Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T16:59:03.982Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Commerce, Christianity and the Origins of the ‘Creoles’ of Fernando Po*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Martin Lynn
Martin Lynn
Affiliation:
Queens' University, Belfast
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During the early and middle years of the nineteenth century a Creole elite emerged on the island of Fernando Po. The origins of this lay in the fact that for the thirty years after 1827 the island was at the centre of European political and economic interests in the Gulf of Guinea. The short-lived British occupation of Fernando Po, 1827–34, established the town of Clarence and brought to the island a number of settlers, and in particular ‘liberated Africans’, freed from slave ships captured by the Royal Navy. The situation they faced in Clarence and the treatment they received, not least once the British government withdrew and a succession of British traders attempted to run the town, led to the emergence of a homogeneous society out of the various ethnic groups they comprised. This society was to be transformed by the development of a palm oil trade on the island, particularly during the 1840s. This led to the emergence of a group of middlemen between the Bubi producers of the interior and the European traders who collected oil from Clarence, and concurrently, to the stratification of Clarence society into a trading elite and a group of labourers and servants. This trading elite was attracted to the work of the Baptist Mission in Clarence after 1841, and in particular saw the value of the Mission in giving itself a distinct identity. Over time this elite and the Baptists drew apart, but this was not before the interrelation of social stratification with the work of the Mission had produced a class of Creoles whose descendants – the Fernandinos – still survive as a distinct group in Equatorial Guinea today.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , July 1984 , pp. 257 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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

1 Fyfe, C., A History of Sierra Leone (London, 1962)Google Scholar; Hargreaves, J. D., ‘African colonisation in the nineteenth century: Liberia and Sierra Leone’, Sierra Leone Studies, (new series) XVII (1962), 189–203Google Scholar; Porter, A. T., Creoledom (London, 1963)Google Scholar; Peterson, J., Province of Freedom: A History of Sierra Leone (London, 1969)Google Scholar; Fyfe, C., ‘Reform in West Africa: the abolition of the slave trade’, in Ajayi, J. F. A. and Crowder, M., History of West Africa (London, 1974), II, 30–56Google Scholar; Patterson, K. D., The Northern Gabon Coast to 1875 (Oxford, 1975).Google Scholar

2 Fernando Po is part of the ‘historiographical void’ that Patterson complains of: Patterson, , Gabon, vii.Google Scholar For recent work on Fernando Po: Brown, R. T., ‘Fernando Po and the anti-Sierra Leone campaign, 1826–1834’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, VI (1973), 249–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sundiata, I. K., ‘Prelude to scandal: Liberia and Fernando Po, 1880–1930’, J. Afr. Hist, XV (1974), 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Cronjé, S., Equatorial Guinea – the Forgotten Dictatorship (London, 1976), 7–8Google Scholar; Church, R. J. H., ‘Spanish Guinea’, West Africa, 8 March, 5 April, 12 April 1952Google Scholar; ‘Fernando Po – Spain in Africa’, Geographical Magazine, XXXVI (1963–1964), 540–548Google Scholar; Fernando Po has now been renamed Bioko.

4 For recent debate on Creoles: Skinner, D. E. and Harrell-Bond, B. E., ‘Misunderstandings arising from the use of the term “Creole” in the literature on Sierra Leone’, Africa, XLVII (1977), 305–320CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wyse, A. J. G., ‘On misunderstandings arising from the use of the term “Creole”…A rejoinder’, Africa, XLIX (1979), 408–417CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fyfe, C., ‘The term Creole: a footnote to a footnote’, Africa, L (1980), 422CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Skinner, D. and Harrell-Bond, B. E., ‘Creoles: a final comment’, Africa, LI (1981), 787.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Hutchinson, T. J., Impressions of Western Africa (London, 1858), 181Google Scholar; Bouët-Willaumez, L. E., Commerce et Traite des Noirs aux côtes occidentales d'Afrique (Paris, 1849), 149Google Scholar; Kingsley, M., Travels in West Africa (London, 1897), 71–72.Google Scholar See also Reading, J. H., The Ogowe Band (Philadelphia, 1890), 130Google Scholar; Roe, H., West African Scenes (London, 1874), 39Google Scholar; Bell, G., Our Fernandian Field (London, n.d.), 12–13.Google Scholar

6 Missionary Articles… 1883–1904 by R. Fairley, West Africa, Biographical, Box 6, Methodist Missionary Society Archives (hereafter MMSA).

7 One of the main reasons for the occupation was the desire to move the Mixed Commission Courts for the Suppression of the Slave Trade from Freetown to be nearer the place of capture for most slaves; Lynn, M., ‘John Beecroft and West Africa, 1829–1854’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1979), 19–39.Google Scholar

8 Dike, K. O., Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830–1885 (Oxford, 1956), 55–60Google Scholar; Lynn, , ‘John Beecroft’, 71–79.Google Scholar For a recent study of Owen Burrows, E. H.Capt. Owen of the African Survey (Rotterdam, 1979).Google Scholar

9 Scotter, W. H., ‘International rivalry in the Bights of Benin and Biafra, 1815–1885’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1933), 95–104Google Scholar; Moreno, A. Moreno, Reseña Historica de la Presencia de España en el Golfo de Guinea (Madrid, 1952), 30–2.Google Scholar Clarence, now renamed Malabo, was renamed Santa Isabel, and North-West Bay was renamed San Carlos Bay by the Spanish in 1843, but these names did not become common until 1858.

10 John Clarke's Journal, ‘First Journey to Africa’ (hereafter CJF), I, 1 Jan. 1841, Baptist Missionary Society Archives (hereafter BMSA); Whitford, J., Trading Life in Western and Central Africa (London, 1877), 308Google Scholar; Daniel, W. F., Sketches of the Medical Topography of the Gulf of Guinea (London, 1849), 146Google Scholar; Janikowski, L., ‘L'île de Fernando Po’, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), VII (1886), 568Google Scholar; Reade, W. W., Savage Africa (London, 1863), 60.Google Scholar

11 Nicolls to Hay, 25 Oct. 1830, CO 82/3, Public Record Office, Kew.

12 Parliamentary Papers, 1830, X (661), 44–52Google Scholar; Census of the population of Clarence…7 June 1835, in Nicolls to Grey, 13 Nov 1838, CO 82/9; Baptist Missionary Herald (hereafter BMH), March 1846, 186–187Google Scholar; Hutchinson, , Impressions, 180.Google Scholar These figures are comparable with those of Sierra Leone at a similar time after its foundation.

13 Holman, J., Travels… (London, 1840), 240ffGoogle Scholar; Owen to Croker, 12 Aug 1828, in Barrow to Hay, 18 Nov 1828, CO 82/1.

14 This was some 5 per cent of the population, BMH, March 1846, 186–187.Google Scholar

15 As the courts remained in Freetown such landings were illegal. Bethell, L., ‘The mixed commissions for the suppression of the transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century’, J. Afr. Hist, VII (1966), 79–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Owen to Hay, 6 March 1829, CO 82/2; Parliamentary Papers, 1830, X (661), 44–52Google Scholar; Clarke, John Journal, ‘Second journey to Africa’ (hereafter CJS), 1, 25 Feb 1844Google Scholar, BMSA.

17 Nicolls to Hay, 8 Nov 1830, CO 82/3; BMH, Sept 1844, 483Google Scholar; Lynn, , ‘John Beecroft’, 51–52, 176–180.Google Scholar For works on the Bubi, Clarke, J., Introduction to the Fernandian Tongue (Berwick, 1848)Google Scholar; Baumann, O., Fernando Po und die Bube (Wien, 1888)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tessmann, G., Die Bubi auf Fernando Poo (Darmstadt, 1923)Google Scholar; Gil-Delgado, C. Crespo, Notas para un estudio antropologico y etnologico del Bubi (Madrid, 1949)Google Scholar; Pelissier, R., Los Territories Espanoles de Africa (Madrid, 1964), 48Google Scholar; Berman, S., ‘Spanish Guinea’ (unpublished M.Sc. dissertation, Catholic University, Washington, 1961), 20.Google Scholar

18 BMH, March 1846, 186–187.Google Scholar The 1835 Census showed a considerable excess of males over females in Clarence, : Census of the population of Clarence… 7 June 1835Google Scholar in Nicolls to Grey, 13 Nov. 1838, CO 82/9.

19 BMH, March 1846, 186–187.Google ScholarAllen, W. and Trotter, T. R. H., Narrative of the Expedition…to the River Niger (London, 1848), II, 191Google Scholar; Parliamentary Papers, 1850, XI (53)Google Scholar, Q. 3494ff; Brooks, G. E., The Kru Mariner in the Nineteenth Century (Newark, 1972), 25, 56.Google Scholar

20 CJF, I, 18 Jan. 1841, II, 18 Sept. 1841, 5 Jan. 1842Google Scholar; BMH, Sept. 1841, 469Google Scholar; Johnson, J. F., Proceedings of the General Anti-Slavery Convention (London, 1843), 261Google Scholar; Marwick, M., William and Louisa Anderson (Edinburgh, 1897), 274–275.Google Scholar This population structure, with ‘Original Settlers’, Liberated Africans and Kru transients, was similar to that of Freetown in its early years.

21 BMH, Sept. 1841, 469.Google Scholar

22 CJF, I, 19 June 1841.

23 Owen to Croker, 12 Aug. 1828, in Barrow to Hay, 18 Nov. 1828, CO 82/1.

24 CJF, I, 3 March 1841.

25 BMH, Sept. 1841, 469Google Scholar; Hutchinson, , Impressions, 180.Google Scholar

26 Nicolls to Hay, 25 Oct. 1830, CO 82/3.

27 Nicolls to Hay, 1 Sept. 1830, CO 82/3.

28 Owen to Murray, 23 Jan. 1830, CO 82/3; affidavits of Capts. Gordon and Hemingway, 25 July, CO 82/3; Leonard, P., Records of a Voyage… (Edinburgh, 1833), 232–233.Google Scholar

29 Mechanics to Owen, 24 Sept. 1828, in Owen to CO, 26 Sept. 1828, CO 82/1; Nicolls to Clifton, 26 Sept. 1829, in Clifton to Hay, 14 Jan. 1830, CO 82/3; Nicolls to Hay, 25 April 1831, CO 82/5.

30 Owen to Murray, 23 Jan. 1830, CO 82/3; Parliamentary Papers, 1830, X (661), 46.Google Scholar

31 Nicolls to Hay, 23 Sept. 1831, CO 82/4; 10 July 1832, 30 Aug. 1832, CO 82/5.

32 CJF, I, 1 Jan., 10 Feb. 1841.

33 CJF, I, 9 Jan. 1841; Clarke to Anti-Slavery Society, 16 Nov. 1841, in Anti-Slavery Society to CO, 21 April, CO 82/9.

34 CJF, I, 26 April 1841.

35 CJF, I, 17 April 1841, 25 June 1841, II, 8 July 1841; Allen, and Thompson, , Narrative, II, 306.Google Scholar The company also tried to develop an oil trade from the mainland: Huntley, H. V., Seven Years Service in Western Africa (London, 1860), 384–385.Google Scholar

36 CJF, I, 20 Jan. 1841, 12 May 1841; Clarke to Anti-Slavery Society, 16 Nov. 1841, in Anti-Slavery Society to CO, 21 April 1842, CO 82/9; Johnson, , Anti-Slavery Convention, 261.Google Scholar

37 Nicolls to Grey, 12 Nov. 1838, CO 82/9; CJF, I, 22 June, 1841.

38 Clarke to Anti-Slavery Society, 16 Nov. 1841, in Anti-Slavery Society to CO, 21 April 1842, CO 82/9; CJF, I, 5 April, 6 May, 19 June 1841.

39 CJS, II, II Nov. 1844.

40 CJF, I, 14 June 1841.

41 CJF, I, 20 Jan. 1841.

42 Nicolls to Hay, 25 Oct. 1830, CO 82/3; Nicolls to Grey, 12 Nov. 1838, CO 82/9.

43 Fyfe, , ‘Reform in West Africa’, 48.Google Scholar

44 In addition to these, a similar number had a mixture of European forenames with African surnames: Census of the population of Clarence… 7 June 1835, in Nicolls to Grey, 13 Nov. 1838, CO 82/9.

45 These points are developed in Lynn, , ‘John Beecroft’, 82–123.Google Scholar

46 CJS, I, 27 May 1844; Parliamentary Papers, 1842, XI (551)Google Scholar, Q.4154; H. M. Waddell's Journal, VIII, 18 May 1850, National Library of Scotland; log of the Magistrate, 10 Feb. 1841, M/23, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.Google Scholar

47 Owen to Croker, 13 Oct 1828, in Barrow to Hay, 3 Feb. 1829, CO 82/2; Wilson, J. L., Western Africa (London, 1856), 357.Google Scholar

48 This figure is derived from counting the ships mentioned in Clarke's journal. This was at a time when less than 100 palm oil ships a year arrived in Britain from West Africa as a whole.

49 Lynn, M., ‘Change and continuity in the British palm oil trade with West Africa, 1830–1855’, J. Afr. Hist. XXII (1981), 348Google Scholar; Gertzel, C., ‘John Holt: A British Merchant in West Africa…’ (Unpublished D.Phil, thesis, University of Oxford, 1959), 44–45Google Scholar; Waddell's journal, IX, 16 Aug. 1852.

50 Nicolls to Hay, 24 Aug. 1833, CO 82/3; Smellie to Victualling Office, 20 Oct. 1831, in VO to Hay, 23 Nov. 1831, CO 82/4; Usera y Alarcon, J. M., Memoria de la Isla de Fernando Poo (Madrid, 1848), 32–34Google Scholar; Laird, M. and Oldfield, R. A. K., Narrative of an Expedition (London, 1837), 1, 281Google Scholar; Keppel, H., A Sailor's Life under Four Sovereigns (London, 1899) I, 224.Google Scholar

51 Usera y Alarcon, , Memoria, 20.Google Scholar

52 Gertzel, , ‘John Holt’, 98Google Scholar; Hastings, A. C. G., Voyage of the Dayspring (London, 1926), 62–63Google Scholar; Whitford, J., Trading Life in Western and Central Africa (London, 1877), 310–311Google Scholar; Holt, J., Early Years of an African Trader (London, 1962), IIGoogle Scholar; Dike, K. O., ‘John Beecroft’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, 1 (1956), 5–15.Google Scholar

53 Barrow to Hay, 27 Sept. 1830, CO 82/3; Nicolls to Hay, 4 Dec. 1831, CO 82/4; CJS, I, 3 March 1844.

54 CJF, I, 13 Jan. 1841; CJS, I, 21 Feb. 1844, 20 April 1844; II, 9 Feb. 1845, 6 March 1845.

55 CJS, II, 11 Sept. 1844.

56 Holman, , Travels, 306–307, 345.Google Scholar

57 For descriptions of Bubi oil production, Hutchinson, , Impressions, 192–195Google Scholar; Mann, G., ‘Account of the ascent of Clarence Peak’, Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, VI (1862), 29Google Scholar; Church Missionary Intelligencer, IV (1853), 260–263Google Scholar; Primitive Methodist Records, May 1881, 40.Google Scholar The Bubi were producing around 400 tons p.a. by the middle of the century: Gertzel, , ‘John Holt’, 157.Google Scholar

58 CJS, II, 25 Nov. 1844, 1 March 1845; BMH, March 1846, 184–185Google Scholar; Usera y Alarcon, , Memoria, 13.Google Scholar

59 BMH, March 1846, 184–185Google Scholar; CJF, I, 9 April 1841. There is evidence of ‘trust’ working in reverse, from the Bubi to the Clarence traders, BMH, March 1842, 150.Google Scholar

60 CJF, II, 16 Jan. 1842; CJS, II, 21 Nov. 1844; BMH, March 1846, 184.Google Scholar

61 CJS, II, 20 March 1844, 22 Nov. 1844, 26 Nov. 1844.

62 BMH, March 1846, 184–185.Google Scholar

63 CJS, II, 9 Dec. 1844, 13 Dec. 1844; Church Book of Clarence, 5 Oct. 1847, BMSA.

64 Kingsley, , Travels, 71–72.Google Scholar

65 Primitive Methodist Records, Jan. 1874, 7.Google Scholar

66 Journal of W. B. Luddington, 1, 24 April 1873, Biographical, West Africa, Box 6, MMSA.

67 CJF, II, 13 Jan. 1842.

68 CJS, II, 1 March 1845. Melville Bay was renamed Concepcion Bay by the Spanish.

69 CJS, II, 1 March 1845, 3 March 1845, 5 Dec. 1845; III, 23 Sept. 1845.

70 CJS, II, 17 Dec. 1844.

71 CJS, III, 21 Oct. 1846, 25 Oct. 1846, 30 Oct. 1846.

72 Church Book of Clarence, 13 and 15 May 1848.

73 CJS, III, 24 June 1846. Oil was sold in Clarence by the town's traders at 1 shilling per gallon. The West African Company collected its rents in oil, at a rate of 1 gallon per quarter. The price of oil in the Delta at this time was approximately £15–20 per ton; Clarence oil was expensive at around £25 per ton: Clarke to Anti-Slavery Society, 16 Nov. 1841, in Anti-Slavery Society to CO, 21 April 1842, CO 82/9.

74 Lynn, , ‘John Beecroft’, 111–112.Google Scholar

75 Ibid. 120–121.

76 Lynn, , ‘Change and continuity’, 340.Google Scholar

77 CJF, II, 18 Sept. 1841; CJS, III, 26 Feb. 1846; Nicolls to Hay, 25 Oct. 1830, CO 82/3.

78 Census of the population of Clarence… 7 June 1835, in Nicolls to Grey, 13 Nov. 1838, CO 82/9; BMH, March 1846, 186–187.Google Scholar The latter figure is nearly 40 per cent of the town's population.

79 BMH, March 1846, 186–187.Google Scholar

80 CJF, I, 5 Jan. 1841; Clarke to Anti-Slavery Society, 16 Nov. 1841, in Anti-Slavery Society to CO, 21 April 1842, CO 82/9.

81 CJS, III, 12 Aug. 1845; Memorial of Jonathan Scott, 27 June 1852, FO 2/7; Lynslager and Matthews to Beecroft, 24 Feb. 1852, in Beecroft to Malmesbury, 30 June 1852, FO 84/886; Johnson, , Anti-Slavery Convention, 505–506.Google Scholar

82 CJF, II, 7 Jan. 1842; CJS, II, 21 Nov. 1844.

83 CJF, II, 28 Jan. 1842.

84 CJS, II, 27 Feb. 1845. Later Nicholls traded to Old Calabar, but he should be distinguished from his famous namesake: Fyfe, C., ‘Peter Nicholls – Old Calabar and Freetown’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, II (1960), 105–114.Google Scholar

85 As examples, CJF, II, 18 Dec. 1841, 10 Jan. 1842.

86 CJF, II, 18 Sept. 1841.

87 Census of the population of Clarence… 7 June 1835, in Nicolls to Grey, 13 Nov. 1838, CO 82/9. This 44 included five Europeans.

88 BMH, Feb. 1844, 105.Google Scholar

89 See esp. Russell, H., ‘Missionary outreach of the West Indian churches to West Africa in the 19th century’ (unpublished D.Phil, thesis, University of Oxford, 1973).Google Scholar The scheme can be followed in the BMH, July 1840–July 1843.Google Scholar For the purchase of the West African Company's property in Clarence: ‘Correspondence on the Spanish occupation of Fernando Po’, BMSA, esp. Angus to missionaries, 31 May 1843, and Angus to Beecroft, 13 Sept 1843.

90 A remarkable journal of one of these Jamaican settlers has survived in the B.M.S. archives, ‘Autobiography of J. J. Fuller’ and his ‘Recollections of the West African Mission’, A/5, BMSA.

91 For a survey of the B.M.S. work in this area, van Slageren, J., Les Origines de l'église évangélique du Cameroun (Leiden, 1972), 11–37.Google Scholar See also Clarke, J., Memoir of R. and J. Merrick (London, 1850)Google Scholar; Johnston, H. H., George Grenfell and the Congo (London, 1908).Google Scholar

92 CJF, I, 20 June 1841.

93 CJF, II, 20 Nov. 1841; CJS, I, 17 Feb. 1844; II, 3 June 1846; BMH, May 1844, 269Google Scholar; The Friend of Africa, XXVI (1842), 183–184.Google Scholar

94 The Church Missionary Society in Sierra Leone took a similar view, though this was in contrast to its approach in Yorubaland; Ajayi, J. F. A., Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841–1891 (London, 1965), 105–108, 110.Google Scholar

95 CJF, I, 10 Feb. 1841, 21 March 1841, 8 Sept 1841, 21 Aug. 1841.

96 CJF, I, 14 May 1841.

97 BMH, May 1844, 269.Google Scholar

98 BMH, Aug. 1844, 432.Google Scholar

99 Angus to Spanish Ambassador, 29 Dec. 1843, in ‘Correspondence on the Spanish occupation of Fernando Po’.

100 BMH, Nov. 1841, 579, Feb. 1844, 105.Google Scholar

101 CJF, I, 2 June 1841; CJS, I, 20 April 1844.

102 Church Book of Clarence, 9 and 11 March 1848.

103 Over half the children in Clarence attended the Mission school. Fees were 4s. 4d. per quarter: CJS, I, 31 March 1844, 1 Nov. 1844; BMH, March 1846, 186–187.Google Scholar

104 CJS, I, 29 Aug. 1844; BMH, Aug. 1843, 436, Feb. 1844, 105.Google Scholar

105 CJS, II, 9 Dec. 1844. Or see Waddell's sermon, ‘Owe no man anything’, Church Book of Clarence, 1 Nov. 1846.

106 BMH, March 1844, 154–155.Google Scholar

107 Such exclusions are recorded in the Church Book of Clarence; for example, 17 July 1844, I Feb. 1846, 5 Feb. 1847.

108 Links between Clarence and Freetown were assiduously maintained, not least for purposes of children's education: Fyfe, , History of Sierra Leone, 228, 238, 422, 460.Google Scholar Some were educated in England: Laird, and Oldfield, , Narrative, II, 395–396.Google Scholar

109 CJS, III, 22 March 1846.

110 It needs to be noted that the Baptists' concentration on the mainland after 1846 was partly responsible for this.

111 CJS, II, 21 Nov. 1844.

112 Church Book of Clarence, 5 Oct. 1847.

113 y Alarcon, Usera, Memoria, 22–23.Google Scholar

114 CJS, I, 21 Feb. 1844, 4 Nov. 1844; II, 1 Feb. 1845.

115 BMH, March 1844, 155–156.Google Scholar

116 CJS, in, 14 Aug. 1845. A copy of the petition, with 255 signatures is in ‘Correspondence on the Spanish Occupation of Fernando Po’.

117 Account of Meetings and Negotiations with the Spanish Authorities… 29 Dec. 1845 and I Jan. 1846, in ‘Correspondence on the Spanish occupation of Fernando Po’; Moreno, , Reseña Historica, 33–34Google Scholar; Slageren, , Les Origines de l'église, 21–34.Google Scholar

118 CJS, III, 21 Oct. 1846; Church Book of Clarence, 13 and 15 May 1848.