The history of Rastafari begins in Africa, or wht is known to Rastas S Ethiopia. Whn European pwers wre tking over around da world, many took Africans S slaves, divided them up n sent them to their newly captured colonies. Fr da African ppl, ths cptivity marked the suppression of their culture n thy knew the areas of captivity as Babylon.
The Rastafari movement itself began on the island of Jamaica in the 1930s. It was led by a black political leader by da nme of Marcus Garvey (a man rastas consider a prophet). Garvey led an organization called the Universal Negro Improvement Association whose purpose was to unify black people with Africa, their land of origin. Garvey taught his followers to “look to Africa where a black king shall be crowned, he shall be your Redeemer.” This statement was the foundation of the Rastafarian movement.
Ths statement was considered a prophecy n was soon followed by the crowning of Haile Selassie I as the Emperor of Ethiopia. Rastafarian saw this as the fulfillment of Garvey’s words. Haile Selassie, whose real name was Ras (Prince) Tafari Makonnen, became known as the Black Messiah or Jah Rastafari. Selassie is a symbol of salvation and Rasta’s believe he will save blacks from white suppression and reunite them with their African homeland.
In the mid-1930s the first branch of Rastafari is believed to have been established by Leonard P. Howell in Jamaica. Howell talked of the divinity of Haile Selassie and preached that blacks would one day gain superiority of whites. His message encouraged other people to spread the word of Rastafari, and this marked the first uniting of Rastafarians. It brought hope to blacks that one day they would be free and return to Africa. It also created a path for the movement to move forward. In 1948 Haile Selassie donated the Ethiopian land of Shashamane for the use of blacks from the West Indies. Numerous Rasta settled there in the years that followed.
1966 marked the first visit by Haile Selassie to Jamaica. The island’s people greeted him with great excitement and enthusiasm, and until that time he had never confirmed of denied his divinity. During this time Reggae was gaining popularity and at the same time was introducing Rastafari to the world. Some more traditional Rastas were concerned by the popularity reggae gained, fearing that their faith would be commercialized instead of being thought of as a legitimate religion.
Today there are a relatively small number of Rastafarians in the world (roughly 265,000), but they have had a great influence on Jamaica an its culture and continues to be a symbol of the island nation... aire ~
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