Aku people


The Aku, Creole, or Krio are a minority ethnic group of Gambia with connections to and some roots from the Sierra Leone Creole people.
In Gambia the Aku account for about 2% of the population. Some estimates put the figure higher. Gambian Aku are descendants of Sierra Leone Liberated Africans, Sierra Leoneans of Nova Scotian and Maroon descent, transatlantic immigrants to the Gambia, and liberated Africans dropped off in the Gambia directly. Gambian Krios are an extension of the Freetown community of Creoles, and they have roots in the West Indies, North America, England, and the various African communities. Gambian Aku have also some European heritage through intermarriage and through their connections to Freetown Creoles.
Many speak Aku, an English-based creole language similar to the Krio language of Sierra Leone.

Aku Marabouts

In Sierra Leone, the Oku or Aku Marabouts are known as Okus or Akus or Marabouts, while in the Gambia, the term Aku refers to the Creole population not the Oku people. In the Gambia, "Aku Marabout" or Oku Marabout is the term used for the Oku people while Aku or Creoles in and around Banjul are Christian.