Kumina emerged from the
religion and practices of the Bakongo people of Central Africa, who were brought to Jamaica as indentured servants, after
the abolition of slavery in 1834. Kumina, as a branch of the
Myal religion, differed from Zion Revivalism in rejecting the belief that the
Bible should be the central authority behind worship. With the
Slave Trade Act of 1807, the
British royal navy established a
naval blockade along the West African coast, called the
West Africa Squadron, to intercept slave ships still attempting to
transport African slaves across the Atlantic, for import into the Americas. Thus, any intercepted ship would be confiscated by the British, its crew apprehended as pirates, and its slaves liberated. Slaves liberated from slave ships were not returned home, but were instead brought to British colonies as indentured servants. These included British Sierra Leone and regions of the British Caribbean, such as Trinidad, Jamaica, and St. Lucia. Although Jamaica abolished slavery in 1834, Cuba did not end slavery until 1886, and Brazil did not end it until 1888. Thus, slavers from these regions continued to smuggle slaves across the Atlantic, up until 1860. During the reign of
King Henrique III of Kongo, from 1840 to 1857, civil conflict once again arose between the rival elite families. Henrique III belonged to the
Kinlaza, and in 1848, he faced armed opposition by
the Água Rosada faction, led by
Ande II. This armed conflict led to the acquisition of captives by
Henrique, who illegally sold them into the
Atlantic slave trade, in open violation of
the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Thus, some of the Kongo-captives enslaved in this conflict would have been liberated by the
West Africa Squadron, and rerouted to Jamaica, giving rise to Kumina. ==Beliefs and practices==