Sir John Kirk, the British Consul to the Sultan of Zanzibar, received in 1884 a report from his Vice-Consul John G. (Jack) Haggard. The brother of Victorian writer H. Rider Haggard had summarised his adventurous journey from his station on the Island of Lamu to the rebellious Simba, Sultan of Witu. As the Vice-Consul’s more [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Africa’
Deciphering Livingstone’s 1871 Field Diary
Posted in Contemporary History, Imperial History, tagged Africa, British Empire, East African Slave Trade, Imperial History, Livingstone, Livingstone 1871 Field Diary, Nyangwe Massacre, The David Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project on 16/11/2011 | Leave a Comment »
A year after the great African explorer Dr David Livingstone’s death in 1873, his friend Horace Waller published an edited version of his diaries. In his introduction to ‘The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to his Death’ Mr Waller remarks ‘Whilst in the Manyema country he ran out of note-books, [...]
An East African Israel
Posted in Imperial History, tagged Africa, British Empire, East Africa, Imperial History, Israel, Jewish Settlement, Kenya, Sir Charles Eliot, Uganda on 30/06/2011 | Leave a Comment »
During the first few years of the 20th century, British authorities were speculating into the feasibility of establishing a Jewish settlement on the Gwas Ngishu plateau in the British East Africa Protectorate. In this regard the Commissioner of British East Africa, the multi-linguist Sir Charles Eliot, produced a memorandum contemplating the potential consequences of establishing, what [...]
Dominoes of Revolution
Posted in Contemporary History, tagged Africa, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia on 02/03/2011 | Leave a Comment »
The first months of 2011 has seen the fall of two autocratic regimes and the imminent toppling of a third. It is a period which will be on the receiving end of scrutiny by historians speculating in the causes of what is unfolding before our contemporary eyes in generations to come. In order to provide an [...]
McLeod of the Niger
Posted in Imperial History, tagged Africa, Anti-Slavery Squadron, British Empire, Imperial History, Lyons McLeod, Victorian History on 21/08/2010 | Leave a Comment »
An old soldier neglected by an ungenerous country. (The Morning Leader, October 1892) English governments have a rather unpleasant reputation for neglecting the humbler heroes of the nation; and another instance of the kind which goes to support the public impression has been brought before the notice of The Morning Leader. The story of Capt. Lyons [...]
Kamele für Deutsch-Südwestafrika
Posted in Imperial History, tagged Africa, Camels, Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Foreign Office Correspondence, History, Malet, Marschall, Namibia on 22/07/2010 | 1 Comment »
Foreign Office Translation. Berlin. May 31, 1892. Sir, With reference to your note of the 21st instant relative to the employment of Camels in the S.W. African Protectorate, I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that last year 10 Camels were imported from Teneriffe into the Protectorate and have been used with satisfactory results [...]
A Nigerian Oil Curse?
Posted in Contemporary History, Economic History, Violence, tagged Africa, Bonny Light, MEND Guerilla, Nigeria, Oil Curse, Oil Production on 30/04/2010 | Leave a Comment »
There are often references being made to the oil curse, the supposed wretchedness of resource endowments that plunges developing countries into a never-ending spiral of internal strife and instability. The rationale is partially based upon the developing countries’ weak institutional framework which makes states harbouring valuable extractible resources susceptible to predation from external or internal [...]
The Congo Free State – A Latifundium of Terror
Posted in Economic History, Imperial History, Violence, tagged Africa, Henry Morton Stanley, Imperial History, King Leopold II, Rubber, The Congo Free State on 16/04/2010 | Leave a Comment »
‘Leopold II…has knit adventurers, traders and missionaries of many races into one band of men, under the most illustrious of modern travellers (H.M. Stanley) to carry into the interior of Africa new ideas of law, order, humanity, and protection of the natives.’[1] The Daily Telegraph, 22nd of October 1884 Some of the worst atrocities committed [...]
The Sierra Leone Civil War
Posted in Contemporary History, Imperial History, Violence, tagged Africa, Conflict Diamonds, Imperial History, Intervention, Liberia, Misgovernment, Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Civil War, Violence, War on 12/04/2010 | Leave a Comment »
As a direct consequence of the abolitionist movement’s campaigns in Britain, the settlement called Freetown was founded 1787 for emancipated slaves. Initially consisting of the so-called black poor from Britain and Nova Scotia, it later would become home for the liberated Africans captured by the British anti-slavery squadron. Assuming status as a crown colony in [...]
Back to the Future for Africa?
Posted in Economic History, Imperial History, tagged Africa, China, Chinese Iron Ore Imports, Chinese Steel Production, Commodity Demand, Economic Development, Imperial History, Transportation Infrastructure on 04/04/2010 | Leave a Comment »
The partition had left the European powers in control of the African continent, what followed was resource extraction in order to make the venture profitable. The industrial revolution had greatly enhanced the world’s demand for raw materials, commodities such as cotton, rubber, coal, iron ore, copper and others had increased enough in value to justify [...]
Interregnum
Posted in Violence, tagged Africa, South Africa, Violence on 20/03/2010 | Leave a Comment »
An interregnum, the period of discontinuity between an incumbent government or social order and the next, provides an interesting study of the social effects attributable to the loss of order. In societies where political power is heavily centralised, a smooth succession has been perceived as imperative for the maintenance of the polity. The potential for [...]
Relative Economic Development
Posted in Economic History, tagged Africa, British Empire, Economic Development, Ghana, Kenya, Misgovernment, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Zambia on 16/03/2010 | Leave a Comment »
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