DOCSLIB.ORG

Hugh Clapperton, and Dr

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Hugh Clapperton, and Dr DIXON DENHAM, HUGH CLAPPERTON, AND DR. WALTER OUDNEY DR. WALTER OUDNEY Henry Thoreau said he “traveled far in Concord.” Here we witness him traveling into the white spaces on the map of Africa and viewing there some of the original sources of black enslavement. BACK WHAT? ACTIVE TRACK INDEX ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN 1786 January 1: A petition for a canal from the head of the New Meadows River into Merrymeeting Bay was signed by 98 citizens of Brunswick and Bath, Maine. Dixon Denham was born in London. He would be educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and articled to a solicitor, but would then enlist in the British army. 1788 May 18: Hugh Clapperton was born at Annan, Dumfriesshire, son of a surgeon. 1790 Walter Oudney was born. 1801 When he reached the age of thirteen, Hugh Clapperton became an apprentice aboard a vessel which traded between Liverpool and the ports of North America. After several Atlantic voyages he was impressed into the British Navy. This being the period of the Napoleonic wars, he would soon become a midshipman. 1810 November: At the storming of Port Louis, Mauritius, Midshipman Hugh Clapperton was 1st in the breach, and was seen to seize and haul down the French flag. 1811 Dixon Denham joined the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Later he would serve in the 54th Foot. He would participate in campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium and be a recipient of the Waterloo medal. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 3 BACK WHAT? ACTIVE TRACK INDEX ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN 1814 Midshipman Hugh Clapperton was sent to Canada, where he was promoted to Lieutenant and put in command of a schooner on the Canadian lakes. 1817 With the cessation of hostilities and the dismantlement of the British flotilla on the Canadian lakes, Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton was sent home on half-pay. Walter Oudney was awarded a medical doctorate at Edinburgh, Scotland. After a few years he would be appointed by the British government as consul for promotion of trade to the Kingdom of Bornu in sub-Saharan Africa. 1820 Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton moved to Edinburgh, and there met Dr. Walter Oudney. 1821 Dixon Denham volunteered to accompany Dr. Walter Oudney and Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton on a government expedition via Tripoli to the central Sudan, joining the group while it was at Murzuk in Fezzan. When an escort force promised by the pasha of Tripoli did not appear, Denham headed back toward England to make a report of this. He was intercepted at Marseilles by messengers from the pasha, who pledged that the promises would be kept and persuaded him to return. 1822 An expedition led by Lieutenant G.F. Lyon having failed to reach Bornu from Tripoli, the Colonial Secretary, Lord Bathurst, determined to make a 2d attempt, selected Dr. Walter Oudney to proceed to Bornu as consul and detailed Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton and Dixon Denham to travel with him. The Bey of Tripoli had offered to provide an escort for any British traveler, anywhere in his dominions. This was to be a journey from Tripoli through the Fezzan territory and across the Sahara to the kingdom of Bornu west of Lake Chad. Its instructions were to seek to ascertain the course of the Niger River and if possible reach Timbuktu.1 Early in the year this expedition set out southward from Tripoli to Murzuk (Murzuq). 1. Its instructions definitely were not “Seek out the sources of African enslavement.” 4 Copyright ©2009 Austin Meredith BACK WHAT? ACTIVE TRACK INDEX ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN April: Arriving at Murzuk (Murzuq), Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton and Dr. Walter Oudney were able to visit the Ghat oasis but were generally delayed for months by the local ruler. November: The government expedition of Dr. Walter Oudney, Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton, and Dixon Denham was finally permitted to set out from Murzuk (Murzuq) in Fezzan, across the Sahara toward Bornu. 1823 February 4: Lake Chad was for the first time sighted by Europeans, Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton and Dr. Walter Oudney. February 17: The British government expedition of Dr. Walter Oudney, Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton, and Dixon Denham completed its desert journey by arriving at Kuka (Kouka), the capital of Bornu. This made them the 1st Europeans to accomplish a north/south crossing of the Sahara. The sultan at their destination granted them an audience and welcomed them. Subsequently, Denham would abandon Oudney and Clapperton in order to participate in a slave-raiding expedition into the Mandara highlands south of Bornu, but in the defeat of this expedition he would come close to losing his life. December 14: Dr. Walter Oudney and Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton set out in a westerly direction for the Hausa states, to explore the course of the Niger River. Dixon Denham would explore the vicinity of Lake Chad and the lower courses of the Waube, Logone, and Shari rivers and participated in several Bornuese military raids on neighboring tribes. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 5 BACK WHAT? ACTIVE TRACK INDEX ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN 1824 January: Walter Oudney fell victim to a tropical fever and died in the village of Murmur near Katagum on the road to Kano (in his memory a botanical genus of the family Brassicaceae would be designated “Oudneya”). Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton continued his journey alone through Kano to the capital of the Fula Empire, Sokoto (Sackatoo), where Sultan Bello, wary of British attempts to interfere with his slave trade, decreed that he stop despite the fact that he could have reached the Niger River in only five more days travel to the west. He would return by way of Zaria and Katsina and again join up with the wayward Dixon Denham, at Kuka (Kouka). 6 Copyright ©2009 Austin Meredith BACK WHAT? ACTIVE TRACK INDEX ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN August: Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton and Dixon Denham began their return journey from a region of internal Africa in which fresh slaves were constantly being captured in raids into surrounding territories by the local governments, to Tripoli and England to make their report. A negrero flying the Spanish flag (as shown below), the Feliciana, master Anlet, J., on its one and only known Middle Passage, arrived at its destination, Havana, Cuba. THE MIDDLE PASSAGE 1825 January 26: Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton and Dixon Denham reached Tripoli on their way home toward England. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 7 BACK WHAT? ACTIVE TRACK INDEX ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN June: Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton and Dixon Denham arrived back in London by way of Florence and the Alps. Altogether they had been able to make clear from their travels merely that the Niger River neither flowed into Lake Chad nor contributed to the Nile River. Things had reached such a pretty pass in England, that the House of Commons was debating whether a citizen could legitimately refuse to accept the government’s paper banknotes with pretty printed images on them in full payment for an obligation at face value, and demand instead to be paid in gold coins with pretty embossed images on them. It is clear in this history that the British people actually were vastly more intrigued by their local concerns, than they would be with such firsthand reports of conditions at the “far” or “beginning” end of the international slave trade. Fancy that! A negrero flying the Spanish flag (as shown below), the Dorotea, master Gardullo, J., on its one and only known Middle Passage, delivering a cargo of 352 enslaved Africans, arrived at a port of Cuba. December 7: On a 2d expedition into Africa after being promoted, Commander Hugh Clapperton landed at Badagry in the Bight of Benin and started overland for the Niger River. With him were a servant, Richard Lemon Lander, a Captain Pearce, and a navy surgeon and naturalist, Dr. Morrison. Before the month was out both Pearce and Morrison would succumb to fever. Clapperton and his servant would continue. 8 Copyright ©2009 Austin Meredith BACK WHAT? ACTIVE TRACK INDEX ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN ENSLAVEMENT’S ORIGIN 1826 With the preparation of the 2-volume NARRATIVE OF TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA, IN THE YEARS 1822, 1823, AND 1824, BY MAJOR DENHAM, F.R.S., CAPTAIN CLAPPERTON, AND THE LATE DOCTOR OUDNEY, EXTENDED ACROSS THE GREAT DESERT TO THE TENTH DEGREE OF NORTHERN LATITUDE, AND FROM KOUKA IN BORNOU, TO SACKATOO, THE CAPITAL OF THE FELATAH EMPIRE describing the African exploits of Dr. Walter Oudney, Captain Hugh Clapperton, and Major Dixon Denham, Captain Clapperton was promoted to the rank of Commander. Because Sultan Bello of Sokoto had professed to be eager to open up trade with the west coast of Africa, he was sent on another expedition to Africa. Major Denham sat for a portrait (on a following screen). January: Passing through the Yoruba country, Commander Hugh Clapperton and the servant Richard Lemon Lander crossed the Niger River at Bussa (the point at which, some two decades earlier, Mungo Park had drowned). WALDEN: What does Africa, –what does the West stand for? Is not our own interior white on the chart? black though it may prove, like the coast, when discovered. Is it the source of the Nile, or the Niger, or the Mississippi, or a North-West Passage around this continent, that we would find? Are these the problems which most concern mankind? Is Franklin the only man who is lost, that his wife should be so earnest to find him? Does Mr. Grinnell know where he himself is? Be rather the Mungo Park, the Lewis and Clarke and Frobisher, of your own streams and oceans; explore your own higher latitudes, –with shiploads of preserved meats to support you, if they be necessary; and pile the empty cans sky-high for a sign.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • História (São Paulo) V.31, N.2, P. 146-170, Jul/Dec 2012
    História (São Paulo) A busca inglesa pelo curso do Rio Níger: do problema geográfico à possessão potencial The English’ search through Niger River course: from the geographical problem to potential possession ________________________________________________________________ Alexsander Lemos de Almeida GEBARA* Resumo: O artigo analisa o corpo de textos produzidos por expedições inglesas na região do rio Niger entre primeira viagem de Mungo Park (1795) e a expedição oficial britânica de 1841 procurando notar as semelhanças e diferenças nas representações ao longo do tempo. O período em questão apresenta grandes transformações no contexto atlântico, incluindo o final do tráfico de escravos pela Inglaterra, e marca também uma alteração no equilíbrio das forças na costa e no interior da África Ocidental. Desta forma, o trabalho procura mostrar como as ideias inglesas sobre escravidão e tráfico de escravos interferem nas dinâmicas de representação e nas práticas diplomáticas europeias para com as sociedades próximas ao curso do rio Niger. Finalmente, o artigo também aponta para a forma como as preocupações quase exclusivamente geográficas das primeiras viagens paulatinamente adquiriram o caráter intervencionista de um discurso de posse ao mesmo tempo em que as novas condições materiais e técnicas desequilibravam as relações de força em favor da Inglaterra. Palavras-chave: ingleses, Rio Níger, escravidão, diplomacia. Abstract: This paper analyzes a set of texts written during English expeditions in the region of the Niger River between first trip of Mungo Park (1795) and the 1841 official British expedition, looking for the similarities and differences in representations over time. The period in question encompassed transformations in the Atlantic context, including the end of the slave trade in England, and also assigns a change in the balance of forces on the coast and in the interior of West Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • King's Research Portal
    King’s Research Portal DOI: 10.1353/cch.2016.0041 Document Version Peer reviewed version Link to publication record in King's Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Ryan, M. (2016). A “Very Extensive System of Peculation and Jobbing”: The Liberated African Department of Sierra Leone, humanitarian governance and the fraud inquiry of 1848. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 17(3), [4]. https://doi.org/10.1353/cch.2016.0041 Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognize and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. •Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research. •You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain •You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the Research Portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nature of British Mapping of West Africa, 1749 – 1841
    The Nature of British Mapping of West Africa, 1749 – 1841 Sven Daniel Outram-Leman University of Stirling PhD History Submitted 1st May 2017 Author’s declaration The work contained in this thesis is entirely my own. The views expressed are entirely my own, and not those of the University of Stirling 1 Abstract By focusing on the “nature” of mapping, this thesis falls under the category of critical cartography closely associated with the work of Brian Harley in the 1980s and early 1990s. As such the purpose of this research is to highlight the historical context of British maps, map-making and map-reading in relation to West Africa between 1749 and 1841. I argue that maps lie near the heart of Britain’s interactions with West Africa though their appearance, construction and use evolved dramatically during this period. By beginning this study with a prominent French example (Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville’s 1749 “Afrique”) I show how British map-makers adapted cartography from France for their own purposes before circumstances encouraged the development of new materials. Because of the limited opportunities to make enquiries in the region and the relatively few people involved in affecting change to the map’s content, this thesis highlights the episodes and manufactured narratives which feature in the chronology of evolving cartographies. This study concludes with the failure of the 1841 Niger Expedition, when Britain’s humanitarian agenda saw the attempted establishment of a model farm on banks of the Niger River and the negotiation of anti-slave trade treaties with nearby Africans.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAPTER 1: an Indigenous Capitalism? 1. Roger Anstey, The
    Notes CHAPTER 1: An Indigenous Capitalism? 1. Roger Anstey, The Atlantie Slave Trade anti Bn'tish Abolition 1760-1810 (London: Macmillan, 1975). For comment, see Christine Bolt and Seymour Drescher (eds), A nti-Slavery, Religion, and Reform: Essays in Memory 0] Roger Anste;: (Folkestone: Dawson, 1980). 2. See esp. Roger Anstey, Britain anti the Congo in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon, 1962) and King Leopold's Legacy: the Congo under Belgian Rule 1908-1960 (London: Oxforq University Press, 1966). 3. Kar! Marx, 'The British Rule in India', in Karl Marx anti Friedrieh Engels, Seleeted Works 2 vols (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1958) vol. I, p. 351. 4. Karl Marx, Capital, English translation, 3 vols (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1966) vol. III, pp. 333-4. 5. Colin Leys, 'Kenya: What Does "Dependency" Explain?', Review 0] Afriean Political Eeonomy, XVII Ganuary 1980) 109. 6. Julius Nyerere, 'The Rational Choice' (1973), in Andrew Coulson (ed.), Afriean Soeialism in Practiee: the Tanzanian Experience (Nottingham: Spokesman, 1979) pp. 19-26. 7. Rhoda Howard, Colonialism anti Underdevelopment in Ghana (London: Croom Helm, 1978); Mahmood Mamdani, Polities anti Class Formation in Uganda (New York: Monthly Review, 1976); Gavin Kitching, Class anti Economic Change in Kenya: the Malcing 0] an Afriean Petite Bourgeoisie 1905-1970 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980). 8. Nicola Swainson, The Development oj Corporate Capitalism in Kenya 1918-77 (London: William Heinemann, 1980); Apollo L. Njonjo, 'The Africanisation of the "White Highlands": a Study in Agrarian Class Struggles in Kenya, 1950-1974', Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University, 1977. 9. Afriean Business (May 1979) 73.
    [Show full text]
  • Occasional List 20
    REG & PHILIP REMINGTON THE COBBOLDS CARRON LANE MIDHURST WEST SUSSEX, GU29 9LE TELEPHONE 01730-810308 [email protected] www.remingtonbooks.com OCCASIONAL LIST 20. 1. Allom (Thoma) and G.N. Wright- China, in a Series of Views displaying the Scenery, Architecture and Social Habits of that Ancient Empire, FIRST EDITION, 124 engraved plates, 4 vols bound in 2, 4to, contemporary half maroon morocco, Fisher and Son, London, c.1843 £2800 2. Darien [Ferguson (Robert)] A Just and Modest Vindication of the Scots Design, for the Having Established a Colony at Darien. With a Brief Display, how much it is their Interest, to apply themselves to Trade, and Particularly to that which is Foreign, 30 +214 pages, 8vo, contemporary calf, [no place or printer] 1699 £3000 Wing F. 742. Kress 2116. Previous owner's book plates 'Sir Francis Hopkins pasted on inside front cover. The Scottish Parliament in 1695 passed an Act giving extensive powers to a Company trading to Africa and the Indies. This Company on the advice of the economist William Paterson determined to establish a Colony on the Isthmus of Darien as a general emporium for the commerce of all nations. The pioneer settlers set off in July 1698 and though, at first all seemed well, everything went wrong later and the settlement was abandoned. Few of the pioneers of this remarkable enterprise ever returned to their native land again. Darwin's Voyage of the’Beagle’ 3. King (Captain P.P.) and Captain Fitzroy: Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S' Ships ‘Adventure" and “Beagle', 1826-36, describing their Examination of the Southern Shores of South America and the "Beagle's" Circumnavigation of the Globe, 8 maps all laid down on linen, plans, charts and 48 engraved plates depicting Patagonians, Fuegians, New Zealanders, Scenes in Brazil, Chile, Tahiti, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • Indigenous Mapmaking in Intertropical Africa
    3 · Indigenous Mapmaking in Intertropical Africa THOMAS J. BASSETT Although [they are] also known for their mapmaking A third factor behind the meager historiography is that skills, the cartography of the peoples of Africa is less restricted definitions of "map" have excluded a range well known than that of the Indians [of North and of processes and artifacts from serious study. Even if South America].1 This chapter could not have been written without the contributions of many individuals who provided references, illustrations, and critical Our knowledge of African mapmaking has substantially comments at various stages of its preparation. In particular I thank improved since Bruno Adler's seminal survey of non­ Daniel Ayana, Edmond Bernus, Donald Crummey, Jim Delehanty, Western cartographic traditions in 1910. This is particu­ Henry Drewal, Kimbwandaende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau, Christraud larly true for North African mapmaking, which emerged Geary, Christian Jacob, Manfred Kropp, Jamie McGowan, Philip out of ancient Egyptian civilizations and Islamic cultures.2 Porter, Labelle Prussin, Allen Roberts, Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts, Charles Stewart, Jeffrey C. Stone, Taddesse Tamrat, Claude Tardits, and However, our understanding of sub-Saharan mapmaking Jan Vansina. remains comparatively weak (see fig. 3.1 for a reference 1. Bruno F. Adler, "Karty pervobytnykh narodov" (Maps of primi­ map of Africa). The historiography is particularly scanty. tive peoples), Izvestiya Imperatorskago Obshchestva Lyubiteley Yeste­ When maps of Africa do receive attention, the focus is al­ stvoznanya, Antropologii i Etnografii: Trudy Geograficheskago Otde­ most exclusively on European maps of the continent.3 The liniya (Proceedings of the Imperial Society of the Devotees of National Sciences, Anthropology, and Ethnology: Transactions of the Division of dearth of studies of indigenous African mapmaking may Geography) 119, no.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races
    OufO 3 1924 074 488 234 All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE -mr -^ l99T 'li^^is Wtt&-F£SeiW SPRIHG 2004 PRINTED IN U.S.A. The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924074488234 In compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 1994 (Kambtitrge i^istotical Series EDITED BY G. W. PROTHERO, LiTT.D. HONORARY FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. THE COLONIZATION OF AFRICA. aonbon: C. J. CLAY AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, Ave Maria Lane. ©lasBoiu: 263, ARGYLE STREET. Ecipjis: F. A. BROCKHAUS. jjefagorl:: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. JSomlaj: E. SEYMOUR HALE. A HISTORY OF THE COLONIZATION OF AFRICA BY ALIEN RACES BY SIR HARRY H. JOHNSTON, K.C.B. (author of "BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA," ETC.). WITH EIGHT MAPS BY THE AUTHOR AND J. G. BARTHOLOMEW. CAMBRIDGE: AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1899 9 [All Rights reserved-^ GENERAL TREFACE. The aim of this series is to sketch tlie history of Alodern Europe, with that of its chief colonies and conquests, from about the e7id of the fifteenth century down to the present time. In one or two cases the story will connnence at an earlier date : in the case of the colonies it will usually begin later.
    [Show full text]
  • Kanem-Bornu Empire Trade Routes Towards Tripoli and Egypt and Based Its Power on Trans-Saharan Trade
    1 Kanem-Bornu Empire trade routes towards Tripoli and Egypt and based its power on trans-Saharan trade. How- VINCENT HIRIBARREN ever, it would not be possible to envisage the King’s College London, UK creation of an empire before the expansion of Kanem towards the northern oases of Kawar Renowned as one of the most powerful during the 11th century. These conquests led empires of Western Africa with Ghana, Mali, to the creation of a trans-Saharan empire that and Songhai, Kanem-Bornu (Kanem-Borno) survived until the 19th century. is often cited as an archetypal example of During the 11th century, the Duguwa were an ancient African pre-colonial kingdom. replaced by another dynasty, the Sayfawa who The empire reached a certain degree of fame ruled the empire until the 19th century. How- not only because it was mentioned in the nar- ever, the territorial extent of this 800-year ratives written by Arab geographers such as long hegemony greatly varied. At first based al-Idrisi (Lange 1984: 239) but also because on Kanem, the center of empire shifted to its history has been taught in schools and the west of Lake Chad during the 13th and universities as an example of the wealth of 14th centuries as a result of deteriorating cli- pre-colonial Africa. matic conditions. Indeed, the continued pro- gression of the Sahara was responsible for the THE LONGEST EMPIRE IN AFRICAN migration of the Kanembu to the more fertile HISTORY lands of Bornu. This region had already become the economic centre of the empire The empire of Kanem-Bornu finds its roots in the 14th century despite the fact that the between Lake Chad and the Bahr el-Ghazal Sayfawa still resided in Njimi the capital they in the region of Kanem (modern-day Chad).
    [Show full text]
  • Slavery and Seclusion in Northern Nigeria: a Further Note Author(S): Humphrey J
    Slavery and Seclusion in Northern Nigeria: A Further Note Author(s): Humphrey J. Fisher Source: The Journal of African History, Vol. 32, No. 1 (1991), pp. 123-135 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/182581 . Accessed: 25/10/2013 22:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of African History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.128.216.34 on Fri, 25 Oct 2013 22:42:46 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 3ournal of African History, 32 (I99I), pp. I23-I35 I23 Printed in Great Britain SLAVERY AND SECLUSION IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: A FURTHER NOTE BY HUMPHREY J. FISHER School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London GINA Porter's very interestring contribution to a previous issue of this Journal 'A note on slavery, seclusion and agrarian change in northern Nigeria',' discusses the relationship between historical perspective and contemporary development. Dr Porter explores three major points. First, was slavery widespread in pre-colonial Borno? Second, what is the reason for 'the low incidence of rural wife-seclusion (kulle) in contemporary Borno' (p.
    [Show full text]
  • 331 Manuel Barcia Manuel Barcia Examines the Interconnections
    book reviews 331 Manuel Barcia West African Warfare in Bahia and Cuba: Soldier Slaves in the Atlantic World, 1807– 1844. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. xiii + 190 pp. (Cloth US$110.00) Manuel Barcia examines the interconnections between Cuba, Bahia, and the interior of the Bight of Benin during the first several decades of the nineteenth century. He demonstrates that the background of enslaved Africans in war influenced their perceptions of slavery and their responses in the Americas. This refreshing study provides a view of Atlantic history that privileges Africa. Too often the study of the Americas during the era of slavery has not situated historical developments within the changing landscape of both sides of the Atlantic, often despite claims to the contrary. Barcia shows how events in Oyo and the further interior (specifically the impact of jihād) had a rippling impact that not only changed Yorubaland and indeed the Central Sudan but also set the course of events in Cuba and Brazil in the period before the mid-nineteenth century. This admirable study contributes to a revisionist approach to the study of the Atlantic world by merging the details of slave resistance in Cuba and Brazil with revolutionary transformations in West Africa. Barcia uses historical sources with considerable ingenuity in showing how events in West Africa were linked to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. He clearly demonstrates how the major historical events of the Sokoto jihād and the corresponding impact on Oyo after 1817 were related to the many uprisings and conspiracies in both Cuba and Bahia. His chronology of events reveals how the various “Hausa” uprisings in Bahia, the jihād centered at Ilorin, upris- ings in Cuba, and the Male revolt of 1835 were entangled.
    [Show full text]
  • Echoes of Empire
    Echoes of Empire Echoes of Empire Identity, Memory and Colonial Legacies Edited by Kalypso Nicolaïdis, BerNy sèBe aNd GaBrielle Maas Published in 2015 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright Editorial Selection and Introduction © 2015 Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Berny Sèbe, Gabrielle Maas Copyright Individual Chapters © 2015 John Darwin, Jan-Georg Deutsch, Dimitar Bechev, Sarmila Bose, Jacques Frémeaux, Peo Hansen, Christopher Harding, Feng Jicheng, Emily Jones, Steffan Jonsson, Dane Kennedy, Elena Korosteleva, Zhu Liqun, Gabrielle Maas, John M. MacKenzie, Alexander Morrison, Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Nora Fisher Onar, Ali Parchami, Bernard Porter, Karoline Postel-Vinay, Rahul Rao, Vinicius Rodrigues Vieira, Juan José Rossi, Jean-Frédéric Schaub, Berny Sèbe, Clara Weinhardt, Robert J. C. Young The right of Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Berny Sèbe and Gabrielle Maas to be identified as the editors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 9781784530501 (HB) ISBN: 9781784530518 (PB) A full
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Lecture 2013
    THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY ANNUAL LECTURE 2013 ‘A JUST AND HONOURABLE COMMERCE’: ABOLITIONIST EXPERIMENTATION IN SIERRA LEONE IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURIES 1 Suzanne Schwarz Delivered at the Annual General Meeting of the Hakluyt Society 19 June 2013 I In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a small strip of territory on the Sierra Leone peninsula was used as an experimental site by leading abolitionist campaigners to test out methods of eradicating the Atlantic slave trade. 2 From its foundation in 1787, the ‘infant colony’ 3 at Sierra Leone played a pivotal role in the campaign to end the slave trade and its growth and development took place against a backdrop of growing European interest in travel and exploration in Africa. 4 is small-scale intervention subsequently had wider repercussions for British involvement in West Africa, as ‘its annexation as a British Crown Colony in 1808 effectively represented the beginning of the creation of the British empire in Tropical Africa’. 5 e settlement, initially known as the ‘Province of Freedom’, was located on a stretch of the upper 1 I would like to thank Roy Bridges, Nicholas Evans, Magbaily Fyle, Robin Law, Paul Lovejoy, Bruce Mouser and Silke Strickrodt for their valuable comments and suggestions. I am very grateful to a colleague for permission to reproduce the ‘Plan of Sierra Leone and the Parts Adjacent, MDCCXCIV’, which is in a private collection. I also thank Henry Lovejoy for permission to use his map of the upper Guinea coast and the Wisbech and Fenland Museum for permission to reproduce an image in its collection.
    [Show full text]