early-history · adams-place2013-classic-banjo

Banjo history stretches across a complex international terrain. It spans the instrument's West African heritage and development in the 17th-century Caribbean basin ... They created a unique plucked stringed instrument based on one or more African traditions while incorporating some attributes of European instruments, such as flat fingerboards and tuning pegs. ... The most clearly documented form of the early banjo consisted of a neck crafted with a flat fingerboard that ran through the full length of a gourd (or sometimes calabash) body. The opened side of the gourd was covered with an animal hide sound table held in place with tacks. It had four strings—three long strings and a short thumb string ... As the banjo appeared in North America—documented as early as 1736 in New York City ... The banjo's popularization in blackface minstrelsy is largely attributed to Joel Walker Sweeney (1810–60), who began publicly performing with the banjo as early as 1836