name of today's capital Banjul ), in Gambia. This ethnic group, which occurs only in Gambia, is called Aku.

The Aku make up about one percent of the population of Gambia and are mostly followers of the Christian faith.

language

The language spoken is a dialect of the Creole language Krio , which is also called Aku or Gambian Krio .

Web links

• The Aku language at www.ethnologue.com ( Memento from October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )