Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T06:09:32.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Western Africa, 1870–1886

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Yves Person
Affiliation:
University of Paris I
Get access

Summary

One may have doubts about the appositeness of treating the fifteen or sixteen years between 1870 and 1886 as a phase in the evolution of West Africa. These dates are significant only in the context of the beginning of the colonial era, by which 90 per cent of the area was still untouched at the end of our period. It could be said that the decline in Saharan trade, the growth in imports of European products and increased production of export crops, foretold the imminent end of free Africa, by making certain areas dependent on the world market. But, as Lord Salisbury pointed out, before 1880 no one in Europe was aware of this, let alone anyone in the savannas of the Sudan. It is only with hindsight that we see these things as premonitory signs.

The same applies to the date of 1870, even in the perspectives of colonisation. It is clear to us today that the upsetting of the balance of power in Europe as a result of the Franco-Prussian war acted as a catalyst of economic and social evolution, impelling Europe to occupy Africa, by taking advantage of its technological superiority. But nobody foresaw this at the time, and in fact 1870 opened a period of colonial retrenchment. It was only after 1875, with the Belgian and French activities on the lower Congo, followed by those of the French on the upper Niger, that the imperialist advance began; and the reluctance of Great Britain in this respect is well known.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ọlọruntimẹhin, B. O. The Segu Tukolor empire Ibadan, 1972.
Abraham, A. Mende government and politics under colonial rule. Freetown, 1978.
Abraham, A. Topics in Sierra Leone history; a counter-colonial interpretation. Freetown, 1976.
Abrams, L. and Miller, D. J.The French colonialists?Hist. J., 1976, 19, 3.
Abubakar, Sa'ad The Lamibe of Fombina; a political history of Adamawa, 1809–1903. Zaria, 1977.
Adamu, Mahdi The Hausa factor in West African history. Zaria, 1978.
Adeleye, R. A.Rabih b. Fadlallah and the diplomacy of European imperial invasion in the central Sudan, 1893–1902’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, 1970, 5, 3.Google Scholar
Adeleye, R. A. power and diplomacy London, 1971.
Aderibigbe, A. A. B.The Ijebu expedition, 1892’, in Historians in tropical Africa. Salisbury (Harare), 1962.Google Scholar
Afigbo, A. E. The warrant chiefs: Indirect rule in south-eastern Nigeria, 1891–1929. London, 1972.
Agbodeka, F. African politics London, 1971.
Ajayi, J. F. A. and Austen, R. A.Hopkins on Economic Imperialism in West Africa’, Econ. Hist. Review, 1972, 2nd series, 25.Google Scholar
Ajayi, J. F. A. Christian missions London, 1965.
Akindele, A. and Aguessy, C. Contribution à l' étude de l'histoire de l' ancien royaume de Porto Novo (Memoires de l'I.F.A.N.), Dakar, 1953.
Akintoye, S. A. Revolution and power politics London, 1971.
Amselle, J.-L. Les Négociants de la Savane. Histoire et organisation sociale des Kooroko (Mali). Paris, 1977.
Andrew, C. M. and Kanya-Forstner, A. S. France overseas: the Great War and the climax of French imperial expansion. London, 1981.
Andrew, C. M.The French colonialist movement during the Third Republic; the unofficial mind of imperialism’, Transactions Royal Hist. Soc., 5th series 26, 1976.Google Scholar
Anene, J. C. Southern Nigeria in transition, 1885–1906. Cambridge, 1966.
Arhin, K.The structure of Greater Ashanti’, J. Afr. Hist., 1967, 8.Google Scholar
Arhin, K. West African traders London, 1979.
Arhin, K., (ed.), The papers of George Ekem Ferguson. Leiden and Cambridge, 1974.
Asiwaju, A. I. Western Yorubaland under European rule, 1889–1945;. A comparative analysis of French and British colonialism. London, 1976.
Atanda, J. A. The new Oyo empire: indirect rule and change in western Nigeria, 1894–1934. London, 1973.
Atger, P. La France en Côte d'lvoire Dakar, 1962.
Ayandele, E. A.The ideological ferment in Ijebuland, 1892–1943’, African Notes (University of Ibadan), 1970, 5, 3.Google Scholar
Ayandele, E. A. Holy Johnson: pioneer of African nationalism, 1836–1917. London, 1970.
Ayandele, E. A. The missionary impact London, 1966.
Baier, S. Central Niger Oxford, 1980.
Ballard, J. A.The Porto Novo incidents of 1923 ; politics in the colonial era’, Odu, July 1965, 2, 1.Google Scholar
Berry, S. S. Cocoa, custom and socio-economic change in rural western Nigeria. Oxford, 1975.
Blyden, E. W.Ethiopia stretching out her hands unto God; or, Africa's service to the world’. Discourse delivered before the American Colonization Society, May 1880, in Christianity, Islam and the Negro race. 1887; reprinted Edinburgh, 1967.Google Scholar
Bouche, D. L'enseignement dans les territoires français de l' Afrique occidentale de 1817 à 1920. Mission civilisatrice ou formation d'une elite?, 2 vols. Lille, 1975.
Bouche, D. Les villages de liberié en Afrique noire française, 1887–1910. Paris and The Hague, 1968.
Braimah, J. A. and Goody, J. R. Salaga: the struggle for power. London, 1967.
Brenner, L. The Shehus of Kukawa: a history of the al-Kanemi dynasty of Bornu. Oxford, 1973.
Brunschwig, H.French expansion and local reactions in Black Africa in the time of imperialism (1880–1914)’, in Wesseling, H. L. (ed.), Expansion and reaction (Leiden, 1979).Google Scholar
Brunschwig, H. L'avènement Paris, 1963.
Charles, E. A. Precolonial Senegal: The Jolof Kingdom, 1800 to 1890. Boston, 1977.
Cole, P. D. Modern and traditional élites in the politics of Lagos. Cambridge, 1975.
Coquery-Vidrovitch, C.De la traite des ésclaves à l'exportation de l'huile de palme et des palmistes au Dahomey’, in Meillassoux, C. (ed.), Indigenous trade Paris, 1969.Google Scholar
Coquery-Vidrovitch, C.Le blocus de WhydahParis, 1969.
Crowder, M. West Africa under colonial rule. London, 1968.
Crowder, M., (ed.), West African resistance, London, 1971.
Curtin, P. D. (ed.), Africa and the West: intellectual responses to European culture. Madison, 1972.
De Cardi, N. 'A short description of the natives of the Niger Coast Protectorate, with some account of their customs, religion, trade. App. 1 to Kingsley, Mary H. West African studies, 1st edn, London, 1899.Google Scholar
Debrunner, H. W. A church between colonial powers: a study of the Church in Togo. London, 1965.
Désiré-Vuillemin, G.; Contribution à l'histoire de la Mauritanie. Dakar, 1962.
Diallo, T. Les institutions politiques au Fouta Djallon au XIXe siècle. Dakar, 1972.
Dumett, R. E.The rubber trade1971, 12, 1.
Ekundare, R. O.; An economic history of Nigeria, 1860–1960. London, 1973.
Faure, C. and Charpy, J. Repertoire des archives. Rufisque, 1955.
Fika, A. M. The Kano civil war and British over-rule, 1882–1940. Ibadan, 1978.
Fisher, H.The early life and pilgrimage of al-Hājj Muhammad al-Amin the Soninke (d. 1887)’, J. Afr. Hist., 1970, 11, 1.Google Scholar
Flint, J. E. Sir George Goldie London, 1960.
Forde, C. D. and Kaberry, P. M. (ed.), West African kingdoms in the nineteenth century. London, 1967.
Fyfe, C. H. A history of Sierra Leone. Oxford, 1962.
Ganier, G.Lat Dyor et le chemin de fer de I'arachide (1876–86)’, Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N., 1965, series 8, 27.Google Scholar
Garcia, L. M.Archives et tradition orale. A propos d'une enquête sur la politique du royaume de Danhomé à la fin du 19e siècle’, Cahiers d'études africaines, 1976, 16.Google Scholar
Gbadamosi, G. O. Islam among the Yoruba London, 1979.
Gertzel, C.Commercial organisation on the Niger coast, 1852–1891’, Historians in Tropical Africa (Leverhulme Foundation). Salisbury (Harare), 1962.Google Scholar
Grace, J. J. Domestic slavery in West Africa, with particular reference to the Sierra Leone Protectorate 1896–1927. London, 1975.
Gray, J. M. A history of the Gambia. Cambridge, 1940.
Guèye, L. Itinéraire africain. Paris, 1966.
Haliburton, G. M. The prophet Harris: a study of an African prophet and his mass movement in the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast, 1913–1915. London, 1971.
Hargreaves, J. D.The establishment of the Sierra Leone Protectorate and the insurrection of 1898’, Cambridge Hist. J., 1956, 12.Google Scholar
Hargreaves, J. D.The evolution of the Native Affairs Department’, Sierra Leone Studies, n.s.3, 1954.Google Scholar
Hargreaves, J. D.The Tokolor Empire1966, 2.
Hargreaves, J. D. A life of Sir Samuel Lewis. London, 1958.
Hargreaves, J. D. Prelude London, 1966.
Hargreaves, J. D. West African Partitioned, vol. 1 London, 1974.
Harrell-Bond, B., Howard, A. M. and Skinner, D. E. Community leadership and the transformation of Freetown (1801–1976). The Hague, 1978.
Hausen, K. Deutsche Kolonialherrschaft in Afrika. Wirtschaftinteressen und Kolonialverwaltung in Kamerun vor 1914. Zurich, 1971.
Henige, D. Oral historiography. London, 1982.
Hill, P. Migrant cocoa farmers of southern Ghana. Cambridge, 1963.
Hill, P. The Gold Coast cocoa farmer: a preliminary survey. London, 1956.
Hopkins, A. G.Imperial business in Africa. Part 1: Sources; Part 2: Interpretations’, J. Afr. Hist., 1976, 17.Google Scholar
Hopkins, A. G.The Lagos strike of 1897: an exploration in Nigerian labour history’, Past and Present, 1966, 35.Google Scholar
Hopkins, A. G.Economic imperialism25, 1972.
Hopkins, A. G. Economic history London, 1973.
Igbafe, P. A.Western Ibo society and its resistance to British rule: the Ekumeku movement, 1898–1911’, J. Afr. Hist., 1971, 12.Google Scholar
Ijagbemi, E. A.The Yoni expedition of 1887: a study of British imperial expansion in Sierre Leone’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, 1974, 7, 2.Google Scholar
Ikime, O. Niger Delta rivalry: Itsekiri–Urhobo relations and the European presence, 1884–1936. London, 1969.
Isichei, E. A history of the Igbo people. London, 1976.
Johnson, G. W. The emergence of black politics in Senegal: the struggle for power in the four communes, 1900–1920. Stanford, 1971.
Johnson, M.Cotton imperialism in West Africa’, African Affairs, 1974, 73.Google Scholar
Kanya-Forstner, A. S. Conquest Cambridge, 1969.
Kimble, D. A political history of Ghana, 1850–1928. Oxford, 1963.
Klein, M. A. Islam and imperialism Edinburgh, 1968.
Last, D. M. The Sokoto caliphate. London, 1967.
Lewin, T. J. Asante before the British Kansas, 1978.
Low, D. A. Lion rampant: essays in the study of British imperialism. London, 1973.
Manning, P. Slavery, colonialism and economic growth in Dahomey. Cambridge, 1982.
Markov, W. and Sebald, P.The treaty between Germany and the Sultan of Gwandu’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, 1967, 4, 1.Google Scholar
McGowan, W.Fula resistance1981, 22, 2.
Meillassoux, C. (ed.), Indigenous trade and markets London, 1971.
Méniaud, J. Les pionniers du soudan: avant, avec et après Archinard, 2 vols. Paris, 1931.
Metcalfe, G. E. Great Britain and Ghana: Documents of Ghana history, 1867–1937. London, 1964.
Michel, M.Les plantations allemandes du mont Cameroun, 1885-1914’, Revue fran¸aise d'histoire d'outre-mer, 1976, 58.Google Scholar
Miers, S. and Kopytoff, I. (ed.), Slavery in Africa Madison, 1977.
Mille, P.The black vote in Senegal’, J. Royal Afr. Soc., 1901, 1.Google Scholar
Monteil, V. Esquisses Sénégalaises. I.F.A.N., Initiations et études africaines, 21. Dakar, 1966.
Monteil, V. L'Islam noir. Paris, 1964.
Muffett, D. J. M. Concerning brave captains. London, 1964.
Newbury, C. W. British policy Oxford, 1971.
Nworah, K. D.The West African operations of the British Cotton Growing Association, 1904–1914’, Afr. Hist. Studies, 1971, 4.Google Scholar
Nyambarza, D.Le marabout El Hadj Mamadou Lamine d'après les archives françaises’, Cabiers d'études africaines, 1969, 9 (33).Google Scholar
Obichere, B. L. West African states New Haven and London, 1971.
O'Brien, D. B. The Mourides of Senegal. The political and economic organisation of an Islamic brotherhood. Oxford, 1971.
Omu, F. I. A. Press and politics in Nigeria, 1880–1917. London, 1978.
Pasquicr, R.Les débuts de la presse au Senegal’, Cabiers d'études africaines, 1962, 2, 7.Google Scholar
Pasquicr, R.Villes au Sénégal au XIXe siècle’, Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer, 1960, nos.Google Scholar
Pedler, F. J. The lion and the unicorn in Africa: a history of the origins of the United Africa Company, 1787–1931. London, 1974.
Penrose, E. F. (ed.), European imperialism London, 1975.
Perham, M. Lugard London, 1956, 1960.
Person, Y. Samori Dakar, 1968, 1970, 1975.
Porter, A. T. Creoledom London, 1963.
Quinn, CharlotteA 19th century Fulbe state’, J. Afr. Hist., 1971, 12. Mandingo kingdoms Evanston/London, 1972.Google Scholar
Renault, F.L'abolition de l'esclavage au Sénégal: l'attitude de l'administration française, 1848–1905’, Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer, 1971, 58.Google Scholar
Roberts, T. W.Railway imperialismCambridge, 1973.
Robinson, D. Chiefs and clerics: the history of Abdul Bokar Kan and Futa Toro, 1853–1891. Oxford, 1975.
Roche, C.Portraits de chefs casamançais du XIXe siècle’, Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer, 1971, 58.Google Scholar
Ross, D.Dahomey’, in Crowder, M. (ed.), West African resistance London, 1971.Google Scholar
Rotberg, R. and Mazrui, A. Protest and power in black Africa. New York, 1970.
Saint-Martin, Y. L'empire Toucouleur et la France; un demi-siècle de relations diplomatiques. Université de Dakar: Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, 1967, 11.
Salifou, A. Le Damagaram ou Sultanat de Zinder au 19e siecle. Niamey, 1971.
Sanneh, L. The Jakhanke: the history of an Islamic clerical people of the Senegambia. London, 1979.
Smaldone, J. Warfare in the Sokoto caliphate: historical and sociological perspectives. Cambridge, 1977.
Smith, R. S.Nigeria-Ijebu’, in Crowder, M. (ed.), West African resistance London, 1971.Google Scholar
Smith, R. Warfare and diplomacy in pre-colonial West Africa. London, 1976.
Smith, W. D. The German colonial empire. Chapel Hill, 1978.
Spitzer, L. The Creoles of Sierra Leone: responses to colonialism, 1870–1945. Madison, 1974.
Staniland, M. The lions of Dagbon: political change in Northern Ghana. Cambridge, 1975.
Stewart, C. C. Islam and social order in Mauritania. Oxford, 1973.
Stoecker, H. (ed.), Kamerun unter deutscber Kolonialberrschaft. Studien, Institut für allgemeine Geschichte, Humboldt-Universität. Berlin, E.: vol. 1, 1960; vol. 11, 1968.
Suret-Canale, J.La Guinée dans le syst`me colonial’, Presence africaine, 1959–60, 29.Google Scholar
Suret-Canale, J. Afrique noire occidental et centrale, vol. 11: L'ère coloniale. Paris, 1964 (English edn, French colonialism in tropical Africa, 1900–194;. London, 1971).
Swindell, K.Serawoollies, Tillibunkas1980, 21, 1.
Tamuno, T. N. The evolution of the Nigerian state: the southern phase, 1898–1914. London, 1972.
Tasie, G. O. M. Christian missionary enterprise. Leiden, 1978.
Thomas, R. G.Forced labour in British West Africa: the case of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, 1906–1927’, J. Afr. Hist., 1973, 14.Google Scholar
Tordoff, W. Ashanti under the Prempehs 1888–1935. London, 1965.
Uzoigwe, G. N. Conquest of Africa Ann Arbor, Mich., 1974.
Vietor, J. K. Die Geschichte und kulturelle Enhvicklung unserer Scbützgebieten. Berlin, 1913.
Webster, J. B. The African churches among the Yuruba, 1885–1922. Oxford, 1964.
Wieskel, T. C. French colonial rule and the Baule peoples: resistance and collaboration, 1889–1911. Oxford, 1980.
Wilks, I. Asante Cambridge, 1975.
Wirz, A. Vom Sklavenhandel zum Kolonialhandel; Wirtscbaftsräume und Wirtschaftsformen in Kamerun vor 1914. Zurich, 1973.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×