The Antecedents of Contemporary African Diplomacy (A Theoretical Study of Intertribal and International Relations in Traditional Africa)
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70-3166 ATTUQUAYEFIO, J r ., Re Sumo, 1931- THE ANTECEDENTS OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIPLOMACY (A THEORETICAL STUDY OF INTERTRIBAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN TRADITIONAL AFRICA). The American University, Ph.D., 1969 Political Science, international law and relation s University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan ©Copyright by RE SUMO ATTUQUAYEFIO, JR. ... .. ..j 19701 THE ANTECEDENTS OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIPLOMACY (A THEORETICAL STODY OF INTERTRIBAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN TRADITIONAL AFRICA) by Re Sumo Attuquayefio, Jr. Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations Signatures of Committee: r Chairman; Dean c of International Service Date: AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ^he American University AUG 7 1969 Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON. D. C. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION: THE TRADITIONAL AFRICAN POLITIES: WORKING HYPOTHESES............. 1 II. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF TRADITIONAL AFRICA...................................... 17 III. WAR IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM............. 39 IV. TRADITIONAL AFRICAN DIPLOMACY................ 72 V. LAW AND POLITICS IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM...................................... 95 VI. TRADE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS........... 110 VII. THE IMPACT OF EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY............ 141 VIII. CONCLUSION;................................... 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................... .................... 184 CHAPTER I THE TRADITIONAL AFRICAN POLITIES: WORKING. HYPOTHESES Introduction Africa is a vast and diverse continent. It is vast as to Size and diverse as to physiography, climate, re sources, and the composition of its population. The continent, before the coming of the European, was dominated largely by "tribes". In peopling the con tinent, the "tribes" traversed zone after zone of con trasting climate, soil, and vegetation, not only to ecologically adjust but also to strike a sort of ecolog ical equilibrium with their environment. A perpetual movement across the vast land mass of the continent could be readily imagined, and it could be easily conceived that land or territorial claims were made which were highly prized and coveted. Survival must have been, more likely than not, the major factor in the migrations. I It is highly likely that once they had acquired land the "tribes" began to further their culture: "they brought in cereals and began cultivating them, learned how to raise cattle, adapted metal tools and weapons to their own use, undertook mining and smelting and forging on a 1 continental scale, borrowed crops from other lands, in troduced soil conservation and terrace agriculture where hillsides needed these, discovered the medicinal value of a host of herbs and plants, and worked out their own explanations of mankind and the universe."'*' The ground work for African culture and civilization was laid. It is not improbable that in that struggle for territorial land some "tribal" political systems were able to incorporate and assimilate others or to evolve new patterns in power and efficiency. If one allowed the existence and knowledge of metallurgy, then it could be asserted that potentially the "tribes" equipped with the new techniques for making tools and weapons were at a superior advantage and they could augment their own food supply, especially in Western Africa, to support a growing population. Furthermore, it could be hypothesized that with the discovery and spread of metals, the trend towards ■*-Basil Davidson, Which Way Africa? The Search for a New Society. Penguin Books, Baltimore, 1964; p. 27. ^The knowledge of metallurgy was not initially universal throughout Africa. It had however, spread to virtually every African Society between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. 2 urbanism, possibly in the Nile region and Eastern and u Western Sudan, increased, and another population expan- t * sion began which reached an eventual culmination in the establishment of states and empires. The expansion in the numbers of Africa's "tribes" or peoples involved a corresponding expansion in terres trial or land space. Additional lives could be supported only by cultivating new plots of land and finding new pastures for growing flocks and herds. Conceivably, those "tribes" that were better equipped often expanded at the expense of those that were not so fortunate. And the latter, it is also conceivable, did not always sub mit passively to expulsion or extinction; rather, it would seem, they sometimes adopted and adapted the tech niques of the encroaching comers, or lived symbiotically with them. In the long run various cultures met. Prox imity gave opportunity for exchanging of experiences and for pooling of technical knowledge. But contact could not likely have been always ami cable. For each and all were competing for the same sort of land, and there was not an infinite supply. Presum ably, wars of conquests were fought to establish primacy and paramountcy in environments already held by earlier 3 cultures and civilizations. The aggressive attitude of some of the "tribes" eventuated in migrations and, in some cases, the crea tion of mixed cultures - spiritual and material. No doubt divergent traditions developed to reflect differ ent experiences, and also different responses to differing environments. In the sequel, however, the political framework.requisite for the consolidation of social organizations, for maintaining authority and for prosecut ing war or defense was forged. It may be said that in the relations■of traditional African "tribes" the acquisition of the art of metallurgy was quite instrumental in deter mining the course of subsequent development and the rela tions of the political systems. THE PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICAN POLITIES Although the historical and cultural settings of the traditional African polities varied greatly, they had cer tain common features in the patterns of their development. The initiative for bringing these polities into being came, probably, from, the rulers.'*' These rulers, inmost ■*"The term "rulers" is here used to mean kings, em perors, elders, and collective leadership. Where there were no rulers someone almost always rose to a position of pre-eminence as to demand obedience and respect, and some following. See Lucy Mair, Primitive Government. Baltimore, 1962; passim. 4 instances, came from established patrilineal, matrilineal princely or "professional" families, or usurpers from lower-class origins, who essayed to create new dynasties or to conquer new territories. They- were often conquerors, who attempted to subdue various territories and establish their own rule over them. Usually., such rulers emerged during periods of crises, or disintegration of the existing political system or of acute upheaval within it. Usually, they had their own vision of political goals, peace and order, and attempted to transmit them to their newly established political regimes or to, at least, partsoof the conquered territor ies . The resultant differentiae of political goals fre quently led to intrigues and open warfare and, therefore, the rulers had to secure; allies, whether passive or active, who could help them achieve their goals. In order to utilize these allies to mobilize necessary re sources and to implement their policies both as to in ternal and external conditions, the rulers had to forge various instruments of power - political and administra tive, diplomatic - strategic - with which to perpetuate the political system. 5 THE MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEMS The political systems which underwent and those which survived this push and pull of the political struggle of "tribal" reshuffling of the African Conti nent may be classified into two broad categories: iriini- mal and maximal. Minimal political systems may be simply defined as systems espousing little or no "formal" centralized political structures; maximal political systems as those with recognizable hierarchies of political power and ex plicit patterns of bureaucratic authority. Despite this distinction, these political systems manifested the following basic characteristics: First, each operated within a territorial domain. Second, there existed in each some special ized form of administration or government. Third, each maintained a population within its boundaries. •*-The concepts "minimal and maximal" are used here to overcome the difficulties inherent in the. state - state less dichotomy of Fortes and Evans - Pritchard, African Political Systems, Oxford, 1940, 5-6. Southall's dichotomy between pyramidal and hierarchical systems approximates the writer's conception of minimal and maximal political sys tems. See Aidan Southall, Alur Society. Cambridge, 1956, pp. 250-251. 6 Fourth, each had the capacity, potential or manifest, to enter foreign relations. Both minimal and maximal states, in short, defined or were able to define, through their types of government, both the mode of life within and the mode of conduct out side the territoriality of their political society. A major implicate of the above characteristics is sovereignty. The sovereignty of the traditional African State, not unlike that of the modern state, has deep his torical roots. Without going into detailed analysis, it could be hypothesized that adjustment and adaptation to the geographical environment ostensibly brought home to the African peoples the meaning and significance of