The Aftermath of Slavery: Transitions and Transformations in Southeastern Nigeria

274 Pages·2007·17.76 MB·English

by  Chima J. Korieh

--
Afriu Wo0rld Press, Inc.
ro ""''""' 1.,, "'"•"
hl!'"lPfl Nl~- "-"m.a.o. t-RtTRt"-
Copyright:~-., 2007 Chima 1\.orieh and Fcmi J. Kolapo
First Printing 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. ston.-d in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic,
mechanical. photocopying. n.'Cording or otherwise without the prior wrillen
permission of the publisher.
This book was set in Garamond by Goldline Publishing Services, Owcrri,
Nigeria
Cover Design: Sam Saverance
Cover photograph: "Removing Palm Nuts from Clusters" by Jeanne Tabachnick
Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data
The aftermath of slavery : transitions and transformations in southeastern
Nigeria I edited by Chima J. Korieh And Femi J. Kolapo.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59221-514-9 (hardcover) --ISBN 1-59221-515-7 (pbk.)
1. Slavery--Nigeria--History. 2. Slave trade--Nigeria--History. I. Korich, Chima
J. (Chima Jacob), 1962-II. Kolapo, Fcmi James.
HT1394.N6A48 2006
306.3 '6209669--<lc22
2006032265
I
\ l_Lniv. F~aywuth
LU11iv. 81b\iothekj
Contents
Ackn<lwlcdgerncnts II
lntroducti<>n
.f.
I •emi.J. Kolapo and Chima Korieh
1. New Calabar Middlemen, Her Majesty's Consuls, and
British Traders in late Nineteenth Century
Niger Delta
Waibinte Wan'boko 11
2. Gender and the Political Economy of the Post-Abolition
Era: The Bight of Biafra (Nigeria) and its Hinterland
Chima]. Kon'eh 41
3. The Aftermath of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Two
Settlement Patterns in Southeastern Nigeria
U. D. Atryanwu 59
4. The Canoe in Nineteenth Century Lower Niger
and the Delta
Femi]. Kolapo 75
5. lgbo Slaves and the Transformation of the Niger-Delta
Raphael Ch!Jioke Njoku 115
6. Oral Tradition and the Material Culture of the Atlantic
Slave Trade as Historical Evidence: The Aro and the
Bight of Biafra Hinterland
]. Akuma-Kalu Njoku 136
- •biafran' Historidty: 1ft-. ( )krika, and :\n.·hit«·tural
/,
Representation
JJuwr J1a11~· Ok~ 158
8. The Vocllbulary of Ni~r Dclr-A Hi~tnrio~Aphy
]11~1 1-: A. l :~· 197
9. Theses. Antithesis, and S~'Tltht>~i~: Ni~r Ddt'.l
Historio~-rraphy in Time Pe~pC'l·rive
N~-c '~""'· 209
t 0. ;'\ro and Nri: Tht' l.e-ssons of NinC"tt·enth Century
l~o History
.\li~/_1. c: Jf.&hmto 228
Sd~ted Bihlio~>t"aphy 248
Notes on Contributors 256
Index 259
Acknowledgements
Most of the chapters in the book arc updated versions of papers
prcscntlxl at the J>osi-Aholition Commrm conference, hdd at lmo State
University, Owcrri, Nigeria on 11 and 12June 2004. The project has
accumulated many debts too numerous to mention individually
here. As editors, we would like to express our thanks to those whose
essays make up this volume. The support of some individuals and
organizations has been crucial to the production of this book. They
deserve our th;mks and we duly give it. We thank students of the
History Department of lmo State University, ()werri, Nigeria, espe
cially, Anthony Ohams, Rachel Omenoba, among others, who as
sisted the local o'b>anizing committee with administrative and
secretarial duties during the conference. We also wish to acknowl
edge the support of Students Against Poverty (SAP) including,
among them, University of Guelph's International Development
Studies students led by Manon Germain, who though on a separate
summer mission to assist in community development in Nigeria,
found time to give an interesting presentation of their activities
among the Osoro commtmity of Ondo State of Nigeria at the con
ference.
Lastly, but most importantly, the conference could not have
been successful \vithout substantial funding support. We therefore
pay our debt of thanks to the following organizations whose funding
made possible the conference: the Department of History, Central
l\lichigan University, Office of Institutional Diversity and Interna
tional Education, Central Michigan University, History Department,
University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada; and University of Guelph
Centre for International Development Studies. \'\'e are particularly
grateful to the Social Sciences and Hun1anities Research Council of
Canada (SSHRC), which offered a grant to Femi Kolapo for his re
search on "Patterns of \'\'est Africa's Integration into a 'New Inter
national Economic Order': The Lower Niger River Basin
E'\.perience, 1807-1884." This grant made the conference possible.

Introduction
FEMIJ. KOl. . APOANDCHIMAJ. KORJEH
Considerable amount of research has been conducted into the im
pact of the Atlantic slave trade as much as into the effects of its abo
lition for African societies. The interest in this central theme gener
ally increased after the publication of Anthony Hopkins' article
entitled "Economic Imperialism in West Africa," and his influential
book, An Economic History of West Africa. 1 For Hopkins, the commer
cial transition ushered in a period of "crisis" for some West African
societies that had been involved in the slave trade as they grappled
with the economic changes brought by the abolition of that trade
and the new demand for agricultural commodity. Hopkins linked
the crisis resulting from the end of the slave trade and the adverse
economic and political climate it created to the imposition of colo
nial rule in West Africa.2 While the direct relationship between the
abolition of the slave trade and imposition of colonialism may not
have been as critical as Hopkins stipulated, his powerful and evoca
tive thesis, which locates market and external trade as the engine of
growth and a major catalyst for change in West Africa tended to ig
nore internal dynamics that also shaped economic and political out
comes.
A conference organized at Imo State University, Nigeria in June
2004 provided an opportunity to take a fresh look at the history of
the Lower Niger Basin (Nigeria) in the context of the post abolition
period. This volume is largely the outcome of that conference. West
African societies, as elsewhere in Africa, responded to the changing
economic milieu of the nineteenth century. As this book makes
clear, the changing economic landscape was followed by extraordi
nary political and social changes. In the economic sphere in particu
lar, African producer adopted new production relations in response
to increased demands for labor required for the production of agri
cultural goods. Some advances were made in production techniques
and technology, especially for the export production of palm pro
duce. Transportation and haulage responded to increased quantities
anc.l built (~in' rdariuns ufrn-tut·rion saw important mnsti.lnna
ri.'!N primaril\· in ~n~ tu labor ilnc.f t·ontn~ uf llt"\'t"S:oJ. to pnltiuc-
. I
tnT ~ 'IUI\"'C'S.
lndc-ni. the- ..n uu~ of the tnln:o~ition fn11n ltlll\'t"l"\' to !~rima~
triklt" in the- 'l'C"St Ah-k:an ~on, llrl\l of the Ni~"t"r llt-1111 in piirtku
lar. is~ the- rn.1."t tnlp~S.'l.i\'e ~,f llllY ~on in t\tiin1. Yet Ot'W
~ of llf),"UUll(1lt an..i art"llS ~ ,f ~sl"lln:h t·ontinuc to cnsu~ tht' \'itai
m·
and rdr-\'lUll't" of the thmlt' and thc justitkation for schollll"$ tn
~lsit il. • l'ht-t'lU'fy llfl(f ch"t" l'!lfl~"t"nl)' of thc t.'o~tst\llmiddk men
and rhc- imrnntillte hmterlantl societies with Eumpean trndcrs, trav
drn;.. u~t'n'CTS.. lllltl otndals durifv.! the shm: tnufe era and in the af
rmnath uf sla'Tt:\' in the nint"tcTnth ct"ntury h01.s pn xluccd 11 happy
situation of rdari\T~· amplt' avllilabili~· of wri!tt"n ~mrd. As such. a
~ h*. ar matters is not only ~1ssiblt' but \vdwmc. \Xll11tt new
in~t can we dntw frum this n:Won in the broader debate on the
impact of the abolition of the slave trade? This introduction will
¥J.ight the irn~lrtant themes anlund which this b(xlk is organized.
Crisis of Adaptation
The first theme is framed amund the now popular l)Ucstion of
whether there was a "crisis of adaptation" attendant on the introduc
tion of produce commerce after the abolition of the Atlantic slave
trade. Researches on the crisis of adaptation has focused mainly on
issues of structures, processes, and exercise of political power and
has sought to clarify several related themes: Did the locus of political
and economic power change at the locallevd, between the ~:renders,
between the subordinate classes and the elite, and between African
societies and European ones? If they did, by what means and to
what extent did this change occur? Did the structures of political de
cision-making or, at leaJ!t, the structures that defined the political sys
tem become more accountable and or accessible to more than the
traditional elite~ Did all thc:11e changes result in political leverage to
wtnnen, children, clicnt11, •lave11, and ex-slaves?
The i1111ue of f'olitical power structures and pmcesses are inter
lac.td with Wlfllnnk uru:11. A basic premise in the literature is that
~ tu the ltructure!l of production and comrnerce-
tlf'~:t.a.Wm, tr:&nat'onation, labor unit, and marketinh"--Wen: con
~ to the pro~Mses that gmdually saw an end to the overseas
J
~lllVC' C'llf1C1M Mild ll~ tillip to intt'nUd produrtinn of expoM produrc-in
t hC' nint"tC'C'nth l·rntury. Tht" natun.- of the- intt'nwtion of thc:oRc:o latter
pn ll'CSSC'S with thosC" of tht" politiral i'lt."ctor ha~ come to mark the
moM visibiC" lint"~ of both the e-arlier n.'~C'arch and tht." rcvi!lioni11m
that t( ,tlowc-d. 'l11is i~ e-spe-cially i'lo in n.-g.tn\!1 to the extt'nt the wider
SC'ctor of thC' sodC'ty or servile catq~orie!l !luc-h a!l Mlave!l, t"ffecrivdy
partidpatt"ll in or hc-ndiml from innea.'IC'llarc-e!l!l to the nt"W world
upitalist market. The extent to which indusivenC'!I!I wa!l achieved or
exdusivC'f\C'ss mR.intained within a nam1w ~roup of dite have been
descriht"ll respectively in tenns of "revolution" or "chan~" in con
tnlst to "continuity" or "status quo" in the literature.
WhiiC' clear-cut cases of the two extremes obtain, detR.ilcd re
search on discrete scwnents of affected societies and the varied in
terest ~roups that were impacted by the tramition calls 11uch stark
binary contrast into l)Ucstion. ~ Obviously, the new fonns of political
and economic negotiations, contests, and the chan~s that occurred
affected the nature of the relationship between the Niger Ddta rul
ership, peoples, and merchants on the one hand, and their European
counterpart on the other. This was the context in which twentieth
century imperialism and colonization, a global movement, played
out locally.
The character of imperialism as it played out between and
among Europeans and Africans remains a dominant theme in post
abolition discourses. The complexities that marked the relationship
between British economic and political interests on the one hand
and their African counterparts on the other during the period of
produce trade and the beginnings of colonial incursion in the Niger
Ddta is illuminated by W. Wariboko. He explicates the often con
flicting, contradictory themes and trends and the clashes of interest
and ideology within the imperializing European trading and political
interest group on the coast of Africa. While conceding the link that
the post abolition literature places between the post abolition com
merce and nineteenth century imperialism, Wariboko unscrambles
the hidden layers to the simplistic dichotomy between imperializing
European economic and political interests versus African victims. In
the Niger Delta, middlemen states also struggled against one another
and against foreign trading contenders to maintain a dominant or a
viable place in the post abolition commerce.
( )n the other ~kk: of the dl\iJe, f·:uropcan comular offtcials,
nlC.Tl·hanr mtcn:'l~. and rharterl"{l companic<r-all with different
r ..n rtnj,>cnt kk.'f >lo-,._..;c~. mtere~r~. and goal~ompcr<:d again~t one
;mother unol Hnn .. h colonia.Ji.,m wa~ finally accomplished. 'lncy
,fuftcd aJitanc~ "1th various African trading and political interests to
further thctr o;cp'Arate and individual interests in Africa and to ensure
tavonhk heari~ in the Foreign Office in I J>ndon to the hurt of
their Luropcan rivals. Such problematics highlight the ambivalent
nature ,f early Briti'lh imperial policy and the swings in the balance
1
of compctmg African interests aO<I Africa-based l·:uropean interests
v.nhin rhc exigencies of Company Rule. Consuls Hewert and .Johns
ron, for example, were fervently opposed to the Royal Niger Com
pany and cknounct"(l the usc of chartered companies to effect Btit
j,h cokJOiaJ interests. 'Jncy put their support behind the Niger Delta
mickllc nx:n of Kalabar. Ultimately though, all of the Niger Delta
came ufklcr cokmial domination, however, the pacification of the
1\iigcr Delta was much more complex than hitherto conceived.
Warihoko'~ examination of New Calahar's divergent and varied his
torical taJ1i.,rcnt relative to other Niger Delta societies of the late nine
tt-cnth century helps bring this home clearly.
Yc t the pcrit Kl witnessed a fervent contestation for political and
economic control hctween Africans and Europeans. A significant
impact of the emerging relationship was the continuous loss of Afri
can control of the palm oil trade on the coast and other trading
posts ak>ng the Niger Delta to European merchant and politicalln
ftTests. The gradual establishment of British control and the increas
ingly intrusive and domineering nature of European trading interests
in the rqQon resulted in major political and economic changes. Ex
amples of the deteriorating economic fortunes and reversing military
and political position in favor of Europeans Anglo-African trade re
lations in the Niger Delta include the Consul .Johnson-Jaja sa1-,ra of
1R H7 that ended with the "kidnapping" and deportation of .Jaja to
the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent and the Nemhe-Brass-Royal Ni
ger Company trade dispute that culminated in the Akassa War of
1WJ5.
'The Niger Delta was an important producer of palm oil from
the ninetemth c~ntury. British import from the region increased
from the 1H 50s, with a sij.,rnificant percentage coming from the Niger
Dclta.1 'Ilu: spin-off effect of the palm oil trade in the Niger Delta
'