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The Canoe in West African History1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Robert Smith
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Extract

The canoe, carved and usually also burnt-out from a single tree trunk, played a part in the history of the coastal, lagoon and river-side peoples of West Africa similar in importance to that of the horse in the savannah states. It ranged in size from the small fishing canoe to craft over 80 ft. in length and capable of carrying, in calm waters, 100 men or more. Sails were often used, in addition to paddles and punt poles. The builders were specialists, usually living in the forests, where the most suitable trees were found.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , October 1970 , pp. 515 - 533
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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References

2 Barbot, J., A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea (London, 1732), 268, writes: ‘The name of Canoe is properly of the West Indies…and from those people the Spaniards learnt it.’ The Oxford Dictionary similarly derives the word from the Spanish and Haytian canoa. Most, probably all, West African languages have their own word or words for ‘canoe’ or ‘boat’. A canoe is normally defined as a boat which is pointed at both ends and propelled by paddles. The stern is usually wider than the bows, and a properly trimmed canoe has its bows slightly higher out of the water than the stern. In going ashore through surf, the canoe should be bow-heavy, and stern-heavy when being launched.Google Scholar

3 Alternatively, early man first embarked on the water on bundles of reeds, and from these evolved the papyrus boats of the Nile and the reed canoes still used on Lake Chad. (Isaiah xviii, 1, 2, even suggests that ‘vessels of bulrushes’ voyaged on the sea: but cf. the Authorized and Revised Standard Versions of the Bible.) As in other parts of the world, primitive boats may also have been built in West Africa from skins stretched over wooden frames, like the British coracles. Canoes of bark, however, are unlikely to have existed here, since the forest trees have a bark which is too thin and in the savannah the bark is usually deeply fissured.

4 Edited and translated by Kimble, G. H. T. in the Hakluyt Society's edition (London, 1937).Google Scholar

5 See Tymowski, M., ‘Le Niger, voie de communication des grands états du Soudan Occidental jusqu' à la fin du XVIe sièle’, Africana Bulletin 6 (1967), Warsaw University, 73–95.Google Scholar The author makes numerous references to Rouch, J., Les Songhay (Paris 1954,), which was unfortunately not available to the present writer.Google Scholar

6 The Ethnographical Department of the National Museum of Denmark at Copenhagen has (in room 65) a boat collected, apparently early in the nineteenth century, on the Gold Coast. According to the catalogue, the boat, the middle part of which is missing, is equipped with paddles, mast and a mat sail. At the museum in Jos, Northern Nigeria, there is an example of the reed canoes of Lake Chad. The Nigerian Museum at Lagos has photographs (in envelope 50 in the library) of seven canoes belonging to Ijo chiefs, taken at Bonny and Degema between 1896 and 1906. Some, which appear to be basically dug-outs, carry houseboat-like superstructures, and around 50 men can be seen on board.

7 A Description and Historical Declaration of the Golden Kingdom of Guinea…, translated in Purchas His Pilgrims, VI; quoted in Wolfson, F., Pageant of Ghana (Oxford, 1958), 51–2.Google Scholar

8 Barbot, , Description, 41, 128, 136, 141. Barbot made his last voyage to Africa in 1682.Google Scholar

9 Ibid., 149–50, 557, 266.

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13 Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo (London, 1823), 6, 238–40.Google Scholar

14 The writer is indebted to Professor J. D. Fage for information about the geography of the Gold Coast.

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19 Description, 382.Google Scholar

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22 PRO, FO 84/920, Campbell, to Clarendon, , 1 09 1853;Google ScholarDrIrving, R.N., in the Church Missionary Intelligencer v (1854), 106.Google Scholar

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24 Description, 41, 266.Google ScholarDickson, K. B., A Historical Geography of Ghana (Cambridge, 1969), 46–7, discusses the origin of the use of cloth sails by the sailors of the Gold Coast. He claims that ‘by the beginning of the eighteenth century sails of rush mat had completely disappeared’ and been replaced on the Coast by cloth sails. Rush mat sails are still to be seen on the Lagos lagoon.Google Scholar

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26 Ojo, G. J. A., Yoruba Culture (London, 1966), 49–50;Google ScholarWhitford, J., Trading Life in Western and Central Africa (London, 1877; second edition, 1967), 105. Whitford also writes that ‘sometimes they spread butterfly sails, after the manner of Queen Elizabeth's invention of studding sails, and they then go along rapidly’.Google Scholar

27 Tarikh es-Soudan (tr. Houdas, O., Paris, 1900), 392–3,Google Scholar cited by Tymowski, , ‘Le Niger’, 88.Google Scholar

28 Description, 297. The operation is shown in an engraving on the same page.Google Scholar

28 Jones, A. M., Africa and Indonesia (Leiden, 1964), 192–7, advances the dovetails as evidence for his thesis of Indonesian colonization in Africa. Canoes with dovetails appear in the engraving of ‘Fishing Cannoes of Mina’ in Barbot, Description, plate 9, A (156). Barbot writes (268) that ‘This sort of little canoe is exactly represented in its proper form and shape’ in this print.Google Scholar

30 Accounts were obtained at Badagry, Nigeria in February 1969 and at Apese, Bar Beach, Lagos in October 1969.

31 The writer thanks Dr M. Hossain for information about the effects of burning out. An account of fishing canoes in the Labadi district of Ghana is given by Brown, A. P. in Irvine, F. R., The Fishes and Fisheries of the Gold Coast (London, 1947), 23–6, 32–3.Google Scholar According to Meek, C. K., A Sudanese Kingdom (London, 1931), 426, the Jukun, instead of burning out their canoes, soak them in river water for about a month.Google Scholar

32 Description, 149, 266. Canoes are not now made at Komenda and it seems likely that in Barbot's time these coastal villages were markets for the sale of canoes brought from the forests behind the coast, rather than centres of boat-building.

33 Tarikh el-Fettach (tr. Houdas, O., Delafosse, M., Paris, 1913), 109–10,Google Scholar cited by Tymowski, , ‘Le Niger’, 89–90.Google Scholar

34 Tymowski, , ‘Le Niger’, 87.Google Scholar Tymowski considers that the kantá', or heavy trade boats of the Songhay mentioned in the Tarikh el-Fettach, must have resembled the boat in which René Caillé travelled to Timbuctoo in 1828. This was a ‘great canoe’ which ‘appeared…very fragile; like the smaller ones its planks were joined with cords; its burthen was about 60 tons’ (extracted from Caillé's Travels, English translation, London 1830, in Howard, and Plumb, , Explorers, 362).Google Scholar In northern Europe, as is evident from Caesar's account of the Veneti, boats were being built from planks before the coming of the Romans. Moyse-Bartlett, H., in From Sail to Steam (Historical Association, London, 1946), 2, suggests that ‘By a crude process of pegging extra pieces of wood’ along the edges of the dug-out canoes ‘to secure greater freeboard, these evolved into plank-built boats, of which the original canoe became merely the heavy keel’.Google Scholar

35 Alagoa, E. J., ‘Long-distance trade and States in the Niger Delta’, J. Afr. Hust., xi, 3 (1970), 323–5.Google Scholar The name of one of the Ijo groups, the Arogbo, means ‘canoe forest’. Abo (‘Eboe town’) was apparently also a canoe-building centre, though the statement by the Landers, (Journal, III, 205) that all the large canoes plying the Delta rivers ‘from Benin to Calabar’ were built there, must be exaggerated.Google Scholar

36 Information given by the Asogbon, a Lagos war chief, in 03 1969.Google Scholar One source of supply here was probably the village of Itori, between Otta and Abeokuta, which was noted by Sir Gilbert Carter during his trek into Yorubaland as a centre of boat-building (General Report of the Lagos Interior Expedition, 1893, Appendix II).Google Scholar

37 ‘Osifekunde of Ijebu’, ed. Lloyd, P. C., in Africa Remembered, ed. Curtin, P. D. (Wisconsin, 1967), 245 and n. 68, 287. ‘Boughiye’ appears on no map, but Osifekunde located it on a creek (perhaps the present Omu Creek) opposite Ikosi, while D'Avezac conjectured, probably wrongly, that this was the place known to the Portuguese as Aldea das Almadias, ‘boat town’, which early maps place on the north side of the lagoon.Google Scholar

38 ‘Le Niger’, 84, 95.

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40 Tarikh el-Fettach, 142, 165, 216,Google Scholar cited by Tymowski, , ‘Le Niger’, 93–4.Google Scholar

41 The Aromire is senior of the Idejo White Cap chiefs of Lagos. The Rev. Samuel, Johnson, The History of the Yorubas (C.M.S., Lagos, 1921), 123, describes him as ‘a chieftain who ranked as an admiral in the olden days of sea fighting’, but in an interview in April 1969 the present holder of the title said that his predecessors had never been among the war chiefs and that the title referred to their role as leading fishermen on the lagoon.Google Scholar

42 Jones, G. I., The Trading States of the Oil Rivers (Oxford, 1963), passim, but especially 55–7, 159–76.Google ScholarDike, K. O., Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830–1885 (Oxford, 1956), 42, writes that at Bonny ‘the confirmation of a chief's election by the king was dependent on the former having equipped and manned a war-canoe and demonstrated that he had adequate resources to maintain it in peace and war’.Google Scholar

43 Description, 149–50, 256, 266. In 17th century parlance ‘Angola’ might mean Loango.Google Scholar

44 Esmeraldo, 132.Google Scholar

45 Smith, , Kingdoms, 94.Google Scholar

46 Curtin, (ed.), Africa Remembered, 239–51; the table derives from 244.Google Scholar

47 Kuramo or Curamo seems from other references to have been a separate place from Lagos. Dapper, , Description, 307,Google Scholar places it further to the east and on the south side of the lagoon or Lagos river; Barbot, , Description, 354, appears to apply the name to the whole strip of land (properly, Ehin Osa) between the eastern lagoon and the sea. The name survives in Kuramo Waters, an inlet from the lagoon just east of Bar Beach, Lagos.Google Scholar

48 From the diaries of M.-J. Bonnat and ‘George Dobson’, cited by Johnson, M. in ‘The cowrie currencies of West Africa. Part I’, J. Afr. Hist., XI, 4 (1970), 28. Bonnat purchased for his journey a canoe, probably holding about a ton of merchandise, for 25 heads of cowries, which he valued at ten dollars and one shilling.Google Scholar

49 El-Bekri, , Description de l'afrique septentrionale (tr. Slane, , Algiers, 1913), 337–9;Google ScholarMauny, , Tableau géographique, map 429; Tarikh el-Fettach, 179–80, 182,Google Scholar cited by Tymowski, , ‘Le Niger’, 79–80, 84–5.Google Scholar

50 Howard, and Plumb, , Explorers, 123.Google Scholar

51 Esmeraldo, 132.Google Scholar See also Ryder, A. F. C., ‘An Early Portuguese Trading Voyage to the Forcados River’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria I, 4 (12 1959), 318, for purchases of yams ‘from the canoes at the market’, by the pilot (as commander) of a Portuguese trading ship in 1522.Google Scholar

52 Remarks, 130.Google Scholar

53 Allen, and Thomson, , Narrative, II, 365.Google Scholar

54 Ibid. 1, 193–4, 236–7. For these temporary riverside markets, see Boston, J. S., ‘Notes on Contact between the Igala and the Ibo’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria II, 1 (1960), 53,Google Scholar and Isichei, E., ‘Historical Change in an Ibo Polity: Asaba to 1885’, J. African Hist. x, 3 (1969), 425.Google Scholar

55 van Nyendael, D. in Bosman, W., A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (London, 1705), 427–8.Google ScholarRyder, A. F. C., Benin and the Europeans, 1485–1897 (London, 1969), 147, describes an attack in 1716 by eight Ijo canoes armed with guns on two Dutch trading canoes in the Benin river.Google Scholar

56 Esmeraldo, 109–10.Google Scholar

57 Description, 94 (Plate E), 150, 156 (Plate 9 B), 323, 354. Barbot writes (323) that the Popo shipped off slaves in their canoes, which is at variance with Adams's later information that they were unwilling to venture through the surf and that Gold Coast crews and canoes had to be hired for trading with them (see page 517 above).Google Scholar

58 Adams, , Remarks, 96, 240.Google Scholar

59 Bowdich, T. E., Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashaatee (London, 1819), 225–6. He adds, however, that from his personal experience, he ‘never heard any slaves speak of being brought any part of the way by water, but I have not seen any who were brought to Kosie or Lagos’ (226).Google Scholar

60 Barbot, , Description, 146, 191.Google Scholar

61 Esmeraldo, 100.Google Scholar

62 Description, 156. Fishing of this kind is usually profitable only to the limits of the Continental Shelf, or Hundred Fathoms Line, which off the Gold Coast extends to an average of about 30 miles.Google Scholar

63 Remarks, 40.Google Scholar

64 See, for example, Ojo, , Yoruba Culture, 31–3, 44–50, 80, 101.Google Scholar

65 Cited by Kup, , Sierra Leone, 171.Google Scholar

66 Description, 316.Google ScholarR., and Lander, J., Journal, III, 133, also mention the presence of ‘boarding pikes’ in the Ibo canoes on the Lower Niger.Google Scholar

67 Barbot, , Description, 87, 251 (Plate 22), 263–4;Google ScholarBosman, , Description, 186.Google Scholar But Dapper, , Description, 302, writes of bows on the coast, made of a very hard wood, which were used in war with poisoned arrows.Google Scholar

68 See, for example, Dapper, , Description, 302, and Bosman, , Description, 184.Google Scholar

69 Barbot, , Description, 266;Google ScholarNorris, , Memoirs, 56.Google Scholar

70 Dalzel, A., The History of Dahomey, an Inland Kingdom of Africa (London, 1793), 169. Antonio Vaz Coelho traded in Ardra, where he exercised considerable influence. ‘He had an uncommon share of vanity, and was excessively fond of military enterprises, which led him to affect a splendour of equipage far above that of his companions. He generally armed his dependents with blunderbusses, which he purchased from the Europeans; and war canoes armed with swivels, were by him first introduced’. R. C. C. Law, in a private communication, suggests that Dalzel's dating of this war to 1778 should be amended to 1782. The contemporary Day-Book for William's Fort, Whydah, records no expedition against Ekpe in 1778, but does record one in December 1782 (P.R.O. T.70/1162), as does L. Abson to R. Miles (T. 70/1545). Dalzel is somewhat inaccurate in other details of the chronology of the period.Google Scholar

71 Rev. Gollmer, C. A., Journal (C.M.S. CA2 044c), 7 07 1851 and 22 07 1851.Google Scholar

72 See Ajayi, J. F. A. and Smith, Robert, Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 1964), 18, 31, 138–9.Google Scholar

73 Jones, , Trading States, 55, and in a private communication. The sources for this statement were oral tradition, Kalabari and European. Professor Robin Horton, also in a private communication, reports that a Gatling gun, preserved at Buguma in New Calabar, may have been used in canoe warfare during the Kalabari civil war of 1879–83. It was bought by the Abbi House from King Jaja of Opobo.Google Scholar

74 Cited by Ryder, , Benin and the Europeans, 213.Google Scholar

75 Allen, and Thomson, , Narrative, I, 236.Google Scholar

76 For example, see Clapperton, H., Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa (London, 1829), 1–2 (at Badagry);Google ScholarR., and Lander, J., Journal, III, 139 (Ibo canoes on the Niger);Google ScholarAllen, and Thomson, , Narrative, I, 194 (King Boy of Brass Town's canoes); R. Smith, ‘Palaver Islands’ (on Kosoko's canoes).Google Scholar

77 Remarks, 136.Google Scholar

78 Dixon, Denham, in Howard, and Plumb, , Explorers, 211–2.Google Scholar

79 PRO, FO 84/950, Campbell, to Clarendon, , 10 08 1854.Google Scholar The Iso live in the hinterland of Whydah and were employed by the king of Allada in his attacks on Badagry in the nineteenth century. The Rev. Crowther, S. A., Journal (CMS. CA 2. 031 b), 23 06 1845 and 25–28 02 1845, describes the Iso fleet as consisting of about 80 small canoes, each with a crew of from three to six men.Google Scholar

80 Tarikh el-Fettach, 89, 142, 165, 209, 216, 243Google Scholar and Tarik es-Soudan, 158–9, 165–6,Google Scholar cited by Tymowski, , ‘Le Niger’, 86, 93–4.Google Scholar

81 Description, 266, 382.Google Scholar See also Dapper, , Description, 316.Google Scholar

82 Narrative, I, 236.Google Scholar

83 Jones, , Trading States, 55.Google Scholar

84 PRO, FO84/886, Beecroft, to Granville, , 3 01 1852.Google Scholar

85 History of Nigeria (London, 1958 edition), 122.Google Scholar

86 See Ajayi and Smith, Yoruba Warfare, Part I, chapter 3.

87 PRO, FO84/954, Bruce, to Admiralty, 23 01 1854, enclosing Lieutenant Bedingfield's report of 19 January.Google Scholar

88 Cited in SirPalmer, R., The Bornu Sahara and Sudan (London, 1936), 240.Google Scholar

89 Flint, J. E., Sir George Goldie and the Making of Nigeria (Oxford, 1960), 38–9. Ultimately the British trading firm, the United African Company, sent a steamer to the Emir's help.Google Scholar

90 ‘Le Niger’, 85−6.

91 Barbot, , Description, 154.Google Scholar

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93 Norris, , Memoirs, 54–6.Google Scholar

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95 Rev. Townsend, H., Journal (CMS CA2 o85b), 17 03 1845.Google Scholar

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98 Ryder, , Benin and the Europeans, 225–6.Google Scholar

99 For a fuller account of these actions, see Smith, ‘Palaver Islands’.