['14th_century;15th_century;16th_century;Pacific_Ocean;Atlantic_Ocean;Accra;Africa;Atlantic_slave_trade;African_slave_trade']

for line in loops:

links = []
for line in newPath:
    links.append(line[3:4])

old_list = []
new_list = []

old_list = links
new_list = old_list[0].split(';')

print new_list

my_list = old_list[0].split(';')

>>> old_list = ['14th_century;15th_century;16th_century;Pacific_Ocean;Atlantic_Ocean;Accra;Africa;Atlantic_slave_trade;African_slave_trade']

>>> my_list = old_list[0].split(';')
['14th_century', '15th_century', '16th_century', 'Pacific_Ocean', 'Atlantic_Ocean', 'Accra', 'Africa', 'Atlantic_slave_trade', 'African_slave_trade']

paths = ['abc;def;ghi', 'jkl;mno;pqr']
paths = [path.split(';') for path in paths]
>>> paths
[['abc', 'def', 'ghi'], ['jkl', 'mno', 'pqr']]