Gullah

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Gullahs (), also known in some areas as Geechees and alternatively as Gullah–Geechees, are an African American ethnic group rooted in the coastal areas of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida from roughly Pender County, North Carolina to St. Augustine, Florida. Gullahs are descendants of West and Central Africans enslaved on plantations in the islands, waterways and coasts of this area, now designated the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. They have developed a distinctive culture and creole language, also known as Gullah, which have preserved a high volume of Africanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation. The Gullahs of the area of Savannah, Georgia are also known as Geechees (). The name may be derived from the Kissi people of Sierra Leone, which is the common belief among Gullah-Geechee people. The Georgia communities are distinguished by identifying as either "Freshwater Geechee" or "Saltwater Geechee", depending on whether they live on the mainland or the Sea Islands. Having gone through a period of relative isolation from whites while working on large plantations in rural areas, Gullahs, who came from a variety of Central and West African ethnic groups, developed a creole culture that preserved much of their African linguistic and cultural heritage; in addition, they absorbed new influences from the region. Their language, an English-based creole, contains many African loanwords and has been influenced by African languages in grammar and sentence structure. Gullah crafts, farming and fishing traditions, folk beliefs, music, rice-based cuisine and story-telling traditions all exhibit strong influences from Central and West African cultures.