Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology [2 ed.] 0192154346, 0192850555

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ai

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Se

TO

DOROTHY

Thomas

Hodgkin

NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVES An Historical Anthology

Second Edition

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON OXFORD NEW YORK 1975

Oxford University Press OXFORD GLASGOW CAPE

TOWN

DELHI

IBADAN

BOMBAY KUALA

LONDON

TORONTO NAIROBI CALCUTTA

LUMPUR

NEW

YORK

MELBOURNE DAR

ES SALAAM

MADRAS

SINGAPORE

WELLINGTON LUSAKA

KARACHI HONG

KONG

ADDIS

LAHORE

ABABA

DACCA

TOKYO

Hardbound edition IsBN 0 19 215434 6 Paperbound edition IsBN 0 19 285055 5 © West Africa Publishing Co. Limited 1960 New material in this edition © Oxford University Press 1975 First published in the West Africa History Series with the financial assistance of the West African Newspapers Group (Lagos, Accra, Freetown, and London) by Oxford University Press, London, 1960. This Second Edition first published as an Oxford University Press paperback by Oxford University Press, London, 1974.

Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press), Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For permission to reproduce passages from the books mentioned acknowledgements are due to the following: John Murray (Publishers) Ltd. (The Bornu, Sahara and Sudan by H. R. Palmer); Alhaji Sulaimanu Barau, O.B.E., M.H.C., Emir of Abuja in Council (The Chronicle of Abuja); Chief J. U. Egharevba (A Short History of Benin) ; The Royal African Society (Adebiyi Tepowa, A Short History of Brass and H. R. Palmer, ‘An Early Fulani Conception of Islam’ from African Affairs) ; the Hakluyt Society (The Voyages of Cadamosto and other Documents by G. R. Crone, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis by Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Europeans in West Africa by J. W. Blake, and Robert Brown’s edition of Leo Africanus, History and Description of Africa done into English by John Pory); The School of Oriental and African Studies, Lady Palmer and M. Hiskett (H. R. Palmer, Two Sudanese Manuscripts of the 17th Century and M. Hiskett, ‘Material relating to the State of Learning among the Fulani before their Jihad’ from the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies); Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. (A Sudanese Kingdom by C. H. Meek and Ibn Battitta: Travels in Asia and Africa edited by H. A. R. Gibb); The International African Institute and The Oxford University Press (A Black Byzantium by S. F. Nadel and Akiga’s Story translated by Rupert East) ; The International African Institute (Eftk Traders of Old Calabar by Daryll Forde); Faber & Faber Ltd. (Baba of Karo by M. F. Smith); Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, S.A. (Zbn Khaldoun: Histoire des Berbéres translated by de Slane); C. E. J. Whitting (Hajji Sa‘id: History of Sokoto); Presses Universitaires de France (P.-L. Monteil: De Saint-Louis a Tripoli par le Lac Tchad); Librairie Hachette, Editeur, Paris (Emile Gentil: La chute de l’empire de Rabeh); Présence Africaine, cultural journal of the Negro World (Lasebikan: Tonal Structure of Yoruba Poetry); Chatto & Windus Ltd. (The Story of My Life by Sir Harry Johnston) ;The Government Printer, Lagos (History of the First Twelve Years of the Reign of Mai Idris Alooma and Sudanese Memoirs by H. R. Palmer, The Rise of the Sokoto Fulani by E. J. Arnett, The Occupation of Hausaland by H. F. Backwell, and Kanuri Songs by J. R. Patterson) ; George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (The Koran Interpreted by Professor A. J. Arberry); unpublished Crown Copyright material in the Public Record Office has been reproduced by permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.

DQ4AS 46

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

SeconD EpiTion. For permission to reproduce passages from the books, articles, and documents mentioned, further acknowledgements are due to the following: M. Hiskett, Tazyin al-Waragat (Ibadan University Press) and “Kitab al-farq’ from BSOAS ; also ‘Materials Relating to the Cowry Currency of the Western Sudan’ from BSOAS; with A. D. H. Bivar, ‘The Arabic Literature of Nigeria to 1804, from BSOAS; A. D. H. Bivar, “The Wathigat ahl al-Sidan’ from JAH; J. O. Hunwick, Letter from al-Maghili to Muhammad Rumfa and Letter from al-Suyiti to the rulers of Takrar in ‘Uthm4an dan Fodio, Tanbih al-ikhwan; from al-Fishtali, Mandahil al-safa fi akhbar mulik al-shurafa in ‘Abdullah Gantin, Rasa’ il Sa‘diyya; also Letter from Mulay Ahmad alMansir to Kanta Dawid, ruler of Kebbi in JHSN; from Ahmad Baba, Al-kashf wa’l-bayan li asnaf majlib al-Siidan; and from al-Nasiri, Autab alistigsa; B. G. Martin, Letter from Ottoman Sultan, Murad III to Mai Idris Al6éma of Bornu, from the International Journal of Middle East Studies, and Ibn Kakura Ta‘lif akhbar al-quriin min umara’ bilad Ilirin; A. H. M. Kirk-Greene (ed.) and Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., (“The Anglo-Bornu Treaty’) from P. A. Benton, The Languages and Peoples of Bornu, vol. 1; M. A. Al-Hajj from Rabih ibn Fadlallah, ‘Letter to the Khalifa’ from ‘Hayata b. Sa‘id’ in Sudan in Africa (ed. Yasuf Fadl Hasan), Khartoum University Press; E. A. Ayandele and Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd. from The Missionary Impact on Modern Nigeria, 1842-1914; F. H. El-Masri, from Bayan wujitb al-hijra ‘ala ‘l-‘ibad (Ph.D. Thesis, 1968); A. F. C. Ryder, ‘Missionary Activities in the Kingdom of Warri to the Early Nineteenth Century’ from 7AHSN; and from Benin and the Europeans (Ibadan History Series, Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd.); Philip Curtin (ed.), Africa Remembered, The University of Wisconsin Press, c. 1967 by the Regents of the University of Wisconsin; R. A. Adeleye, ‘Sifofin Shehu’ in the Research Bulletin of the Centre of Arabic Documentation, Institute of African Studies, Ibadan; and “The Dilemma of the Wazir’ from JFHSN; University of Ghana Publications Board, for translations by W. W. Rajkowski and J. F. P. Hopkins; R. C. C. Law and Agneta Pallinder-Law for transcripts of Crown Copyright records (T70/1534 and CO 147/42) in the Public Record Office, which appear by permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.

CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST

OF

MAPS

PREFACE LIST

OF

ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

SECTION

ONE—LEGENDS

OF

ORIGIN

THE GIRGAM* The Legend of Daura IBN FARTUWA:: Bornu: The Origin of the Saifawa Dynasty MUHAMMAD BELLO: The Ongins of the Yoruba SAMUEL JOHNSON: The Legend of Oduduwa J. U. EGHAREVBA* Benin: The Founding of the Second Kingdom ADEBIYI TEPOWA:: The Origins of Brass SECTION

TWO—NINTH

TO

FOURTEENTH

CENTURY

AL-YA‘QUBI + Ninth-Century Kanem AL-BAKRI- Umayyads in Kanem MAHRAM

OF

UMME

JILMIi: Kanem:

The Coming of Islam

KANURI SONGS * Praise-Song to Umme Filmi DIWAN OF THE SULTANS OF BORNU: Two Twelfth-Century Mais THE KANO CHRONICLE* The Walls of Kano YAQUT: AL-NASIRI- A Kanem Poet IBN SA‘ID: The Kanem Empire: A Thirteenth-Century View J. U. EGHAREVBA:: Benin: The Introduction of Brass-casting Srom Ife AL-‘UMARI-: Kanem, monarchy, and scholars IBN BATTUTA: Bornu Trade IBN KHALDUN - Kanem-Bornu and the Hafsids THE KANO CHRONICLE * Muslim Missionaries in Kano AL-MAQRIZI~- Kanem-Bornu, c. A.D. 1400 AL-QALQASHANDI: Bornu: Relations with Egypt

viii

CONTENTS 1%

SECTION

THREE—THE

FIFTEENTH

CENTURY

THE KANO CHRONICLE * Kano’s Relations with Kororafa, Bornu, and Karia S. F. NADEL~ Tsoede and the Founding of the Nupe Kingdom SAMUEL JOHNSON: Oyo: The Reign of Sango J. U. EGHAREVBA * Benin: Ewuare the Great JOAO DE BARROS: Benin: The Arrival of the Portuguese THE KANO CHRONICLE* The Growth of Trade and Learning AL-MAGHILI: The Obligations of Princes On Punishment

105 106 108 III 112 113 115 116

AL-SA‘DI: A Timbuktu Scholar in Kano AL-SuYUTI: Advice to Ibrahim Siira

117 118

DUARTE PACGHECO PEREIRA:*:

120

SECTION.

FOUR—THE

Lhe Beginning of the Slave- Trade

SIXTEENTH

CENTURY

JOAO DE BARROS: Benin: Relations with Ife RUY DE PINA AND J. U. EGHAREVBA : Benin: King Esigie and the Portuguese Missionaries DUARTE PIRES + The Portuguese Embassy at the Court of Benin A PORTUGUESE PILOT: Benin: The Funeral of the Divine King LEO AFRICANUS: The Hausa States and Bornu AL-SA‘DI AND MUHAMMAD BELLO: The Rise of Kebbi AL-SA‘Di: Katsina: The Gao War RICHARD EDEN + English Merchants in Benin AHMAD IBN FARTUWA: Mat Idris Aléma: Bornu Methods of Warfare; Diplomacy, Innovation, and Reform JAMES WELSH - Benin: GIOVANNI D’ANANIA‘< MURAD 111° A Letter to AL-FISHTALI* A Bornu AL-MANSUR* Moroccan

SECTION

Food, Drink, and Friendship Bornu and the Turkish Trade Mai Idris Embassy to Morocco Threats to Rebbi

FIVE—THE

SEVENTEENTH

124 125 127 128 129 132

134 135

137 140 143 144 145 147 149

CENTURY

HENRY BARTH< The Rise of Katsena AHMAD BABA : Belief, Unbelief, and Slavery in Hausaland ‘p.R.’ + The Dutch in Benin

153 154

156

GONTENTS

OLFERT

1X

DAPPER:

Benin at the Height of its Power Dom Antonio Domingos, King of Warri The Kingdom of Ulkami [Oyo] Kalabari and the Eastern Delta DOM ANTONIO DOMINGOS: Appeal to the Pope DAN MARINA: Mai ‘Ali of Bornu Defeats the Kororafa KANURI SONGS * Song to the Kaigama GIRARD « Maz ‘Ali and the Pasha of Tripoli Mai ‘Alt’s Letter to Pasha Osman EVLIYA GELEBI~: Bornu and Hausaland: A Turkish View SAMUEL JOHNSON: Oyo’s Southward Expansion: Obalokun and Ajagbo JEROM MEROLLA DA SORRENTO: Warr: Ecclesiastical Match-Making DOM DOMINGOS I1:+ Warri: Shortage of Priests JAMES BARBOT-: Bonny in 1699: Commercial Procedure

187 188 189

AKIGA ~ T1v and Fulani

IgI

SECTION

DAVID

VAN

SIX—THE

EIGHTEENTH

NYENDAEL-

IBN ‘ABD AL-RAHMAN

AL-BARNAWI‘°:

194 196 201 202 204.

A Bornu

Puritan AL-TAHIR IBN IBRAHIM AL-FALLATI* Satirizing the Kaniiri OLAUDAH EQUIANO: Ibo Society in Mid-Century ROBERT NORRIS AND LIONEL ABSON* The Oyo Empire and Dahomey: 1730s and 1740s 1770s and 1780s CLEMISON; MILES + Lagos Obas JOHN ADAms: The Oyo Empire: Lagos

207 209 209

20 224 225 227

Benin in Decline

229

Warri: Portuguese-Catholic Surotvals Bonny and the Slave- Trade

230 231 234 235 238

Education in Old Calabar ANTERA DUKE: A Calabar Trader’s Diary

[ruLLy] + ‘The Black Prince of Bornow ‘ABDULLAH Jihad

185

CENTURY

Benin in 1700: The People The Social Order WILLIAM SMITH ° Secession in Benin JAMES BARBOT + New Calabar in 1700 GERRIT OCKERS~ Trade Competition in Benin MUHAMMAD

159 7. 173 174 176 178 179 180 182 184

DAN

FODIO:

The Intellectual Background to the

240

x

CONTENTS

SECTION

‘UTHMAN

DAN

MUHAMMAD ‘ABDULLAH MUHAMMAD MUHAMMAD ALI EISAMI: DIXON

CENTURY:

FoDI0o: (i) The Origins of the Fihad (ii) Manifesto of the Fihad (iii) Qualifications for Government (iv) Characteristics of the Old Regime (v) The Prophet and the Mahdi (vi) Islam and Women (vii) On Wearing Silk

BELLO«: The Character of Shehu DAN FODIO: The Revolution Betrayed AL-KANEMI: The Case against the Fihad BELLO: The Case against Bornu Narrative of his Travels

DENHAM

al-Kanemi:

IBN KUKURA-: G. F. LYON

7

SEVEN—THE NINETEENTH 1800 TO 1850

AND

AND

HUGH

CLAPPERTON

+ Muhammad

The Ruler The Poet The Diplomat The Founding of Ilorin DIXON

DENHAM:

Bornu

Trade with North

Africa HUGH GCLAPPERTON + Muhammad Bello: First Meeting A Presentation Kano Market A Fulani Battle

AL-HAJJ

sA‘ID + Caliphs of Sokoto: Muhammad Bello Atiku Altyu

HUGH GLAPPERTON : Yorubaland: The Town of Jannah RICHARD AND JOHN LANDER * Yorubaland: The Governor’s Widow Yoruba Mothers Old Oyo in Decline Ibo Society: ‘King Obie’ Addi zetta The ‘Stlent Trade’ in Yams R. M. JACKSON: Aing Opubu of Bonny, 1826 ROBERT CRAIGIE: A Conference with King Pepple, 1839 M. LAIRD AND R. A. K. OLDFIELD + Raba: The Nupe Capital

CONTENTS

J. F. SCHON AND SAMUEL CROWTHER’ Jholand and the Slave Trade W. ALLEN AND T. R. THOMPSON Negotiations with Obi Ossai Kingship in Idah

SECTION HENRY

BARTH:

EIGHT—THE NINETEENTH 1850 TO 1900

CENTURY:

The Social Life of Kukawa Kano in Mid-Century: Foreign Trade Government Adamawa BARTH—PALMERSTON—SHAIKH ‘UMAR * The Anglo-Bornu Treaty HASSAN AND SHUAIBU - Abwja: Abu Kwaka the Tall and the First Europeans SAMUEL CROWTHER : Igbebe: A Centre of Communications The Fall of Panda W. B. BAIKIE~ The Aro-Chuku Oracle T. J. BOWEN ~ The Battle of Abeokuta ROBERT CAMPBELL: The Father of the King The Government of Abeokuta M. R. DELANY + Madam Tinubu RICHARD BURTON: The Egha State Lagos in 1861 W. WINWOODE READE ~: Trading Methods in Bonny W. B. BAIKIE « King William Dappa Pepple in Exile J. AFRICANUS B. HORTON: Yoruba and Ibo H. M. WADDELL * Calabar: King Eyo; The ‘Blood Men’ GUSTAV NACHTIGAL « Bornu in 1870: The Council of State W. H. SIMPSON + Nupe under King Masaba OSOKELE TEJUMADE JOHNSON: Return to Office MARY KINGSLEYANDG.N.DECARDI: The Niger Delta at the End of the Century: Bonny Social Mobility in Brass Calabar: Ekpa Metempsychosis The Fattening House

317 322 327 328

oe

333 334 335 336 338 340 341 342 344 345 347 348 350 353 356 359 361

362

364. 366

367

368

xii

CONTENTS

Gc. N. DE GARDI: HARRY

The Election of Faja King Jaja of Opobo JOHNSTON: Nana

369,

371 373

J. OTUMBA PAYNE: Bishop Crowther and Ecclesiastical SelfGovernment MOJOLA AGBEBI: LEthiopianism JOHN KIRK-* Brass: the 1895 Revolt ANON: A Man of Property BABA OF KARO: Hausaland in the 1890s: Slavery and Family Life RABIH IBN FADLALLAH : Letter to the Khalifa EMILE GENTIL: Rabih in Bornu H. F. BACKWELL: The Sokoto Caliphate: Resistance and Compromise MUHAMMAD AL-BUKHARI: The Dilemma of the Wazir

SECTION

374 376 377 378 384 387 389 ao 392

NINE—EPILOGUE

HASSAN AND SHUAIBU ° Scepticism E, L. LASEBIKAN * Variety A BIDA DRUMMER: Modernization AKIGA + The Idea of History

395 396 397 398

BIBLIOGRAPHIES: 1. Sources 2. Works INDEX

399 406 423

LIST

OF

MAPS

1. The Nigerian Region in Relation to West and North Africa 2. The States of the Nigerian Region in the Sixteenth Century 3. The States of the Nigerian Region in the Nineteenth Century

_ page 30 _ page 72 — page 73

PREFACE

WHEN thirteen years ago I wrote the foreword to the first edition of this book I began with a quotation from Ludolphus, confessing much slowness in gestation. But this second edition has been slower still. It is difficult even to remember how many years I have been working on it. I must ask those who have been kept waiting to forgive me. I . said also then, a bit rashly, that in another ten years, when all the work on Nigerian pre-colonial history in progress and projected had begun to bear fruit, it would be possible to produce an anthology of a much more adequate kind. The prediction still seems sensible— only I am doubtful whether this is that more adequate anthology, which it still seems more possible to imagine than to construct. Selections and interpretations in a book of this kind inevitably lag behind the new work being done, the new questions being raised, the formerly unknown source material being made available by practising historians. And one can see that, to achieve a wider range of material, fuller commentary, one has paid the price of loss of freshness. In some ways first thoughts are always best. In essentials I have left the ground plan of the first edition unchanged, revising the introduction as far as possible in the light of this new knowledge and including additional matter in the text. I have cut out relatively few of the extracts included in the first edition, in spite of the reprint revolution, and those mainly from nineteenth-century writers who are accessible and familiar. Three extracts have gone on account of doubts about their historical usefulness in this context, in particular the passage ‘a Moroccan in Hausaland’ from al-Hajj ‘Abd al-Salam Shabayni [Shabeeny], since Ivor Wilks and Phyllis Ferguson convinced me in a recent interesting article (1970) on Hajj Shabayni that his ‘Housa’ referred not to Hausaland, but to ‘Awsa’, the region of the upper Niger, thus freeing me from the mists of error. In general in matters of spelling, punctuation, transliteration, and the like I have followed the practice of the first edition, not trying to be pedantically consistent, but hoping to be reasonably intelligible. One positive improvement has been in the quality of the translations. For the translation of extracts from the Arab geographers I have depended a good deal on the unpublished Rajkowski—Hopkins

XiV

PREFACE

material referred to in the introduction. But I have also been helped tremendously by John Hunwick, who has allowed me to use a number of excellent new translations which he has made of the writings of al-Maghili, al-Suyati, Ahmad Baba, and other authors hardly represented in the first edition, and whose Arabic scholarship

has been a constant blessing. Others who have given particularly valuable help in these matters are Muhammad al-Hajj, Fathi ElMasri, and Bradford Martin. Mervyn Hiskett’s translations of writings of members of the Dan Fodio family, published from time to time over the last fifteen years, have naturally been indispensable. But for certain basic texts, such as The Kano Chronicle and the works of Ahmad ibn Fartuwa, one must still depend largely on the late Sir Richmond Palmer’s translations of the 1920s, with their familiar weaknesses. Dapper, whom I formerly translated from the unsatisfactory French edition, becomes much more alive in these translations from the original Dutch which Barbara Trapido has made especially for this edition. As regards acknowledgements I must again support myself with ‘Abdullah dan Fodio’s now familiar formula: IT cannot now number all the shaikhs from whom I acquired knowledge .. . Many a scholar and many a seeker after knowledge came to us from the East from whom I profited, so many that I cannot count them. Many a scholar and many a seeker after knowledge came to us from the West, so many that I cannot count them. May God reward them all with his approval...

To all those shaikhs whom I thanked in the foreword to the first edition I remain grateful, though some, like Melville Herskovits, Kenneth

Murray,

Isa Wali, R. E. Bradbury, are no longer cor-

poreally among us and are much missed. Others, like Professors D. A. Olderogge and Wilfred Cantwell Smith, I too seldom see. But of that older generation of shaikhs I have continued to profit much from the writings, conversation, and ideas of John Fage (who read the introduction and made valuable criticisms), Peter Shinnie, Peter Lloyd, J. F. Ade Ajayi, Gervase Mathew, Cherry Gertzel, M. G. Smith—and of that qutb from whom I still learn most, whose interpretations of the earlier periods of Nigerian history I find particularly stimulating and salutary, Abdullahi (H. F. C.) Smith. Others who might be counted among that older generation from , whom I have acquired knowledge and whose work has helped me include A. D. H. Bivar, Tadeusz Lewicki, Thurston Shaw, Frank Willett, Robert Smith, Walter Markov.

PREFACE

XV

But it is a measure of the extent of change over the past dozen years, as is evident from introduction, footnotes, and bibliography, how much this new edition owes to a new generation—Dr. R. A. Adeleye, Professor I. A. Akinjogbin, Dr. E. J. Alagoa, Professor E. A. Ayandele (who has made me think freshly about many questions in Nigerian nineteenth-century history), Michael Crowder, Robin Hallett, Obaro Ikime, Jean Herskovits Kopytoff, G. I. Jones, Tony Kirk-Greene, Murray Last, Michael Mason, I. A. Mukoshy, Robin Law (who has given me much help on the earlier periods of Yoruba

history),

Agneta

Pallinder-Law,

Professor

A.

F. C. Ryder

(a

repository of knowledge for the history of Benin), John Willis. And, in addition to Ivor Wilks, there were many with whom I worked at the Institute of African Studies in Ghana in the early 1960s, from whom I learned much, both in connection with the preparation of this edition and generally: Adu Boahen, Paulo Farias, Jack Goody, Polly Hill, Geoffrey Holden, Ivan Hrbek, Marion Johnson, Professor

Kemali,

Peter

Morton-Williams,

Paul

Ozanne,

Charles

Stewart, Irmgard Sellnow, Christopher Allen, William Johnson, and Gavin Williams have constantly produced helpful ideas and criticisms. Professor Gavin kindly gave me some wise, perceptive criticisms

of the introduction,

which

I wish I could have made

more effective use of. But the person to whom I probably owe most, and who has been most unsparing of his time and ideas from the birth of this book to its completion, has been John Lavers. While I am grateful to many libraries, Khalil Mahmud of the Africana section of the University of Ibadan library and Robert Townsend of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies library, Oxford, have been especially considerate and helpful. In the earlier stages a great deal of extremely useful work on the typing and revision of the introduction and notes was done by Anne Swingler, Jenny Hebb, and Catherine Gaster. As always I have been supported in all sorts of ways by members of my extended family, but it was my daughter-in-law, Judith Hodgkin, who prepared the bibliography, revised the footnotes and endured the final stages of this long labour. It has been Nigerians generally, and Nigerian students in particular, who made me think about their history and showed me how to begin to learn something about it.

LIST

OF

ABBREVIATIONS

In this book I have generally used the following abbreviations: Abraham

BGA BSOAS

Brockelmann, GAL(S)

CEA DNB EI(1) EI(2) HSN, Bulletin, Supplement

IFAN JAH FHSN JFI[RIAS

NNBW

OED PRO Research Bulletin

SED SET OL.

R. C. Abraham, Dictionary of the Hausa Language, London, 1962 M. J. de Goeje, Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, Leiden, 1870-94 Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, second edition, Leiden, 1943-9 (Supplementband, Leiden, 1937-42) Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines Dictionary of National Biography Encyclopaedia of Islam, first edition, Leiden, 1913-38 Encyclopaedia of Islam, second edition, Leiden, 1954Historical Society of Nigeria, Bulletin of News, Supplement to the Bulletin of News Institut Frangais [Fondamental] d’ Afrique Noire Journal of African History Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria Journal of the [Royal] African Society Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, Leiden, 1927 Oxford English Dictionary Public Record Office Research Bulletin, Centre of Arabic Documentation, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan Shorter English Dictionary Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 1953

University of Ibadan

INTRODUCTION ‘The soul continues to be ennobled in the study of the history of this generous age, especially when there is added to it the history of the strange and wonderful events which have occurred in this land before, and the annals of kings and learned men, and what can be pieced together of all this from the remembrance of rare happenings in these same countries. Here are things which the intellect finds pleasing, and which delight the ear in the telling.’ MuuaAmmMabD Be tto, Infaq al-maisir

Tuis selection of passages bearing on the history of Nigeria before 1900 was originally intended as an anthology rather than a sourcebook. I tried, in deciding what to include, to take a writer’s insight rather than his historical accuracy as my main criterion: to ask, in regard to each extract, how far does it succeed in illuminating some facet of the Nigerian past ?However, the lack of collections of documents relating to Nigerian history in any European language certainly influenced me towards including the kind of material which I thought students might look for, and feel disappointed if they did not find. The fact that this anthology, in spite of its inadequacies, does seem to have gone some way towards supplying students of Nigerian history with the kind of material that they could put to good use has cheered me greatly. One question at once arises: how much sense does it make to talk

in this way about ‘the Nigerian past’ when the term ‘Nigeria’ only came into use in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the Nigerian state was not established until 1914—the present boundaries not determined until 1961?! This question has for understandable reasons proved to be more controversial than I realized when I originally raised it, and, though my basic views have not changed, I can see that they need restatement. The phrase ‘the Nigerian past’ is clearly a kind of shorthand. What we are in fact concerned with is many pasts, not one—the past histories of the various peoples and civilizations which constitute modern Nigeria. ! For the origin of the term ‘Nigeria’ see Coleman (1959), p. 44. For boundaries see Anene (1970).

2

Introduction

*

But the fact that the past breaks up into many pasts is not peculiar , to Nigeria. What those who are worried about the concept of ‘the Nigerian past’ seem anxious to emphasize are, first, that Nigeria as a polity was an imperial, and specifically a British, construction whose frontiers were determined primarily by considerations of European power-politics; second, that it contains within itself a large number of constituent peoples, with widely different cultures and languages, who, before the British conquest, were at different levels of technological and social development and were organized in distinct and separate political systems. These points are obviously true—though if the first is overstressed it tends to ignore the contribution of Nigerian nationalists of the colonial epoch to the development of the concept (however incompletely asserted or realized) of a Nigerian nation. But they do not at all imply, as has sometimes been suggested, that the study of Nigerian history is essentially an inquiry into the past of a conglomeration of peoples whose associations with one another are entirely ‘artificial’, accidental, and recent—the product

of the colonial period. It will be clear, I hope, from the extracts which follow that a variety of links existed in the pre-colonial period between the various states and peoples which were the predecessors of modern Nigeria; between Kanem-Bornu, the Hausa States, Nupe, Igala, Oyo, Benin,

the Delta States, and the loosely associated [bo communities. These relationships sometimes took the form of war and enslavement. But they expressed themselves also through diplomacy, treaties, the visits of wandering scholars, the diffusion of political and religious ideas, the borrowing of techniques, and above all trade. These passages contain frequent references to the impact of Ife on Benin; of Benin on Iboland; of Ibo society on the Delta States; of the Hausa peoples and Nupe on Yorubaland; of Kanem-Bornu on the Hausa system—and also, of course, to the connections of these systems with Dahomey, Ashanti, Agades, Bagirmi, etc.—states lying outside the frontiers of modern Nigeria. True, this field of pre-colonial international relations—diplomatic, commercial, and cultural—is one in which, though much interesting new work has been done, much remains obscure and speculative. But at least it is clear that these societies were neither isolated nor self-sufficient. In addition to their relationships with one another they were exposed, in varying degrees at different periods, to influences from further afield—from Mali and Gao, Egypt and the Sudan, the Maghrib, Western Europe, and the Americas. None the less, one reason why it is difficult to present a coherent

Introduction

3

picture of the Nigerian past—of the various pasts of its constituent peoples—is that it is necessary to pursue several themes at the same time. And, though these themes frequently run together and interlace, each is distinct: each culture has its own particular qualities, its proper history. The mind is liable to be confused by the multiplicity and the variety of the material. For this reason I have tried here to concentrate on five main themes: (i) Kanem-Bornu and its dependencies; (ii) the Hausa States and their southern neighbours (which, from the beginning of the nineteenth century, becomes in large part the history of the Sokoto Caliphate); (iii) the states of the Yoruba, particularly, until its disintegration early in the nineteenth century, Oyo; (iv) the kingdoms of Benin and Warri; and (v) the Delta States and the predominantly Ibo hinterland.! Geographically the first two systems belong to the central Sudan. But whereas the Hausa States have tended to look west, to the civilization that de-

veloped along the middle and upper Niger, Kanem-Bornu, with its focus in the region of Lake Chad, has been more closely linked with the states of the eastern Sudan and the Nile valley.2 Oyo and Benin both belong to the group of major states—including also Dahomey and Ashanti—which emerged on the boundaries of savannah and forest, limited to the east and north by the Niger, but colonizing at times beyond these limits. In the fifth sector the Ibo—and also the Ibibio—peoples whose main home lies in the forest east of the Niger have, during recorded history, become associated through a network of waterways and commerce with the states which grew up along the Niger Delta and at the mouth of the Cross River. This approach means, I admit, paying too little attention to several interesting secondary themes—the histories of the Tiv, Idoma, Igala, Igbirra, among others. This neglect is not something which I can honestly try to justify except on the ground of shortage of space, time, and knowledge. I am conscious that excellent anthologies could be con1] am very conscious of the problems, which Dr. R. Gavin has stressed in correspondence, associated with the use of these linguistic-cultural labels—‘Hausa’, *Yoruba’, ‘Ibo’, etc.—with all their ambiguities and shifting meanings, to refer to particular peoples, and even more to particular polities (e.g. ‘the Hausa States’). I can only plead the extreme difficulty of doing without them. But it may, at least, be useful to emphasize from the outset that—as these extracts, I think, show—people of different languages and cultures participated in all the major political systems which emerged historically within the Nigerian region, most of which ‘by their very character required the incorporation of distantly gathered people who had been torn from or who had abandoned their village, kin and penates’. 2 But Bornu influences on Hausaland have historically been of great importance. See below, pp. 25-6.

4

Introduction ae

structed—and no doubt will be—around the histories of the various . peoples who appear too rarely, or not at all, in this one. Even with this limitation one is faced with a further problem: there are important variations in the depth to which the histories of these five groups of peoples, and the states they created, can be studied. The literary sources begin at different points in time—for obvious reasons. Kanem was sufficiently important to be known to Arab geographers as early as the ninth century. The ruling dynasty was probably converted to Islam at the end of the eleventh century. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Kanem was the dominant state in the central Sudan. True, during this early period Kanem’s centre of gravity lay east of Lake Chad. The use of the term “Bornuw’ to refer to the western, trans-Chad, provinces does not occur till the fourteenth century!—later, after the loss of the eastern provinces,

passing into normal use as the name of the state. But Kanem-Bornu has enjoyed such a remarkable degree of continuity—of dynasty, political system, and culture—that it seemed justifiable to include some of the earliest references from the Arab sources, as relating to the Kanuri, and thus to the Nigerian, past. The Hausa States, on the

other hand, were not of sufficient political or commercial importance to make much impact on the outside world until the sixteenth century, when the Maghribi traveller, Leo Africanus, wrote his account

of the region for Pope Leo X and Christendom.? Even for the seventeenth-century ‘Timbuktu historian, al-Sa‘di, the Hausa States are only interesting because they were for a time included within the Gao Empire, and were occasionally visited by scholars from the major centres of learning in the western Sudan or North Africa. Thus for the Hausa past before 1500 we are mainly dependent upon local chronicles—composed in Arabic and relatively late in date, even though based upon earlier records—of which The Kano Chronicle is much the fullest and the most informative. In the case of Benin and Oyo there is no documentary material earlier than the writings of the Portuguese historians, geographers, and officials, dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century. 1 In a passage referring to an event in the mid-thirteenth century. See below,

pp. 99-100, and Urvoy (1949), p. 45.

2 In the first edition I described this as a ‘first-hand’ report, but it seems in fact unlikely that Leo Africanus ever visited Hausaland. The first reference to the Hausa

States in Arabic literature would seem to be in al-Maqrizi (c. A.D. 1400) where the word used is ‘Afnu’ or ‘Afunu’ (see below, pp. 101-2), the Bornu term for Hausa. At the end of the fifteenth century the rulers of Kano and Katsina were in communication with internationally prominent Muslim ‘ulamé—the former with al-Maghili, the latter with al-Suyiji. (See below, pp. 115-20.)

Introduction

5

Moreover, since before they began to develop relations with Europe these were societies with very restricted literacy, there is a lack of written chronicles, or local ta’rikhs.! The main source, apart from artifacts, is oral tradition, preserved with ritual precision from generation to generation by court chroniclers. ‘Historic tradition came to be closely associated with the fortunes of the royal house . .. and the quasi-divine character of the kingly dead gave history something of the character of a sacred mystery.’? These traditions, which are now being studied afresh by Nigerian historians, have been made available in modern times especially by Samuel Johnson in the case of Oyo, and by Chief Jacob Egharevba in the case of Benin. From about 1500 until 1820 the European sources are naturally much richer for Benin than for Oyo, since the Oyo dominions, unlike Ashanti and Dahomey, stopped short of the coast, whereas Europeans had continuous, though carefully regulated, access to the capital of Benin. Before Clapperton’s journey through Yorubaland in 1825, when the centralized Oyo state was already breaking up, its institutions were known to Europeans only indirectly, through fragmentary, and sometimes romantic, reports which filtered through to Benin, Abomey, or Whydah. In eastern Nigeria the situation was in some respects comparable. The ‘city-states’ of the Niger Delta—Bonny, Brass, New Calabar (Kalabari), and Old Calabar—were in contact with Europe from the early part of the sixteenth century.+ The material is not so substantial as for Benin, but it is useful. But the first European penetration into the Ibo hinterland did not occur until 1830, when Richard and John Lander made their famous journey down the Niger; and they and most of their nineteenth-century successors were restricted to contacts with the riverain Ibo. As far as I know, the only docu-

mentary sources for Ibo society before the Landers are—as in Oyo’s case—second-hand material, collected by European visitors to the 1 I formerly described these societies during the pre-European period as ‘nonliterate’, but this is clearly incorrect. As Jack Goody has pointed out, ‘in northern Ghana, as in large regions of Africa... we rarely find societies that were not influenced in some way by the techniques and products of alphabetic literacy, even

before the coming of the Europeans’ (‘Restricted Literacy in Ghana’, in Goody, (1968) p. 239). In the case of Yorubaland there is some evidence of the presence of Muslim jurists as early as the seventeenth century (Bivar and Hiskett (1962), p. 116) and local ta’rikh material may in time become available. See also below, Pp: 2792D. H. Jones (19532). 3 See Benin extracts passim, particularly p. 156-7. 4 For this use of the term ‘city-state’, see Dike (1956), p. 31. Cf. Horton (1969).

6

Introduction

=

Delta States, with their partly Ibo population and culture: with one, remarkable exception—the autobiography of the liberated Ibo slave and British citizen, Olaudah Equiano, containing his recollections of Ibo village life in the mid-eighteenth century.1 Allowing for a measure of inevitable literary artifice, I think this is an authentic record—especially valuable in the absence of other written records relating to this period.? There is, moreover, a special problem: only in the areas adjacent to and influenced by Benin—Onitsha and Abo —did Ibo society develop the kind of political institutions which made for the preservation of oral tradition—kingship, court chronicles, and the like. Elsewhere, ‘in the absence of hereditary power there has been little incentive to preserve genealogical information, and the extremely small scale of political organisation has been inimical to the emergence of a concept of history’.3 This explanation is partly also an apology for an evident lack of balance in the material included here. The preoccupation with Kanem-Bornu in the period before 1600; the increasing emphasis upon the Hausa States and Benin from the late fifteenth, and the Delta States from the seventeenth, century; the inadequacy of the material dealing with Oyo and Yorubaland before the eighteenth century, and with Ibo society before the nineteenth—this unbalance is partly the consequence of the unevenness of the sources, of the variations in historical depth to which I have referred. This anthology, then, is conceived in three dimensions. The first is time. These extracts are arranged roughly in chronological order (according to the date to which they refer, not the date at which they were composed), and are meant to give some impression of process—of the ways in which things have changed.* The second is space. The extracts relate to a variety of West African peoples— mainly the five major groupings mentioned above—which in historic times have inhabited definite, though changing, areas of what 1 See below, pp. 209-21. 2 This view seems to be confirmed by recent critical studies of Equiano’s work, e.g. G. I. Jones (1967), and Edwards (1969) (see below, p. 209 n. 4). 3 D. H. Jones (1953b). See also Isichei (1969). 4 One criticism ofthe first edition, with which I have some sympathy, was that in this anthology contemporary or near-contemporary accounts of a given period appear side by side with reconstructions by historians, writing at a much later date. This seems to me in the circumstances almost inevitable. One would otherwise have to exclude the whole body of nineteenth- and twentieth-century chronicle material —the Kano Chronicle, the works of Samuel Johnson, Chief Egharevba, and the like,

which unquestionably are derived from, or contain a substratum of, contemporary or near-contemporary accounts, and are indispensable sources for the present-day historian.

Introduction

7

is now Nigeria. The third is culture. These extracts are intended to throw light on various aspects of the life of the Nigerian peoples in the pre-colonial period. What was the character of their villages and towns, their food and clothing, their family systems? How did they organize their farming, crafts, commerce, and communications? What methods of education, forms of government, and administration did they develop? What did they achieve in the arts and sciences ?What were their basic religious, metaphysical, and moral beliefs ?Naturally these questions, in so far as they are answered here at all, are answered only in a fragmentary and often impressionistic way. Readers who want a more adequate answer must go to the sources. ‘Themes—connected with the development of European commerce, the processes of European penetration, the rivalries between the European powers—which have often in the past been treated as part of African history, but belong more properly to European history, are ignored, except in so far as they reflected themselves in the life and thought of Nigerian societies. The ‘invaders’ are only interesting from the standpoint of their impact on the indigenous peoples. I must admit that the texts included in this anthology, and this introduction, are more concerned with the affairs of rulers, courts, office-bearers, merchants, and scholars, less with the affairs of the common people—craftsmen, free peasants, slaves—than I would have wished. This can be simply explained, though not justified. To put it crudely, the study of African history has had, during the past twenty years, to make two revolutionary leaps: to disentangle itself from European history and acquire an African focus; and to break away from political and dynastic history and acquire a popular, a social, focus. The first of these transformations has been, in large measure, achieved; towards the realization of the second only very limited progress has been made. Something must be said about the sources. At first glance they may seem an odd assortment. In fact they fall fairly clearly into three main categories: the Arab geographers and other forms of Arab literature ;! indigenous West African writers; and European travellers, or historians drawing upon the reports of travellers. Each group I ‘Arab’, in the sense of being written by authors belonging to the Arab world as distinguished from the wider category of Arabic literature, including the Arabic writings of West Africans. Turkish material needs to be mentioned too in this connection—clearly of considerable importance for the period from the midsixteenth century, when the Ottoman Empire had extended its power up to the frontiers of Morocco (see pp. 145-7 and Martin (1967b)).

8

Introduction

‘ has made its own specific contribution to the understanding of the, Nigerian past, and each has interpreted the civilizations of Nigeria from its own point of view. Arab geography developed, from the ninth century, principally in response to the needs of Muslim rulers, or ruling classes, who were interested in acquiring information such as would assist them in handling commercial and political relations within the vast area in which Islam had established itself. Under the Abbasids the ‘Director of Posts’ (sahib al-bartd) was an important functionary, whose duty it was to keep the central government supplied with up-to-date information in regard to routes, distances, methods of transport, economic and political conditions, within the provinces of the Empire.! Other stimuli were the influence of the Greek geographers, the great annual international Muslim assembly, the hajj, and the sheer intellectual curiosity of travellers confronted with the diversity of the Muslim world, stretching (by the tenth century) from the Indus to Spain, and from Transoxania to the Sahara. Thus the Arabs’ scientific interest in the western Sudan was closely associated with their practical interest in the trans-Saharan trade-routes, providing a network of communications between the Muslim societies of Egypt and the Maghrib and this peripheral, partially Islamized, economically important region—a main source of gold for the states on both sides of the Mediterranean. In Arab classification what we commonly call ‘geography’ fell into four distinct categories: (i) ‘tlm al-atwal wa ’l-‘uriid, the science of longitudes and latitudes; (ii) ‘ilm taqwim al-buldan, the science of the position of countries; (iii) ‘¢/m almasalik wa’l-mamalik, the science of routes and kingdoms; (iv) ‘wm ‘aj@tb al-buldan, the science of the marvels of countries.? The geographical works from which I have quoted passages here belong to the two latter categories. That is to say, the author’s main object was to give an adequate descriptive account of masalik wa mamalik, as alBakri actually called his work, with possibly some references to ‘marvels’—the peculiarities of national customs. The main value of the Arab sources is that they cover a period— roughly from the eighth to the fifteenth century—during which Europe had virtually no knowledge of, and no contact with, West Africa.3 Therefore what the Arabs have to say about this region is ' Hitti (1953), pp. 322-5.

2 Blachére and Darmann (1957), p. 7. 3 Unfortunately no convenient collection of these Arab sources in English translation is yet available. The translations by W. W. Rajkowski and J. F. P. Hopkins, held up by the sad death of Dr, Rajkowski while carrying out research in the Fezzan

Introduction

9

precious—though, unfortunately, so far as concerns the peoples of what is now Nigeria, there is not a great deal of it. The Ghana, Mali, and Gao Empires, lying farther to the west, are much better documented. This is not surprising, since it was principally by way of the Maghrib that the Arab world developed its links with Black Africa— by the short route across the Sahara, leading from Tafilalet in southern Morocco either to Walata and Mali (Ibn Battuta’s route),

or to Gao and Timbuktu.' Thus during the flourishing period of Arab geography the Hausa States lay beyond the frontiers of the Muslim world, identified with the civilized world. Kanem-Bornu, as I have explained, was in a different situation. It

enjoyed, from the ninth century or earlier, its own independent links with the Muslim world, by the Kuwar-—Fezzan route.? By the thirteenth century Kanem controlled an empire which stretched north into the Fezzan, with Traghan as its administrative centre, and was on friendly terms with Tunisia and in diplomatic relations with Egypt.3 It belonged, even if remotely, to Islamic civilization. For these reasons Arab geographers and historians who sought to give description of Africa were bound to take account of Kanem. But none of them before Leo Africanus had first-hand knowledge of the country. They based their accounts mainly on what could be learned from Arab merchants or Kanem pilgrims or scholars in Marrakesh, Tunis, or Cairo. The character of the monarchy, the extent of Islamization, the boundaries of the Kingdom, the size of the armed forces, the character and direction of foreign trade—these were the main topics which interested geographers like al-Bakri, or Maqrizi, an historian like Ibn Khaldin, or compilers of manuals for officials like al-‘Umari and al-Qalqashandi. Leo’s position was in some ways special; though belonging to the great tradition of Arab travellerreporters, he wrote for a European public, for whom his work ‘filled in 1957, on which Dr. N. Levtzion of the University of Jerusalem is now working, will meet a pressing need. Except where otherwise stated I have used these unpublished translations and am grateful to Professor Fage and the University of Ghana Publications Board for permission to do so. There are also now two volumes of the excellent collection of Arabic texts relating to sub-Saharan Africa with Russian translations by Matveev and Kubbel (1960) and (1965), covering the

period down to the end of the twelfth century. Yusuf Kamal’s immense work (1926-51, Arabic texts with French translations) remains indispensable but rare. 1 This is an over-simplification. For the complex question of the particular transSaharan routes which were mainly in use at particular periods of mediaeval history, see Mauny (1961), pp. 426-41, and Brett (1969). 2 Martin (1969). 3 See pp. 94-100 below; Martin (1969), pp. 19-21.

10

Introduction

a void’. For the next three centuries European writers who attempted to say anything about the western or central Sudan tended to copy or summarize it.! The West African contribution is of especial importance—partly because there has been a tendency for ‘Westerners’ to see African history principally through European eyes and to assume that Africans either had little or nothing that was significant to say about their own past or lacked the techniques to say it. The extracts included here should at least give some idea of the range and value of the indigenous sources. First, there are what may broadly be described as ‘chronicles’: for example, al-Sa‘di’s Ta’rikh al-Sidan, primarily a history of the Gao Empire and only marginally concerned with this region; Ahmad Ibn Fartuwa al-Barnawi’s lively works, dealing with the campaigns of Mai Idris Alma of Bornu, whom Ibn Fartuwa accompanied as chief Imam; the Diwan of the Sultans of Bornu, giving a brief account of those events in each reign which the court historians thought worth recording; The Kano Chronicle, an invaluable source for the history not only of Kano but of neighbouring states; al- Hajj Sa‘id’s History of Sokoto.2 The ‘modern chronicles’ to which I have referred, such as Samuel Johnson’s classic History of the Yorubas, belong essentially to the same category. Works of this type have both the excellences and the weaknesses of chronicles everywhere and at all times. There is no clear dividing-line between fact and legend; there is a preoccupation with the ruling dynasty and its achievements, particularly its wars—indeed one function of history is to glorify the dynasty. At the same time, the fact that chroniclers are interested in details and in novelty—and take the trouble often to record technical, social, or administrative changes, even if they do not attempt to explain them—gives their material special value. There is also the remarkable range of works associated with the

period of the Fulani jihad, and continuing through the first half of the nineteenth century, covering almost the entire range of the traditional Islamic sciences—theological, exegetic, legal, literary, grammatical, mystical, and so forth. ‘Uthman dan Fodio, the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, and his close associates and successors—his 1 Mauny (1961), p. 47. ? Professor Abdullahi (H. F. C.) Smith has pointed out that ‘since the foundation of the vizierate of Sokoto it has been the practice of the Wazirai to publish annals of the ruling dynasty’, a practice which still continues (H. F. C. Smith (1959a)). On

the historical and other writings of the Viziers from Gidado dan Laima onward, see Last (1967a), pp. 207-22.

Introduction

II

son, Muhammad Bello, and his younger brother, ‘Abdullah—were all three prolific writers.' They had a positive message to deliver to the rulers, ‘ulama’ (men of learning), and people of the central Sudan, and their writings were one method of expounding it. Correspondence is another fruitful source: for example, the profoundly interesting exchange of letters between Sultan Muhammad Bello and Muhammad al-Kanemi, Shehu of Bornu, on the question of the justifiability of the Fulani jzhdd from the standpoint of Muslim law, quoted at length by Bello in his best-known work, IJnfaq almaisir;? samples of Muhammad al-Kanemi’s correspondence with the Sarkin Kano and George IV of England;3 and correspondence between provincial governors and the central government at Sokoto on the eve of the British occupation.* There are official documents, such as the Mahrams, or grants of privilege, conferred upon particular families by the Mais of Bornu.5 Private and family papers represent an important category of source material of which relatively little use has yet been made for the study of West African history. The inventory of the estate of a nineteenth-century Madaki, a deeply interesting text which Hiskett has published, an extract of which is included here, illustrates the way in which a document of this type can illuminate the social history of a particular people, class, and time.® There is also poetry.? As Vico remarked, man is naturally a poet before he develops historical and philosophical forms of expression. The Kanuri praise-poems, addressed to particular dignitaries within the ruling hierarchy of Kanem-Bornu, are examples of a form of literature which is common throughout the western Sudan.’ These are for the most part ‘traditional’ in the sense that they undergo change and development from generation to generation and cannot 1 For the literary renaissance associated with the jzhad, see below pp. 240 ff., and notes and references in H. F. C. Smith (1958). For the writings of the Dan Fodio family see Kensdale (1955), (1956), and (1958), and Last (1966a), pp. 237-48. 2 See below pp. 261-7. The issues raised in this correspondence are discussed in Last and Al-Hajj (1965). 3 See below, pp. 276-9. 4 See below, pp. 390-1. One of the particularly interesting developments of the past ten years has been the extensive new work done on the correspondence, both diplomatic and administrative, of the African states of the region—particularly, but not only, the Arabic material. See, for example, pp. 149-52 below. 5 See below, pp. 88-go. © See below, pp. 378-84. 7 On varieties of African poetic forms, see the illuminating study by Ruth Finnegan (1970). 8 See below, pp. 90-91 and 179-80.

12

Introduction ’

be dated with any kind of precision. But it is interesting that th¢ earliest composition by an African author from the region to which an approximate date can be assigned is the poem by the late twelfthcentury writer, Abi Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ya‘qub al-Kanimi, a fragment of which is quoted here.! And Bivar and Hiskett have pointed out that most of the earlier (pre-jzhdd) writers in Arabic whose works are known to us wrote in verse.? An extract from one of the best-known poems of this period (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), Shurb al-Zuldl, is included. Apart from the Arabic material, much interesting work has been done during the past decade on poetry in African languages (particularly Hausa and Fulfulde), written in Arabic script. Though the tradition of popular poetry (including love songs) in both languages is clearly ancient, the writing of ‘formal’ poetry and its circulation in manuscript form, would seem to have been associated historically with ‘Uthman dan Fodio’s jihad and the political-religious needs of the reforming movement— the need to teach the Muslim masses ‘the tenets of the faith and correct behaviour’.+ Of this abundant literature—including poems by members of the Dan Fodio family and by other well-known nineteenth-century writers—it has only been possible to include very few samples here.’ Formal Fulani and Hausa poetry tends, like poetry composed in Arabic, for the most part to follow classical Arabic models fairly closely, as regards the themes and metrical forms, though this can be combined with freshness in the ideas expressed and the images used to express them. Similarly there is another type of West African literature, appearing quite early in the history of African—European contacts, which bases itself squarely on European models—as regards its form, though not its content: such as Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography; Antera Duke’s diary; Bishop Crowther’s accounts of his missionary journeys; or J. Africanus Horton’s proposals for West African political development, including the passages quoted here about Yoruba and Ibo national character.® Is it possible to find any common characteristics running through these very diverse African contributions? Perhaps only that the 1 See below, p. 93.

2 Bivar and Hiskett (1962), p. 139.

3 See below, pp. 207-8.

4 See e.g. pp. 252-4. 5 The importance of the contribution of women to Fulfulde and Hausa poetry in the period from the jihad on should be noted—for example ‘Uthm4an dan Fodio’s

daughter, Asma’ bint al-Shaikh (Last (1967a) pp. xxxviii, 150-1, and 221). See also Last (1967c), pp. 38-42. ® See below pp. 209-21; pp. 235-8; pp. 334-6 and pp. 350-2.

Introduction

13

authors had the kind of insight which went with participating in, and enjoying, the societies about which, and for which, they wrote. No outsider could possibly have described the Fulani educational system as it existed in the late eighteenth century in the way in which ‘Abdullah dan Fodio described his own education.! This does not mean that African writers were uncritical in their attitude to their own institutions. ‘I am living on the fringe of the Sudan—the Sudan, where paganism and dark ignorance prevail; where, as Shaikh Maghili wrote, the better opinion is that ignorance, and lust, and irreligion are usual’—this was Muhammad Bello’s summing-up of the society in which he lived.? But it meant that they tended to take for granted some of those aspects of their cultures which outside observers found particularly puzzling, or remarkable, or disturbing. This is less true, of course, in the case of African authors, like Olaudah Equiano or J. Africanus Horton who were consciously writing for a European audience, for whom they felt it necessary to explain, and sometimes to justify, their civilizations.

The European contribution is, naturally, the most familiar of the three, for those brought up in the European cultural tradition.3 But it is a literature which is subject to certain obvious limitations. Geographically it is limited in range, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, to a small number of coastal towns and ports of call. Intellectually, most of the European travellers to West Africa were limited in their interests, and their accounts of the societies

with which they came in contact were essentially answers to the questions which they raised. First and foremost their concern was with trade—initially in slaves, and later in palm-oil—and in topics related to trade: sources of supply, variations in the price-level, African consumption habits, types of currency, and the like. Their preoccupation with trade implied an interest also in African systems of government,

since in Benin, as European

writers emphasized,

foreign trade was a state monopoly, while in the Delta States European merchants had to conform to regulations imposed by the ruling 1 See below pp. 240-3. 2 Muhammad Bello, Infaq al-maisir, translated and paraphrased

(1929), P- 3-

4

by Arnett

3 I was thinking here primarily of writings of European travellers—but these generalizations apply also, with some modifications, to the mass of material contained in the European archives, on which much of the valuable new historical work of the past decade has been based. See in this connection the excellent series, Guides to Materials for West African History, published by the University of London— in particular Carson (1962) and (1968), Ryder (1965c), and Gray and Chambers

(1965).

14

Introduction

dynasties (in Calabar, by the ruling oligarchy).! The existence, from the time of the first Portuguese contacts with the West African coast? of a missionary motive, and the participation of Christian missionaries in the wake of traders in the effort to extend European influence, meant that European writers normally paid some attention also to African religion—though in most cases they lacked the equipment to understand it, and were mainly concerned to expose the ‘errors’ of its theology and the ‘barbarism’ of its practices, in contrast with their particular brand of the Christian faith. At the same time, like the Arabs, they were interested in ‘marvels’, ‘aja’zb—1.e. in those aspects of African culture which, judged from the standpoint of their own. cultural assumptions, were especially odd, or ridiculous, or repellent. Within this general European frame of reference? there were, of course, marked differences of perspective, connected with the writer’s nation, period, and personal outlook. The major Portuguese writers of the period of Portugal’s commercial ascendancy on the coast, from the late fifteenth to the middle or end of the sixteenth century—Pacheco Pereira, Ruy de Pina, de Barros—were government officials and courtiers. Both Pacheco Pereira and de Barros served in West Africa (the latter before he wrote Da Asia) and de Pina was closely associated with the making of imperial policy.3 Hence all of them tended to reflect the standpoint of the regime—that the expansion of Portuguese trade in slaves and pepper, the diffusion of Portuguese culture, and the winning of African souls for the Catholic faith, were intrinsically desirable and related ends. They were interested in the promotion of cordial relations between the ruling dynasties and courts of Portugal and Benin; and the conversion of the prince—achieved at Warri, and even more successfully in the kingdom of the Kongo—was seen partly as a means to this end. None of the Portuguese authors attempted to probe at all deeply into African institutions for a variety of reasons: Pacheco Pereira’s main object was to produce a guide to navigation; de Barros and his contemporaries ‘saw the opening up of Africa primarily as the prologue to the discovery of the sea-route to India’; and there was the effect of ‘the strict censorship imposed on any work that might assist Portugal’s trade rivals’.4 1 Dike (1956), pp. 7-10, and extracts quoted below, passim. 2 For a useful discussion of this frame of reference, and the presuppositions on which it was based, in the context of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain see Curtin (1964). 3 Blake (1942), i, p. 42.

4 Kimble (1937), p. xviii; Blake (1942), i, p. ix, and Wolfson (1958), p. 3. See also Ryder (1969), ch. 2.

Introduction

15

The period of Dutch ascendancy, in the seventeenth century, coincided with the growth in western Europe of a scientific interest in the observation and description of phenomena, social as well as natural.',There is a wide gulf between the intellectual climate of Sir Thomas Browne and John Locke. Applied to the study of nonEuropean peoples this meant the substitution of more or less systematic accounts, inventories almost, of their physical environment, customs, and institutions, for the older ‘travellers’ tales’ type

of literature, with its preoccupation with the unfamiliar and the exotic—the ‘Anthropophagi and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders’. This new approach is, I think, reflected in the accounts which the Dutch authors—‘D.R.’, Dapper, and Van Nyendael—who, moreover, lacked the strongly assimilationist, proselytizing interests of the Portuguese, give of the coastal states and particularly Benin. Dapper’s study of Benin is, perhaps, the first attempt by a European to penetrate below the surface, and describe objectively the institutions of a West African state. True, Dapper was a contemporary historian, not an anthropologist, and it would be of great value to have the original first-hand reports of Samuel Blommaart, on which it appears that he mainly drew.? But, like Leo Africanus, he remained a quarry from which later seventeenth- and eighteenth-century authors hewed extensively, usually without acknowledgement.3 The British contribution—even when allowance has been made for a natural bias in favour of one’s own literature—is the largest and most varied. It begins with the records of Richard Eden and James Welsh in the sixteenth century, which supplement the Portuguese sources in regard to Benin. In the seventeenth century there is a curious lack of contemporary material: John Ogilby’s Africa, published in 1670, is entirely derivative (mainly a translation, or paraphrase, of Dapper). For the eighteenth century there are some useful traders’ narratives, particularly Robert Norris and Archibald Dalzel, who, though their first-hand knowledge was confined to Dahomey, provide a limited amount of valuable information about eighteenthcentury Oyo, and John Adams, excellent for the coastal states at the 1 For a discussion of the Dutch sources, see Ryder (1965a), pp. 195-210; also Ryder (1969), ch. 3, pp. 84-98. 2 Roth (1903), p. 2 and Ryder (1965a), pp. 196-7. See below, pp. 159-76. 3 See Abbé Prévost (1748), vi, book 11, ch. 1, pp. 1-5: ‘Barbot méme, qui fait le voyage de Guinée, ne peut passer que pour un compilateur, surtout dans sa relation de Benin, ou tout est emprunté de Nyendael et de Dapper, avec tant de mauvaise foi qu’il ne les a pas méme nommés.’ The Abbé is equally, but I think unfairly, severe about Dapper.

16

Introduction

end of the century.! In addition, much valuable material has been preserved in the massive eighteenth-century collections of ‘voyages and discoveries’. Both in England and France this was a period when the vogue of travel literature, which was outrun in popularity among the reading public only by theology, became firmly established . . . The great booksellers could now find capital for large and expensive undertakings. . . . The imposing folios of Churchill, Harris and Osborne, adorned by numerous engravings, fitly furnished the libraries of Palladian country houses designed by Campbell or Kent and decorated by Thornhill.?

But it is not until the nineteenth century that the British sources become really impressive, with the records of the succession of journeys undertaken by Denham and Clapperton, Richard and John Lander, Laird and Oldfield, Allen and Thompson, Baikie, Barth,

Burton, Mary Kingsley, and many others. Among these Clapperton, Barth, and Mary Kingsley are, in their different ways, outstanding. Denham and Clapperton were not the first Europeans to make their way to Bornu and the Hausa States by the trans-Saharan route —the German, Frederick Horneman (or Friedrich Hornemann), had preceded them by twenty years, and penetrated as far as Nupe.3 But they were the first to return with a full and intelligent report on the civilizations of the central Sudan. Hugh Clapperton’s great achievement was to follow this first successful northern journey with the first exploration of the route inland from the coast, through Yorubaland, to the Fulani capital of Sokoto, which he revisited in 1827, and where he died at the age of thirty-nine. Clapperton,

though on the whole a careful observer, with scientific interests, was not an intellectuai, as his unwillingness to become deeply involved in theological disputation with Muhammad Bello makes clear.+ But he was able to enter sympathetically into cultures remote from his own, enjoy them, and interpret them with a greater freedom from Euro-

pean preconceptions than most of his successors. His journeys took place at an exceptionally interesting time, when the Sokoto Cali1 For some discussion of the intellectual limitations of Norris and Dalzel see Akinjogbin (1967), pp. 3-4 and 74-5. See also below, pp. 221 n. 2 and 224 n, 1. 2 Crone and Skelton (1946), p. 78. 3 Bovill, (1958), p. 210. Unfortunately all that survives of Horneman’s writings is his Yournal of Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk, London (1802), republished with an introduction containing useful geographical information in Bovill (1964), i. See also the excellent brief account in Hallett (19654), i, pp. 250-63. Wargee, the Tatar, had also completed a tremendous trans-Saharan journey in 1822. See

Wilks (1967). 4 See below p. 284.

Introduction

17

phate was already firmly established, Bornu under Muhammad alKanemi had achieved its renaissance, and the Empire of Oyo was already in a state of disintegration. Clapperton seems to me to have had some real understanding of the character of the historical processes in which he was involved, and to have learned much from his relationships with some of the main rulers, Muhammad Bello and Muhammad al-Kanemi in particular.!

Henry Barth, German by birth and academic training but English by adoption, has a strong claim to be regarded as Nigeria’s greatest historian, who—so far as northern Nigeria is concerned—constructed the frame of reference within which all later historical work has been done.? The accident which turned him, at the age of twenty-eight, from a lecturer on comparative geography and ‘the colonial commerce of antiquity’ at the University of Berlin into a member of James Richardson’s expedition to the western Sudan was extremely fortunate. Though young when he started on his five-and-a-half-year journey, he already possessed the kind of intellectual equipment that no previous European traveller in this region had enjoyed—a classical scholar, modern linguist, and Arabist, who had already travelled widely in North Africa, Asia Minor, and the Levant. When

Barth arrived in Sokoto territory in 1850, there had been only indirect and infrequent contact with Europe since Clapperton’s last journey, twenty-three years previously. Barth was able to give a much more thorough and complete account of the institutions of the Caliphate and of Bornu than his predecessors—as well as grasping more clearly their external links, with the Maghrib, and with Gao,

Timbuktu, and the western Sudan (which he also visited). His account of the foreign trade of Kano is a good example of the imaginative way in which a student of ‘the colonial commerce of antiquity’ could set about fact-finding in West Africa.3 But above all Barth had the temper and training which led him to ask historical 1 For a more critical view of Clapperton’s understanding of contemporary history see Last (1967a), p. xlvi. Bovill (1964), ii, contains much detailed background information regarding the Denham, Clapperton, Oudney expedition and the difficulties and conflicts in which it became involved. See below, p. 272. 2 There has recently been a considerable expansion in Barth studies, so that it is

now possible to form a much more adequate notion of the man and his work. In addition to Prothero (1958), pp. 326-39, there is Kirk-Greene’s useful collection of extracts from Barth’s work relating to the Nigerian region, with a lengthy biographical and bibliographical introduction (1962), and Boahen’s account of the

Richardson—Barth mission and its background (1964a) (particularly ch. 8). Heinrich Stiffers (1967) also edited a collection of essays to commemorate the centenary of Barth’s death in 1865. 3 See below, pp. 322-7.

18

Introduction 7

questions of a kind no European had asked before. He never described the contemporary situation of the various African communities

through

which

he

travelled—Katsina,

Kano,

Sokoto,

Bornu, Adamawa—without attempting to relate it to its past; so that his work, unlike almost all preceding European studies, is a work of exploration in a double sense—in time as well as in space. The fact that he was himself so clearly a Mallam, a man of learning, enabled

him—as his account of his friends in Kuka illustrates '‘—at once to find common intellectual ground with the Mallams of the Sudan. One by-product of this was that he had access to—indeed, from a European standpoint, ‘discovered’—some of the essential documentary sources for West African history, in particular the Ta’rikh al-Stidan. Mary Kingsley was the last of the great European, as Leo Africanus was the last of the great Arab, traveller-reporters: the last European who could go where her genius led her, accepting Africans and accepted by them as a person among persons, without the privileges and embarrassments associated with membership of an imperial nation, and with a total disregard of what a European administration might think of her way of life. Such methods of exploration and study were still possible in the last decade of the nineteenth century, but not during the first half of the twentieth. In a sense she was also the first of the great West African anthropologists, in that her primary interest was to understand African societies from within—to explain African institutions in terms of their functions, in the context of a community’s culture. Where previous European travellers had usually been content to give a crude description, and express moral disapproval, of the complex of rituals and beliefs associated with ‘fetishism’, Mary Kingsley’s concern was to understand the various types of religious attitude so labelled in a spirit of scientific detachment. Hence her constant emphasis on ‘science’, as a prerequisite to effective political action, in Africa as anywhere else: All that is wanted is the proper method; and this method I assure you that Science, true knowledge, that which Spinoza termed the inward aid of God, can give you. I am not Science, but only one of her brick-makers, and I beg you to turn to her... .2 1 See below, pp. 317-22. 2 Kingsley (1899), p. xvi. There is a perceptive note on Mary Kingsley in Hancock (1942), appendix A, pp. 330-4. For a much more critical view, stressing particularly her close relations with Liverpool and the commercial lobby, see

Flint (1963).

Introduction

19

In order to blow up the mythological foundations, the complacent assumption of cultural superiority upon which European thinking about Africa and Africans had come to be based, Mary Kingsley used all the intellectual weapons in her well-stocked armoury—wit, fantasy, paradox, hyperbole. But her most effective weapon was to fasten on the implicit major premiss—that African society is a thing apart, and African values by definition inferior to European values, and gently expose its inadequacy: An African cannot say, as so many Europeans evidently easily can, ‘Oh, that is all right from a religious point of view, but one must be practical, you know’, and it is this factor that makes me respect the African deeply and sympathise with him, for I have the same unmanageable hindersome thing in my own mind, which you can call anything you like: I myself call it honour... .!

Though in her own day she regarded the further spread of European power in some form as inevitable, and sought to humanize and inform it, Mary Kingsley had no doctrinal stops in her mind that would have made her unsympathetic to the contrary trend of the present day, towards decolonization and independence. Indeed, she insisted on the need to apply what she called ‘the African principle’, the idea of ‘government of Africa by Africans’, as far as the conditions of the time allowed.? One weakness which runs through most of these European contributions—Barth is the outstanding exception—is the lack of a sense of history. The myth that Africans are ‘people without a history’, although it can be traced back at least as far as Hegel, was probably not a conscious European presupposition until the end of the nineteenth century. The fact was rather that most Europeans who visited West Africa were not competent, nor expected, to do more than report on the contemporary state of the societies which they encountered; they combined, in varying proportions, the qualities of journalists and amateur sociologists. Probably they assumed that these were—from a technological and institutional point of view— somewhat static societies; but then, until the end of the eighteenth century, their own societies changed relatively slowly too. Moreover, European historical thinking, as contrasted with the recording of past events, was itself largely a product of the nineteenth century.3 In these extracts changes in kings, or dynasties, or the power1 Kingsley (1899), pp. 127-8. 2 Tbid., p. 419 3 Collingwood (1946), pp. 259-60.

20

Introduction ’

relationships between states, wars, and revolutions—disturbances of the political surface—are recorded where they are observed. But the approach is, in general, photographic. Writers describe what has occurred within their span of observation. They may even refer back to previous travellers, and note ways in which the present state of affairs differs from the recorded past: mention that the city of Benin has declined since Dapper’s day; or that Bonny has now established itself as the main centre of the slave trade. But, before Barth, there is little attempt to discuss the direction of change, or explain the deeper causes of change. Even the limited material included here refutes, I hope, fairly conclusively the theory that these African societies were ‘static’ or ‘immobile’ during the pre-colonial period. It may be worth while to try to list some of the main precipitants of change within the Nigerian region: First, the impact of two great technical revolutions—the spreading to the region during the last millennium B.c. of the knowledge of the working and use of iron, and the important stimulus given to transSaharan communications by the introduction of the camel into North Africa, early in the Christian era.! Second, the development over a long period extending certainly back into the first millennium a.p. of the complex of institutions generally associated with states both in Kanem-Bornu and in Hausaland—the construction of cities (particularly in Hausaland walled cities, birane), the growth of specialized crafts and longdistance trade, the emergence of embryonic classes (rulers and officebearers, free commoners, slaves), the establishment of ruling dynasties.? Third, the gradual spread of Islam, first into Kanem-Bornu, later into the Hausa States, from the eleventh century (or earlier) onwards—assisting the development of communications between this region and the wider Muslim world—the western Sudan, the Maghrib, Egypt, Arabia. Fourth, a phase (approximately fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) of the consolidation and expansion of states—the Hausa States ' See Willett (1971). Bernard Fagg has argued that ‘the Nok Culture can now be accepted as an exclusively Iron Age phenomenon’ (see below, p. 22). Willett here discusses briefly whether the knowledge of iron-working is more likely to have come to Nok from Meroe or from North Africa (ibid., p. 27). For the introduction of the camel into North Africa and its use for trans-Saharan transport, see Mauny

(1961), pp. 287-91. 2 On this process, and the problems involved in the effort to understand and interpret it, see particularly Abdullahi (H. F, C.) Smith (1970 and 1971).

Introduction

QI

(Kano, Katsina, Zaria), the new Bornu, Nupe, the historically associated kingdoms of Oyo and Benin. Fifth, from the end of the fifteenth century, the beginning of commercial and cultural contacts between the coastal states and Europe; the establishment and growth of European trade, including the slave trade;! the importation (particularly by the eighteenth century) of guns and gunpowder; the rise of new types of ‘city-states’, ruled by merchant oligarchies, closely associated with the European trade. Sixth, the development of the Muslim reforming movement and intellectual renaissance in the latter part of the eighteenth century, which expressed itself at the beginning of the nineteenth century in the jzhdd of “Uthman dan Fodio and the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate; the impact of the jzhdd, in combination with internal revolutionary forces, upon neighbouring states—Bornu, Nupe, Oyo. Seventh, the gradual substitution of ‘legitimate’ commerce for the slave trade as the dominant aspect of economic relations between the coastal states and Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century, the growing influence, in areas accessible to them, of European interests—missionary, commercial, diplomatic—upon indigenous African politics; the development through the century of new urban centres of power, the rise of new intellectual and political classes, the diffusion of new bourgeois-Christian (as well as Islamic) ideologies.? Eighth, the final phase of European political and military penetration during the latter half of the nineteenth century, with the reactions—whether of resistance or compromise, or some combination or alternation of the two—of the African states, their rulers and

peoples. In no sense, of course, is this an exhaustive list. But within this rough framework it is possible to say something about successive ‘periods’ of Nigerian history, and to note their different characteristics. Granted this notion of an historical ‘period’, and its subdivision into particular ‘centuries’, is somewhat artificial, yet it seems a necessary tool for interpreting the European past, and may be of use if applied to the Nigerian past.3 1 The question of the impact of the European slave trade on African society—its extent and character—is large and difficult. See below, pp. 46-50. For a reconsideration of the evidence relating to the actual numbers involved, see Curtin 1960). aR a questioning of some conventional views regarding the relationship between the abolition of the slave trade and social and political change in nineteenth-century West African states see Austen (1970).

3 For the notion of historical ‘periods’, see Collingwood (1946), pp. 50-2.

22

Pre-A.D. 1000

Introduction

&

For the period prior to the eleventh century almost our only sources are archaeological, supplemented by tradition and legend.! The Nok sculptures are a reflection of one early central Nigerian civilization. The dating of this extremely interesting Nok culture is not yet fully determined. Mr. Bernard Fagg has suggested that its most flourishing period may have been as early as the last few centuries B.c.; and that the Nok style of sculpture ‘is in some degree ancestral to the Ife-Benin tradition’.2 But about this period we cannot do much more than speculate—at least until archaeological work produces a more solid body of evidence. The ‘legends of origin’, of which a few examples are included here, undoubtedly contain a core of history. But what is the real meaning and value of the history embedded in the legend—*Who these Sayfs and Bayajidas and Oduduwas and Kisras and Tsoedes and Oranmiyans actually were’, and what was their actual contribution—if any—to the state-building process—this, as Professor Smith says, remains extremely obscure.3 I have certainly been convinced by his arguments that my remarks on this subject in the first edition were too general and facile. I agree that there is no evidence of a necessary historical connection between migration and state-building; that ‘political institutions, like other institutions of human culture, are devised and developed because they offer solutions to the problems which arise for mankind out of the conditions in which it has to live’, and that it is above all to these conditions that research should be directed, ‘rather than to the

pursuit of the phantom of the strange invader, the héros civilisateur from the east with his superior culture’.t Smith’s arguments seem to me to provide even stronger grounds for rejecting the ‘Hamitic hypothesis’ in any of its variant forms—especially in the version that Berber migrants played a significant part in the state-forming process in either Kanem-Bornu or Hausaland.’ But the relatively ancient legends regarding Saif ibn Dhi Yazan and the origin of the 1 For helpful summaries of the archaeological evidence and its bearing on Nigerian history see Willett (1971) and Shaw (1969). 2 Cf. B. E. B. Fagg (1959). This dating seems to have been confirmed by later archaeological work. See B. E. B. Fagg (1969), pp. 41-50, and references in Willett (1971) and Shaw (1969).

3H. F. C. Smith (1970). nh 4 Ibid. 5 For some discussion of the ‘Hamitic hypothesis’, see Armstrong (1960) and, more recently, Sanders (1969).

Introduction

23

Saifawa dynasty in Kanem do seem to indicate that it was of nomadic Saharan (Nilo-Saharan-language-speaking, not Berber) origin and that the establishment of the power of this dynasty, probably in about the ninth or tenth century, was connected historically with the emergence of a ‘Kanuri’ nation and of a Kanem state, with its focus east of Lake Chad, as a major power in the central Sudanic region.! The first firm point in the history of this period is alYa‘qubi’s assertion that the Kingdom of Kanem existed in the ninth century. But communications between the ‘Ibadi state of Tahert and Kanem by way of Zawila, the main trading centre of the Fezzan (which from the middle of the eighth century appears to have been

under ‘Ibadi control), and the Bilma route existed at an even earlier

period, and it seems probable that, as in the case of the Sudanic

states to the west, the first carriers of Islamic ideas to Kanem were

Ibadi traders and missionaries. An ‘Ibadi governor of the Jabal Nafiisa (on the road from Zawila to Tripoli) in the first half of the ninth century is mentioned as speaking the ‘language of Kanem’ as well as Arabic and Berber.’ The basic pattern of trade with North Africa, involving the export of slaves and the importation of horses, the basis of Kanem’s cavalry and thus of its military power, may already have been established by this period. As regards the Hausa States, the evidence, Smith argues, suggests that the Hausa-speaking people inhabited roughly the present area of settlement (Kasan Hausa, the land of the Hausa language) from a very early period, but that in the remoter past they also occupied ferritory farther to the north (up to 17° latitude), which they were forced to leave on account of the desiccation of the Sahara. Following Mauny, he suggests that the present Harratin of the Saharan oases are the remains of this ancient Negro (in part Hausa-speaking) popujation.4 For a long period, on this view, one must suppose that the Hausa lived in small agricultural communities whose institutions were based upon kinship. The formation of state-like organizations, the establishment of the power of particular sarakuna, based upon walled cities (birane), supported by a hierarchy of specialized fief1 H. F. C. Smith (1971). On the basis of king-lists Urvoy refers the foundation of the Saifawa dynasty in Kanem to about the year A.D. 800 (1949, p. 26). Professor Smith, however, has pointed out in correspondence that the year 800, or the eighth century, may ‘represent a frontier of Islamic knowledge and interest rather than a

real watershed of political organisation’. On Saifawa legends of origin see particularly H. F. C. Smith (1972). 2 See below, p. 87. 3 Martin (1969) p. 18, and Lewicki (1964), pp. 309-10, cited by Martin. +H. F. C. Smith (1970), p. 3: Mauny (1961), p. 444.

24

Introduction

holding officials was a process which was A.D. 1000.! In this context it is difficult to derive much formation from the Legend of Daura beyond some period after the emergence of organized

only beginning by ‘ serious historical inthe assertion that at states in the Hausa

Bakwai new dynasties, with connections with Kanem-Bornu, estab-

lished themselves, and that this process may have been accompanied by innovations, both in technology and institutions.? Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries

By the eleventh century pre-history begins to give way to history. Perhaps the first event in Nigerian history to which a reasonably accurate date can be assigned is the conversion to Islam of Umme (or Humai) Jilmi, Mai of Kanem, shortly before the end of the eleventh century.3 For al-Bakri, writing a generation before Umme Jilmi, Kanem was still a kingdom of ‘idolatrous Negroes’, although exposed, like the Kingdom of Ghana at the same date, to Muslim influences—illustrated by his interesting story of the presence there of some ‘Umayyad’ refugees, ‘who still preserve their Arab mode of dress and customs’.+ It is also al-Bakri who provides us with our earliest evidence of the use of cloth currency, referred to by later writers. By the twelfth century Mai Dunama, Umme Jilmi’s son and successor, was the first ruler of Kanem to fulfil the religious obligation of the hajj—since that time one of the main channels of communication between the central Sudan and the Middle East.5 By the middle of the thirteenth century, according to Maqrizi, the Maliki school of law was firmly established in Kanem; and, probably in the reign of Mai Dunama Dibbalemi, in the 1240s, its government built a madrasa for Kanem pilgrims and students residing in Cairo.® Ibn Khaldin provides us with independent evidence of the development of Kanem’s external relations with other Muslim states at about this time in his account of the embassy which Kanem sent to alMustansir, the founder of the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia, and the

public excitement aroused by the gift of a giraffe.7 One practical consequence of this continuing friendly relationship between Kanem 1H. F. C. Smith (1971), pp. 38-57. 2 See below, pp. 74-6. See notes for other views and interpretations. 3 See below, pp. 88-g0 and 95 n. 1. For a useful account of the origin and development of Islam in Bornu see Lavers (1971). 4 See below, p. 88. 5 See below, p. 91. 6 See below, p. 98. 7 See below, pp. 99-100.

Introduction

25

and the Hafsids was the strengthening of Kanem’s authority over the Fezzan, meaning increased security for the North African traderoute. It would seem that it was in the mid-thirteenth century, under Dunama Dibbalemi (who is traditionally regarded as being, with ‘Ali Gaji and Idris Aléma, one of the three greatest Saifawa rulers), that Kanem, at the request of the local population, installed a governor at Traghan, which became its administrative centre in the Fezzan (its control of this region at this time is confirmed by the Arab geographers).! Internally it is possible to piece together a reasonably coherent account of the state of Kanem-Bornu at this period: the Mai, whose legitimacy is based on the Arab, non-African, principle of heredity in the paternal line, but who retains much of his pre-Islamic divinity,

and ‘never shows himself to his people, nor talks to them, except from behind a curtain’,? the focus of an elaborate palace hierarchy within which the queen-mother, the Magira, occupied a position of special power; the great ‘feudatories’, princes of the royal family (mainas) or officers of the royal household, military governors (probably absentee?) of the provinces which they held as fiefs—Mustrima, Yerima, Ciroma—who

constituted at the same

time the Council of

State;3 a substantial ‘feudal’ army, particularly cavalry, the instrument from the twelfth century of Kanem’s policy of expansion; a state capital at Njimi, though the Mai remained ‘a nomad in mode of life’—that is, like the rulers of Ethiopia until the seventeenth century, or of England in the early Middle Ages, he was continually on the move through his dominions. Apart from its northern projection into the Fezzan, it is difficult to estimate the extent of the first Kanem-Bornu empire during its period of greatness in the thirteenth century, when it impressed geographers like Ibn Sa‘id. But it probably already involved the westward extension of Kanemi influence as far as the Hausa States, particularly Kano. It is significant also that the development of Islam had already, by the twelfth century, reached a point in Kanem at which the country was in a position to begin to export its intelligentsia—its scholars and poets.* But this first Kanem empire was relatively short-lived. By the t See below, p. 96. See also H. F. C. [Abdullahi] Smith (1971), p. 174, and Martin (1969), pp. 19-22. 2 See below, p. 99. 3H. F. C. Smith (1971), pp. 175-7, where he refers to possible evidence for the

existence of Islamic offices (wazir, khazin, talib, qgadi) at this period also, and Urvoy (1949), p. 37. For the Council of State at a much later period see below

pp. 365-8. 4 See below, p. 93.

26

Introduction

beginning of the fourteenth century the state had begun to confront a complex of problems which in popular historiography was associated with Mai Dunama Dibbalemi’s crucial destruction of the sacred mune, and which continued through the century.! These involved, probably, the loss of the Fezzan, constant struggles on the southern and western sides of Lake Chad with non-Kanuri peoples generally referred to as the So, the Bulala wars carried into the Kanem heartland and continuing through the latter half of the fourteenth century; followed by the penetration of nomad Arabs (ancestors of the modern Shuwa) into the region of Chad.? One very important consequence of this time of troubles was the abandonment of the original Kanem provinces by Mai ‘Umar ibn Idris at the end of the fourteenth century and the refounding of the state in Bornu, west of Chad. Elsewhere the evidence is much more fragmentary. For the Hausa States, other than Kano, we have little beyond king-lists. But in the case of Kano the Kano Chronicle provides a valuable source which makes it possible to trace. the growth of the dirnz around Dala hill, which became the nucleus of the later powerful and wealthy state. It seems reasonable to accept a twelfth-century date for the building of the city walls. The major offices—such as those of Galadima and Madawaki—seem to have become established and powerful by the reign of Sarki Yaji in the fourteenth century.* The Chronicle also gives a fourteenth-century date for the introduction of Islam, by missionaries from Mali (Wangarawa) and the conversion of the dynasty. But a seventeenth-century ‘History of the Wangarawa’ puts the event a century later, in the reign of Muhammad Rumfa.5 In any case there seems reason to doubt the effectiveness of the earlier conversion, if it occurred. One can also suppose that Islamic influences from Kanem-Bornu were present in Kano from a quite early period.® None the less the fact that the early contacts of the Hausa peoples with the Muslim world were mainly westward-looking, by way of the western Sudan and the Maghrib, left its mark on the subsequent history of the region.7 i See Palmer (1928), i, pp. 69-70: see also H. F. C. Smith (1971). p. 177 for an interpretation of the mune episode which differs from those conventionally given, e.g. by Trimingham (1962), pp. 117-18. Bras i. Ch. Smith (1971), pp. 177-180. On the question of the interrelations of the Fezzan with Kanem-Bornu, see Martin (1969), pp. 19-22. For the Arab & problem see below, pp. 102-4. t 3 See below pp. 92-3, and H. F. C. Smith (1971), p. 193. 4 Ibid, p. 195. 5 See below, pp. 100-1, see also Al-Hajj (1968).

® Greenberg (1960).

7 Greenberg (1946) and Schacht (1957).

Introduction

2

To the south, among the Yoruba and Edo, states, organized around cities, or urban settlements, were emerging during this period. Recent archaeological evidence seems to suggest that the most flourishing period of Ife civilization and the sculpture associated with it may have been early in the present millennium.! In the case of Benin the establishment of the new dynasty, traditionally associated with Eweka, the strengthening of the power of the monarchy, associated with the fourth Oba, Ewedo, the growth of the palace as an institution and the creation of the palace orders of chiefs balancing the older territorial chiefs, the Uzama, the initiation of a policy of territorial expansion, based on new weapons and methods of warfare, these developments can be placed, tentatively, towards the end of this period.2 The late fourteenth century has also been conventionally regarded as the probable date of the introduction of the technique of brass-casting from Ife into Benin.3

Fifteenth Century

In the fifteenth century among the developments that stand out are the re-emergence of Bornu as a major power after a long period of internal conflict, the rise of the Hausa States, particularly Kano, the expansion of Benin, and the arrival of the Portuguese. From the beginning of the century until about 1470 the kingdom of Bornu was further weakened by a continuing conflict between two competing segments of the Saifawa dynasty—the Idrisids and the Dawudids, descendants of Mai Idris ibn Ibrahim Nikala and his brother Dawid. In this confused situation it was possible for those outside the dynasty—including on at least one occasion the kaigama‘ (a title of which we hear for the first time) to seize power temporarily, and military pressure from the Bulala continued. But a new stability was achieved in ¢. 1470, when ‘Ali Gaji ibn Dunama, an Idrisid, established himself as Mai, founded the Bornu Caliphate, eliminated his Dawudid opponents, and ruled effectively for the last third of the century. This stabilization was associated with the construction in c. 1480 of a new permanent walled capital at Ngazargamu, west of Chad, a suitable base for the later extension of Bornu power westt Willett (1971), p. 24.

2 Ryder (1969), pp- 3-7-

3 See below, p. 96, and Willett (1967), pp. 131-2. + Commander-in-Chief: see below, pp. 179-80.

28

Introduction

wards into Hausaland.! By this period too the Bornu “system of higher Islamic education had become firmly established.? & Evidence for the history of the Hausa States at this period remains thin. In the case of Zazzau the phase of economic and political expansion associated with the semi-legendary Queen Amina would seem to belong to the sixteenth rather than the fifteenth century.3 But the late fifteenth-century Muhammad Rabbo is traditionally regarded as the first Muslim ruler of Zazzau, like his contemporary, Muhammad Korau, founder of the new dynasty in Katsina.+ Further evidence of Islamization in fifteenth-century Katsina is the fact that Muhammad Korau’s successor, Ibrahim Stra (1493 ?-8) is specially mentioned by al-Suyiti in his open letter to the kings and sultans of Takrur.s This is the period also of the first recorded war between Katsina and Kano, which seems to have been passing through a phase of commercial growth and military ascendancy. Iron helmets and quilted armour for men and horses were introduced by the Sarki Kanajeji in about A.D. 1400, and Muhammad Rumfa (?1463-99) is remembered as the greatest of the Kano kings.® It is probably to his reign that Leo Africanus refers when he says that the King of Kano ‘was in times past of great puissance, and had mighty troops of horsemen at his command’.?7 The twelve reforms which the Kano Chronicle attributes to Rumfa seem mainly to have been directed towards strengthening the internal structure of the state and intensifying its Islamic character: for example, the extension of the city walls, the construction of the market, the appointment of eunuchs to offices of state, the creation of a Council of State, the introduction of

kulle (purdah), and the public celebration of the ‘Jd al-kabir, the major Muslim festival. There is other evidence of the further Islamization of Kano at about this time: the arrival of Fulani from the west, bringing with them works of theology and grammar, to supplement the Qur’an and the Hadith; and the visits of travelling Muslim scholars from the University of Timbuktu. From the end of the fifteenth century onwards, ‘the influence of Timbuktu... in the ™H. F. C. Smith (1971), p. 182; Hunwick (1971), p. 205; Lavers (1971b), pp. 29-30. For Ngazargamu, see Bivar and Shinnie (1962). 2 Lavers (19714), pp. 35-6.

3 Hogben and Kirk-Greene (1966), pp. 216-18. 4H. F. C. Smith (1971), pp. 196-8. 5 See below, pp. 118-20, and Hunwick (1971), p. 213. On the meaning of the term ‘Takrir’ at this period see al-Naqar (1969). 6 See below, pp. 105-6 and 113-15.

7 See below, p. 129.

Introduction

29

full tide of its intellectual activity ... spread slowly through the west and central Sudan. .. .”' One interesting aspect of this closer relationship between Kano and the intellectual centres of the Muslim world was the friendship between Muhammad Rumfa and Shaikh Muhammad al-Maghili of Tlemcen. Al-Maghili, a major figure in the history of the western Sudan at the turn of the fifteenth century, and a powerful influence on the thinking of ‘Uthman dan Fodio and the jihad leaders three centuries later, seems to have functioned for a time in Kano as an éminence grise, advising the king on statecraft, and addressing to him the treatise The Obligations of Princes, which combines insistence on the strict application of the Shart‘a with an awareness of the problems facing a centralizing and reforming Muslim ruler.? Thus it seems that ‘government in Kano now entered an era of Islamization as a result of which the office of Sarki assumed the characteristics of a sultanate’.3 It is difficult to form any clear idea of developments in the region to the south of the Hausa States, the region bordering the Niger and the Benue and around their confluence associated with the Nupe, Igala, and Jukun in particular. I think one can reasonably argue that the forces which were stimulating the growth of organized states to the north, west, and south in the late fifteenth century were

operative also here—though which were the states that were emerging at this period and how they were related to one another remains obscure.‘ In the case of Nupe Dr. Mason has argued that Tsoede ‘is simply the personification of a chain of events that led to the founding of a supertribal state. In other words the Tsoede legend does not describe the genesis of the Nupes as a people, but rather the genesis of the political state which was recognized as being Nupe, as distinct from any smaller unit, such as Bini’.5 But, even if this process of state-formation cannot at present be fitted into any firm chronological framework, it does seem that ‘the Nupes had begun to trade with the Hausas by the mid-fifteenth century’, and that the impact of Islam was already beginning to be experienced; Bussa, on the western frontier of Nupeland, had received Wangara immigrants by the late fifteenth century and was conquered by Songhai in 1505.°

t Hiskett (1957), p- 573-

2 See below, pp. 115-17. For further information on al-Maghili see below, p.

115, 0. 3. 3H. F. C. Smith (1971), p. 198. 4 See particularly Ryder (1965b). 5 Mason (1970), pp. 32-3. For Tsoede, see below, pp. 106-8; Nadel (1942), ch. 6, and Mason (1970), pp. 26-41 and Appendix I. 6 Ibid., p. 43.

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Introduction

31

As regards the Jukun, the identification Jukun-Kororafa, which I formerly assumed, seems very doubtful, and it is probably best to take the term ‘Kororafa’, as it appears in the literature, to refer in a more general way to peoples of the Benin valley (not necessarily the same people on each occasion).! The earliest reference to them in the Kano Chronicle is in the reign of Yaji, in the late fourteenth century, who is said to have made war against the Kororafa and to have died there.? During the fifteenth century they do not yet appear as the powerful military force which, later, was able to threaten or overrun the Hausa States, but rather as tributary to either Zaria or Kano.3 In the case of Igala there is evidence for the existence of an early, ‘pre-dynastic’, Kingdom, based on Idah, with links with Nupe and

the Jukun, with Oyo and Benin.* For fifteenth-century Oyo the evidence is very uncertain. The identification of Pacheco’s ‘Licosaguou, . . . said to be the lord of many peoples and to possess great power’ with the Alafin of Oyo once seemed to me probable, but I now think there is little real ground for it.5 Shango, the deified Alafin, the inventor and strategist, who perished by his own hubris, may be less a historical character than a god who has found his way into the king-list.¢ But at least it seems clear that a nuclear Oyo state existed at this period, in some kind of relationship with Nupe (Shango’s mother is said to have been a daughter of the Nupe King Elempe).7 In the case of Benin one is, as usual, on firmer ground. Ewuare, the mid-fifteenth-century Oba,

is a reasonably definite historical figure who achieved a great reputation as a subtle prince, ‘a great magician, physician, traveller, and warrior’, in the early period of Benin’s expansion among the Ibo peoples west of the Niger, and into Yorubaland, where he conquered Owo, Akure, and parts of Ekiti.8 While the maximum extension of

the Benin Empire, eastward as far as Bonny and westward to Lagos, belongs to the sixteenth century, the Benin tradition, which makes

the first phase of expansion pre-date the arrival of the Portuguese, can be accepted as correct. Like his approximate contemporary Muhammad Rumfa, Ewuare seems to have been concerned with the

kind of reforms which would strengthen the position of the dynasty 1 John Lavers in correspondence. See also Meek (1931), pp. 24-5. 2 Palmer (1928), p. 106. 3 See below, pp. 105-6. 4 Boston (1962); Cf. Ryder (1965b), pp. 33-7. 5 See below, p. 121. 6 See below, pp. 108-11. 7 Johnson (1921), p. 149. See also below, p. 110. 8 See below, pp. 111-12. See also R. S. Smith (1969), ch. 4.

32

Introduction

within the state and increase its effectiveness as an instrument of expansion. He attempted, not very successfully, to establish the principle of primogeniture for succession to the Obaship. He brought the town chiefs (Eghaevbo n’Ove) into closer association with the palace chiefs (Eghaevbo n’Ogbe) and thus with the machinery of central government. He increased the size and splendour of Benin city and organized the construction of its great inner wall and ditch —‘perhaps the most remarkable work of fortification in southern Nigeria’.? For present purposes we must reject the Europe-centred approach implied in talking about ‘the discovery’ of West Africa, or Nigeria, or Benin. From the African standpoint, it was not the Portuguese who first ‘discovered’ Benin, but Benin which first ‘discovered’ the

Portuguese.? About the actual date of this first encounter there has been some controversy. Professor Blake accepts in substance Antonio Galvao’s account—that Ruy de Sequeira reached Benin in 1472, more than a decade before the first contact to which de Pina and de Barros refer, when Joao Affonso d’Aveiro presented his credentials at the court of Benin, according to tradition in the reign of the Oba Ozolua, in 1486.3 By the end of the century, as Pacheco Pereira makes clear, the peoples of the Niger Delta had also ‘discovered’ the Portuguese; diplomatic relations had been established between the kings of Benin and Portugal; the Portuguese had built their factory at Ughoton, as a base from which to develop trading and missionary activities; and slaves—sold at twelve to fifteen brass bracelets in Benin and eight to ten copper bracelets in the Delta—had already become the staple export, with pepper, ivory, palm-oil, leopardskins, etc., as subsidiaries.* Sixteenth Century

The sixteenth century is relatively rich in material, particularly as regards Bornu, the Hausa States, and Benin. Essentially this was the

period of the renaissance of Bornu and the organization of the second Kanem-Bornu Empire; of the increased military pressure 1 Ryder (1969), pp. 8-12. See also Connah (1967).

2 My use of the word ‘discover’ in this context has been questioned—but it seems to me ajustifiable usage (see OED). 3 Blake (1942), i, pp. 6-13. 4 See below, pp. 112-13, 120-1. For an account ofBenin’s this period and the obscure history of the Ughoton factory Ryder (1969), pp. 32-41. Ryder estimates an upper limit annually by the Portuguese crown, of whom not more than

trade with Portugal at, (closed in 1506/7) sec of 500 slaves acquired half came from Benin.

Introduction

33

and cultural influence of Gao, under the Askia dynasty, upon Hausaland; in the south, of the extension of the imperial frontiers and power of Benin and the consolidation of Oyo after the return of the Alafin to Oyo Ile. This was also a period when the states of the region—Bornu and Benin in particular—began to be increasingly involved in world politics: Bornu through its connection with the two major Muslim African powers, the Ottoman Empire and Morocco; Benin through its developing relationships with European powers—initially Portugal, later England and the Netherlands. Leo Africanus, writing near the beginning of the century, speaks of Bornu as third in order of importance among the major states of the Sudan—coming after Gao and Gaoga.! He stresses the importance to Bornu of the trans-Saharan trade—especially the export of slaves and the import of horses; the part played in the trade by visiting North African merchants; the wealth of the royal house; and the strength of the royal army, which made possible these annual slave-raiding expeditions.? His statement that the people of Bornu were pagans might seem to conflict with the fact that Islamization _ had been going forward there for more than four centuries. But it may well be true, if applied to the mass of Bornu subjects, rather than to the dynasty and court officials. But the end of the sixteenth century coincided with a new phase of religious reform and political reconstruction, under the leadership of the greatest (or best publicized) of the Bornu Mais, Idris Aloma. During the early part of his reign Idris carried on a succession of campaigns against the Bulala— the ‘lost provinces’ of Kanem, reconquered at the beginning of the century by Mai Idris Katagarmbe—but, instead of attempting to reincorporate them into the Empire, left them as a semi-autonomous dependency. He was also intermittently involved in wars against Kano, Kebbi, and the Tuareg. Ahmad Ibn Fartuwa, Idris Aloma’s chief Imam and chronicler, who accompanied him on his campaigns against the Bulala, is especially valuable as a contemporary historian, because—though his main theme is battles and victories—he also took the trouble to record some of the reforms and technical developments of his time: the new emphasis upon the Shari‘a, and the transfer of judicial authority from tribal chiefs to gadis; the introduction of Turkish muskets and the raising of a local corps of musketeers—a major factor assisting Idris Aloma’s policy of imperial 1 Jean Léon l’Africain (1956), i, pp. 9-10. By Gaoga (not to be confused with Gao) Leo means the Bulala state. 2 See below, pp. 131-2. 3 Hunwick (1971), p. 209.

34.

Introduction

expansion; the adoption of new methods of military transport; the construction of brick mosques.! And even Ibn Fartuwa’s somewhat repetitive descriptions of successive campaigns give a marvellous picture of late sixteenth-century Bornu society in one of its main aspects—the life and activities of its part ‘feudal’, part ‘professional’ army.”

One of the themes on which we have interesting new light is Bornu’s relations with the Ottoman Empire and with the Sa‘adians in Morocco at this period. Commercial, cultural, and diplomatic relations with Tripoli, which had existed for some centuries, were renewed during the first half of the sixteenth century under the successive regimes of the Spaniards, the Knights of Malta, and Dragut the Corsair. But it was not until 1551, when Tripoli became a dependent Pashalik of the Ottoman Empire, that Bornu found itself faced with a major and expanding world power on its northern frontiers.3 The extracts included here give some idea both of the nature of Ottoman pressures, especially after the annexation of the Fezzan in 1577, and of the importance for Bornu of maintaining a free and continuous flow of trade with Tripoli.+ It is against this general background that Mai Idris Aloma’s famous acquisition of “Turkish musketeers’ and his correspondence with Sultan Murad III need to be understood.5 At the same time Mai Idris sought to reduce Bornu’s economic and political dependence on the Ottomans and to find an alternative source for the supply of arms. Hence, it would seem, his unsuccessful diplomatic mission to the Ottomans’ principal rival, Morocco, in 1583.° From the standpoint of Mai Idris the importance of firearms seems to have been connected partly with their usefulness in slave raids—slaves themselves being an essential form of foreign exchange—partly with their political value, providing the ruler with a power base independent of the ‘feudal’ army. From their first appearance in history the Hausa States were subject to constant pressure from more powerful states on both sides: to the east, Kanem-Bornu; to the west, Mali, and later Gao (often itself referred to by the Hausa chroniclers simply as ‘Mali’, in the sense of ‘the Western Empire’). By the year 1500 Gao, under Askia the Great, was dominant throughout the western Sudan; and the 1 See below, pp. 140-3; see also Lavers (1971b). 2 See below, pp. 137-40.

3 Hunwick (1971), p. 203; and Martin (1969), p. 22. 4 See below, pp. 144-5. 5 Martin (1972) and below pp. 145-7. © See below, pp. 147-9.

Introduction

35

states of Kano, Katsina, and Zaria became for a time formally sub-

ject to the Gao Empire, paying tribute to the Askias, and compelled to accept a resident agent of the imperial power.! However, Gao’s suzerainty was not maintained throughout the century. Katsina recovered its independence at any rate by 1554, the date of the heroic resistance of the Gao cavalry at the battle of Karfata, described in the Ta’rikh al-Siidan.2 Moreover, the independent state of Kebbi— founded, according to tradition, in 1516 by Kuta Kanta, a dissident general and provincial governor under Askia the Great—became in the course of the century a major power, functioning as a kind of buffer between Gao and Bornu.3 In this connection the letter from the Moroccan Sultan al-Mansir to Kanta Dawid not long after the defeat of Askia Ishaq by Moroccan forces at the battle of Tondibi in 1591 is of considerable interest, since it suggests that it was part of Morocco’s general expansionist strategy to include not merely Kebbi but also Kano and Katsina within its zmperium.4 Indeed Hunwick has suggested that these various moves, including the invasion of Songhay, must be seen as part of a general attempt by al-Mansir to establish his caliphal authority and ‘to gain control of the Sudan belt from the Atlantic to Lake Chad in his bid to challenge Ottoman supremacy’.5 The impact of Gao and Bornu on the Hausa States at this period was not, of course, merely political and military. Cultural connections were becoming of increasing importance. Fertilized by visiting scholars from older-established academic centres such as Timbuktu, Kano and Katsina were developing as secondary centres of learning. This was at the same time a reciprocal relationship. Hausa scholars also studied and taught in Timbuktu—e.g. the seventeenth-century, probably Hausa, historian, Baba Goro ibn alHajj Muhammad.® In the sixteenth century Benin achieved something like the same kind of predominance in the south as Bornu in the north. But whereas in the case of Bornu the principal great power with which diplomatic relations were established and maintained—the main 1 See below, pp. 129-31. Leo Africanus’s account of the conquest of Kano, Katsina, Zaria, and Zamfara, by Muhammad Askia seems convincing, though these events are not reported in the Songhai ta’rikhs (in particular the Ta’rikh alStdan), nor, less surprisingly, in the Kano Chronicle. 2 See below, pp. 134-5. 3 See below, pp. 132-4. 4 See below, pp. 149-52. 5 Hunwick (1971), pp. 203 and 235. 6H. F. C. Smith (1959b), p. 7, and Bivar and Hiskett, (1962), pp. 116-17.

36

Introduction

supplier, or potential supplier, of muskets and missionaries—was the Ottoman Empire, in Benin’s case it was Portugal. (It might even be worth speculating, if the main focus of technical and industrial development over the next four centuries had been Turkey and the Middle East, rather than western Europe, how would this have affected the course of Nigerian history?) In both contexts there was an emphasis, familiar in more recent times, on the interdependence of ideological conformity and access to modern armaments. As King Manuel of Portugal put it to the Oba of Benin in a letter of 1574, *,.. When we see that you have embraced the teachings of Christianity like a good and faithful Christian, there will be nothing in our realms with which we shall not be glad to favour you, whether it be arms or cannon and all other weapons of war for use against your enemies; of such things we have a great store, as Dom Jorge your ambassador will inform you. These things we are not sending you now, as he requested, because the law of God forbids it... .”! In fact, Ryder points out, the sixteenth-century Obas failed this ideological test, and in general the prohibition of the export of arms was effective—‘so the great achievements of Benin armies in the sixteenth century owed nothing to the use of firearms’.? But the westward expansion of Benin, and the imposition of tribute on the coastal peoples as far west as Lagos island—eventually, indeed, as far west as Accra—does seem to have begun about the middle of the sixteenth century, at a time when there had been a development of Portuguese trade with the region.3 Accounts of the exchange of ambassadors between the courts of Benin and Portugal occur both in the Portuguese historians and in Benin tradition. Indeed, the latter supplements the former in an interesting way—giving the name of the first Benin ambassador to Portugal, Ohen-Okun of Ughoton, the nature of the royal presents, and the location of the first Christian churches.* Duarte Pires’ letter to King Manuel gives an impression of one kind of Portuguese mission—part commercial, part military, part religious—that operated in Benin at this period.5 It seems that already by the 1530s Portugal’s interest in the Benin trade was declining. Ivory exports had fallen off and Benin was exporting little but slaves and coris, receiving in exchange currency (manillas and cowries) rather than consumption goods. Moreover 1 3 5 ®

Ryder (1969), p. 47. 2 Tbid., p. 52. ‘ Ibid., pp. 72-3. 4See below, pp. 125-6; but see also ibid.,© See below, pp. 127-8. Nn. 2. Ryder (1969), p. 62. For coris see below, p. 123, n. I.

Introduction

37

such evidence as we have suggests that the actual number of slaves exported from Benin at this period remained relatively small—not more than about a sixth of the total of 6,300 sent from the mainland to Sao Tomé during the years 1525 to 1527—1.e. about 350 a year. This fact, combined with Benin’s ‘refusal to sell male slaves except as a very rare favour’, leads Ryder to argue that Either they had few slaves to sell, which would seem improbable in a period when the kingdom was engaged in constant and successful wars of expansion, or else the services and prestige accruing to the great men of Benin from the possession of many slaves outweighed the value of the cowries and manillas for which they could be exchanged.!

Nor did Portuguese missionary activities achieve the kind of success that they had already achieved in the Kingdom of the Kongo and would later in Warri. The 1538 mission found the Oba (probably Esigie), though baptized as a child, unsympathetic, and the small local community of Christian converts in some difficulty.2 However, reading lessons were still permitted in the palace and Portuguese _ culture clearly remained a force long after its political and commercial influence had disappeared. Richard Eden, in his account of Windham’s voyage in 1553—which contains the first description of an actual interview with the King of Benin—states that ‘he himselfe could speake the Portugall tongue, which he had learned of a child’ ;3 and similar references to the use of Portuguese at the court of Benin recur in the literature of the next two centuries. At the human level there is evidence of friendly relations between Obas and individual Europeans: as in the case of Affonso d’Aveiro, who died in Benin, and ‘was buried with great lamentations by the Oba and the Christians at Benin City’; or James Welsh, who presented a telescope to the Oba Ehengbuda, and described the people of Benin as ‘very gentle and loving’.* The sixteenth century is a confused period in Oyo history. It would seem to have been a time when the state was under continuous pressure from the expansionist Nupe kingdom in the north, leading to the sack of Oyo-Ile and the exile of the Alafin, possibly ¢. 1535.5 During this period of exile, which may have continued until the end of the century, successive Alafins made their capital first in 1 Ryder (1969), p. 65. 2 Ibid., pp. 69-72, and Ryder (1961). 3 See below, p. 136. 4 See below, pp. 126 and 143-4. 5R. S. Smith (1965), pp. 71-7. See pp. 72-4 particularly for a suggested chronology of this period.

38

Introduction

Borgu and later, when relations with Borgu had become sfrained, at Oyo-Igboho, some forty miles west of Oyo-He. But this seems also to have been a phase during which the basic political institutions— grounded upon a balancing of the power of the Alafin against that of the Oyo Mesi or council of senior descent-group chiefs—were strengthened, and in which there was an important development of the military arm, particularly the cavalry, the main instrument of Oyo’s expansion during the next century.! It was during this century that the Delta states were transforming themselves from fishing villages and acquiring their characteristic institutions—above all the canoe-house, the successor of the earlier

form of village descent-group. Robin Horton has given a convincing account of the way in which the demands of the European trade— particularly the slave trade—stimulated this kind of transformation in the context of New Calabar, and how a new type of oligarchic, competitive, culturally assimilative society was emerging during this period, retaining ‘those open criteria of citizenship (culture and residence) which ...were such a prominent feature of village organisation’.? It is clear from Dapper’s description that by the early seventeenth century the basic piece of trading equipment, the large war canoe, was already in use in Kalabari and the marketing arrangements well established.3 Seventeenth Century One has the impression, which further work may well correct, of a

relative shortage of material on which to base an understanding of the seventeenth century. One significant change, however, was the shift in the direction of the trans-Saharan trade, after the defeat of

Askia Ishaq II by Moroccan forces at the battle of Tondibi on 12 March 1591 and the consequent break-up of the Gao Empire. Tondibi, where Moroccan and Spanish renegado troops under Judar Pasha demonstrated the superiority which fire-arms and the solution of the problems of trans-Saharan transport gave them, certainly deserves to be counted among the decisive battles in West African history.+ ‘ Thid., pp. 75-6; see also Ajayi and Smith (1964), pp. 3-4, and Samuel Johnson (1921), p. 161. For the Oyo Mesi see Lloyd (1971). 2 Horton (1969), p. 56. 3 See below, p. 175.

4 Bovill (1958), chs. 16 and 17; Hunwick (1971), pp. 237-8; Julien (1970), PP. 232-5-

Introduction

39

This collapse of the western Empire brought with it unprecedented prosperity [for Katsina]. The anarchy prevailing in the Niger bend diverted to Katsina, now the commercial centre of the Hausa States, the caravans which had formerly followed the route from Gao to Egypt. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked the height of its power. But, having once become rich and powerful, . . . Katsina was involved in frequent conflicts with its neighbours—Kano, Kebbi, ... and perhaps above all Kororafa... 1

Relations between Kano and Katsina, from the fifteenth century to the nineteenth, took the form of a continuing struggle for control of the central Sudanese end of the trans-Saharan trade, in which—as

in the struggles between medieval Genoa and Venice—each in turn achieved a temporary supremacy. “This is a common practice among them in Hausaland,’ as Ahmad Baba put it—‘Katsina raids Kano as do others, though their language is one and their situations parallel.’ By the seventeenth century Kano was in a position of relative weakness—exposed to attack from Bornu in the east and Kebbi in the west, as well as involved in intermittent conflicts with _Katsina. In the latter half of the century the Kororafa wars were ’ renewed, leading to the sack and occupation of the city of Kano. Katsina, on the other hand, though also exposed to periodic Kororafa invasions, was more successful in maintaining its independence; and in 1650, after inflicting a defeat on Kano, made an alliance, countersigned by three of the ‘wlama’, against the common, pagan enemy.’ Nominally, as Barth points out, Katsina remained tributary to Bornu throughout the period, but this seems to have involved little more than a formal recognition of overlordship such as in Europe a sovereign Christian king might give his emperor.+ Already by the early seventeenth century Islam was solidly enough implanted in Kano, Katsina, northern Zaria, Gobir, and Kebbi—as well, of course, as Bornu—for the careful and scholarly Ahmad Baba, when consulted, to have no hesitation in defining these as Muslim countries.5 A limited number of the Arabic writings of Hausa scholars of this period—Dan Marina and Dan Masanih I Urvoy (1936), p. 237. John Lavers has pointed out in correspondence that ‘the anarchy prevailing in the Niger bend’ has been exaggerated: ‘a careful reading of

the Ta’rikhs shows that for most of the Moroccan period trade flourished’. He suggests that Katsina benefited rather from the development of the new trade-route linking Hausaland with Gonja and the states of the Gold Coast region. 2 See below, p. 155. 3 Palmer (1928), ili, p. 120. 4 See below, pp. 153-4.

5 See below, p. 156.

40

Introduction

especially—survive, and the titles of others are known.! This would seem also to have been a period of Hausa expansion southward among the peoples of central and west-central Nigeria as far as the Niger. And there are some grounds for thinking that by this time Islam had been introduced into Oyo (though described by Ahmad Baba as a land of unbelief) by way of Nupe.? As regards Bornu itself we are relatively ignorant. But at least there is no hard evidence to support the commonly expressed opinion that after the death of Mai Idris Alma the state entered a phase of stagnation and decline—a view which is, in any case, hard to reconcile with what we know of Bornu’s continuing political and cultural dominance in Hausaland. Evidence from the Tripoli end makes clear that Bornu was still regarded as a major power throughout the period—and Mai ‘Ali ibn ‘Umar, whose reign covers a substantial slice of the second half of the century, was clearly a major ruler.3 Certainly the combined pressure of Tuareg from the north and Kororafa from the south had become a more serious threat to the state. Dan Marina’s well-known poem celebrates Mai ‘Ali’s victory over both forces.+ But the system itself seems to have been going through a phase of consolidation. Internally, as the ‘Song to the Kaigama’ suggests, the state had achieved greater centralization through the growth of the practice of appointing slaves—instead of princes of the royal house as in earlier times—to the chief political offices.5

In the south Oyo and Benin were clearly the two dominant powers. Both states seem at this period to have been relatively free from external threats, and—perhaps on account of their common acceptance of the religious supremacy of Ife—there appear to have been no continuing conflicts between them. This is reflected in the tradition that the armies of the Oba and Alafin planted trees at Otun in the savannah of northern Ekiti to demarcate the frontier between the two kingdoms.® The historically important return of the Alafin Abipa to his former capital at Oyo probably occurred fairly early in the century and was followed by the beginning of the main period of Oyo’s southward expansion.? European and African sources both 1 Bivar and Hiskett (1962), pp. 113-18. 2 Tbid., p. 116. Mason (1970), p. 44, has pointed out that the first clear statement relating to the emigration of Muslims to Nupeland can be dated to the second half of the seventeenth century. 3 See below, pp. 180-4. 4 See below, pp. 178-9. 5 See below, pp. 179-80. . 6 Egharevba (1953), p. 32, cited in R. S. Smith (1969), pp. 41-2. 7 Law (1970a), pp. 2-6 and R. S. Smith (1965) and (1969), pp. 39-42.

Hin

Introduction

41

give ground for supposing that it was during the reign of Obalokun (meaning “The sea is king’), possibly in the second quarter of the century, that Oyo first made contact with the coast and the Europeans trading there through the port of Allada.! The policy of the development of trade linked with political expansion southwards was carried further under Obalokun’s successor, Ajagbo, whose long reign occupied a good deal of the second half of the century. In the development of this trade the Oyo functioned primarily as middlemen, taking north salt and European goods which they had obtained on the coast, and taking south slaves and natron obtained in the north. Oyo’s expansionist policy seems in fact to have had a somewhat circular character—in that the military power on which it was based was dependent on horses, imported from the north, which must be paid for with imports from the south and these in turn had to be paid for, in part, in slaves. But until the end of the century the balance of power between Alafin and Oyo Mesi does not appear to have been seriously disturbed by these new developments in the field of external relations.? In Benin the highly complex political system, which the Dutch “ observers describe—with its various ‘Estates’, or associations of title-

holders, pivoting upon a sacred monarchy and a palace bureaucracy —remained efficient, and well adapted to carry out the various public functions required of it—land distribution, the control of local administration, war, foreign trade, taxation, state ceremonial, and the like.3 But the main period of military expansion was now over. And the monarchy was changing its character. After Ehangbuda was drowned in the creeks between Lagos and Benin Obas were not permitted to lead their forces on campaigns and were confined to the palace except on rare ceremonial occasions.* “The king remains all the year shut up in his palace with four hundred women; and he is held to be a god, for they say that he does not eat. But in truth if he did not eat he would not have such a big stomach.’5 This intenser emphasis on the ritual functions of kingship, combined with the abandonment of the rule of primogeniture in regard to the succession, led to a weakening of the monarchy relatively to the orders of palace and town chiefs, and their leaders the Uwangue and LIyase. It meant also apparently that the Oba was less directly involved in It See below, pp. 185-7, and Law (1970a). 2 Law (1970a), pp. 10-13 and 26-7. 3 See below, pp. 167-71 and 199-201. 4 Ryder (1969), pp. 15-16, and Egharevba (1953), p. 345 Felipe de Hijar (1654) cited in Ryder (1969), p. 107, n. 3.

42

Introduction

trade, which became more decentralized, carried on by a class of brokers (Dapper’s fiadors) who, although they acted formally as the Oba’s agents, were more dependent in practice ‘upon the village in which they lived and the factory or nation they served’.' It would seem that it was this internal struggle for power rather than the impact of the slave trade (in which Benin was not actively involved at this period—the main export in the mid-seventeenth century was locally manufactured cloth for sale elsewhere on the Coast) that lay behind the civil war which erupted in the last decade of the century and continued with some intermissions for twenty years. In this struggle the Oba (supported in part by the palace chiefs) attempted, with partial success, to assert the royal authority against the town chiefs led by the Iyase who rose in rebellion and harassed the capital.2 This weakening of the power and coherence of Benin was, however, an intermittent process. “Between periods of dissension the kingdom seems to have shown remarkable powers of recovery. . The history of Benin is one of alternating periods of territorial expansion and contraction in accordance with the degree... of authority at the centre.’3 Farther south, Warri, the kingdom of the Itsekiri—founded, according to tradition, by Ginuwa, the son of an Oba of Benin who had to flee from the city in the mid-fifteenth century—had by the seventeenth century achieved a measure of independence from Benin. As Dapper puts it, “The King of Ouwerre, although he pays tribute to the King of Benin, governs his land with absolute power notwithstanding, and is in alliance with the King of Benin.’4 Warri is interesting partly because it was the only state between Elmina and the Kongo in which Christianity had made some positive progress by the beginning of the century, and maintained itself in the face of considerable difficulties (particularly the acute shortage of priests) through the century. ‘It is difficult,’ says Professor Ryder, ‘to estimate how far the successful introduction and maintenance of Christianity can be explained by the need of the young Itsekiri state to trade with the Portuguese.’5 Though the first missionaries probably arrived in the 1570s it was under Sebastian, who became Olu some time in the late sixteenth century and was still ruling although ‘worn out with extreme old age’ in the 1620s, that the dynasty became committed to the Catholic faith.* The influence of Portuguese See below, pp. 165 and 168-9; Ryder (1969), p. 92. 2 See below, pp. 201-2; Ryder (1969), pp. 28-9. 3 Bradbury (1957), p. 21. 5 Ryder (1960), p. 3.

4 See below, p. 172. 6 Tbid., p. 7.

Introduction Catholic culture was

strengthened

43

by the fact that the next Olu,

Domingos, had spent ten years being educated in Portugal and returned with a Portuguese noblewoman as his wife. It seems probable that Antonio Domingos, who was ruling in 1644 and who wrote the appeal to the Pope quoted here, was a son of this marriage.! The ascendancy of the Protestant Dutch, Portuguese suspicions of foreign interference (including the missionary activities of the Vatican), the lack of commercial incentives for European traders, and the very high mortality rate of such European priests as were able to make their way to Warri, were some of the factors contributing to the state of continuing crisis which the local Church had to face in the latter part of the century. This was also the period of the rise of the Delta states—Brass, Kalabari,

Bonny,

and

Old

Calabar—the

product of migrations,

initially, in the case of Brass and Bonny, of Ijaw, coming possibly from Benin, later of Ibo from the hinterland. ‘By the end of the sixteenth century the process of forming the city-states may be said to have been complete. From the seventeenth century on the Delta became the most important slave mart in West Africa.’? James Barbot _“ gives a lively account of the procedures of negotiation and trade between the Bonny dynasty and European merchants, as they operated at the end of the century—a system which continued relatively unchanged into the nineteenth century, in spite of profound changes in social and political structures.

Eighteenth Century There has been a tendency to regard the eighteenth century as a period of ‘decline’, or at least of a weakening of established political systems, which eased the way for the empire-building movements at the beginning and end of the succeeding century, Fulani and British. There are obvious dangers in this method of interpreting history backwards; reality was certainly much more complicated. Unfortunately there is a lack of contemporary historians for this period who can tell us how the situation appeared to them; and too little of the contemporary material that has survived is as yet accessible. It may be more useful to think of it as a period of transition in which the conflict between monarchy and bureaucracy, the growth of a I See below, pp. 173 and Domingos and his story see 2 Dike (1956), pp. 24-5. 3 See below, pp. 189-91;

176-8; Ryder (1960), pp. 5-10. For a fuller account of Lloyd and Ryder (1957). See also Alagoa (1971). G. I. Jones (1963), p. 44.

44

Introduction

reforming Muslim intelligentsia, and (in the Delta states particularly) the increased availability of firearms were sorhe of the factors stimulating change. & In the north the power of Bornu seems certainly to have been in decline, at least during the second half of the century. All the princes of this epoch stayed quietly in their capital, Ngazargamu, or their favourite residence, Gambaru. And all of them died in their capital—a bad sign. They lived on the memories of ancient glories, blinded by the flattery of courtiers, absorbed in state ceremonial and the infinite quarrels of Kaigamas, Mestremas, Chiromas, Galadimas, of generals without armies and governors without provinces. Meanwhile the nomads, the Tuareg, harassed the north of the Empire, and vassal tribes stealthily freed themselves from their old bonds of subjection.!

M. Urvoy’s reconstruction is no doubt highly coloured, and he exaggerates the extent to which the Mais of the period withdrew from political and military affairs. Some Mais were personally involved in campaigns—Dunama ibn ‘Ali in the early part of the century and ‘Ali ibn Dunama in the later. But this was certainly a period in which Bornu was exposed to continuing conflict with Agades (the oasis of Kuwar was lost in 1759) as well as with former vassal states, particularly Mandara, where the dynasty was finally converted to Islam early in the century. It was also a time of major population movements—Tubu, Kanembu, and Arabs moving into Bornu, Fulani moving south to Fumbina. But even in its decline, as Muhammad Bello admitted, Bornu retained its importance as a centre of Islamic culture.2 And, as Muhammad al-Barnawi’s poem Shurb al-zulal suggests, there was already by the middle of the century a reforming movement among the ‘ulama’, critical both of the regime and of contemporary social practice.3 For the situation in eighteenth-century Hausaland we are largely dependent upon the accounts of early nineteenth-century Fulani authors, who naturally, in order to justify their jehdd, painted a gloomy picture of moral and political degeneration, of a recession of Islam, and a resurgence of animism.* This presentation, though onesided, is not altogether unfair. The latter part of the century was at any rate a time of political confusion and difficulty. By the beginning of the century, with the decline of Kebbi, Zamfara had established 1 Urvoy (1949), p. 86.

2 Muhammad Bello (1929), pp. 8-9. 3 See below, pp. 207-8. 4 See below, pp. 250-2.

Introduction

45

itself as the dominant state in the Rima valley system. But by a date which is conventionally given as 1764 Gobir, the northernmost of the ‘true’ Hausa States, whose sultans and ruling class, ‘equipped with a formidable army whose main weapon was heavy cavalry, seem to have been always on the offensive’, annexed Zamfara and established its new capital at Alkalawa on the river Rima, twenty-five miles downstream from Birnin Zamfara.! Gobir was thus brought into sharper conflict with its south-eastern neighbour, Katsina, which remained through the century a major centre of international trade and Islamic learning. The Sultans of Gobir were certainly Muslim (Sultan Yunfa was mocked for saying his prayers in a hurry) and Islam was fairly clearly becoming more widely diffused in Hausaland through the century—to judge from the large and growing class of wandering scholars and preachers which the country could support. At the same time non-Muslim ‘animist’ cults and practices remained strong. Local custom ‘overruled the Shari‘a in several spheres such as taxation, music, and women, methods of justice, conscription, and appointments of officials’.2 And the economic pressures arising from Gobir’s policy of military expansion “meant an intensification of those forms of oppression and injustice which any Muslim reformer must necessarily denounce. Such conditions tended naturally to reinforce the Mahdist expectations that had come to be particularly associated with the turn of the twelfth century, Hijra (A.D. 1786-7) in the minds of the Muslim masses.3 Within Hausaland it was particularly the Fulani intellectual class who preserved the “Timbuktu tradition’ of Sudanese scholarship, and functioned as a relatively independent Muslim intelligentsia, outside urban/peasant society, with a close network of family and academic relationships.+ ‘Uthman dan Fodio was a member of this intelligentsia—one of the Toronkawa, a scholarly clan which had migrated from Futa Toro, in Senegal, probably in the fifteenth century. He and his younger brother Abdullah worked with a succession of teacher-relatives in the traditional peripatetic way. But in their case a dominant intellectual influence was the reformer, Shaikh Jibril ibn ‘Umar, a radical and controversial scholar, with

whom they studied at Agades, and whom Uthman both respected and criticized. Like many of the Fulani intelligentsia, he was a 1 Last (1967a), p. Ixvii. 2 Thid., p. Ixvii. 3 Ibid., pp. Ixxxi-Ixxxii. For a fuller discussion ofthis problem see Al-Hajj (1967) and Al-H4jj and Biobaku (1966). 4 Last (1967a), pp. lxxix—Ixxxii; Hiskett (1957). 5 Last (1967a), pp. 3-6; Hiskett (1957) and (1962), particularly pp. 588-91.

46

Introduction

member of the Qadiriyya—the religious order (tariga) which had originally been introduced into West Africa in about 4.D."1500, but which underwent a renaissance in the late eighteenth century undét the leadership of al-Mukhtar ibn Ahmad al-Kunti.! From the mid1770s ‘Uthman began a travelling life of teaching and preaching in the course of which he built up the jamd‘a—the community of scholars and students who placed themselves under his religious and political direction, on whom his growing influence largely depended.? He also began to produce his tremendous output of literary work—in Arabic and Fulfulde. His first important confrontation with Gobir and its aged Sultan, Bawa, was in 1788-9, when he won

important concessions for his jamd‘a, which tended increasingly to become a state within a state, in a period during which the power of Gobir was declining. Later he is said to have acted as tutor for a time to the son of Sultan Nafata, Yunfa, who succeeded his father in 1802.3 But during most of the 1790s—as the crisis in the relations

between the jamd‘a and the Gobir dynasty intensified—Uthman remained at his base in Degel, with a substantial group of relatives, friends, scholars, students, copyists, panegyrists, Qur’an-readers, imams, muezzins, and Sufis around him.+ In the south the major power was still Oyo, which established its ascendancy over Dahomey in the campaigns of 1726-30 and, after the Treaty of 1730 (confirmed in 1748), by the exaction of regular

tribute, with the threat of invasion to enforce it.’ Contemporary European commentators were impressed by the size and efficiency of the Oyo army®—as well as by the system whereby defeated generals were expected to commit suicide and were in any case not permitted to return to Oyo. They were interested also in the constitutional checks on the power of the monarchy—expressed, in the last resort, through the institution of parrots’ eggs—while noting that by the 1770s there had been a movement towards absolutism, a strengthening of the power of the Alafin in his relations with the governing class. It seems clear that the original motives for the campaigns against Dahomey were mainly commercial. The conquest of Allada, 1 For Shaikh Sidi al-Mukhtar al-Kunti, the Qadiriyya, and ‘UthmAn’s connections with them see Last (1967a), p. Ixxviii and p. 6, n. 17.; Trimingham (1962), pp. 158-60; A. Brass (1920) ;Brown (1967); Stewart (1968). 2 El-Masri (1963), p. 440, n. I. 3 For a discussion of this question see El-Masri, ibid., n. 2. and Last (1967a),

pp. 7-8.

4 Last (1967a), pp. 16-22. 5 Law (19704), p. 3; Akinjogbin (1967), pp. 81-92.

© See below, pp. 221-3 and 227.

Introduction

47

through which Oyo traded with the Europeans, in 1724. by Dahomey, which was itself following an expansionist policy under Agaja, led Oyo to use its superior military power to impose this tributary relationship and to regain access to the port. But no doubt the quite substantial tribute itself provided an additional incentive. At a somewhat later date Oyo began to develop its European trade through other ports farther to the east, outside Dahomey’s control—through Ajase Ipo (Porto Novo), Badagry, and (to a much smaller extent) Lagos, where Europeans began to trade in the 1760s.! One major problem in the history of eighteenth-century Oyo is, What was the relationship between this policy of external expansion and the internal political and constitutional developments and crises occurring during this period? Linked with this is the question, how can one explain the apparently rapid disintegration of the Oyo imperium at the end of the century so soon after its main phase of territorial expansion? The essential historical facts seem fairly clear. Oyo’s main southward expansion took place under Ojigi, who was later ‘rejected’ (i.e. deposed) by the Oyo Mesi. After what appear to _-have been unsuccessful attempts to strengthen the power of the Alafinate under his successors, there followed a twenty-year period (1754-74) during which the Basorun, Gaha, effectively controlled the state, making and deposing Alafins, appropriating the imperial revenues, and placing members of his family in key administrative posts.2 In 1774 the Alafin Abiodun, having waited for a suitable moment, carried out a coup d’état, with the help of the Kakamfo (commander of the provincial army), Oyabi, massacred Gaha and his kin, and reasserted the power of the Alafinate.3 Abiodun’s reign (1774-89) is generally remembered as a time of relative peace and prosperity when money was measured ‘in baskets’—‘the last of the kings that held the different parts of the kingdom together in one universal sway’.t Under his successor, Awole (1789-96), the process of disintegration set in. His overthrow by a military coup, jointly organized by the Basorun, Asamu, and the Kakamfo, Afonja, was a particularly significant event, accelerating the break-up of the system. In general it seems clear that the tension, or ‘structural opposi1 2 PPp3 4

Law (19704), p. 7. Law (1968), pp. 10-15. See also Akinjogbin (1966a) and R. S. Smith (1969), 47-9See below, pp. 224-5; Law (1968), pp. 15-18. Samuel Johnson (1921), p. 187.

48

Introduction

tion’, between the Alafin (and the palace) and the Oyo Mesi (led by the Basorun), which was an integral part of the Oyo politiéal system, was intensified by the policy of imperial expansion in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In part no doubt the conflict turned, as Lloyd has argued, on the allocation of the new resources (tribute, etc.) which expansion made available.! But, as in the case of other imperial states (e.g. Ashanti), there seem grounds for thinking that the process of expansion itself tended to stimulate a strengthening of the power of the Alafin, who administered the conquered and dependent territories through his palace slaves, and that this development was resented by the Oyo Mesi, who raised and commanded the army of the capital and opposed this centralizing trend. Hence Gaha’s usurpation of effective power and Abiodun’s coup d’état can be seen as moves and countermoves in this struggle. The particular importance of the 1774 coup, as Robin Law has pointed out, lay in the fact that this reassertion of the authority of the Alafinate was made possible by an alliance with the Kakamfo, representing the military power of the provinces. His ‘victory showed that the provinces could impose their will on the capital, and made the provincial rulers the arbiters of metropolitan politics’.2 If Abiodun attempted to make institutional reforms to strengthen the power of the monarchy, they were not effective. Hence ‘the Oyo empire collapsed from the centre outwards. ...’ Having in 1774 aided the Alafin to crush the Basorun, in about 1796 the provinces joined with the Basorun against the Alafin.3 The revolts of the vassal states, Egba, Dahomey, and others, took place as a consequence of this process of disintegration of the nuclear state. If this explanation is broadly correct one does not need to suppose (as I and others have done) that the involvement of Oyo in the slave trade was itself a major factor contributing to the break-up of the system—except in the sense that the profits of the slave trade were one of the ‘new resources’ whose distribution stimulated competition and conflict between the dominant interests in the state. In Benin, after the long civil war, the monarchy succeeded in partially re-establishing its authority under Akenzua I, remembered as one of the richest kings that ever sat on the throne of Benin.4 Akenzua’s reputation for wealth was no doubt connected with a revival of overseas trade with the Dutch in the early part of the 1 Lloyd (1968a) and (1968b). 2 Law (1968), p. 18. 3 Ibid., p. 25. 4 Egharevba (1953), pp. 40-1.

Introduction

49

century, based on the export of ivory, gum, redwood, and cloth in exchange for brass ‘neptunes’, flintlock guns and gunpowder, and tobacco, as well as the old staples, iron bars, etc.! But the state’s control over its subject territories had been loosened. In particular, as the Dutch records show, control over the lower Benin river had been lost to Itsekiris and Ijaws. About the situation in the interior we

have little information, though no doubt, as Olaudah Equiano indicates, Benin continued to enjoy a shadowy kind of overlordship over territories which in the sixteenth century had been included in its empire.? In the eighteenth century the slave trade was organized on a larger scale than at any previous time. Captain Adams’s figure of 370,000 Ibo slaves sold in the Delta markets over a period of twenty years—equal to about one-quarter of the total export from all African ports—gives some idea of the scale of human wastage.3 About the effects of the traffic on the structure of Ibo society we know extremely little—beyond the fact that it stimulated the rise of a class of local middlemen, partly Aros, who owed their predominance to their manipulation of the Aro-Chuku oracle.+ The situation in the _Delta states is a good deal clearer. The economic dependence of these states on the European trade contributed to the growth of strong centralized forms of government—either monarchical, as under the Pepple dynasty, or oligarchic, as at Old Calabar, where effective power was exercised not by the kings of the four trading towns but by the all-pervading Egbo society. Underpinning both types of government was the ‘House system’, ‘the pivot of Delta social organization’. Professor Dike has described the ‘House’ as ‘at once a co-operative trading unit and a local government institution’ —controlled by wealthy merchants (including the merchant-king), with a membership of hundreds or thousands of slaves, bound together by a common loyalty and a common system of rewards and punishments, a ‘hierarchy with numerous gradations’, offering a commercial career open to talents.5 Generally speaking, the eighteenth century seems to have been a revolutionary period in this region when a number of interrelated social and political changes occurred. These included the increasing importation of firearms and * Ryder (1969), pp. 138-45.

2 See below, p. 210. 3 See below, pp. 231-3. See also Curtin (1969), chs. 5 and 9. 4 See below, pp. 336-8. See also Dike (1956), pp. 37-41, and Ukwu (1967). 5 Dike (1956), pp. 32-4. For a fuller account of the organization of the ‘Canoe house’ in the Delta states see G. I. Jones (1963), chs. 4 and 10.

50

Introduction

the development of new types of war canoe, armed with muskets and cannon; the growth of the power of the merchant oligarchy and the transformation of the ‘canoe house’ in such a way as to make possible the maximum social mobility (slaves could now become chiefs) ; the increasing centralization of government, necessitated in part by increasing inter-state competition for trade, markets, wealth.! While during the century these states remained resistant to any kind of European political penetration, their long-standing, and often very friendly, relations with the European traders who lived alongside of them naturally promoted a two-sided process of cultural borrowing —treflected in the adoption by the African ruling class of European styles of dress and domestic equipment, the development of commercial pidgin, and of European-type education. It was to this literate conservative merchant oligarchy, with its habits of conspicuous consumption, that Antera Duke of Calabar belonged.? Nineteenth Century The difficulty of discussing the nineteenth century arises partly from the sheer abundance of the material; partly from the fact that, though a tremendous advance has been made in the study of particular aspects of Nigerian nineteenth-century history over the past ten years, there are still large lacunae. Much of the most interesting work that has been done has been connected with three main themes: ‘Uthman dan Fodio’s jzhdd and the history (particularly the political and administrative history) of the Sokoto Caliphate; the impact of European missionaries, traders, and administrators on southern Nigerian society and, as related themes, the emergence of an African middle class and a nationalist movement and ideology; and the differing reactions of African states and peoples to the pressures of European imperialism during the period immediately preceding their loss of sovereignty. This is all valuable, but much remains to be done—on the economic and social history of the period especially. Here I can only point to some of the themes that seem to stand out. In the early part of the century the dominant theme is clearly the jihad of Shaikh ‘Uthman dan Fodio and the revolutionary movement of which it was the expression. While its deeper causes remain obscure, the revolution can perhaps be regarded in three ways. It can be seen as an episode in the secular process by which the ideas 1G, I. Jones (1963), pp. 45-8.

2 See below, pp. 235-8.

-

Introduction

51

and institutions of Islam have been established, renewed, and spread in Africa south of the Sahara, from the period of the Almoravids on.! In this respect it can be compared with reforming movements in

other parts of the Muslim world during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—the Wahhabiyya in Saudi Arabia, the Sanusiyya in Cyrenaica, Hajj ‘Umar Tal’s movement in the western Sudan, the Mahdiyya in the eastern Sudan. There is broadly the same kind of revivalist impulse—the idea of a return to the Qur’an and the Sunna; the effort to restore the Islamic state in its original purity; the emphasis on moral austerity; and the use of the jihdd as a legitimate instrument of reform.? The specific ideas of the revolution, and of ‘Uthman dan Fodio in particular, have begun to receive more of the attention that they deserve.? From the work so far done the point that seems to emerge most clearly is the Shaikh’s essentially middle-of-the-road position— ‘of moderate orthodoxy, opposed to quietism and accommodation with non-Islamic custom on the one hand and to intransigent exclusivism on the other’—or, in more modern terms, opposed equally to the rightist deviations of the venal Mallams and the leftist _ deviations of the neo-Kharijists (whose views the Shaikh particularly _ regards his old teacher, Jibril ibn ‘Umar, as representing).4 The essence of his political theory is his idea of the need for the appointment of just Caliphs, who will govern strictly, but humanely, according to the Shari‘a, supported by a simple, non-exploitative bureaucracy, headed by a loyal and honest vizier, who will be ‘steadfast in compassion to the people and merciful towards them’.5 While he stresses the need for government by scholars, at the same time he argues that the scholars, as a revolutionary class, must seek accommodation with those enjoying traditional forms of power. This centrist kind of position the Shaikh seems to have maintained fairly consistently in relation to controversial practical questions, e.g. his relatively liberal attitude to the education of women and insistence on their right to take part in mixed seminars.® How far his ideas were influenced, directly or indirectly, by currents of thought within the 1 Gouilly (1952), i. 2 See, for example, Gibb (1947) ;Cantwell Smith (1957) ,ch. 2; Holt (1970). See also Willis (1967)—but I am not happy about his ‘revivalism’/‘reformism’ antithesis. 3 See especially the various writings of H. F. C. Smith, Last, El-Masri, Al-Hajj

Hiskett, and Willis frequently referred to here. 4 Hiskett (1962), p. 591. Cf. Waldman (1965b) and Last and Al-Hajj (1966). 5 El-Masri, Baydn.

6 See below, pp. 254-5.

52

Introduction

wider Muslim world (e.g. the Wahhabi movement), or by an awareness of the growing crisis of Islam in its relations with Chfistendom, it is still difficult to say—but the Qadiriyya and the hajj provided two obvious channels of communication.! At the same time the special position which the Fulani ‘ulamda’ occupied in the Hausa States, as an intellectual élite, with ‘a sense of cohesion’ and ‘a degree of organizing ability and political acumen above that of the Hausa aristocracy’, needs to be borne in mind.? ‘There seems to have been an affinity between the Tuareg and Fulani malams which the Hausa did not share. Both were less a hostage to their society, both led a more mobile and austere life, both despised the peasant society. But the Fulani malam was outside both the nomad and the peasant societies.’3 In this respect the revolution was an expression, if not of Fulani ‘nationalism’, at least of the sense of common purpose which a group with ties of education, culture, and ideology, as well as language and kinship, is liable to generate. Indeed—as Europeans like Henry Barth who travelled widely in the western and central Sudan realized—the revolution in Hausaland was part of a wider movement whose effect was a great extension of Fulani power. The establishment by Shaikh Ahmad of the independent Caliphate of Masina on the upper Niger in about 1817

(whose inclusion in the Sokoto Caliphate seemed at one time tical possibility) was another phase of the same movement.‘ describing the revolution in this way one needs at the same emphasize that, at the level of ideology, its objectives were presented

in Islamic,

not in ethnic,

terms,

and

a pracBut in time to always

‘tribalism’

was

explicitly and frequently condemned, while, at the level of practice, such limited evidence as we have suggests that at the time of the jihad some 20 per cent of the middle leadership of the community were neither Fulani nor Tuareg.5 This interaction of universal and national ideas and interests is, of course, familiar in the revolutionary movements of our own time. Seen from another standpoint the revolution depended for its dynamic, at least in the early stages, on the fact that—like other Muslim reforming movements of this period—it had a genuine popular basis. Its appeal was not limited to the Fulani ‘ulama’, nor 1 See, e.g., Hiskett (1962), pp. 595-6, and Willis (1967), pp. 399-400. 2 Hiskett (1957), p. 576. 3 Last (1967a), p. Ixxix. 4 See below, p. 319; also H. F. C. Smith (1961), Trimingham

177-81; Ba and Daget (1955). 5 See below, p. 249, and Last (1967a), pp. Ixxvii and 17 n.

(1962), pp. ‘

;

Introduction

53

even to the wider body of Fulani cattle-herding nomads who had settled in the Hausa States: indeed, initially by no means all the Fulani supported it. It also represented a protest of the Hausa commoners (talakawa) against the old Hausa dynasties—against the oppression of the ruling class as much as against its ‘paganism’ or lack of orthodoxy.! The kind of state which the leaders of the revolution were pledged to establish was a state in which social justice, administered in the light of the Shari‘a by God-fearing rulers, took the place of the arbitrary decisions of irresponsible despots. This particular aspect of the revolution—its social history, so to speak, and the changing relation to it of various classes, interests, individuals—is one in regard to which new evidence is now available and about which one can therefore try to say rather more.? First, it

seems fairly clear what were the main economic and social grievances of the rural and urban masses under the Habe dynasties—illegal (i.e. uncanonical) taxes and market dues, demands for judicial bribes and customary presents, commandeering of beasts of burden, compulsory military service, etc., together with the luxurious styles of living of the sarakuna and their courts—grievances with which the Shaikh identified himself. Second, the Shaikh’s camp at Degel provided the ’ community with a relatively secure rural base where they could develop their revolutionary potential over a long period. Third, the revolutionary leadership consisted in the main of scholars, many of them the Shaikh’s old students or linked with him in some way through involvement in a common academic-Sufi-kinship network. Many of them were killed early in the jihad or died of famine and sickness. Hence the great Fulani clan-leaders, who alone could put substantial forces into the field, came to assume an increasingly important role in the community. Fourth, as the jihdd gradually achieved success and Hausa sarakuna were replaced by (predominantly) Fulani amirs in the towns, there was a natural tendency to preserve the old Hausa bureaucratic apparatus, in a somewhat modified form, within which the scholars (both genuine and careerist)—or some of them—could enjoy status, wealth, and power. It is this post-jihdd bureaucratic class that Abdullah dan Fodio and Muhammad Bello both strongly criticize for betrayal of the revolutionary ideals of the jihdd. Fifth, there is a marked change in the 1 This social aspect of the jihad is especially emphasized in an interesting article by Olderogge (1957), pp. 91-103. 2 The remarks in this paragraph are based mainly on Last (1967a) and (1970) ; El-Masri (1963); Al-Hajj (1967); Hiskett (1960). See below pp. 250-2, pp.

245-7, pp. 259-61, and pp. 253-4.

54

Introduction

Shaikh’s attitude to Mahdist beliefs, essentially an expression of the millenarian revolutionary hopes of the oppressed—encouraged before the jihad and during its early phases when it was necessary to mobilize the masses, regarded with some scepticism in the post-jzhad situation when the need was to consolidate Caliphal authority. Sixth, though one does not know how far the Shaikh’s decision to withdraw from public life and return to Sifawa to teach and write in c. 1810 reflected disillusionment with the results of the jihdd, he certainly attacked contemporary oppression at his weekly Thursday meetings, and it is significant that the Hausa peasant rebellion led by the distinguished Arewa (Hausa-speaking) scholar ‘Abd al-Salam broke out in 1817, shortly after the Shaikh’s death. The most obvious consequence of the jihdd was the imposition of the authority of a single government over a large region formerly occupied by a number of competing sovereign states. It was not simply the Hausa States that were brought into this new system. After the ending of the main jihad, by a combination of political infiltration and military force, the Caliphate pushed its frontiers forward into territories that had only relatively recently begun to be exposed to Islamic influences—as far as Nupe and Ilorin in the south-west and Adamawa in the deep south-east. The motive for this expansion was certainly partly religious—to extend the frontiers of Islam. But it was also partly economic, to control fresh sources of supply—particularly of the supply of slaves from pagan territories, to work as agricultural labour on the estates of the ruling class.! Midnineteenth-century travellers, like Barth, Bishop Crowther, and Allen and Thompson, make clear that this Fulani—Islamic frontier was still being pushed southwards, even at that date—penetrating into the states on both sides of the Benue, Igbirra, Igala, and Idoma.? Barth refers to an expedition from Adamawa into Ibo territory, and speaks—more picturesquely than accurately, no doubt—of the extension of Fulani dominion, ‘in a certain degree, as far as the Bight of Benin’.3 European commentators have tended to underestimate the extent to which the Caliphate survived through the nineteenth century as an effective political system.+ Recent work has on the whole underlined this effectiveness and provided useful new evidence regarding ™ See below, particularly pp. 384-6. Here and elsewhere in this section I have found M. G. Smith (1960) extremely helpful; see also Mason (1969). 2 See below, pp. 314-16 and 335-6. 3 See below, p. 331.

4e.g. Trimingham (1959), p. 142, and (1962), pp. 205-6,

Introduction

55

the administrative methods employed. It was principally under Muhammad Bello, the second Caliph (1817-37), that the basic institutions and structures were developed. He was responsible for the policy of establishing ribdts, on the classical model, ‘walled towns on the frontiers which could serve as rallying-centres against pagan invasions’ and at the same time function as centres of Islamic civilization and Caliphal authority, under the control of members of his family, as well as for the resettlement of the cattle Fulani in the area around Sokoto.! It was under Bello too that the bureaucratic apparatus of the central government became established, with the vizier as its chief official controlling an extensive household and a chancery that was organized to deal with diplomatic and internal administrative correspondence. While, naturally, the power of the Caliphate in relation to its formally subordinate amirs varied from amirate to amirate, from time to time, from person to person, it possessed certain built-in techniques of control: the right of investi-

ture of amirs (and some measure of control over the appointment of local officials) ; the regular tours of inspection of the vizier and other Sokoto officials; the obligations of tribute and military levies. In * addition as amir al-mu’minin (Commander of the Faithful) the Caliph enjoyed an admitted spiritual supremacy which reinforced his secular power.? Dr. Last has, however, recently put forward some suggestions about social changes taking place during the century and their effect

on the political organization of the Caliphate which seem to me illuminating. Briefly, he argues that in the course of the century ‘the princes’ (i.e. members of the Caliphal and other ruling families) tended to become ‘magnates’, controlling ‘a major asset in nineteenth-century trade—captives’ (who, in an inflationary situation, became a valuable form of currency) and, through their monopoly of firearms and gunpowder, the means of producing captives. Hence they also ‘attracted the friendship of the Arab traders, who were able to convert captives into luxury goods from North Africa’. On the other hand the scholar-bureaucrats were tending themselves to become ‘part of the establishment, often inter-married with the royal households of the various emirates and themselves 1 Last (1967a), pp. 74-80. On the Vizierate under Muhammad Bello and his successors, see Last (1967a), chs. 7 and 8.

2 ‘The Sultans of Sokoto and Gwandu (who are cousins) have considerable power over the outlying provinces which are under their respective spiritual jurisdictions.’ Macdonald Report (1890), p. 20. 3 See Last (1970), pp. 348-9.

56

Introduction

masters of considerable estates’, though not on that acceunt abandoning learned interests and activities. In this situation the mingr scholars and other participants in the jihad, and their descendants, living mainly in villages and combining farming with religious teaching, a group whom Last calls ‘the gentry’, were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their economic and social conditions, and turning to the Tijaniyya or Mahdism or emigration—or to some combination of these—to express their dissatisfaction. It is against this kind of background, he suggests, that some of the political events of the latter part of the century—the struggle over the Kano Emirate in 1893-5, the Mahdist rebellions of Hayatu ibn Sa‘id and Jibril Gaini—can be understood.! While our relative ignorance of conditions in the Hausa States of the eighteenth century makes comparisons difficult, it seems clear that one consequence of the establishment of a unified political system, providing a reasonable degree of internal security, in a region which had formerly been controlled by petty warring states, was an expansion of internal and foreign trade. Here Barth’s detailed analysis of the industry and trade of Kano in the middle of the century is, as far as I know, the first serious attempt to estimate the global income of a West African city.? But the first European travellers were impressed also by the flourishing commercial conditions which they found in outlying centres of the Empire—at Raba, the Nupe capital, for example, ‘the goal of the huge caravans’, bringing potash, camels, horses, ostriches, and manufactured goods from Kano, Bornu, Chad, and North Africa.3 Though the Arab merchants

whom these Europeans encountered were justified in regarding them as potential rivals, the trans-Saharan

trade, between

Kano

and

Tripoli in particular, was maintained at a high but fluctuating level until the 1880s.4 One other important consequence of this revolution—as of the reforming movement associated with the Askias three centuries earlier —was the new stimulus which it gave to learning and literature. ‘Uthman dan Fodio, his brother ‘Abdullah, and his son Muhammad

Bello, were Muslim scholars first and foremost, and only in a secondary sense political or military leaders.5 Hence it was natural that they should impose Arabic, the language of Islam, as the official 1 See Al-Hajj (1971) and Lavers (1967b). 2 See below, pp. 322-7. 3 See below, pp. 305-9; see also Nadel (1942), p. 85. 4 Newbury (1966). 5 See below, pp. 240-3 and 256-8.

Introduction

57

and literary language throughout the Empire. Moreover, they and their chief associates were faced with new situations, demands, and problems, which impelled them to write—the need to explain and justify their revolution, to reform government and morals, to educate their followers in the traditional Islamic sciences, to record the past,

especially their own revolutionary and post-revolutionary history, to develop an adequate system of internal communications. These needs help to explain what Professor Abdullahi Smith has called ‘the extraordinary outpouring of Arabic writing during the period c. 1800-50’. As al-Hajj Sa‘id says of Muhammad Bello: He was much occupied with composition, and whenever he composed anything he used to issue it to the people, and read it to them, then become occupied with another composition. . . . If he was asked about a question he composed a composition on it, and if it reached him that so-and-so and soand-so were disagreeing on a question he composed a composition on it... .1

Ninety-three Arabic works by ‘Uthman dan Fodio have been listed, seventy-eight by ‘Abdullah, and ninety-seven by Muhammad Bello.2 These lists are certainly not exhaustive—contemporary Nigerian scholars put the totals much higher—and in any case take no account of poetical works in Fulfulde. What is important, however, is not the sheer quantity of output, but the range of interests expressed, the diversity of themes discussed, and the intellectual renaissance which made such intensive literary activity possible.3 Another theme is the history of Bornu. What is especially interesting here is the way in which this ancient state succeeded in withstanding Fulani pressure. Instead of disintegrating, or becoming annexed to the Sokoto Caliphate as its north-eastern province, as seemed possible during the wars of 1806-11, when western Bornu was under Fulani occupation and Kanem and all the territory east of Chad and the Shari had been lost, Bornu in fact entered upon a new period of reconstruction and reform under the leadership of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi. Al-Kanemi is one of the outstanding characters in Nigerian nineteenth-century history, about whom it would be desirable to know a great deal more—though Denham and Clapperton, who paid a lengthy visit to his new capital at Kukawa in 1823, provide useful first-hand information.4 Like ‘Uthm4n dan Fodio, he was essentially an ‘alizm, a Muslim scholar, 1 See below, p. 290.

2 Last (1967a), pp. 237-48.

3 See particularly H. F. C. Smith (1961b). 4 See below, pp. 272-5.

58

Introduction

but with closer connections with the Arab world (though, as his name implies, he was of Kanem origin, his mother came from, Zawila in the Fezzan). He himself had studied in Murzuq and Tripoli, had made the hajj, and resided for long periods in Medina and Egypt. Born in 1775-6, he was twenty years younger than ‘Uthman, and during the period of the jzhdd was living at Ngala in Bornu, where he had married into a local chiefly family. He seems to have first become involved in controversy with Gwoni Mukhtar, the leader of the Fulani rising in southern Bornu, in 1808, at about the time of the sack of Birni Ngazargamu, when he began to develop his well-known critique of the jzhdd and the theory and practice of its

leadership.! Shortly afterwards, in 1809, he responded to Mai Ahmad’s appeal to reorganize and lead the Bornu forces, defeated the Fulani, and temporarily liberated Birni Ngazargamu (later reoccupied by Ibrahim Zaki, leader of the western Fulani, and again liberated by al-Kanemi). By 1811 the Fulani threat to the Bornu state was virtually ended, but the position was still one of considerable weakness. The western provinces of Katagum and Hadejia had been permanently lost to Sokoto and in the east Bagirmi and Wadai were threatening. The situation of the Saifawa dynasty was confused, with Mais being deposed and replaced at short intervals. By about 1814 al-Kanemi had secured effective control of much of eastern Bornu, having obtained an enlarged fief from Mai Dunama and organized a group of companions and advisers led by Muhammad Tirab (a Shuwa Arab mallam) around himself at Kukawa.? But it was not until 1820, after the death of Dunama and the installation of his young brother Ibrahim as Mai, that al-Kanemi assumed full power, striking a seal in his own name—power which he retained until his death in 1837.3 During this period, and indeed until 1846, the representatives of the Saifawa dynasty maintained a shadowy existence—preserving the title of ‘Mai’, and the rituals and ceremonies traditionally associated

with the monarchy, on condition of good behaviour. Al-Kanemi acted as a kind of Mayor of the Palace, remaining content with the title of Shaikh (or Shehu), carrying with it the idea of spiritual authority rather than worldly kingship, the title by which ‘Uthman dan 1 See al-Kanemi’s letter to Gwani Mukhtar and others, written in May 1808 (U.I. Mss. 82/237). Cf. below, pp. 261-4. 2 Cohen and Brenner, ‘Bornu in the Nineteenth Century’. 3 This date (rather than 1835, which was Barth’s guess) for al-Kanemi’s death is established by an elegy by his friend and contemporary, Imam Yusuf ibn ‘Abd

al-Qadir (U.I. Mss. 82/66).

ed

Introduction

59

Fodio and Muhammad Bello were also generally known. (There were indeed marked resemblances between the political attitudes of al-Kanemi

and

Muhammad

Bello—both

Muslim

reformers

and

centralizing administrators—in spite of the continuing conflicts between their two states.) Eventually in 1846 this dual system broke down in Bornu, when Mai Ibrahim plotted with the Shehu’s old enemy, Wadai, and its Sultan, Muhammad Sharif, to overthrow al-Kanemi’s son and successor, Shaikh ‘Umar. The Wadai invasion

was temporarily successful, the main Bornu army being away in the north; ‘Umar had Ibrahim executed, before escaping, but his son,

‘Ali, was installed as Mai. Later at the approach of the Bornu army, Muhammad Sharif withdrew, leaving Mai ‘Ali and his supporters to be defeated and killed. Thus the Saifawa dynasty, after enduring for a millennium, came to an end—its fiefs being transferred to the Shehu’s family, clients, and slaves.! There is a good deal of interesting evidence—in Barth and in Nachtigal, for example—regarding the state of Bornu, as it functioned during the long reign of Shaikh ‘Umar, from 1837 to 1881. But it is not clear how far the old institutions, as they had existed under the Saifawa, were transformed under al-Kanemi and his suc-

cessors. On the whole the developments seem to have been in a more egalitarian direction, with a marked increase in the political and military power of the Kanembu and the Shuwa Arabs. The Kachellawa, the class of slave military commanders—somewhat like Mamluks—directly under the control of the Shehu, who were granted fiefs and membership of the Nokena (Council of State), evidently played an important part in the new system.? The vizierate became the main focus of power under Muhammad Tirab, under his son, al-Hajj Bashir, and later under Bashir’s successor and heir,

al-Amin, particularly as Shaikh ‘Umar tended to withdraw from active participation in government.} In foreign affairs the dynasty of the Shehu reverted to Bornu’s traditional policy of cultivating good relations with its northern neighbours, first the Qaramanlis and then, after 1833, the Ottomans, recognizing the latter’s claims to the Caliphate (in contrast with the Saifawa who had regarded themselves as Caliphs for the Sudan), and actively encouraging the northern trade.* After the death of ‘Umar the dynasty was seriously 1 See Barth (1857), ii, pp. 665-9; Urvoy (1949), pp. 109-11; Cohen and Brenner ‘Bornw’; and cf. below, pp. 320-1. 2 See below, pp. 356-8. 3 Cohen and Brenner, “Bornu’. Cf. below, pp. 321-2. 4On Bornu relations with the Qaramanlis and Ottomans at this period see Bivar (1959) and Martin (1962).

60

Introduction

weakened by internal conflict and by economic depression, so that when, at the end of the century, Bornu was again confronted with a external threat to its survival—the expanding frontiers of the British, French, and German empires—more formidable than Fulani expansionism, the system again depended on a political and military leader imported from outside—Rabih.! The cases of Muhammad al-Kanemi and R&bih are not, of course, quite parallel. Al-Kanemi built up his power gradually as a servant of the ruling dynasty through his military achievements; Rabih came as a conqueror, defeating Shaikh Hashim at the battle of Ngala in 1893. Al-Kanemi, in spite of his Arab connections and training, was a man of Bornu; Rabih was a foreigner, from the eastern Sudan, the

leader of a small but efficient military force, on the basis of which, like Samory in the far west, he built up a ‘mobile empire’. None the less there were resemblances between the two situations. Both illustrate the close associations which have existed, through recorded history, between Bornu and the Arab East. In fact to speak of Rabih as a ‘foreigner’ in Bornu is only partially true. In both cases the power of the new ruler, or ‘dictator’, depended on his organizing and administrative ability, and on the consent of the governed, not on sheer military force. Gentil, who directed the operations which ended in Rabih’s defeat, brings out this point particularly clearly. He [Rabih] ... left the local chiefs in charge of their various districts but made them subordinate to his own chief officers, who took his orders .. . He carried out a plan for a public exchequer, to cover the maintenance of his troops... the erection of healthier and more comfortable buildings, and the storing of provisions with a view to future campaigns. .. .2 ...

Gentil adds the interesting remark that, having defeated Rabih,

the French found themselves obliged to take over his system of administration.

It was Rabih’s misfortune, as Urvoy points out, to

come to power at the wrong time, when no reforming ruler of an ancient African state—Menelik of Ethiopia apart—could resist for long the pressure of the European powers, with the clear superiority of their military techniques. Recent work has made it possible to understand this complex phase of history, and the part which Rabih played in it, rather more clearly. One has the general impression that he used the ideology and outward forms of Mahdism—the uniform, the flag, the ratib— 1 No adequate life of Rabih exists. The most useful studies are by Lavers (1967a)

and (1968) and Adeleye (1970a and b).

2 See below, pp. 389-90.

Introduction

61

primarily to strengthen the popular appeal of his regime. His relations with the Khalifa ‘Abdullahi in Omdurman involved a good deal of prevarication, since he seems to have had little intention of returning to the eastern Sudan when summoned, though wishing to avoid a formal breach.! In his relations with the ‘national Mahdists’ operating within the Sokoto Caliphate—Hayatu ibn Sa‘ id (a grandson of Muhammad Bello) based on Balda in Adamawa, and Mallam Jibril Gaini, based on Bormi in the Gombe region—Ra4bih showed himself mainly interested in the help which they could give him in his campaigns against Bagirmi and Bornu. Hayatu was an important ally, not only because of his ancestry, his reputation as a scholar, and his Mahdist convictions and following, but also because he had been appointed by the Mahdi his dmil (agent) for the central Sudan. Rabih gave him his daughter, Hawwa, in marriage, but after the conquest of Bornu in 1893 kept him virtually a prisoner at his new capital, Dikwa, until he was killed when attempting to escape in 1898. No doubt, as Lavers says, ‘one of the keys to an understanding of Rabih’s actions is trade’—his control of the export of ivory, ostrich feathers, and gold dust making possible the import of guns and ammunition.? But he was operating in a period of crisis within the Muslim world when Mahdist ideas provided a natural basis for popular opposition to both established dynasties and European imperialists.3 While in Bornu the reaction to Fulani expansion was a reorganization of the state which ensured its survival for the best part ofa century, the effect upon Oyo was to speed up the process of disintegration. It is difficult to assess the relative importance of internal strains and external Fulani pressure in causing the final break-up of the Oyo Empire. Many problems remain unresolved in regard both to the chronology and the history of the period from c. 1780 to c. 1820, but recent work has made it fairly clear that the authority of the Oyo central government had already been seriously weakened before the jihdd and the export of its ideas and methods into the countries to the south of the Caliphate.+ That is to say we have now

to suppose that the internal crisis associated with the revolt of Afonja and the coup d’état against Awole occurred in 1796, that the next twenty years were occupied partly by an interregnum, partly by the 1 See below, pp. 387-9, and Al-Hajj (1967). 3 Al-Hajj and Biobaku (1966), pp. 433-7; Hodgkin 4For somewhat different attempts at solutions of Smith (1969), ch. 10; Akinjogbin (1965) and (1966c)

2 Lavers (1967a), p. 9. (1971). these problems see R. S. and Law (1970b). And for

an interesting discussion at a more theoretical level see R. S. Smith (1971A).

62

Introduction

:

reign of Majotu as Alafin, and that during this period Afonja was mainly preoccupied with the consolidation of his power in Ilorin. I was probably not until 1817 that Afonja allied himself with the wandering Fulani scholar Salih ibn Janta (known to the Yoruba as Alimi, meaning simply Mallam) and jointly encouraged the revolt of Hausa slaves employed as ‘barbers, ropemakers and cowherds’ within the Oyo system, who flocked into Ilorin and became organized as a militant Muslim jamd‘a, the basis of the Ilorin army.! At a later stage, after the death of Mallam

Salih it would

seem, in

c. 1823-4 Afonja was himself overthrown and killed by this jamd‘a which became the instrument with which ‘Abd al-Salam, the eldest son of Mallam Salih and his successor as Imam of the Muslims,

established himself in power as ‘Amir Yoruba’, acknowledging the suzerainty of Sokoto and, more immediately, Gwandu. But in order to make his control of Ilorin effective he had first to eliminate his former ally Solagberu, the leader of the Yoruba Muslims.? In the light of the revised chronology (however tentative) the Muslim—Fulani take-over in Ilorin appears less as a major and immediate cause of the break-up of the Oyo system than as a phase ina process that had already been going on for a generation. The revolt of Dahomey in c. 1818, the overrunning of the Egbado province by the Egba in the 1830s, the increasing conflict within metropolitan Oyo and within the ruling class, were other aspects of the general crisis. But no doubt the extension of the Sokoto Caliphate to include both Ilorin and Nupe raised new and difficult problems for Oyo. Old Oyo, the capital, could no longer be held. Its exposed situation, in the north of the empire, seems to have been connected with the period when ‘light and civilization with the Yorubas came from the north. ... The centre of life and activity, of large populations and industry, was therefore in the interior.’’ Moreover, as Professor Ajayi has pointed out, the military power of the Oyo Empire in the days of its greatness had been based on its cavalry—and horses came from the north. “The Fulani conquest of Ilorin was dangerous to the continued existence of the Empire not only because it divided the Yorubas . . . but also because it controlled the northern trade routes and the supply of horses.’+ Clapperton and the Landers had the interesting opportunity of ' Morton-Williams

(1968); R. S. Smith (1969), pp. 141-2; Samuel Johnson

(1921), p. 193. 2 For the somewhat confused history of this period see Law (1970b), pp. 211-19;

Hogben and Kirk-Greene (1966), pp. 285-92; and below, pp. 279-82. 3 Samuel Johnson (1921), p. 40. + Ajayi (1958), pp. 42-3.

Introduction

63

travelling through Yorubaland during this period of disintegration, in the 1820s, when the Muslim—Fulani military frontier had been pushed forward into Ilorin, but the Alafin remained in his capital at Old Oyo, the titular head of a shadowy empire. They were struck particularly by the apparent lack of any effort on the part of the old regime to organize effective resistance, and foretold the doom of the system.' This prophecy was not entirely correct. True, under ‘Abd al-Salam and his successor, Shitta, Ilorin pursued an aggressive policy, subjugating most of the towns of northern Yorubuland— though the Alafin Oluewu for a brief period succeeded in organizing successful resistance, in alliance with the King of Nikki, until he was

defeated and killed (partly, it seems, through treachery) at the battle of Ilorin (1835-6). It was then that Old Oyo was finally sacked and abandoned, and the capital subsequently transferred a hundred miles south to Ago Oja which became modern Oyo.? Effectively this marks the end of the Oyo Empire, though Atiba, who was installed as Alafin at modern Oyo, attempted to maintain the dignity and ceremonial of an office that had ceased to possess any real basis of power.’ Hence, from the 1830s on, the history of Oyo becomes the history of its successor states: Ibadan, where the city developed out of a military camp in about 1829;* the Egba state, with its capital at Abeokuta founded by Shodeke in about 1830, and peopled largely with Egba refugees from Ibadan;5 Ijaye under its authoritarian ruler, Kurunmi, ‘the greatest Yoruba general and tactician of the day’, theoretically responsible for protecting the reduced Oyo state against the threat from Dahomey as Ibadan was responsible for protecting it against Sokoto.® Closely associated with them historically were those eastern and southern Yoruba states which had never been formally subject to the overlordship of Oyo—the most powerful of these being Ijebu, which largely controlled the supply of guns and gunpowder from the coast.7 Why did the Yoruba, who at an earlier period of history had I See below, pp. 295-7. 2 Law (1970b), p. 217. 3 Samuel Johnson (1921), ii, ch. 15. Professor Ajayi describes Atiba as ‘a tall, charming, soft-spoken man, an imaginative conservative, a little pathetic in his undying belief in the force of tradition in a world of revolutionary changes’. Ajayi and Smith (1964), p. 66.

4 Awe (1967). 5 Biobaku (1957), ch. 1. But see Law (1970b) for a discussion of these tentative dates. 6 Samuel Johnson (1921), p. 282; cf. Ajayi and Smith (1964), pp. 67-8. 7 ‘The first use of firearms on any considerable scale by a Yoruba army was in

the 1820s, when the Ijebu, noted for their trading contacts on the lagoon, equipped their soldiers with guns in the Owu war.’ R. S. Smith (1969), p. 124.

64

Introduction

developed a powerful imperial state, fail to achieve any, measure of political or military unity when confronted with the ‘threefold pressure of the Fulani Empire in the north, somewhat relaxed after the defeat of Ilorin at the battle of Oshogbo in 1838, of Dahomey in the west, and of the British—especially after the annexation of Lagos in 1861—in the south? This is a question which it is difficult to answer though various partial explanations have been suggested.! One factor clearly was the three-sided conflict between Ibadan, the Egba state, and Ijebu over trade and the trade-route to the coast. It has also been argued, more doubtfully, that there was an intensification of slave-raiding within Yoruba territories once the Fulani occupation of Ilorin had cut off northern sources of supply. A third factor, linked with these, was the effect of the increasing availability of firearms in a situation in which there had been a breakdown of central government. From being occasional interruptions from farming, war was becoming the regular preoccupation of a new class of people who had to organize the supply of these weapons and ensure the control of the trade routes through which they came. This increased the importance of semi-professional war chiefs to a degree hitherto unknown in the Yoruba country.?

There was also the particular problem of Ibadan, which in a certain sense succeeded to Oyo’s former position from the standpoint of military power, and did in fact establish a form of empire, but lacked the centralized institutions necessary to sustain it. The political system of Ibadan was... characterized by intense competition for power between descent groups, particularly those of the leading warriors . . . Warfare was the prime means of achieving power.3

At the same time there was a natural tendency for the ruling classes of the various petty states to develop a particularist outlook and ambitions, to become concerned with the preservation of a favourable balance of power, and hence to regard the predominance of any single power (specifically Ibadan) as a threat to their security. The European presence—especially the missionary presence—was, of course, itself a factor tending to stimulate particularism. ‘Rather than working for the political unity of Yorubaland missionaries consciously encouraged interstate antagonism.’+4 ‘This question is discussed, particularly, in Ajayi and Smith (1964), ii, 2; R. S. Smith (1969), ch. ii; Lloyd (1971); Ayandele (1966), chs. 1 and 2; Crowder (1966), pp. 117-21. 2 Ajayi and Smith (1964), p. 65. 3 Lloyd (1971); cf. Ajayi and Smith (1964), pp. 68-9. 4 Ayandele (1966), p. 11.

Introduction

65

The detailed histories of the successor states and their conflicts need not concern us. What comes out fairly clearly in these records is that the breakdown of the old political order did not mean the breakdown of all order. Clapperton, travelling through Yoruba country in 1826, commented on the degree of ‘subordination and regular government’ which he found.! The established specialized crafts of the Yoruba towns, and the established trade connections— both within Yorubaland, and between Yorubaland and Dahomey, Gonja, Ashanti, Nupe, and Bornu—seem on the whole to have been

maintained through the period of invasion and internal war.? But, Professor Ajayi has pointed out, one consequence of the loss of Ilorin and the pushing southwards of the Fulani frontier was a shift in the Yoruba centre of gravity and the direction of their trade and communications. Put crudely, the Yoruba attempted to compensate for their losses in the north by developing closer relations with Europe and the coast—importing European muskets and gunpowder and, after 1841, admitting European missionaries and Saro.3 Indeed the nineteenth century can be thought of as a period in which Yoruba society was undergoing important transformations, associated in various ways with the breakdown of the old order. The substantial shift of population from the northern savannah area to the southern forest was accompanied by further urbanization, problems of military security and the flow of refugees stimulating the formation of larger towns. With this, partly as a consequence of political fragmentation, went the development of large and powerful lineages, the rise of nonhereditary chieftaincies in place of the traditional forms of ‘ascribed’ office (particularly in Ibadan), the expansion of Islam outside Horin itself, and, to a more limited extent and mainly in Abeokuta, Christianity.* The varying reactions of African states and peoples to the expanding European frontier—or rather, to the various types of European frontier, missionaries’, traders’, and administrators—is another

theme which runs through these nineteenth-century extracts.5 It is worth remembering how little the basic pattern of relationships between West Africa and Europe changed during the first half of the century, and the various European expeditions into the interior— 1 See below, p. 293. 2 See Bascom (1955), pp. 446-54. 3 Returning emigrants from Sierra Leone, usually liberated slaves; see also Kopytoff (1965).

4 This is a very condensed and inadequate version of ideas for which I am indebted to Robin Law. 5 Cf. Hancock (1940), pp. 1-28.

66

Introduction

though significant from the European standpoint—made little appreciable impact upon African society. Europeans were now in a better position to observe the course of African history, but got materially to influence it. It was only during the second half of the century that the old systems began to be seriously disturbed, in very varying degrees in different areas—by the substitution of palm-oil for slaves as the basic export; the penetration of European missionaries and, more slowly, traders; and the growth of European political intervention, involving as its consequence the loss, or weakening, of African sovereignty. The causes of these changes have been discussed at length elsewhere; here all that matters is their results. From about 1850 on the expanding European frontier, in one form or another, became a fact which African states and their rulers had to face, and which they faced in a variety of ways. They might, like Benin, withdraw into isolation; or, like Ijebu, preserve an established tradition of isolation—simply telling the European to keep out, so long as they had power to do so. Or they might, like William Dappa Pepple in Bonny, attempt to preserve the pattern of African— European relationships as they had existed over the past three centuries—accepting the necessity for close commercial relations, but resisting any encroachment upon the power and prerogatives of the dynasty, or the merchant-oligarchy.! In Pepple’s case the attempt failed. But in states less immediately exposed to political pressure than Bonny this distinction between economic and political frontiers could be maintained, for a period, where it suited both parties. Nupe, for example, under King Masaba was brought partially within the European economic frontier, while remaining wholly within the politico-religious frontier of the Sokoto Caliphate.? In this situation the military power of Nupe could be strengthened, for a time, by the import of European guns. Another type of reaction was the passing of power from the old dynasties into the hands of new men who succeeded, in this period of stasis, by their sheer ability, either—like Jaja of Opobo 3—building up new states or—like Rabih in Bornu or Nana in the Benin River+—reorganizing existing states on more efficient lines. Finally, in some cases—the Egba state under the influence of the immigrant Saro is perhaps the best example— there was a conscious attempt to maintain independence by borrowing and adapting Western institutions.§ 1 See below, pp. 303-5 and 348-50. 2 See below, pp. 359-61. 3 See below, pp. 369-73. 4 See below, pp. 389-90 and 373-4. 5 For the Egba United Board of Management, which began to function in

1865, and its secretary, George Johnson, see below, pp. 361-2. See also Biobaku

Introduction

67

Recent research has thrown a good deal of new light on these final phases in the histories of the pre-colonial states of this region and the various ways in which both governments and peoples faced the problems raised by the new aggressive forms of European imperialism. First, there is now more evidence regarding the scale and character of African resistance to British occupation—much more general and prolonged than it has usually been represented in colonial mythology.! Second, it is possible to understand more clearly the importance of ‘the missionary impact’ on African states in the mid-nineteenth century, preparing the way for the subsequent phase of political and military penetration. Professor Ayandele in particular has shown how African rulers in southern Nigeria were faced with a difficult choice: if they admitted Christian missionaries and encouraged missionary activities they could gain the advantage of schools, technical assistance, military aid, the development of communications with the centres of Western power; but in return they had to pay the price of the undermining of the system of beliefs on which their authority was based and the emergence of a community of Christian converts whose political loyalty was doubtful.? But re~ jection of missionaries did not necessarily imply rejection of modernization. Jaja, though recognizing more clearly than most of his fellow rulers ‘the dangers of missionary activity to the sovereignty of the Niger Delta potentates and the laws and customs of the Southern Nigerian peoples’, was by no means ‘a reactionary traditionalist’, but accepted technological advance, selectively, where he thought it could lead to genuine progress. Hence he set up a school at Opobo under the direction of his secretary and ‘prime minister’, Emma Jaja, an American Negro who settled there in 1875.3 We have better understanding too of the way in which the problem of choosing between resistance to European imperialism—or a particular imperial power and its local agents—and collaboration, presented itself, to members of the ruling classes of African states especially, but in some degree to other sectors of the population also. This is particularly clear in the case of the vizier of Sokoto at the time of the British take-over in March 1903, Muhammad Bukhari, who, faced with the dilemma whether to follow the example of his

aS oo __

(1957), ch. 7; Ajayi (1965), pp. 198-202; Kopytoff (1965), pp. 178-86; July

(1968), ch. 10; Pallinder-Law (1973). 1 See, e.g., Crowder (1968), ii, 3, pp. 116-39, and Ikime (1971), Muffett (1971), Ee R. S. Smith (1971b). 2 Ayandele (1966), chs. 1 to 3; see also below, pp. 353-4.

3 Ibid., pp. 80-2.

a ee

68

Introduction

master, the Caliph Muhammad Attahiru, and opt for hijra, or to remain behind, practising tagiyya, befriending the Christians with the tongue but not with the heart, chose the latter course.! His Risdia is an interesting justification of his position. Meanwhile Attahiru, the last Caliph of independent Sokoto, followed by some scholars and gentry, with a growing body of popular Mahdist support, began to make his way to the east. He was killed when the old regime made its last stand at the battle of Bormi in August 1903.7 One other theme that becomes increasingly important during the latter half of the century is the rise of an African ‘middle class’. Admittedly, the term is a vague one; it might be argued that African capitalists operating within the traditional system, who made their own way up the economic and social ladder, like the ‘Winnaboes’ of Brass, could be so described, as contrasted with large traders who were at the same time members of ruling families, like Madam Tinubu.: In the very different social context of the Sokoto Caliphate the scholar-bureaucrats might be regarded as having some of the characteristics of a middle class in relation to ‘the Princes’ on the one hand and the rural gentry, free peasantry, and artisan and trading classes on the other. But I am using the term here in a more restricted sense, to mean those Africans who achieved status within

the new European framework of institutions: who were educated in mission schools; who were strongly influenced by the beliefs and values of the Christian Churches of the nineteenth century; who earned their living in what, in the context of nineteenth-century Europe, were typically middle-class ways—as ministers of religion, teachers, civil servants, merchants, or, less frequently, as lawyers, doctors, and journalists; who developed a recognizably middle-class type of family and social life. It would be misleading to refer to this group simply as ‘Westernized’—since ‘Westernization’, in various of its aspects, had, as some of the passages quoted here illustrate, been taking place in the coastal towns since the sixteenth century.5 Moreover, members of this group, however ‘Western’ they might be in their social tastes and habits, were by no means necessarily ‘Westernized’ in the sense of having lost contact with, or interest in, the African societies in which they were involved. Often, as in the case of ™ See below, pp. 392-4, and Adeleye (1968). Cf. also Markov and Sebald (1967). 2 For Burmi (Bormi), see Lavers (1967b) and Adeleye (1971), ch. 9. 3 See below, pp. 364-6. For an interesting discussion of the class, or ‘status’,

systems of the eastern Delta states in the nineteenth century, see G. I. Jones

(1963), pp. 57-82.

4 Last (1970), pp. 346-8. 5 See below, for example, pp. 125-8.

Introduction

69

Samuel Johnson, the historian of the Yoruba, the reverse was the

case. This African ‘middle class’ naturally tended to develop in those centres in which European institutions, especially missions and mission schools, were earliest and most solidly established—for example, Lagos, Abeokuta, Calabar. It included within it—as a kind

of catalyst—the Sierra Leonean and Brazilian immigrants, or returning emigrants, who began to establish themselves in these centres in the early 1840s, moving roughly with the expanding missionaries’ frontier.! “The emigrants and converts were in fact trying to become what the missionaries hoped they would, a rich, inventive, powerful

middle class.’ What distinguished this élite from other African élites —representatives of the old ruling families, like the Pepples in Bonny or the Honestys in Calabar, or new self-made rulers like Jaja—was that its members had acquired European intellectual skills, and in general took for granted the desirability of the spread of institutions of a ‘European’ type—Christian Churches, Western education, technology, industry, and commerce, modern communications,

efficient administration, and so forth. They certainly did not regard * these developments as necessarily implying the extension of European power, as the controversy within the Anglican community over the succession to Bishop Samuel Crowther, and the whole development of Ethiopianism—in the sense of an ‘African struggle for power and position in Church government’—in the last quarter of the century, indicate.3 But their opposition to European power, where it occurred, was based on a different set of moral and political assumptions from those which generally inspired the resistance of the precolonial rulers and ruling classes—whether these were the chiefs of Brass defending their traditional economic rights or the rulers of the Sokoto Caliphate defending the Islamic community.4 With the appearance of this élite, which in essentials accepts the new system, but appeals to democratic ideas to support its claim for power and responsibility within the system, we begin to move into a new period —the period of the rise of modern nationalism.$ 1 See Ajayi (1965), particularly ch. 2 for the returning emigrants and ch. 5 for the ‘emerging African middle class’. Cf. Kopytoff (1965).

2 Ajayi (1965), p. 165.

3 See below, pp. 374-6, and Ayandele (1966), chs. 6 and 7, particularly p. 178. 4 See below, pp. 377-8 and 390-4. But I agree essentially with Ayandele that ‘the chiefs were more than watchdogs of the status quo and of their interests. The

ideological difference between these traditionalists and the educated elite should certainly not be pressed too far.’ Ayandele (1970), p. 92.

5 Ajayi (1959).

70

Introduction

It is important in this connection, as Professor Ayandele has stressed, to realize how far back in history the roots of ‘modern nationalism’ lie; to recognize that, so far as southern Nigeria Was

concerned, a nationalist movement was developing through the latter half of the nineteenth century, with ‘three distinct but interrelated strands, viz. the resistance of the Nigerian potentates to British rule, Ethiopianism, and cultural nationalism’. All these three strands, Ayandele says, ‘were clearly exemplified in James Johnson’s career’. But already, long before James Johnson arrived from Sierra Leone in 1874 to provide a new stimulus and direction to the movement, ‘there was a remarkable degree of co-operation between the ‘‘traditional’’ and the ‘‘modern”’ nationalists, far more

than historians and political scientists have hitherto acknowledged: this co-operation can be traced back to 1861—in. Lagos and the interior of Yorubaland.’? One general point seems worth making. The two major empirebuilding movements which marked the beginning and end of the century—Fulani and British—had more in common than is sometimes realized. Both succeeded in imposing, by a combination of diplomacy and military force, the authority of a single government over a large, politically heterogeneous, region. Both derived their dynamic from a missionary impulse—the idea of the construction of an Islamic state, on the model of the early Caliphate, in the one case; of the spread of Christian civilization, European commerce, and British justice, in the other. For both, this sense of mission was accompanied by a certain contempt for the institutions of the supposedly ‘backward peoples’, whose moral and social standards it was the conquerors’ duty to raise. Both movements promoted an intellectual renaissance, through a revival of Islamic learning, in the tradition of ‘Timbuktu, in the Fulani case; through the diffusion of

mission-sponsored education, in the tradition of Bell and Lancaster, in the British. Of course, there were also important differences, both of policy and practice: between ‘Uthman dan Fodio’s conception of an Islamic state and Lugard’s principle of ‘indirect rule’; between the tendency of the Fulani ruling class to intermarry with their subject peoples—especially the Hausa—and the tendency of British t Ayandele (1970), p. 87.

2 Ibid., p. 92. 3 A somewhat similar analogy between the two systems, and specifically between the positions of the bureaucracy within each, has been drawn by Last (1970), pp- 355-6, but with more elegance, detail, and understanding—and with specific reference to post-Independence developments.

Introduction

71

administrators to preserve their cultural identity and social separateness. Perhaps the biggest difference was in the economic field. While the Sokoto Caliphate appears to have stimulated commerce, and to some extent production, the effect of the British system was in this respect more far-reaching—bringing with it a new technology, quickening the tempo of technical and economic change, and involving Nigeria more closely with a world market.! It would be wrong to end this introduction on a note which might seem to suggest that it has been the empire-builders who have influenced most profoundly the course of ‘Nigerian’ history. The most significant changes that have occurred—the development of new crops, of crafts, of techniques, of wants, of art forms, of trading connections, of systems of communication, of towns, of political offices and forms of organization, of literacy and education and research, of attitudes to nature and the supernatural, of ways of interpreting history and society—these have been the result of a variety of initiatives, of a complex interplay of forces, that have only occasionally and indirectly been associated with empire-building activities. On the character of these initiatives—how and why particular changes * actually occurred—these extracts throw some, but insufficient light. ‘But the sensible reader will understand that beyond the stream there is a big sea.’ 1 But I agree with Michael Crowder (1968), p. 345, that “the economic impact of colonial rule on African society was much less profound than colonial administrators liked to think’.

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THE GIRGAM~: The Legend of Daura! Tue people went up out of Canaan and settled in the land of Palestine. And a certain man among them named Najib the Canaanite went up out of Palestine with all his household and journeyed westwards into Libya, which is one of the Provinces of Egypt, and there they dwelt for many years. And a certain man among them named Abdul Dar, and he was a son of Najib, went up out of Libya and dwelt in the Province of Tripoli. And after a time he sought the kingship of Tripoli, but the people refused. Wherefore he arose with his people and journeyed to the south till he came to an oasis called Kusugu and dwelt there. And he begat children, and they were all daughters. Their names were Bukainya and Gambo and Kafai and Waizamu and Daura, and she was the youngest. All these he begat before they came to Daura. And a certain man named Abuyazidu,? son of Abdulahi, king of

Bagdad, quarrelled with his father and the people of the city. And they were divided into forty companies. Then Abuyazidu with 1 This version of the Daura legend is taken from Palmer (1928), iii, pp. 132-4. The Girgam, or written record, of which this is a translation, is said by Palmer to have been stolen from Nuhu, Sarkin Zango, in about the middle of the nineteenth

century, ‘though it is not known at what period or by what King of Daura this writing was first undertaken’. The legend is built around Daura’s generally accepted claim to be the earliest of the Hausa States, the mother kingdom. For a

slightly different version of the legend, translated from the MS. Daura Makas Sariki (= ‘Daura snake-slayer’), see Arnett (1910). See also Johnston (1966),

pp. I1I-13. 2 Palmer regards this Abuyazidu, the legendary ancestor of the Hausa ruling dynasties, as having some historic connection with the Abi Yazid who led the revolt of the nomad Kharijite Berbers against the Fatimids in North Africa in the first half of the tenth century A.p. This Maghribi Aba Yazid was probably born in the western Sudan; was known as ‘the man on the donkey’; and was eventually captured and killed by the Fatimids in a.p. 947 (Palmer (1936), pp. 273-4, n. 1). See also Julien (1970), pp. 60-3. The identity of Abuyazidu and the general background of the legend are discussed in Hallam (1966), pp. 47-60. His conclusions have been criticized by H. F, C. Smith (1970).

THE GirGAM~

The Legend of Daura

75

twenty companies journeyed until they came to Bornu, and they dwelt there. But the King of Bornu saw that Abuyazidu was stronger than he and was of a mightier house, so he took counsel with his people. And they counselled him that he should give Abuyazidu his daughter to wife, and become his father-in-law. And he did so and gave him his daughter Magira to wife, and he married her. Then the Sarkin Bornu said to Abuyazidu that he wished to go to war and prayed him to lend him his horsemen and warriors to aid him against his foe, and he gave him three thousand horses with their warriors, together with princes to the number of seventeen. And he said ‘When we return from this war I will make them princes in my country.’ And they went out to war and stayed for six months. Then Sarkin Bornu took counsel to kill Abuyazidu, but his wife Magira heard it and straightway told him. And when he saw all that had been done, that his horsemen had been taken from him and his

princes, he saw that it was a plot to overcome him, and he spake unto his people and bade them flee to the north during the night. And they obeyed and left him, and he arose with his wife and journeyed to the west. And when they came to a place called Gabas ta Buram, his wife bare a son: and he left her there and passed on with his concubine

and his mule, and his concubine also was with child.

And they journeyed until they came to Daura at night and they alighted at the house of an old woman whose name was Waira and he asked her for water. But she answered that they could not get water except on Fridays. And he asked her what hindered them, and she told him there was a snake in the well. And he took the bucket which she gave him and went to the well and let the bucket down into the water. When the snake heard the bucket she lifted her head out of the well to kill him, but he drew his sword and cut off

her head—and her head was like the head of a horse. And he drew water and took the head of the snake, and it was the night before Friday. And in the morning the people assembled at the well and they questioned one another who had done this thing to the snake, whose name was Sarki, and they marvelled at that part which lay outside the well and that which remained within it. And the news was brought to the Queen of Daura, and she mounted with all her princesses and came to the well, and she asked who had done this thing. And many people spake falsely and said that they had killed the snake, but when she asked to be shown the head of the snake they were all dumb. Then spake the old woman at whose house

76

THE crrcAM: The Legend of Daura

Abuyazidu had alighted, and said that a man had come to her house during the night with an animal which was like a horse and yet was not a horse; ‘and he asked me for a bucket and I gave it to him, and he drew water and watered his beast and gave me what remained; perchance it was he who has done this deed’. And they summoned

him and asked him, and he said he had done it, and

showed them the head of the snake. And the Queen said, ‘I have promised that whosoever should do this thing, I will give him half my town.’ But Abuyazidu said he wished rather to marry her, and she consented. And he dwelt in her house together with his concubine who was with child. And when the people came to the Queen to bring her news, she would bid them to go to the house of Makassarki (the snake-killer). Then the concubine bare a son and she named him ‘Mukarbigari’. Then the Queen of Daura also bare a son and she named him ‘Bawogari’. Then Abuyazidu died and Bawo ruled in his stead. And Bawo begat six sons! and these are their names: Gazaura who became king of Daura, Bagauda2 who became king of Kano, and these were the sons of the same mother. Gunguma who became king of Zazzau Duma who became king of Gobir, and these two were sons of the same mother. Kumayau who became king of Katsina Zamna Kogi who became king of Rano, and these two were sons of the same mother. 1 These sons were the eponymous founders of the six original Hausa States: Daura, Kano, Zaria (Zazzau), Gobir, Katsina, and Rano. In literature these are

usually referred to as the Hausa Bokoi, i.e. the seven (true) Hausa States, as contrasted with the Banza Bokoi, the seven bastard Hausa States, i.e. the states which

came within the field of Hausa influence. The Hausa Bokoi are made up to seven by the inclusion usually of Biram, or sometimes Zamfara. Various accounts exist of the “bastard seven’ (seven for the sake ofsymmetry), but Barth’s list is usually followed: Zamfara, Kebbi, Nupe, Gwari, Yauri, Yoruba, and Kororafa.

2 For Bagauda, the legendary founder of Kano, see Hiskett (1964-5).

(77)

IBN FARTUWA:

Bornu: The Origin of the Saifawa Dynasty!

The Sultan [Ibrahim ibn Saif],2 mentioned above, so we have heard from the lips of our elders, buried his father in the land of Yaman, in Sana‘a, and then migrated from Yaman by slow stages till he came to the land of Sima in Kanem. He settled there, he and his sons and grandsons. Years passed, till the time of Dawud ibn Nikaleh. Before the time of Sultan Dawid, there was no discord, or quarrel in any of the four quarters of the realm, and everyone was under the authority and protection of the Mais of Kanem.3

We have heard from learned shaikhs that the utmost extent of their power in the east was to the land of Daw‘ and to the Nile of the cultivated lands; in the west their boundary reached the river called Baramusa.5 Thus we have heard from our elders who have gone before. What greatness can equal their greatness, or what power equal their power, or what kingdom equal their kingdom? None, indeed, none... . The author of the book ‘Ifrikiya’, relates that the people of Himyar® son of Ghalib are the successors of the Bani Hashim, in truth without doubt or uncertainty. ... We saw in the book ‘Ifrikiya’ that Himyar conquered the world and had a magnificent kingdom. He built between Kufra7 and 1 From Ahmad

ibn Fartuwa,

The Kanem

Wars of Mai Idris Alooma, in Palmer

(1928), i, pp. 15-16. Idris Aléma ruled as Mai of Bornu from 1569/70 to c. 1619. (See below, pp. 137-43, for some account of his reign and for further evidence in regard to its probable dating.) Ibn Fartuwa was his principal Imam and chronicler. In this passage Ibn Fartuwa gives what was presumably the official account of the origin of the Saifawa dynasty to which Idris Aloma belonged. It was clearly in circulation by the late fourteenth century, since it appears in al-Magqrizi and al-Qalqashandi (see below, pp. 101-4). For a full discussion of the problems raised

see H. F. C. Smith (1972). 2 i.e. Saif ibn Dhi Yazan, the legendary ancestor of the Saifawa dynasty, a famous pre-Islamic hero, belonging to the old Himyar royal line, who led the

struggle to free the Yemen from the domination of Aksum (Ethiopia), an Arab Arthur. Having failed to obtain the help of Byzantium against Aksum (a fellow Christian power), he turned to the Persian sovereign, Kisra Anisharwan, who

sent a force to Yemen, with whose assistance Saif succeeded in expelling the Aksumite garrison. ‘But soon al-Yaman was converted into a Persian satrapy, and the South Arabians

found they had only changed

one master for another’, Hitti

(1953), pp- 65-6. 3 The text reads ‘under their protection’. 4 The text reads ‘Diway’, unknown. 5 Text, ‘Barmusah’. Palmer identifies with the Niger. 6 The Himyarites ruled southern Arabia from about 115 B.c. to about A.D. 525, with an interval of Aksumite rule in the fourth century (Hitti, op. cit., pp. 55-62). 7 Kufra, an oasis in south-eastern Libya.

78

IBN FARTUWA:

Bornu: The Origin of the Saifawa Dynasty

‘Iraq one thousand houses of crystal, and placed in every house a bed with eight legs of silver, each leg gilded with gold, and on each bed was a captive maiden from among the daughters of the kings whom he conquered. Himyar was the brother of Luway ibn Ghalib and Luway was the ancestor of the Quraish. ! We have seen also written in the above mentioned book that when the Bani Hashim and the Himyar obtained booty in war they divided it since the Himyar were the heirs of the Bani Hashim. So we read in ‘Ifrikiya’. We have seen also in the book ‘Fatuhu Sham’ that one of the kings of Yaman named Saif ibn Dhi Yazan foretold our Prophet’s coming, since God inspired him with mature wisdom so to do. Let him who reflects take heed to the words we have quoted from the book ‘Ifrikiya’ and the book ‘Fatuhu Sham’, that he may know the ancestry of our Sultan al-Hajj Idris ibn ‘Ali (may God ennoble him) for he is of the exalted race. Truly his descent is traced back to the Quraish and such is not the case with many people.?

BELLO:

The Origins of the Yoruba3

The country of Yoruba is extensive and has streams and forests and rocks and hills. There are many curious and beautiful things in it. The ships of Christians come there. The people of Yoruba are descended from the Bani Kan‘an and the kindred of Nimrud. Now the reason of their having settled in the west according to what we are told is that Ya‘rub ibn Qahtan drove them out of ‘Iraq to westwards and they travelled between Misr+ and Habash$ until they reached Yoruba. It happened that they left a portion of their people in every country they passed. It is said that the Sudanese who live up on the hills are all kindred; so also the people of Yauri are their kindred. 1 Quraish, the Meccan family to which the Prophet Muhammad belonged. The point of this reference is to show that the ruling dynasty of Bornu—like other ruling dynasties of the Muslim world—had a respectable descent, from the Prophet, and from pre-Islamic Arab dynasties. On the general phenomenon of the claiming or invention of Arab genealogies by non-Arab peoples see Goldziher (1967), particularly pp. 134-5. 2 From Muhammad Bello, Infag al-maisiir (1929), p. 16. For some account of Muhammed Bello, 1781-1837, son of Shaikh ‘Uthman dan Fodio, see Introduction, pp. 55-7; for other extracts from his writings, and accounts of him, see below, PP: 133-4, 256-8, and 290. 3 *Yoruba’ in this context refers specifically to Oyo, not (as in current usage) to the Yoruba-speaking peoples in general.

4 Egypt.

5 Ethiopia.

BELLO: The In the called which

The Origins of the Yoruba

79

people of Yauri resemble those of Nufe [Nupe] in appearance. land of Yoruba are found the birds green in colour which are ‘babgha’’ in Arabic and which we call ‘Aku’.! It is a bird talks and is beautiful.

JOHNSON - The Legend of Oduduwa? The origin of the Yoruba nation is involved in obscurity. Like the early history of most nations the commonly received accounts are for the most part purely legendary. The people being unlettered, and the language unwritten, all that is known is from traditions carefully handed down. The National Historians3 are certain families retained by the King at Oyo whose office is hereditary; they also act as the King’s bards, drummers, and cymbalists. It is on them we depend as far as

possible for any reliable information we now possess; but, as may be expected, their accounts often vary in several important particulars. We can do no more than relate the traditions which have been universally accepted. The Yorubas are said to have sprung from Lamurudu,‘ one of the kings of Mecca, whose offspring were: Oduduwa, the ancestor of the Yorubas, the Kings of Gogobiri and of the Kukawa, two tribes in the Hausa country. It is worthy of remark that these two nations, notwithstanding the lapse of time since their separation and in spite of the distance from each other of their respective localities, still have

the same

distinctive

tribal marks on their faces; and

Yoruba travellers are free among them and vice versa, each recognizing each other as of one blood. At what period of time Lamurudu reigned is unknown, but, from the accounts given of the revolution among his descendants and their dispersion, it appears to have been a considerable time after Mahomet. We give the accounts as they are related: The Crown Prince Oduduwa relapsed into idolatry during his father’s reign, and, as he was possessed of great influence, he drew I Parrots. 2 From the opening chapter of S. Johnson (1921), pp. 3-5. Samuel Johnson, 1846-1901, migrated with his family from Sierra Leone to Lagos in 1857, and later moved to Ibadan, where he worked as a schoolmaster, spending the last fifteen years ofhis life as C.M.S. pastor at Oyo. Kopytoff (1965), p. 290. See also Ajayi

(1964), and July (1968), pp. 270-6.

3 i.e. the Arokin; Samuel Johnson (1921), pp. 58, 125-6. 4 Probably a variant of Nimrud: see previous extract.

80

jouNsON « The Legend of Oduduwa

many after him. His purpose was to transform the state religion into paganism, and hence he converted the great mosque of the city into an idol temple, and this Asara, his priest, who was himself an image maker, studded with idols. Asara had a son called Braima who was brought up a Mohammedan. During his minority he was a seller of his father’s idols, an occupation which he thoroughly abhorred, but which he was obliged to engage in. But in offering for sale his father’s handiwork, he usually invited buyers by calling out: ‘Who would purchase falsehood?’ A premonition this of what the boy will afterwards become. By the influence of the Crown Prince a royal mandate was issued ordering all the men to go out hunting for three days before the annual celebration of the festivals held in honour of these gods. When Braima was old enough he seized the opportunity of one of such absences from the town of those who might have opposed him to destroy the gods whose presence had caused the sacred mosque to become desecrated. The axe with which the idols were hewed in pieces was left hanging on the neck of the chief idol, a huge thing in human shape. Inquiry being made, it was soon discovered who the iconoclast was, and when accosted, he gave replies which were not unlike those which Joash gave to the Abiezrites who had accused his son Gideon of having performed a similar act (see Judges vi, 28-33). Said Braima, ‘Ask that huge idol who did it.’ The men replied, ‘Can he speak?’ ‘Then,’ said Braima, ‘why do you worship things which cannot speak?’ He was immediately ordered to be burnt alive for this act of gross impiety. A thousand loads of wood were collected for a stake, and several pots of oil were brought for the purpose of firing the pile. This was signal for a civil war. Each of the two parties had powerful followers, but the Mohammedan party, which was hitherto suppressed, had the upper hand, and vanquished their opponents. Lamurudu the King was slain, and all his children with those who sympathized with them were expelled from the town. The Princes who became Kings of Gogobiri and of the Kukawa went westwards and Oduduwa eastwards. The latter travelled go days from Mecca, and after wandering about finally settled down at Ile Ife where he met with Agbo-niregun (or Setilu) the founder of the Ifa worship.! Oduduwa and his children had escaped with two idols to Ile Ife. Sahibu being sent with an army to destroy or reduce them to submission was defeated, and among the booty secured by the victors’ was a copy of the Koran. This was afterwards preserved in a temple, 1 i.e, Ifa divination; see Morton-Williams, Bascom and McClelland (1966).

JOHNSON + The Legend of Oduduwa

81

and was not only venerated by succeeding generations as a sacred relic, but is even worshipped to this day under the name of Idi, signifying Something tied up. Such is the commonly received account among this intelligent although unlettered people. But traces of error are very apparent on the face of this tradition. The Yorubas are certainly not of the Arabian family, and could not have come from Mecca—that is to say the Mecca universally known in history—and no such accounts as the above are to be found in the records of Arabian writers of any kings of Mecca; an event of such importance could hardly have passed unnoticed by their historians. But then it may be taken for granted that all such accounts and traditions have in them some basis in actual facts; nor is the subject under review exempted from

the general rule, and this will become apparent on a closer study of the accounts. That the Yorubas came originally from the East there cannot be the slightest doubt, as their habits, manners and customs, etc., all go

to prove. With them the East is Mecca and Mecca is the East. Having strong affinities with the East, and Mecca in the East looming so largely in their imagination, everything that comes from the East, with them, comes

from Mecca;

and hence it is natural to

represent themselves as having hailed originally from that city.

EGHAREVBA « Benin: The Founding of the Second Kingdom' Actually, the people had previously intended to set up a republican form of government because of the confusions and unsatisfactory rule of the last reign. On the contrary, Evin-an who was made President, selfishly changed the policy by nominating his eldest son Ogiamwen as his successor. The people therefore indignantly dispatched ambassadors to Ife (Uhe) requesting that a wise prince be 1 From Egharevba (1953), pp. 5-9. Chief Egharevba, a member of the Royal Society of the House of Iwebo and Curator of the Benin Museum, explains that, in compiling his history, he drew upon material supplied by Ihogbe, the worshippers and recorders of the departed Obas; Ogbelaka, the Royal Bards; Igun-eronmwon, the Royal Brass Smiths; Ohen-sa of Akpakpava, one of the descendants of the

Benin native fathers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; as well as by successive Obas of Benin. For a discussion of the historical background to this extract and, particularly, the problem of the Ife-Benin relationship see Ryder (1965b) and

(1969), pp. 1-5.

,

2 i.e. the reign of Owodo, the last Ogiso (King) of the former dynasty, banished

for maladministration.

82

EGHAREVBA:

Benin: The Founding of the Second Kingdom

sent to be their ruler. For things were going from bad to-worse and the people saw that there was need for a capable ruler. ’ In order to test the ability of the Binis, Oduduwa, the then ruler of Ife, first of all sent seven lice to the chiefs of Benin to be cared for and then bring them back to him after three years, before complying with their request for a prince. This condition was fulfilled and Oduduwa was greatly surprised to see the lice in increased sizes when they were returned to him by the Chiefs of Benin. He exclaimed that ‘the people who could take care of such minute pests as lice could undoubtedly take care of my son’.... Prince Oranmiyan, one of the sons of Oduduwa of Ife, the father and progenitor of the Yoruba Obas, was sent, accompanied by courtiers, including Ogiefa, a native doctor; and he succeeded in reaching the city after much trouble at Obia River with the ferry man. The last leader, Ogiamwen, was much opposed to his coming. He gave it as his reason that it was too difficult to serve an Oba (King)—‘Ogie mianmwen na ga’; hence his name Ogiamwen.! But as the need for a proper Oba was felt to be so great by the inhabitants, no heed was paid to his advice. Prince Oranmiyan took up his abode in the palace built for him at Usama by the elders (now a coronation shrine). Soon after his arrival he married a beautiful lady, Erinmwinde, daughter of Enogie of Ego, by whom he had a son. After some years residence here he called a meeting of the people and renounced his office, remarking that the country was a land of vexation, ‘Ile Ibinu’ (by which name the country was known afterwards), and that only a child born, trained, and educated in the arts and mysteries of the land could reign over the people. He caused his son born to him by Erinmwinde to be made Oba in his place, and returned to his native land, Ife, leaving Ogiefa, Ihama, Oloton, and others at Benin City in charge of his son. . Oranmiyan halted at Ugha, now Okha in Benin Division, where the Binis went to him for decision in their matters for a period of three years. .. . Oranmiyan also halted at Obbah and remained there for over two years before leaving for Ife finally. He did this in order to allow some time for the growth of his son, Eweka I, before going to Ife so that he might not be returned to Benin by the then Oni (Oghene) of Ife. He also, after staying about three years in Ife, left for Oyo where he also left a son behind on his leaving the place; and this son ultimately became the first Alafin of the present line, ? One of several examples of folk-etymology in this passage.

a

EGHAREVBA < Benin: The Founding of the Second Kingdom

83

while Oranmiyan himself was reigning as the Oni of Ife. Therefore, Prince Oranmiyan of Ife, the father of Eweka I, the Oba of Benin, was also the father of the first Alafin of Oyo... . At that time this land [Benin] was known as ‘Ile’. The first horse was brought to Benin by Oranmiyan. The son of Prince Oranmiyan by Erinmwinde was born at Ego and brought up at Use, where he won the celebrated game of ‘Akhue’.! In the excitement of winning the game played with the seven charmed seeds or marbles sent to him from Ife by his father through Ehendiwo, he made his first utterance ‘Owonika’ (I succeeded) which has been corrupted into Eweka. It surprised the inhabitants of Use to hear a child born in Benin make his first utterance in the Yoruba tongue, his father’s tongue. In obedience to Prince Oranmiyan’s command the young prince was ultimately crowned Oba under the title of ‘Eweka’ at Usama, the old Palace of his father, amid rejoicing and acclamation of the people. Ever since, every Oba has to go to Use before his coronation to choose a title at the spot where Eweka I had won the game of Akhue and uttered the word which became his title before he was crowned as Eweka I. Special royal regalia and other necessary insignia were sent to Eweka at his coronation from Ife by his father... . At his death Eweka I left a strong order that his remains must be taken to Ife to be buried with his fathers and this order was carried out accordingly. Since then the remains of the Oba of Benin were taken to Ife in every third reign. Eweka I had a long and glorious reign. He had many children who always were quarrelling with themselves. He sent some of them away as Enigie (Dukes) to various villages.

TEPOWA : The Origins of Brass? The country now known to us as Brass in the Niger Delta was first inhabited by three persons, viz: Obolo, Olodia, and Onyo. The

three towns founded by them were called after their names

(as

1 Sir Alan Burns has suggested that this is Awélé, or Wari, the ancient and widespread African board-game. For an account of its distribution, rules, variations, &c., see Béart (1955), ti, ch. 19, pp. 475-516. 2 From Tepowa (1907), pp. 33 and 35-7. Adebiyi Tepowa was a Yoruba who worked in the consulate at Nembe-Brass

and stayed long enough to learn the

language (Alagoa (1964), pp. 4 and 34). For a discussion of this and other NembeBrass legends of origin see Alagoa (1964), ch. 3.

84

TEPOWA : The Origins of Brass

Rome after Romulus who founded it), Oboloama, Olodiama, and Onyoama respectively. Opinions differ greatly as to who these three persons were a whence

they came.

Some

maintain

that they came

from Benin,

others believe that they were from Ijaw. But as there are no authentic records to corroborate the above it can only be affirmed that they were strangers.

These three towns did not last for any length of time as they were completely effaced at two different periods and through different causes. ... The people of Onyoama settled down peaceably for some time, but they were subsequently overthrown by the Kulas in a war undertaken by King Onyo of Onyoama. Report has it, that this war had its origin in a bloodthirsty act committed by King Onyo. During the prevalence of peace and quiet, trade intercourse existed between the Kulas and the Onyoamas. One of the princes of Kula visited Onyoama on a trading tour, and saw a princess of that country of whom he became enamoured. He made overtures of marriage to her and was accepted. His visits subsequently became more frequent, and he was the guest of his fiancée on all such occasions. He naturally desired to see his future father-in-law, and day after day asked the princess to accompany and introduce him to her father, and was as often put off by her till a more favourable opportunity. He called on one occasion without previous intimation, and found that the princess was away fishing. The anxiety to make the acquaintance of his future father-in-law got the better of him; and he went along, taking with him, as becoming his rank, twelve demijohns of palm-wine which he brought from his country for presentation to royalty. Arriving at the palace, he was taken to the king: and on announcing his intention of marrying the princess (naming her) the king forthwith slew him with his sword (with the last word dying on his lips). The news spread like wildfire, and when the princess returned and entered her quarters she saw a lot of baggage which, she was given to understand, had belonged to her lover. She inquired after him and the servants told her he was out for a walk—for they were afraid to break the painful news to her. Her womanly instinct however led her to suspect that her lover had gone to the king unaccompanied, contrary to custom. When she got to the palace, she found the mutilated corpse of her lover on the ground, and burst into violent fits of weeping, at the same time hurling threats and curses on her father.

TEPOWA : The Origins of Brass

85

She returned to her house, took a few necessary articles for a journey, and headed straight for Kula, in a canoe, weeping as she went, and singing the following song: Onyoama, buru bele indo nenge, buru na indi na gbori bele, o mu bere ko bie, Kula ntaba, idei nona tel gbania 0? (Onyoama, yam is sweeter than fish; yam and fish are equally sweet!; go and inquire the reason of the palaver why my father killed my husband, as I am going to Kula.)

With this plaintive melody she arrived at her destination; and as she stood singing dirges over her beloved, who lay miles away, she attracted a great crowd around her, drawn thither partly from curiosity and partly from wonder and pity. Unheeding the anxious inquiries of the sympathizing crowd, she asked to be shown the way to the king’s house, which was accordingly done. She began in tragic fashion by throwing herself on the mercy of the king as being the cause of the disaster; and then poured forth her tale of woe with painfully graphic clearness, explaining in measured terms and with _ peculiar emphasis her reasons for refusing the introduction desired by her late lover, the principal of which were his comeliness, which in her opinion was extraordinary, and her father’s excessive fondness for human flesh—winding up with expressions of manifestly sincere regret at the occurrence. (Crude as was the notion of love entertained by a semi-savage tribe, it must not be supposed that the action of this princess was a mock display of posthumous affection —the passion was as genuine as it was undeveloped.) As a set-off she suggested that the king of Kula should prepare for immediate war against her father. The news overwhelmed the king; and this is hardly to be wondered at, when it is considered that the late prince was the handsomest of all his sons. Actuated by the tearful pleadings of the princess and revenge for the loss of his much-loved son, the king of Kula mustered his army and started on the march for Onyoama. At the request of the princess a halt was made when Onyoama was reached, to allow of her

clearing her belongings from her house and rejoining the army. At a given signal from her the army fired on the town—the war began in terrible earnest—and so effective was the charge of the Kulas that not a single inhabitant of Onyoama survived to tell the sad story.

After sacking the town,

the Kulas

resumed

their homeward

1 Alagoa says this should be translated—‘yam and fish are cooked in the same pot...’ ibid, p. 157, n. 5.

86

TEPOWA-:

The Origins of Brass

march, singing the paean of victory set to music by thermusicians of their tribe in the following song: ’ ‘Onyoama ye kingerebo dibigha mi ama.’!

A proverbial saying to the same effect exists in Brass to this day: Onyoama pere fua tariagha? (Are you the king of Onyoama who ate his son-in-law ?) 2 ™ Meaning ‘this town of Onyoama will bury more than one’, ibid., p. 158, n. 6. 2 According to Alagoa this should be translated—‘The priest-king of Onyoama does not love sons-in-law’ (ibid).

—

SECTION

TWO

From the Ninth to the Fourteenth Century o-oo

fr or

ro

ooo

om

oo

oo

oo

om

oe

eo

AL-YA‘QUBI + Ninth-Century Kanem! Tue Negroes, who went westwards and travelled towards the Maghrib, crossed many countries and founded a number of kingdoms. The first of these is the kingdom of the Zaghawa,? who are established in the place called Kanam. They dwell in huts made of reeds, for they do not live in towns. Their king is called Kakara.... Then there is another kingdom, the people of which are called Mallal, who hate the ruler of Kanam... . Farther south is the region of the Zawila, 3 who are Muslims of the _ Ibadite sect, all of whom go on pilgrimage to Mecca. The majority of them are of the Zawaya (?) tribe, who export slaves from such peoples of the Negroes as the Miriyyin, Zaghawiyyin, Marwiyyin, 1 These are two extracts from the two major works of Ahmad ibn Abi Ya‘qub al-Ya‘qabi (Brocklemann GAL, i, 226; EI(1), iv, pp. 1152-3), a late ninth-century Shi‘ite author, who travelled widely in the Islamic world. The first is from alTa rikh (1883), I, p. 219, a compendium of universal history, covering events up to A.D. 871, written probably when he was at the court of the Tahirids in Khurasan. The second is from Kitab al-buldan (1892), p. 345, a geographical compendium, written when he was at the court of the Rustamids in Tahert (see Introduction, p- 23), probably in a.p. 891. There is a translation of the first extract in Palmer

(1928), ii, pp. 18-20. Both extracts are translated and discussed in Trimingham (1962), pp. 111 and 107. 2 ‘Zaghawa’ was the name given by the Arabs to a group of nomadic peoples, nhabiting from the eighth century A.D. on the region to the north and north-east of Lake Chad. Earlier Arab writers considered the Zaghawa to be Negroes, while later authors (e.g. Ibn Khaldiin) regarded them as being of Berber origin. Trimingham suggests that they were the ancestors of the modern Teda (or Tubbu). It

has been suggested that a Zaghawa state in Kanem preceded that of the Saifawa dynasty, and that both states coexisted for a period. The importance of the Zaghawa state has been exaggerated by some writers on account of the tendency of Arab writers to refer to all nomadic peoples between Lake Chad and the Nile as ‘Zaghawa’. A people of this name survives at the present time in northern Darfur and Wadai. See Trimingham (1962), pp. 104-6 and Tubiana (1964), pp. 17-23. 3 Zawila, a little to the east of modern Murzuq, was at this time the commercial

centre of the Fezzan, the capital of the Bani Khattab, and an important Ibadi town. See Martin (1969), p. 18. It is still a relatively prosperous oasis, with the remains of an early mosque, towers, and a massive town wall.

88

AL-YA‘QUBI + Ninth-Century Kanem

and others. The homelands of these Negroes are near by and so they can be easily enslaved. I was informed that the kings of the Negrges sell their people without any pretext or war. . . . Fifteen journeying stages beyond Zawila is the town called Kuwwar,! inhabited by Muslims from various tribes, the majority being Berbers, who bring the Negro slaves.

AL-BAKRI:

Umayyads in Kanem?

Zawila is like the town of Ajdabiya, without walls and situated in the midst of the desert. It is the first point of the Land of Negroes. It has a cathedral mosque,

a bath, and markets.

Caravans

meet

there

from all directions and from there the ways of those setting out radiate. ... From there slaves are exported to Ifriqiya and other neighbouring regions. They are bought for short pieces of red stuff. Between Zawila and the region of the Kanim is forty stages. The Kanimis live beyond the desert of Zawila and scarcely anyone reaches them. They are pagan Negroes. Some assert that there is a people there descended from the Banu Umayya, who went to that country during their persecution by the Abbasids. They still preserve the dress and customs of the Arabs. .. .

MAHRAM Islam4

OF

UMME

JILMI: Kanem:

The

Coming

of

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. May God bless our Lord Muhammad,

his relations and friends. Peace from

? Kuwwar (Kawar), on the main trade-route from Kanem to the Fezzan, is said to have been the most southerly point to which ‘Uqba ibn Nafi‘ penetrated

in about A.D. 670, See Trimingham (1962), p. 16, Martin (1969), p. 17, and sources quoted there. 2 From al-Bakri, Kitab al-masalik wa’l-mamalik (1965), French translation, pp. 27-9. Al-Bakri, the great Arab geographer of the late eleventh century (A.D. 1040-94), lived at Cordova and published this work in 1067. See Brockelmann,

GAL, i, pp. 875-6; EI(2), i, pp. 155-7.

3 i.e. Tunisia. 4 This is an extract from The Mahram of Umme Filmi, translated by Palmer, (1936), pp. 14-15, and (1928), iii, pp. 3-5. Palmer describes Mahrams as ‘letters patent, or grants of privilege, given by various Mais [Sultans] from the earliest times of the Kanem Kingdom to certain learned or noble families, which owe their preservation to their contingent material value to the grantees and their descendants’. This is not in fact the text of the original Mahkram, but of a later document referring to it. On Mahrams in general, and on this particular Mahram, see Triming-

ham (1962), pp. 110-15. Umme [Humai] Jilmi, the first Mai recorded as having

MAHRAM

OF UMME

JILMI*

Kanem: Islam

89

King Umme to my children who will succeed me, be they Amirs or Officers or Chiefs, or Mu‘allims,! or others. Peace be upon you. Hear and understand, and receive good tidings. The first country in the Sudan which Islam entered was the land of Bornu. It came through Muhammad ibn Ma§ni, who lived in Bornu for five years in the time of King Bulu, six years in the time of King Arki, four years in the time of King Kadai Hawami, fourteen years in the time of King Umme. Then he summoned Bornu to Islam by the grace of King Umme.... Mai Umme read secretly from the Sirat al-baqara to Wa’l-nds.? Then he read the Risala3 twice, and gave Mani one hundred camels, one hundred pieces of gold, one hundred pieces of silver, and one

hundred slaves, all because of the reading and instruction he derived from him. . . Mai Umme and Muhammad ibn Mani spread abroad Islam to last till the day of judgement. The goods of Muhammad ibn Mani the First are hardm+ till the day of judgement, to the Beni Umme or any besides. He who disobeys the command of the King, and transgresses, and sins, may God not give him heaven, but may he fill his belly with the fire of hell. He who follows my command, may God order his well-being both in this life and the next. Says the Sultan Umme, the noble—‘Their goods and blood from the time of Muhammad ibn Mani are in the keeping of the Beni Umme, and all others; I consider them as the flesh of swine, or the flesh of the dog, or the flesh of a monkey or ass... . ‘He among them who does a wrong let the matter be left to their chief; there is no other way than this. This is the command of the Sultan; change it not nor alter it, and oppress not the children of Muhammad ibn Ma§Ani, for ever.

been converted to Islam, probably reigned in the late eleventh century (Introduction p. 24). For an alternative account of the conversion of the Saifawa dynasty see the extract from al-‘Umari quoted below, pp. 97-8. See also McCall

(1969).

1 Men of learning (Hausa and Kanuri, Mallams). 2 i.e. from the first séira of the Qur’4n (after the Fatiha), ‘the Cow’, to the last, ‘Men’, 3 Risala, an epistle, presumably here the Risdla of Ibn Abi Zaid al-Qairawani, a standard tenth-century Maliki legal text-book. 4 Haram means forbidden for religious reasons, tabooed. The prohibition is in

this case applied to touching or taking the goods in question.

go

MAHRAM OF UMME

JILMI: Kanem: Islam

‘I make their land hubus;! let them be ennobled in their faith.

‘Change not this injunction, for he who after hearing it changes it,, his lot is that of those who innovate; for God will note his action.

Spread abroad Islam in Bornu and strive to keep the posterity of Muhammad ibn Mani haram.’? King Umme says to his children— ‘I make the children of Muhammad

ibn Mani hubus to you, and I

exempt them from the obligation to entertain your men in the dry season or to pay diya? and all forms of tribute, to the time of my children’s children, and to the day of judgement. ‘He who puts forth his hand against them, may God not bless him, for he transgresseth my behest.’ King Umme spread abroad Islam; on that day he was a victor.

KANURI SONGS + Praise-Song to Umme Jilmi3 O! Sultan, the good, whose sleep is light as that of a hare: Sultan, truly a Sultan, who stays not in the house of his father’s sister:4 Of noble birth from both his father and mother: Of noble birth indeed, of noble birth from both his parents: Where you sit costly carpets are spread for you; above your head is a canopy of gold: O! Sultan, who can discomfit one like pebbles on one’s eyelashes: O! Sultan, Angel of God. As there is a protector of the camel’s tongue, do you protect us: The friend of youth: Whose writing slate is made of ‘kabwi’ wood;

At night a warrior on a coal-black horse; but when day dawns he is to be seen with his Koran in his hand. We wait upon your blessing: Babuma Amadu said to Mai Aji Fannami at the Sugu war, 1 Hubus (pl. of habis) is the Maliki term for waqf, that which is permanently endowed for a purpose pleasing to God.

2 Diya, bloodwit, compensation paid by one who has killed or wounded another. In Kanem, following Maliki law, the diya for homicide was 100 camels or oxen, Trimingham (1959), p. 152. 3 This is an extract from ‘the Song of the Babuma to the Sultan Umme Jilmi’, translated from the Kanuri by Patterson (1926), pp. 1-3. The Babuma was, with the Ngijima and the Zakkama, one of the three official praise-singers of the Mais of Kanem-Bornu. This song to Mai Umme Jilmi is the oldest of the surviving songs, .

but, as Patterson explains, ‘it has no doubt been added to from time to time, and is not now in its original form’.

4 i.e. is not effeminate.

KANURI SONGS « Pratse-Song to Umme Filmi

gI

‘Sultan, even if you are mounted on your bay horse called ‘‘Kite Kiteram”’, Birni Njimi! is a long way off if you want to run away.’

DIWAN OF THE Century Mais?

SULTANS

OF

BORNU:

Two

Twelfth-

The Sultan Dunama ibn Umme.3 His mother was Kinta, a daughter of the clan Buram of the tribe of Tubu. His horses numbered 100,000 —his soldiers were 120,000, not counting mercenaries.+ None of the Beni Umme enjoyed greater prestige than he.

Among his noble acts were pilgrimages to the sacred house of God on two occasions. On his first pilgrimage he left in Misr [Egypt] 300 slaves, and on his second a like number. When he was on his way to a third pilgrimage, and took ship, the people of Misr said to themselves ‘If this king returns from Mecca to his country, he will take from us our land and country without doubt.’ So they took counsel to destroy him. They opened a sea-cock in his ship, so that the sea drowned him by the command of God. His followers saw him in his white garments floating on the sea, till he vanished from their eyes, lost by the command of God, most high, in the sea of the prophet Musa.5 May God pardon him. He reigned fifty-five years. The Sultan Birt bn Dunama.® His mother was Fasam [Fatima] daughter of the nobles of the tribe of Kayi. He was weak in his conduct of the Government. When a certain thief was executed, his mother heard of the execution from him, and said to her son the

Sultan—‘How is it that you have killed the thief in view of the command of God, most high, “‘cut off the hands of thieves, male and female”?’ For this his mother put him in prison. He submitted and remained in prison for a whole year. When the Sultan wished to be 1 Njimi, to the east of Lake Chad, the capital and commercial centre of Kanem from the mid-thirteenth century (or possibly earlier) to the end of the fourteenth century. The problem of the location of Njimi is discussed in Bivar and Shinnie 1962). ; F ie the Diwan of the Sultans of Bornu, a translation of which is published in

Palmer (1926), pp. 85-6. This Diwan is the official history of the Saifawa dynasty from its foundation, in about A.D. 800, to its final extinction in 1846.

3 Dunama, who reigned from approximately 1097 to 1150, was the son and successor of Umme Jilmi, referred to above. 4 The second figure here, referring to the size of the army, is doubtful. 5 Musa = Moses: i.e. the Red Sea.

6 Biri I (?1150 to ?1176) was the son and successor of Dunama.

92

pIwAan*+ Two Twelfth-Century Mais

present at an assembly of the Amirs, and sit in the Fanadir,! they insisted that the people should leave the place of audience. When th¢ people had left, the Sultan would come in and take his place. When he wished to rise a similar procedure was adopted. Hence this custom as between the Sultan and Amirs which exists to this day, and thus it was in the custom of his time. Biri died at Gamtilo Jalarge[?]. He reigned twenty-seven years.

THE KANO CHRONICLE: The Walls of Kano? Gijimasu, son of Warisi, was the third Sarki. His mother’s name was

Yanisu. When he came to power he left Seme and went to Garazawa. Some, however, say that it was his son Tsariki who came to this place and built a city. The latter is the better version. It was here he ruled.

Mazuda

said, ‘This Sarki has come

here in order to

destroy our god and our grove of sacrifice.’ The people said, ‘He has not power to destroy our god, in our time at least.’ So Gijimasu and his people built a house in Garazawa. He beguiled the elders with gifts, till by his gifts he obtained dominion over them. They said, ‘What a good man this is; how well he treats us.’ Mazuda said, ‘I want to give my daughter to his son in marriage.’ But Bugazau prevented him carrying out his plan. The Sarki consulted the people about building a city. The people agreed: ‘Come’, they said, ‘let us build, for we have the power and the strength.’ So they began to build the city. They began the building from Raria. The Sarki slaughtered a hundred cattle on the first day of the work. They continued the work to the gate of Mazugi, and from there to the water gate and on to the gate of Adama, and the gate of Gudan; then past the gates of Waika, Kansakali and Kawungari, 3 as far as the gate of Tuji. There were eight gates. 1 The Fanadir was the cage-like construction in which the Mais of KanemBornu sat on state occasions. See the account in Denham and Clapperton, below, p- 275. But the text here too is doubtful. 2 From The Kano Chronicle, Palmer (1928), iii, pp. 100-1. The Kano Chronicle was apparently composed in about 1890, but based upon earlier, pre-jihdd, records. It gives an account of forty-eight Hausa (after 1807, Fulani) Sarakuna, or Kings, from Bagauda to Muhammad Bello. According to Palmer’s dating, Gijimasu reigned from A.D. 1095 to 1134, and Yusa Tsariki from 1136 to 1194. A variant Kano king-list is to be found in the anonymous ‘Song of Bagauda’ (see above, p- 76). According to this work the walls were begun under Nawatau, a predecessor of Gijimasu, Hiskett (1964-5). (Note in both the Kano and the Bornu

chronicles the references to royal mothers.) 3 Mazuga, Waika, and Kansakali are names of gates existing at the present day. See Moody (1967).

THE KANO CHRONICLE* The Walls of Kano

93

The fifth Sarki was Yusa, called Tsariki. He was the son of Gijimasu. He it was who completed the walls of Kano, as is well known.

YAQUT:

AL-NASIRI: A Kanem Poet!

1. KANIM, part of the land of the Berbers in farthest West in the Land of the Negroes. Some say that the Kanim are a race of Negroes. At the present time there is a poet at Marrakish in the Maghrib called Kanimi whose excellent work is attested, but I have never

heard any of his poetry nor learnt his personal name. 2. From Kanem came the man of letters (al-adib) Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ya‘qtb al-Kanimi,? the black man and poet, who entered the presence of Ya‘qub al-Manstr the Almohad3 and declaimed to him: He removed the my awe-struck His graciousness I approached

veil which hid him from me, though gaze beheld him still veiled. drew me close to him, yet as I drew back in awe.

The Kanem people are inhabitants of the kingdom of Bornu, which borders Ifriqiyya on its south-eastern side, as we have said. During the seventh century of the Hijra [A.pD. 1203-1300] they had friendly relations and exchanged gifts with the Hafsid state, as did the people of Mali with the Bana Marin.+

Among the people of Bornu worthy of mention is the shaikh and gnostic Aba Muhammad

‘Abdullah al-Barnawi, the shaikh of the

1 The first extract is from Yaqit al-Rimi, Mu‘jam al-buldan (1924), iv, p. 230, a geographical dictionary, arranged alphabetically. Yaqiit (A.D. 1179-1229), of Byzantine, slave origin, kept a bookshop in Baghdad, traded in the Persian Gulf, and finished his dictionary in Mosul (EI(1), iv, pp. 1153-4). The second extract

is from al-Nasiri, Kitab al-istigsa’ li akhbar duwal al-Maghrib al-agsa (1954-5), p. 103. Al-Nasiri (1835-97) served for many years in minor posts in the Sharifian administration in Morocco. He was the author of twenty-seven work s on history, genealogy, administration, religious innovations (bid‘a) and music. His Kitab alistigsa’ is largely made up of extracts from earlier sources, some of which are no longer available.

2 It seems reasonable to identify Aba Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ya‘qib al-Kanimi with the Kanemi poet referred to by Yaqut in the previous extract. See also below, . 98. 3 The outstanding Almohad ruler, who reigned from a.p. 1184-99. Julien

(1970), pp. 116-19.

4 i.e., the Merinid dynasty, which ruled in Morocco from a.p. 1248 to 1420. The Hafsid dynasty maintained itself in Tunisia, with interruptions, from 1229 to 1574-

94

YAQUT:

AL-NASIRI- A Kanem Poet

saint and gnostic Abi Faris ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Dabbagh, who mentioned him in his hagiographical work al-Dhabab al-ibriz.* ‘

IBN sA‘ip: The View

Kanem

Empire:

A

Thirteenth-Century

In this Third Section is Lake Kiri,3 from which the Niles of Egypt, Magqdishii and Ghana issue. ... Ibn Fatima says: ‘I have never met anyone who has seen its southern side. It is inhabited only by the Kanimis and their neighbours such as we encountered on the northern side.’ It is surrounded on all sides by cruel pagan Negroes most of whom eat men. . To the east of the town of Badi is Jaja,+ which belongs to the Muslim K4nim. It is the seat of a separate kingdom with towns and villages now belonging to the sultan of Kanim. It is characterized by fertility and abundance of the good things of life. There are peacocks there, and parrots, and speckled chickens, and piebald sheep as big as small donkeys and shaped differently from our sheep. There are many giraffes in the land of Jaja. ‘To the east of the town at the angle of the lake is Al-Maghza* where the sultan of Kanim’s arsenal is situated. He often makes raids from there with his fleet on the lands of the pagans on the shores of this lake and attacks their ships and kills and takes prisoners. Level with the angle of the lake there is one of the celebrated cities of Kanim called Manan.5 South-east of it isJimi, the capital of Kanim. There resides the sultan of Kanim, well known for his religious warfare and charitable acts. 1 Abu Faris ‘Abd al ‘Aziz ibn Mas‘td al-Dabbagh (1684-1719 or 1720) belonged to a well-known Sharifian family in Fez. He attained the highest pinnacle of the Sufi mystical hierarchy, that of ghawth. Among hiss haikhs for a brief period in 1713 was the gutb ‘Abdullah al-Barnawi who returned to Bornu in the same year after having a conversation with the Prophet in a vision. See al-Kattani, Salwat alAnfas, Fez, a.H. 1316 [a.D. 1898-9], ii, pp. 197-203. The book al-Dhabab al-ibriz Si manaqib al-shaikh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, which describes the character, acts of piety and

miracles of al-Dabbagh, was written by Ahmad ibn Mubarak al-SijilmAsi, a disciple of his. 2 From Ibn Sa‘id, Kitab bast al-ard fi’ l-til wa’l-‘ard, generally known as Kitab al-

jughrafiyya (1958). Ibn Sa‘id (1213-86), known dynasty of Andalusian scholars’, (E? (2) iii, p. 926). This work, written Fatima of whom nothing is known. It was al-‘Umari and above all Abia’l-Fida’.

‘the most celebrated member of a wellwas born at Granada and died at Tunis

after 1260, quotes extensively from Ibn much used by later writers, Ibn Khaldin,

3 Probably Lake Chad. See Trimingham (1962), p. 56, n. 4, for Ibn Sa‘id’s general geographical conceptions. 4 For Jaja and al-Maghza, see Trimingham (1962), p. 119. 5 For Manan, see ibid., p. 114.

IBN SA‘ID + The Kanem Empire: A Thirteenth-Century View

95

His name is Muhammad ibn Habal of the posterity of Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan.' The capital of his pagan ancestors before they adopted Islam was the town of Manan. His great-great-great-grandfather was converted to Islam by a scholar and then Islam spread through the rest of the land of Kanim. This sultan possesses there kingdoms such as those of Tajuwa,? Kawwar, and Fazzan. God has assisted him and he has many descendants and armies. His clothes are brought to him from the capital of Tunis. He has many scholars. On a level with Jimi at the end of this section he possesses Bi [?Ni] where he has a garden and pleasure-ground and a boat. It lies on the west bank of the Egyptian Nile and is 40 miles from Jimi. Its fruits do not resemble ours. They have many pomegranates and peaches. They used to tend the sugar-cane, though with little success, and only the sultan pays attention to it; the same applies to vines and wheat. ...

To the east of the mountains of Muqawris separating the Kanim mountains from Kawkaw are the tracts where the Kanim roam with their Berber followers who embraced Islam at the behest of Ibn Habal, the sultan of Kanim. They are his slaves. He uses them on his raids and takes advantage of their camels, which have filled these regions. The region where the Zaghawa wander is to the east of Manan. They are for the most part Muslims owing obedience to the sultan of Kanim. To the north of Manan and the territory of the Kanim the Akawwar wander. Their well-known towns are in the Second Clime and they are Muslims owing obedience to the sultan of Kanim....

The Nile, to the west of ‘Alwa, bends sharply and re-

turns towards the west. .. . The abodes of the Nuba are on both its banks. Between the south-eastern limit of it and Tajuwa, the capital of the Zaghawa, is 100 miles. Its people have adopted Islam and accepted the suzerainty of the sultan of Kanim. South of Tajuwa is the town of Zaghawa. . . . The area where the Tajuwiyyin and the Zaghawiyyin roam extends over the tract lying within the bend of the Nile from south to north. They are of one race but authority and physical and moral excellence is found only among the Tajuwiyyin. They are pagans who are refractory to the sultan of Kanim. They 1 Muhammad ibn Habal can possibly be identified with Dunama Dibbalemi (c. 1221-59). Ibn Sa‘id’s view that this mid-thirteenth-century Mai was five generations in descent from the first member of the dynasty to be converted to Islam seems to fit reasonably well with the account on pp. 88-90 above. 2 For Tajuwa, or Tajawa, see Trimingham (1962), p. 114, n. 4.

96

IBN sA‘ip+ The Kanem Empire: A Thirteenth-Century View

keep to the deserts and mountains of the First and Second Climes. Ibn Fatima relates that the kings of Kanim and Tajuwa fled with their capitals from the Nile because of the mosquitoes which aré abundant near the Nile and are very harmful to man and horses. They have wells in the sands and water which overflows from the Nile in periods of flood... . The Kawwar are Muslim Negroes whose capital is called Kawwar too. It is at present subject to the authority of the sultan of Kanim.! ... There is often strife over . . . two lakes between the Negroes of Kawwar, the Berbers of the desert, and the Arabs of Fazzan, for these factions are continually grazing their flocks on their shores.

Alum is found throughout this area, and is exported. The Kawwar have adopted the fashions of white men in wearing wool and cotton and travelling for trade. At the west end of the Liniya mountains, ? among hills and valleys, is the town of Tadamakka, which is well known to travellers and

mentioned in books. Its inhabitants are Muslim Berbers who travel much to trade to the land of the Negroes and owe obedience to the sultan of Kanim.

EGHAREVBA * Benin:

from Ife:

The Introduction

of Brass-casting

Oba Oguola wished to introduce brass-casting into Benin similar to various works of art sent him from Uhe [Ife]. He therefore sent to the Oghene of Uhe for a brass-smith and Igue-igha was sent to him. Igue-igha was very clever and left many designs to his successors and was in consequence deified and is worshipped to this day by brass-smiths. The practice of making brass-castings for the preservation of the records of events was originated during the reign of Oguola. He lived to a very old age. 1 For the extension of the Kanem imperium into Kawar and the Fezzan at this period, see Martin (1969), pp. 19-21. 2'Trimingham (1962) suggests that these mountains may be identified with Tibesti (p. 138). 3 From Egharevba (1953), p. 12. Chief Egharevba gives Oba Oguola’s date as about A.p. 1280, but there are no firm dates for the history of Benin prior to the coming of the Portuguese in 1486 (see Introduction, p. 32, and below, pp. 112-13). Egharevba’s suggested dates for this period seem in general too early: see R. E. Bradbury (1959a). That Ife was the immediate source of the art of brass-casting in Benin has been fairly generally accepted. (See Bradbury (1957), pp. 20 and 26.) But a different view has been put forward by Ryder (1965b), particularly pp. 29-30 and 34-5.

(97)

AL-‘UMARI~: Kanem, monarchy, and scholars The king of Kanim is an independent Muslim. Between him and the land of Mali is a very long distance. The seat of his authority is a town called Jimi. The beginning of his kingdom on the Egyptian side is a town called Zalla and its limit in longitude is a town called Gaga. There is a distance between them of about three months’ travelling. Their soldiers wear the mouth-muffler. Their king, despite the feebleness of his authority and the poverty of his soil, shows an inconceivable arrogance; despite the weakness of his troops and the small resources of his country, he touches with his banner heaven itself. He is veiled from his people. None see him save at the two festivals, when he is seen at dawn and in the after-

noon. During the rest of the year he speaks to nobody, not even the commander-in-chief, except from behind a screen. It happens sometimes that one of them gets a taste for instruction and looks upon learning as he would the stars. He says: ‘I am ill’ and keeps treating his sick understanding and humouring his recalcitrant knowledge until their rays shine upon him and he embroiders their advantages on his brocade.? They live mostly on rice, wheat, and millet. There are figs, lemons, grapes, aubergines, and dates in their country. ‘Abd Allah al-Salaliji informed me that he was told by the virtuous and ascetic shaikh ‘Uthman al-Kanimi,; one of their royal family, that rice grows in their country without any sowing whatever; and he was a reliable informant. Al-Salaliji stated that he asked others about the truth of this, and they said that it was true. Their currency is a cloth which they weave, called dandi. Every

piece is ten cubits long. They make purchases with it from a quarter of a cubit upwards. They also use cowries, glass beads, copper in round pieces, and coined silver as currency, but all valued in terms of that cloth.+ 1 From al-‘Umari, Masdlik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar. This part of the text of al-‘Umari’s lengthy work has not been published. But a very useful French trans-

lation by Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1927), exists with copious notes. This translation (by Hopkins) is from MS. No. 5868 in the Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris. Al-‘Umari (A.D. 1301-49) spent most of his working life in Cairo, as an official in the Mamlik government or as Shafi chief Qadi. 2 Hopkins remarks that the translation and interpretation of this passage are

equally doubtful. 3 Nothing appears to be known of these informants of al-‘Umari. 4 Cf. above, p. 88. For a discussion of the use of currency in Kanem-Bornu, see

Urvoy (1949), pp. 151-2.

98

AL-‘UMARI* Kanem, monarchy, and scholars

Ibn Sa‘id says that to the south of Kanim are jungles and deserts inhabited by savage creatures like ogres which are harmful to men and which a horseman cannot overtake.! They are the nearest 8f animals to the human form. The gadi Abi ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik alMarrakushi in his biographical dictionary called the Takmuila? mentions Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Kanimi, the poet and man of letters, and relates of him that he said: ‘In the land of Kanim, or near to it, there appear to one walking by night objects like pots of distant fire but if he goes to catch up with them they go farther away; even though he were to run he would not reach them, but they stay before him. Sometimes stones have been thrown at them and reached

their mark

and struck off them.’

This

Muhammad

al-

Salaliji related to me as he saw it in the Takmila. Ibn Sa‘id says that pumpkins are found there which grow so large that boats in which the Nile may be crossed, are made from them. This is common knowledge, he says, but responsibility rests with the relater. This country is a land of famine and austerity. The worst qualities there predominate; its conditions, and the conditions of its inhabitants, are harsh. The first man to establish Islam there was H4di al-

‘Uthmani who claimed descent from ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan.3 Authority passed after him to the Yazanis, the descendants of Dht Yazan. Justice is upheld in their country. They follow the rite of Imam Malik.+ They dress simply and are fervent in their religion. They have built at Fustat, in Cairo, a Malikite madrasa where their companies of travellers lodge.’ 1 These and subsequent statements attributed to Ibn Sa‘id do not occur in his Bast al-ard. 2 Muhammad

ibn ‘Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi died in a.p. 1303. His Aldhayl wa’|-takmila appears to be a nine-volume continuation of earlier biographical dictionaries. For the poet Abii Ishaq Ibrahim al-Kanimi, see above, p. 93. 3 This is a somewhat different account of the conversion of the Saifawa dynasty to Islam from that given on pp. 88-90. Trimingham (1962), p. 115, suggests that it may have some connection with al-Bakri’s statement about the settlement of Umayyads in Kanem (see p. 88). ‘Uthman was the third Caliph (killed a.p. 656). +The Imam Malik ibn Anas of Medina (d. A.D. 795) was the founder of the Maliki school of Muslim law (/igh), the oldest of the four orthodox schools, which remains dominant throughout the Maghrib and West Africa (SEI, pp. 320-4). 5 Al-Maqrizi states that this madrasa, called the Madrasat ibn Rashig, was built

in the 640s A. H., i.e. between A.p. 1242 and 1252 (see Gaston Wiet’s edition of his Khifat, Cairo, 1922, vol. III, p. 266 and Trimingham (1962), p. 115).

(99) IBN BATTOUTA - Bornu Trade! The copper is exported from Tagadda? to the town of Kubar [Gobir], in the regions of the heathens, to Zaghay, and to the country of Barnu [Bornu], which is forty days’ journey from Tagadda. The people of Barnu are Muslims, and have a king called Idris, who never shows himself to his people nor talks to them, except from behind a curtain. From this country come excellent slavegirls, eunuchs, and fabrics dyed with saffron.

IBN KHALDUN

: Kanem-Bornu and the Hafsids5

Next to them [the Nubians] are the Zaghawa, a Muslim people one of whose tribes is called Tacjera. Then come the people of Kanem, a very large population among whom Islam predominates. The name of their principal town is Djimi [Njimi] and their rule

extends over the countries of the desert as far as the Fezzan. Since the founding of the Hafsid dynasty, they have enjoyed friendly relations with it... . In the year 655 [A.D. 1257] the Sultan al-Mustansir® received a rich present from one of the Kings of the Negroes, the sovereign of 1 From Ibn Battita, edited by Gibb ibn Battita (1304-1368/9), the most travellers, was born at Tangier, and world of his day. His extensive journey

(1929), p. 336. Muhammad ibn Abdullah enterprising and perceptive of the Arab travelled almost throughout the Muslim through the western Sudan took place in

1352/3. (El (2), iii, pp. 735-6.)

2 There is controversy regarding the copper of Tagadda, usually identified with Tegidda n’Tisemt, 97 miles west-north-west of Agades. See Gibb, p. 382, and Lhote (1955), pp. 359-70. Mauny suggests Azelik (1961) pp. 139-41. The question

of the possible use of Takedda copper for early Ife brass-work (see previous extract) is discussed by Mauny (1962), pp. 393-5. 3 The location of Gobir at this date is uncertain. See Urvoy (1936), pp. 243-5.

4 This Mai Idris ibn Ibrahim Nikale (great-grandson of Dunama Dibbalemi) reigned from approximately A.D. 1329 to 1353. 5 From Ibn Khaldin, Histoire des Berbéres, (1925), ii, pp. 109 and 306. ‘Abd alRahman ibn Khaldin, the greatest of the medieval Arab historians, was born in Tunis in A.D. 1332; studied at the University of Fez; played for a time an active part in the public life of the Maghrib; retired in 1382 to Cairo, where he was

employed as QAdi and died in 1406. For an excellent critical account of his work, see Mahdi, (1957); see also EI(2) iii, pp. 825-31.

6 Aba ‘Abdullah al-Mustansir, the powerful Hafsid ruler of Tunisia from 1249 to 1277, who assumed the title of Caliph. In addition to the Kanem-Bornu embassy mentioned here, al-Mustansir received embassies from as far afield as Norway. See Julien (1970), pp. 142-4. For other evidence regarding Hafsid— Saifawa co-operation see Martin (1969), pp. 19-20.

100

IBN KHALDUN : Kanem-Bornu and the Hafsids

Kanem and lord of Bornu,' whose domains lie to the south of Tripoli. Among the gifts thick this Negro delegation presented to him was a giraffe, an animal whose external characteristics a most diverse. The inhabitants of Tunis ran in a crowd to see it, to

such an extent that the plain was choked with people; they felt profound astonishment at the appearance of a quadruped whose strange appearance recalled at the same time the distinctive marks of many animals of diverse species.

THE KANO

CHRONICLE

+ Muslim Missionaries in Kano2

The eleventh Sarki was Yaji, called Ali. His mother was Maganaraku. He was called Yaji because he had a bad temper when he was a boy, and the name stuck to him. . . . In Yaji’s time the Wangarawa came from Mali, bringing the Muhammadan religion, [about forty in all]. The name of their leader was Abdurahaman Zaite3. . When they came they commanded the Sarki to observe the times of prayer. He complied, and made Gurdamus his Liman,‘ and Lawal his Muezzin.5 Auta cut the throats of whatever flesh was eaten. Mandawali was Liman of all the Wangarawa and of the chief men of Kano. Zaite was their Alkali.6 The Sarki commanded every town in Kano country to observe the times of prayer. So they all did so. A mosque was built beneath the sacred tree facing east, and prayers were made at the five appointed times in it. The Sarkin Garazawa was opposed to prayer, and when the Moslems after praying had gone home, he would come with his men and defile the whole mosque and cover it with filth. Dan Bujai was told off to patrol round the mosque with well-armed men from evening until ? Presumably Mai Dunama Dibbalemi. See above, p. 95. 2 Another extract from The Kano Chronicle, in Palmer (1928), iii, pp. 104-5 (see above, p. 92). This passage refers to the latter part of the fourteenth century; Palmer gives A.D. 1349-85 for the dates of Yaji’s reign. This was the period when the Empire of Mali, which had reached its peak under Mansa Musa in the early fourteenth century, was still dominant in the western Sudan, and—as this passage suggests—a focus of Islamization. However, there is a problem of dating here. Another account of the arrival of Malinke missionaries in Kano is given in a chronicle dated A.w. 1061 (A.D. 1650/51), translated and edited by Al-Hajj (1968). This chronicle puts the coming of the Wangarawa (Malinke) to Kano approximately a century later, in the reign of Muhammad Rumfa (see below, Pp. 112-15). 3 For Shaikh ‘Abd al-rahman Zaiti or Zagaiti, see Al-Hajj (1968), passim. 4 al-imam, leader of prayer. 5 al-mwadhdhin, announcer of the hours of prayer. 6 al-qadi, judge.

THE

KANO

CHRONICLE * Muslim Missionaries in Kano

101

morning. He kept up a constant halloo. For all that the pagans tried to win him and his men over. Some of his men followed the pagans and went away, but he and the rest refused. The defilement continued until Sheshe said to Famori, ‘There is no cure for this but prayer.’ The people assented. They gathered together on a Tuesday in the mosque at the evening hour of prayer and prayed against the pagans till sunrise. They only came away when the sun was well up. Allah received graciously the prayers addressed to him. The chief of the pagans was struck blind that day, and afterwards all the pagans who were present at the defilement—they and all their women. After this they were all afraid. Yaji turned the chief of the pagans out of his office and said to him, ‘Be thou Sarki among the blind’.?

AL-MAQRIZI-: Kanem-Bornu, c. 4.D. 1400? They [the Zaghawa] are followed by the Kanim, a numerous people among whom Islam predominates. Their city is Aljama.3 The first _ of their kings to adopt Islam was Muhammad ibn Jabal ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi [?]+. They assert that he is descended from Saif ibn Dhi Yazan and that between them there were about 40 kings. This king is a wandering bedouin. When he sits on his throne his statesmen make obeisance to him and fall on their faces. His armies, including cavalry, infantry, and porters, number 100,000. Between Aljama and Yalamlam5 there dwell a great many unbelievers. The king of Aljama [i.e. the king of Kanim] has five minor kings under his sway. The Kanimi horses are small. K4nim is a vast region through which the blessed Nile flows. Between Aljama and the beginning of the Taji realm are ten stages. Some of the Negroes there go naked. Such are the people of 1 There is a large organized blind community in Kano: this is the traditional story of its origin. 2 This extract is from a fragment of the work on Egypt, al Khifat, by al-Maqrizi (A.D. 1364-1442) (1820), p. 205. Translations of this fragment, or parts of it, are to be found in Cooley (1841), pp. 119-20; Palmer (1928), ii, pp. 5-8; and Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1927), p. 85. Maqrizi was ‘a native of Cairo’, who ‘devoted himself to Egyptian history and antiquities, on which subject he composed several standard works’, Nicholson (1907), p. 453- See also Brockelmann GAL, s. ii, pp. 36-8; and EI (1), iii, pp. 175-6. 3 Probably a variant of Njimi. 4i.e. Dunama Dibbalemi (c. 1221-59): see above p. 95 and Trimingham (1962), p. 115 and n. 3. Al-Magrizi, writing later than Ibn Sa‘id and not so well informed, is almost certainly wrong about the date of conversion of the dynasty. 5 A generic word for Pagan Negro peoples.

102

AL-MAQRIZI + Kanem-Bornu, ¢. A.D. 1400

Akli, who have a powerful and just king, and Afni,! whose king is named Mastiir and very jealous of his womenfolk (haram). . . Then there are the tribes of Shadi, Mabna, Abham, Ata‘na, Yafalam, and Makba, who all go naked and mock those who wear clothes. Mabna are a numerous tribe of whom the chief section is called Kalkin. In their country there are big trees and pools from the Nile. The king of Kanim made a raid on them from Aljama in the 650s (1252-61) and slaughtered and took prisoners. . The King of the Kanim is the greatest of the Negro kings... . Their king in the 700(1300)s was Hajj Ibrahim? of the posterity of Saif ibn Dhi Yazan and he ruled the seat [Aursi] of Kanim. Kanim is the seat.of Burnt. There ruled after him his son Hajj Idris, then his brother, Dawid ibn Ibrahim, then ‘Umar, the son of his brother Hajj ibn Idris, then his brother ‘Uthman ibn Idris who ruled a little before 800 (1397).3 The people of Kanim then rose against them and apostatized and the Nubians became henceforth dominant, who are Muslims and wage holy war on the people of Kanim.+ They have twelve kingdoms. . .

AL-QALQASHANDI: Bornu: Relations with Egppts The land of al-Barna The inhabitants of Barni are Muslims and for the most part Negroes. It says in the Ta ‘rif:® ‘His [the Lord of Barni’s] kingdom marches with the land of Takrir on the east [sic], with the land of Ifriqiyy on the north, and with that of the savages on the south.’ The capital of the people of Barnii is Gaga,7 according to what was This seems to be the first use of this term by an Arab writer referring to the Hausa peoples. See below, pp. 154 and 185. 2 i.e. Ibrahim Nikale, grandson of Dunama, ¢. 1290-1311. 3 For the possible dates of the Mais included in this useful list, see Trimingham (1962), pp. 120-1. 4 This phrase appears to be corrupt. I have adopted Gaudefroy-Demombynes’ translation in the text. 5 From Ahmad ibn ‘Abdullah al-Qalqashandi, Subh al-a‘sha (a handbook for government

clerks, dealing with style, administrative practice, the history and

geography of Egypt and Syria, etc.) (1913-19), v, p. 279, and viii, pp. 8 and 116-18. Qalqashandi lived in Cairo, composed this major work some time after 1387, and died in 1418 (EI (1), ii, pp. 699-700). Translations and paraphrases of this extract are given in Palmer (1936), p. 218, and in Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1927), pp. 40-2. I have used the Rajkowski—Hopkins translation for the first part of this extract, but kept the translation from the first edition for the text of the letter. ; 6 i.e. al-“Umari, Al-tla‘rif bi ’l-mustalah al-sharif. On 'Takrir see al-Naqar (1969).

7 For Gaga (Kaka) as the capital of Bornu at this period, see Trimingham (1962), pp. 119-20. Cf. p. 94 above, n. 4.

AL-QALQASHANDI:

Bornu: Relations with Egypt

103

told to me by the emissary of their sultan who arrived in Egyptian territory in company with the pilgrims during the reign of sultan Zahir Barqiq.! There is an allusion to Barna in the Masdalik alabsar* in the definition of the boundaries of the kingdom of Mali, as will be mentioned hereafter, if God wills. Another of their cities is Kutniski. It lies on day’s journey to the east of Gaga. There arrived a letter from the king of Barnii towards the end of Zahir Barqiiq’s reign in which the king mentioned that he was descended from Saif ibn Dhi Yazan. But he gave the genealogy incorrectly, for he said also that he was of Quraish, which is an error, for Saif ibn Dhi Yazan descended from the tubba‘s of the Yemen, who were Himyarites.3 This will be mentioned below when we speak of correspondence, in the fourth maqala, if God wills. This lord of Barnu had correspondence with the sultan’s court in Egypt, which will be mentioned there also, if God wills. The lord of Barnt has also received correspondence from the sultan’s court in Egypt, which will be mentioned there, if God wills. . . . During the reign of Zahir Barqiq a letter arrived from this king of Barna in which he complained of the Judham Arabs’ who were his neighbours. He said that they had captured a group of his relatives and sold them abroad. He asked that inquiries should be made about them and that it should be forbidden to sell them in Egypt or Syria. He sent with the letter a suitable gift of mercury and other things. A reply was written by the hand of Zain al-din Tahir, one of the secretaries of the dast.®. . . It was dispatched by way of the ambassador who had come in company with the pilgrims. It was returned after a year or two with the reply written on the back. This is the text of a letter which came to Al-Malik al-Nasir Abu Sa‘id Barqigq. It arrived during a.H. 794 [A.D. 1391] in charge of the ruler of Barni’s cousin with a present. It was prompted by what is mentioned in it concerning the Arabs of Judham who are his neighbours. It is written on square paper with lines side by side,

in a Maghribi hand, without margin at head or side. The latter part of the letter is written on the verso, at the foot of the page. 1 Al-Zahir Saif al-din Barqiq, the Mamlik sultan of Egypt, a.p, 1382-08. 2 i.e. al-Umari, Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar: see above, p. 97. 3 For the reputed ancestry of the Saifawa Dynasty, see above, pp. 77-8. 4 Aba ‘Amr ‘Uthman Biri ibn Idris. (His name is given in the preamble to the letter. 5 at the Judham Arabs in this context, see Hasan (1967), pp. 163-4. 6 Term in common use for the Mamluk chancellery.

104.

AL-QALQASHANDI:

Bornu: Relations with Egypt

‘,.. After greetings, we have sent you as ambassador my cousin, Idris ibn Muhammad, because of the calamity we suffered. The Arabs who are called Judham and others have taken captive

our free subjects—women and children and old people, and our relatives, and other Muslims. Among these Arabs are polytheists and apostates: they have raided the Muslims and killed a great many of them in a war which broke out between us and our enemies. And on account of this war they have killed our prince, ‘Umar ibn Idris, a martyr [for the Faith]—he is our brother, the son of our father, al-Hajj Idris, son of al-Hajj Ibrahim; and we are the sons of Saif ibn Dhi Yazan, the father of our tribe, the Arab, of the family

of Quraish, as we have been informed by our learned men. These Arabs have harmed all our land, the land of Bornu, con-

tinually up to the present, and have captured our free subjects and relatives, who are Muslims, and are selling them to the slave-dealers in Egypt and Syria and elsewhere, and some they keep for themselves. Now God has placed in your hands the Government of Egypt, from the Mediterranean .to Aswan; and our people have been treated [there] as merchandise. Send messengers to all your lands, to your Amirs, and your Wazirs, and your Qadis, and your Governors, and your men of learning [‘ulama’], and the heads of your markets; let them examine, and inquire, and discover. When

they

have found our people, let them remove them from the hands of those who hold them captive, and put them to the test. And if they say—‘We are free men—we are Muslims’—believe them, and do not regard them as liars. But when the matter becomes clear to you, release them, and let them return to their liberty and to Islam. In truth, some of the Arabs in our country have turned to evil ways, and are not living at peace. They are ignorant of God’s book, and of the sunna of our Prophet, and they continue in their wickedness. But do you fear God, and reverence him, and do not abandon our people, to be bought and sold as slaves... .

Peace be upon those who follow the Right Way.’! It is undated. 1 An equivocal or insolent formula usually reserved for addressing infidels’ (Hopkins).

SECTION

THREE

The Fifteenth Century oC

cr

rr

ro

THE KANO CHRONICLE Bornu, and Karia!

oO

OO

Om mm

oo

mm

oo

ee

+ Kano’s Relations with Kororafa,

Tue thirteenth Sarki was Kanajeji. His father’s name was Yaji. His mother’s name Aunaka. He was a Sarki who engaged in many wars. He hardly lived in Kano at all, but scoured the country round and conquered the towns. He lived for some time near the rock of Gija. He sent to the Kwararafa? and asked why they did not pay him tribute. They gave him two hundred slaves. Then he returned to Kano and kept sending the Kwararafa horses while they continued to send him slaves. Kanajeji was the first Hausa Sarki to introduce ‘Lifidi’ and iron helmets and coats of mail for battle.3 They were introduced because in the war at Umbatu the losses had been so heavy.... The fifteenth Sarki was Dauda Bakon Damisa.+ His mother was Auta. In his time Dagachi,‘ a sultan, came from South Bornu with

many men and mallams. He brought with him horsedrums and trumpets and flags and guns. When he came he sat down at Bompai. The Sarkin Kano went to see him. When he saw that he was indeed a sultan, he returned home and took counsel with his men and said, ‘Where is this man to stay?’ The Galadima’ Babba 1 From The Kano Chronicle in Palmer (1928), iii, pp. 107-9. 2 For the Kwararafa, or Kororafa, see Introduction, p. 31.

3 Lifidi, a quilted protection for cavalry; safa, which Palmer translates ‘coats of mail’, really means quilted armour for soldiers. 4 Dauda

was

the son of Kanajeji;

Palmer gives 1390-1410

for the dates of

Kanajeji’s reign, and 1421-38 for Dauda. 5 Meaning simply ‘king’ or ‘ruler’. 6 Anachronistic, if Palmer’s dating is correct. It is unlikely that hand-guns reached the central Sudan before the late sixteenth century. See below, p. 141 and Fisher and Rowland (1971), p. 218. 7 Galadima, a title imported (like many others) into the Hausa States from Bornu. From its original meaning, “Governor of Galadi (i.e. the western territories of

Kanem-Bornu)’, the term came to be used of a particular powerful functionary and Hausa systems of government, without any territorial

within the Bornu reference.

106

THE KANO

CHRONICLE « Relations with Kororafa, @c.

said, ‘If you let him settle elsewhere than in Kano

towr, he will

soon be master of that part of the country.’ The Sarki said, ‘Where can he stay here with his army—Kano is full of men—unless we increase the size of our town?’ ‘The Galadima was sent to see Dagachi and returned with him, and built a house for him and his men at Dorai. The Sarki said to his men, ‘What shall I give him to please him, and to make his heart glad?’ The Galadima Babba said, ‘Give him whatever you wish, you are Sarki, you own everything.’ The Sarki said nothing. At that time he was about to start for war with Zaria, so he said to Dagachi, ‘When I go to war I will put all the affairs of Kano into your hands, city and country alike.’ So the Sarkin Kano went to war and left Dagachi in the town. Dagachi ruled the town for five months and became very wealthy. Then the Sarki returned. At this time Zaria, under Queen Amina, ! conquered all the towns as far as Kwararafa and Nupe. Every

town paid tribute to her. The Sarkin Nupe sent forty eunuchs and ten thousand kolas to her. She first had eunuchs and kolas in Hausaland. Her conquest extended over thirty-four years. In her time the whole of the products of the west were brought to Hausaland. I will leave now the story of Amina and return to Sarkin Kano. Dauda Bakon Damisa ruled seventeen years.

NADEL:

Tsoede and the Founding of the Nupe Kingdom?

The earliest history of Nupe centres round the figure of Tsoede or Edegi, the culture hero and mythical founder of Nupe kingdom. The genealogies of Nupe kings which are preserved in many places in Nupe country, and which have found their way into the earliest written records of Nupe history which were compiled by Mohammedan scholars and court historians, place his birth in the middle of the fifteenth century. At this time, the tradition runs, there was no kingdom of Nupe, only small chieftainships which, among the Beni, were united in a confederacy under the chief of Nku, a village near the confluence of Niger and Kaduna. At that time the Nupe people were tributary to the Atta (king) of the Gara [Igala], at Eda (Idah), far down the Niger. The tribute was paid in slaves, and every family head had annually to contribute one male member 1 On Queen Amina see Introduction, p. 28.

From Nadel his classic study principally upon Introduction, p.

(1942), pp. 72-4. Professor Nadel (who died in 1956) included in . of the Nupe political system a useful historical section, based oral tradition. For the problem of Tsoede and his historicity see 29.

NADEL * Tsoede and Founding of Nupe Kingdom

107

of his house. These slaves, as tradition has it, were always sister’s sons. It so happened that the son of Atta Gara came hunting to Nku in Nupe country. Here he met the daughter of the chief of Nku, a young widow, fell in love with her and lived with her for some time. When the death of his father recalled him to his country, to succeed to the throne of the Gara, this woman was pregnant. He left her a charm and a ring to give to their child when it was born. This child was Tsoede. Then the old chief of Nku died, his

son became chief, and when Tsoede was thirty years of age the new chief sent him, as his sister’s son, as slave to Eda. The Atta Gara recognized his son by the charm and ring which he was wearing, and kept him near his person, treating him almost like his legitimate sons. T'soede stayed for tuirty years at his father’s court. Once the king fell victim to a mysterious illness which nobody could cure. The court diviner prophesied that only a fruit from a very high oil-palm outside the town, plucked by one man, would cure the king. All his legitimate sons tried, in vain, to obtain the precious fruit. Finally Tsoede made the attempt, and succeeded. But in this attempt he cut his lip so badly, that he looked almost like a man born with a split lip. From this time—and this still holds true today—all harelipped boys born in Nupe are named Edegi. Tsoede’s achievement, which made him still more loved by his father and honoured by the court, evoked the jealousy of his half-brothers. Thus, when the Afta felt his death coming he advised his son to flee, and to return to his own country, the rule of which he bestowed on him as a parting gift. He assisted him in his flight; he gave him riches of all kinds, and bestowed on him various insignia of kingship: a bronze canoe ‘as only kings have’, manned with twelve Nupe slaves; the bronze kakati, the long trumpets which are still the insignia of kings in the whole of Northern Nigeria; state drums hung with brass bells; and the heavy iron chains and fetters which, endowed with strong magic, have become the emblems of the king’s judicial power, and are known today as egba Tsoede, Chain of Tsoede. Now comes the story of Tsoede’s adventurous flight from Eda, travelling up-river, hotly pursued by his half-brothers and their men. On the way he is helped by two men whom he later rewards by making them chief and second-in-command of the Kyedye tribe. When he reaches the Kaduna river he turns into a creek called Ega, and lies here in hiding till his pursuers, tired of their fruitless search, return to Eda. Tsoede and his men leave the canoe

and sink it in the river; the people of Ega still perform an annual

108

NADEL « Tsoede and Founding of Nupe Kingdom

sacrifice on the spot, where, as the tradition has it, Tsoede’s canoe was sunk, and at these ceremonies they are able, you are told, to

see the bright bronze of the canoe glitter in the water. Tsoede then went to Nupeko, a village nearby, killed the chief, and made him-

self chief of the place. He conquered Nku, the town of his maternal uncle, made himself the ruler of all Beni (or Nupe—all informants are vague on this point), and assumed the title Etsw, king. He made the twelve men who accompanied him from Eda the chiefs of the twelve towns of Beni and bestowed on them the sacred insignia of chieftainship, brass bangles and magic chains. The present chiefs of Beni (as far as their ‘towns’ still survive) claim descent from these twelve men, and still treasure bangles or chains as insignia of chieftainship. Tsoede carried out big and victorious wars against many tribes and kingdoms, conquering in the south the countries of Yagba, Bunu (two sections of the Yoruba), Kakanda, as far as Akoko, and in the north the countries of Ebe, Kamberi, and Kamuku. He resided first in Nupeko, which name means ‘Great Nupe’, for

eight years, and when Nupeko grew too small, he built the new capital of Gbara, on the Kaduna, which was to remain the ezv’tsw,

the King’s Town, till the Fulani conquest. At the time his residence is said to have counted 5,555 horses, so many in fact that there was no room for them in Gbara, and one of Tsoede’s sons, Abdu, who was in charge of the horses, crossed the Kaduna and founded on the opposite bank a place which is still known by the name of Dokomba, “Horse Place’. Apart from the royal insignia and emblems of magic Tsoede is said to have brought to Nupe from Eda certain crafts and techniques hitherto unknown in the country. He brought with him blacksmiths and brass-smiths who taught the crude blacksmiths of Nupe their more advanced technique;! the canoe-men who came with him imported into Nupe the craft of building large canoes of which the Nupe are said to have been ignorant at that time. ...

JOHNSON + Oyo: The Reign of Sango Sango, son of Oranyan, and brother of Ajaka, was the fourth King of Yoruba. He was of a very wild disposition, fiery temper, and skil' For some account of the “T'soede bronzes’ and their historical significance and ©

relationships see Willett (1967), pp. 51 and 168-73 and references cited there. 2 From Samuel Johnson (1921) (see above, p. 79), pp. 149-52. The story of

JOHNSON + Oyo: The Reign of Sango

109

ful in sleight of hand tricks. He had a habit of emitting fire and smoke out of his mouth, by which he greatly increased the dread his subjects had of him. The Olowu! at this time appeared to have been more powerful than the King of Oyo, for after the death of the uncle Oranyan, he compelled his cousin, the peaceful Ajaka, to pay tribute to him. This was probably the reason why Ajaka was deposed. On Sango’s coming to the throne, being a much younger man, the Olowu meant to take advantage of his youth; he demanded the tribute of him, but Sango refused to acknowledge his primacy, notwithstanding the Olowu’s threat to deprive him of his wives and children; consequently his capital was besieged and a sharp fight ensued. Sango there displayed his wonted bravery as well as his tricks; volumes

of smoke

issuing from his mouth

and nostrils so

terrified the Olowu and his army that they became panic stricken and were completely routed and put to flight. Sango pushed on his advantage, and with every fresh victory he was the more firmly established on the throne; he thereby became elated and was tyrannical... . The seat of government was permanently removed from Oko (or as some would have it, from Ile Ife) to Oyo, the ancient ‘Eyeo or Katunga’.? Sango reigned for seven years, the whole of which period was marked by his restlessness. He fought many battles and was fond of making charms. He was said to have the knowledge of some preparations by which he could attract lightning. The palace at Oyo was built at the foot of a hill called Oke Ajaka (Ajaka’s hill). One day the King ascended this hill accompanied by his courtiers and some of his slaves, among whom were two favourites, Biri and Omiran; some of his cousins went with him, but none of his child-

ren. He was minded to try the preparation he had in hand; thinking it might have been damp and useless, he first made the experiment on his own house. But it took effect; a storm was immediately Sango (Shango), the legendary king who became deified as the Yoruba god of thunder and lightning, is included at this point, not because he can be definitely referred to the fifteenth century, but because I am reluctant to abandon belief in his historicity and because there is at least good reason to suppose that an Oyo state

existed at this period. See Introduction, p. 31, R. S. Smith (1969), chs. 3 and 7, and Law (19734).

1 i.e. the King of Owu, whose capital was Owu Ipole, twelve miles south-east of Apomu.

2 Old Oyo (Oyo Ile) or Katunga, lies about 100 miles north of modern Oyo. For an account of the site see R. S. Smith and Williams (1966) and Willett (1960a).

110

JOHNSON + Oyo: The Reign of Sango

raised and the lightning had struck the palace before they came down the hill, and the buildings were on fire. Many of Sangojs wives and his children perished in this catastrophe. Sango,

who

was

the author

of his own

misfortunes,

became

alarmed and dismayed at what had happened, and from a broken heart he was resolved to abdicate the throne and retire to the court of his maternal grandfather, Elempe king of the Nupes. All Oyo was now astir, not only to sympathize with the King, but also to dissuade him from carrying out his resolution; but he could not bear any opposition, and so mad was he that he even used his sword against some of his loyal subjects who ventured to remonstrate with him, and who promised to replace for him his dead wives by others, by whom he might beget children, and so in time make good his present losses. According to other accounts, he did not abdicate of his own free will, but was asked to do so by a strong party in the state. Both accounts may be true; there may have been two parties, for to this day Yorubas have an abhorrence of a King given to making deadly charms; because, for one who already has absolute power invested in him by law, this strange power can only be used spitefully, so that no one near him would be safe. He was said to have caused 160 persons to be slain in a fit of anger, of those who were showing much concern and over-anxiety on his behalf, and who would prevent him by force from carrying out his resolve. Thus determined, he set out on his fateful journey with a few followers. Biri, his head slave and favourite, was the first to regret the step taken, and to urge on his master to yield to the entreaties of those citizens of Oyo who with all loyalty promised to replace his losses, as far as man

can do it, and to rebuild

the palace; but,

finding the King inexorable, he forsook him and returned to the city with all his followers; Omiran likewise followed his example, and the King was thus left alone. He now repented his rashness, especially when he found himself deserted by his favourite Biri. He could not proceed alone, and for shame he could not return home,

and so he was resolved to put an end to his own life; and climbing on a shea butter tree, he hanged himself. His friends hearing of this tragedy went immediately and performed for him the last act of kindness, by burying his remains under the same tree. On hearing of the King’s death, his personal friends followed his example, and died with him. Biri committed suicide at Koso (where

JOHNSON + Oyo: The Reign of Sango the King died); Omiram

did the same. His cousin Omo

III Sanda

committed suicide at Papo; Babayanmi at Sele; Obei at Jakuta, and Oya, his favourite wife, at Ira.

Thus ended the life of this remarkable personage, who once ruled over all the Yorubas and Popos.! He was afterwards deified and is still worshipped by all of the Yoruba race as the god of thunder and lightning. In every Yoruba and Popo town to this day, whenever there is a flash of lightning followed by a peal of thunder, it is usual to hear from the populace shouts of ‘Ka wo o,’ ‘Ka biye si’ (‘welcome to your majesty’, ‘long live the King’). Ajaka his brother was now recalled from exile, and he once more held the reins of government. Salekuodi was the Basorun? of this reign.

EGHAREVBA ~~ Benin: Ewuare the Great3 After the murder of Uwaifiokun, Ogun was crowned the Oba of Benin with the title Ewuare (Oworuare) meaning ‘it is cool’ or ‘the “ trouble has ceased’. Prior to his accession he caused a great conflagration which lasted two days and two nights in the City, as a revenge for his banishment. Ewuare was a great magician, physician, traveller and warrior. He was also powerful, courageous and sagacious. He fought against and captured 201 towns and villages in Ekiti, Eka, Ikare, Kukuruku, and the Ibo country on this side of the river Niger. He took their petty rulers captive and caused the people to pay tribute to him. He made good roads in Benin City and the street known as Akpakpava. In fact the town rose to importance and gained the name City during his reign. . . He made powerful charms, and had them buried at each of the nine gateways to the City, to nullify any evil charms which might be brought by people of other countries to injure his subjects. These doings earned for him the title Ewuare Ogidigan (Ewuare the Great). If he was unable to declare an open challenge to his 1 The Popo (Egun) inhabit southern Dahomey, west of Yoruba territory. 2 The head of the Council of State (Oyo Mesi) : an office whose holder had the main voice in choosing the king (the Alafin) and the power to reject a king who

proved tyrannical or unpopular (see below, p. 221). 3 Egharevba, (1953), pp. 15-19. See above, p. 81. For a discussion of the significance of Ewuare’s reign in the history of Benin see Ryder (1969), pp. 7-14.

112

EGHAREVBA

: Benin: Ewuare the Great

opponents he would resort to stratagem and tricks with hjs magical bag called agba-oko. . Ewuare was the first Oba of Benin to come into contact with Europeans, for Ruy de Sequeira visited Benin City in 1472... .! Ewuare greatly encouraged ivory and wood carving in Benin. His first carver Eghoghomaghan is famous, and his successors owe much to his designs. Ewuare was also the inventor of Eziken, a wind instrument like a fife, and Ema-Edo, the royal band. He created the Eghaevbo (State council), the members of which are, lyase, Esogban, Eson, and Osuma, with the Iyase of Benin at their head. He also created the title of Eriyo. The royal beads and scarlet clothes were introduced to Benin by him, and he was the originator of the ‘bachelor’s camp’ which now forms part of the rites before the coronation of an Oba.

DE BARROS: Benin: The Arrival of the Portuguese? How the Kingdom of Beny was discovered Though the Christianizing of these people of the Congo progressed greatly to the glory of God, through the conversion of their King, little profit accrued from what the King did in the matter of the request of the King of Beny, whose kingdom lay between that of Congo and the Castle of S. Jorge de Mina.+ For at the time of Diogo Cam’s first return from Congo, in the year fourteen hundred and eighty-six, this King of Beny also sent to solicit the King to dispatch thither priests who might instruct him in the Faith. This country had already been visited in the previous year by Fernao do Po, who had discovered this coast and also an island near the land, now known by his name. On account of its size he called it Ilha ' In his third edition (1960) Mr. Egharevba says that ‘Ruy de Sequeira visited the Benin area in 1472 though it is not known whether he actually reached the City’ (p. 8), which seems more in accord with other evidence. See Ryder (1969), p. 24. and Bradbury (1959a). 2 On the Eghaevbo n’Ore, or ‘town chiefs’, their leader, the Jyase—whose office

‘was undoubtedly the most influential in the state, after the kingship’—and their relationship to the State Council and the Oba, see Bradbury (1957), pp. 36-7 and 43-4, and (1969). 3 From Joao de Barros, Da Asia, First Decade, book iii, ch. 3, quoted in Crone (1937), pp- 124-5. De Barros (1496-1570) was Commander of S. Jorge da Mina, 1522-25; Treasurer of the Casa da India, Mina e Ceuta, 1525-8; and Steward of the Casa, 1532-67. The First Decade of Da Asia was published in 1553. On the historical background to the events recorded in this extract see Ryder (1969), PP: 24-33. 4 Elmina, near Cape Coast, in modern Ghana.

DE BARROS -* Benin: Arrival of the Portuguese

113

Formosa—but it has lost this name and bears that of its discoverer. ! This emissary of the King of Beny came with Jodo Affonso d’ Aveiro, who had been sent to explore the coast by the King, and who brought back the first pepper from these parts of Guinea to the Kingdom. This pepper is called by us de rabo (long-tailed)—because the stem on which it grows comes away with it—to distinguish it from that obtained from India. The King sent some to Flanders, but it was never held in as high esteem as the Indian. As this kingdom of Beny was near the Castle of S. Jorge da Mina, and as the Negroes who brought gold to the market place were ready to buy slaves to carry their merchandise, the King ordered the building of a factory in a port of Beny, called Gato [Ughoton]?, whither there were brought for sale a great number of those slaves who were bartered very profitably at the Mina, for the merchants of gold gave twice the value obtainable for them in the Kingdom. But, as the King of Beny was very much under the influence of his idolatries, and sought the priests rather to make himself powerful against his neighbours with our favour than from a desire for baptism, he profited little from the ministrations of those sent thither. On this account they “ were recalled, and also the officers of the Factory, for the place was

very unhealthy, and among the persons of note who died was this Joao Affonso d’Aveiro, the first to establish it. However, for a con-

siderable time afterwards, both during the life of Dom Joao, and of Dom Manuel, this sale of slaves continued from Beny to Mina, for ordinarily the ships that left this kingdom went to Beny to buy the slaves, and then carried them to the Mina, until this trade was altered on account of the great inconveniences which arose. eee

THE KANO Learning?

CHRONICLE:

The

Growth

of ‘Trade

and

...In Yakubu’s time the Fulani came to Hausaland from Mali, bringing with them books on Divinity and Etymology. Formerly our 1 Modern Fernando Po. 2 For Ughoton, the ‘port’ of Benin, see Ryder (1969), pp. 30, 32-3 and passim. 3 From The Kano Chronicle, in Palmer (1928), iii, pp. 111-12. There is a translation of the Hausa version of the passage relating to Muhammad Rumfa in Johnston (1966), pp. 114-16. Yakubu reigned from approximately 1452 to 1463,

and Muhammad Rumfa from 1463 to 1499 (Palmer’s dating). This is the first reference in the Chronicle to Fulani penetration into Hausaland. This dating would fit well with ‘Uthm4n dan Fodio’s account of the migration into the area from the west (Futa Toro) of his own eleventh-generation (i.e. ¢. fifteenth-century) ancestor,

Musa Jokollo (Last (1967a), p. Ixxiii).

114.

THE KANO CHRONICLE + Growth of Trade and Learning

doctors had, in addition to the Koran, only the books of the Law and the Traditions [Hadith]. The Fulani passed by and went to Bornu leaving a few men in Hausaland, together with some slaves and people who were tired of journeying. At this time too the Asbenawa! came to Gobir, and salt became common in Hausaland. In the

following year merchants from Gwanja began coming to Katsina;? Beriberi3 came in large numbers, and also Turawa.*+ Some of them settled in Kano and some passed on to Katsina and settled there. There was no war in Hausaland in Yakubu’s time. He sent ten horses to the Sarkin Nupe in order to buy eunuchs. The Sarkin Nupe gave him twelve eunuchs. Yakubu ruled Kano eleven years. Rumfa was the author of twelve innovations in Kano... . The next year he extended the walls towards the Kofan Mata‘ from the Kofan Dagachi and continued the work to Kofan Gertawasa and Kofan Kawayi, and from the Kofan na-Isa to the Kofan Kansakali. The next year he entered his house.® He established the Kurmi market.7 He was the first Sarki who used “Dawakin Zaggi’® in the war with Katsina. He was the first Sarki who practised ‘Kame’.9 He appointed Durman to go round the dwellings of the Indabawa!° and take every first-born virgin for him. He was the first Sarki to have a thousand wives. He began the custom of ‘Kulle’.1! He began the “Tara-ta-Kano’.!2 He was the first to have ‘Kakaki’ and 1 People of Asben, i.e. Air, in the Sahara, some 400 miles north-east of Gobir. 2 The reference to trade relations between Katsina and ‘Gwanja’ at this period is doubtful. Levtzion (1968), p. 17, supposes that it is Gonja in northern Ghana that is referred to although the Gonja state would not appear to have come into being until the sixteenth century. 3 People of Bornu. 4 Turawa (sing. Bature) is the modern Hausa word for ‘Europeans’. Palmer translates it here as ‘Arabs’. More probably it is the Malinke (Wangarawa) who are referred to. See Levtzion (1968), pp. 19-21, and Person (1963), and cf. above

p. 100. 5 Kofan, properly Kofar, gate of. ® i.e. he built a new palace, still known as the Gidan Rumfa. See Hogben and Kirk-Greene (1966), p. 192. 7 The main market in Kano city. 8 Dokin (pl. dawakin) zage, meaning ‘led horse for a travelling chief’, Hogben and Kirk-Greene, loc. cit.

° Kame, probably ‘catching women and girls to keep as concubines’: connects with the following items. 10 The people of Indabo, a town in Kano Province. ™ Kulle, purdah, wife-seclusion. %2 Literally ‘the nine of Kano’. Johnston says this is a reference to the nine leading office-holders, ‘and from the fact that they were now given a corporate © title we may suppose that for the first time they became a sort of Privy Council’ (1966), p. 116.

THE KANO CHRONICLE + Growth of Trade and Learning

115

‘Figinni’! and ostrich feather sandals. It was in his reign that the ‘id prayers? were first performed in Kano at Shadadoko. He began the custom of giving to eunuchs the offices of state. ... Surely there was no Sarki more powerful than Rumfa. He was sung as ‘the Arab Sarki, of wide sway’. In his time occurred the first war with Katsina. It lasted eleven years, without either side winning. He ruled thirty-seven years.

AL-MAGHILI:

The Obligations of Princes3

The sojourn of a prince in the city breeds all manner of trouble and harm. The bird of prey abides in open and wild places. Vigorous is the cock as he struts round his domains. The eagle can only win his realm by firm resolve, and the cock’s voice is strong as he masters the hens. Ride, then, the horses of resolution upon the saddles of prudence. Cherish the land from the spoiling drought, from the raging wind, the dust-laden storm, the raucous thunder, the gleaming lightning, the shattering fireball and the beating rain. Kingdoms are held by the sword, not by delays. Can fear be thrust * back except by causing fear? Allow only the nearest of your friends to bring you food and drink and bed and clothes. Do not part with your coat of mail and 1 Kakaki, long trumpets blown symbols of royalty.

before chiefs; Figinni, ostrich-feather fans, as

2 The “id al-fitr festival, following the fast of Ramadan. 3 From al-Maghili, Ta‘rif fima yajib ‘ala’l-mulik (1931), translated by Baldwin (1932), quoted on the title page of Palmer (1936). Al-Maghili was the famous Muslim theologian, preacher, and politician from Tlemcen in Algeria, who was responsible for the persecution of the Jewish communities in Sijilmasa and Tuwat. Thereafter he removed to the Sudan in about A.D. 1493, where he visited Katsina and Kano, giving courses of instruction in the Qur’4n and in Muslim law in both centres, and writing this epistle on kingship for Muhammad Rumfa (see preceding extract). He later visited Gao, where he became for a time adviser to Muhammad Askia, the founder of the Askia Cynasty, for whom he wrote an important epistle, replying to his questionnaire. He eventually returned to Tuwat where he died, probably in A.D. 1504. Among other reasons for his historical importance, al-Maghili is traditionally said to have been responsible for introducing the Sufi order of the Qadiriyya into West Africa. For a list of al-Maghili’s known writings, see Bivar and Hiskett (1962), pp. 106—g. For some discussion of the Jewish attitude to al-Maghili, see Hirschberg (1963), p. 325. This work of al-Maghili’s

belongs to the class of Islamic literature known as ‘Mirrors for Princes’, ‘written by men of affairs and of letters who had learnt in the school of experience. They are eager to advise rulers . . . how best to conduct the affairs of state. The ruler is the centre of interest and the principal figure of the political scene. His own interest and that of the state are identical in actual fact if not in theory.’ See Rosenthal

(1958), pp. 67-77.

116

AL-MAGHILI:

The Obligations of Princes

weapons and let no one approach you save men of trust and virtue. Never sleep in a place of peril. Have near to guard you at all times a band of faithful and gallant men, sentries, bowmen, horse, and foot. Times of alarm are not like times of safety. Conceal your secrets from other people until you are master of your undertaking.

AL-MAGHILI.

On Punishment!

... From the servant of Almighty God, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd alKarim ibn Muhammad al-Maghili al-Tilimsani...to Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ya ‘qib, Sultan of Kano.... Know—may God aid both us and you to safeguard that which He has entrusted to us and to preserve the laws which He has put in our charge—that one must avert religious and civil evils through the deterrent punishments of the shari‘a, as far as is humanly possible. It is not permissible to let an evil-doer go free to commit evil if it is possible to deter him from it, through abusing him, cursing him, imprisoning him, tying him up, beating him, crucifying him, putting him to death, exiling him, seizing his goods, burning his house, or by any other lawful punishment. Every disease has its cure and for every situation there is a fitting word and deed. Prevent all the people of your lands from every sort of polytheism and from going naked, drinking wine, eating carcasses and blood, and from other forbidden acts. Prevent the unbelievers of your lands from making any display of eating or drinking and such acts during Ramadan, for the unbelievers of your lands mingle with the Muslims in the markets and dwellings and other places. If they are allowed to make a display of polytheism or wine-drinking or breaking of the fast in Ramadan or adultery or similar reprehensible acts and other manifestations of their ways of error, that would be a pretext for the weak-willed among the common folk and the women and young boys to imitate them, particularly since the dominant characteristics of the people of these lands are ignorance and wilfulness. . . . Whoever defrauds with balances that give short weight and refuses to stop trading with them, take them from him and use them for the benefit of the Muslims. Whoever does not defraud or does not refuse to desist from using such scales, order him to correct them if he wishes to trade with them. So also he who intercepts food and other * Letter from al-Maghili to Muhammad Rumfa, Sultan of Kano, dated 1491-2,, quoted in ‘Uthman dan Fodio, Tanbih al-ikhwan, translated by Hunwick. This letter from al-Maghili to Muhammad Rumfa is to be distinguished from the epistle referred to in the note to the previous extract.

AL-MAGHILI + On Punishment

117

commodities and buys them before they reach the market or after reaching it, and then sells them himself—if he will not desist from this except by being exiled or by having the goods expropriated, then do so and do not worry yourself, for the aim of the law-giver in establishing deterrent punishments was to avert evil practices and to encourage those which are beneficial, in so far as it is possible in every time and place. ... Know that all men are equal in the law of God and His Messenger. So make no exceptions from it, neither for the learned nor the ascetic, not for the descendant of the Prophet [sharif] and not for the ruler [amir.] Establish God’s justice over all His servants with piety and not with despotism.

AL-SA‘DI: A Timbuktu Scholar in Kano' In his work entitled Al-Dhail?

the most learned lawyer, Ahmad

Baba, 3 may God have mercy on him, expresses himself thus: ‘Ahmad ibn ‘Umar ibn Muhammad Agit ibn ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali ibn Yahya ibn _ Goddala, al-Sinhaji, al-Tinbukti,+ was my grandfather, the father of my father. He was commonly known as al-Hajj Ahmad. He was

the eldest of three brothers distinguished for their learning and their piety in their country. He was a man of goodness, virtuous and pious, mindful of the Sunna, a very upright and distinguished man, full of love for the Prophet and devoting himself unceasingly to the reading of poems in honour of Muhammad and of the Shifa’ of ‘Iyad.5 Lawyer, lexicographer, grammarian, prosodist and scholar, he occupied himself with the sciences all his life. He 1 From al-Sa‘di, Ta‘rikh al-Siidén (1900), pp. 60-1. Al-Sa‘di belonged to an upper-class Timbuktu family; born in 1596, he was appointed notary, and later (in 1627) Imam, of the mosque of Sankoré, at Jenne. In 1637 he returned to Timbuktu, where he held the office of Imam of the city, and was given the title of Katib, or Government Secretary, in return for his public services. His History con-

cludes with the year 1655, and it is probable that he died shortly after this date (op. cit., pp. xii-ixiv). 2 The work referred to here is Wail al-ibtihaj bi Tatriz al-dibaj (or bi’l-dhail ‘ala’!dibaj), Ahmad Baba’s biographical dictionary, completed in a.p. 1596. 3 For Ahmad Baba, see below, p. 154, n. I.

4 For the Aqit family and its importance in the history of Timbuktu, see Hunwick (1962). Hunwick points out that among other toponyms, Ahmad Baba was known as al-Sinhaji, al-Masdfi, al-Takrari, al-Masini, and al-Tinbukti (ibid., . 315). ‘ 5 An ethical work dealing with the rules of right conduct, based upon the study

of the life of the Prophet, by ‘Iyad ibn Masa ibn ‘Iyad al-Yahsibi (died a.p. 1194). For a discussion of the significance of this work in the context of Dyula higher education, see Wilks (1968), p. 168 and elsewhere.

118

AL-SA‘DI-: A Timbuktu Scholar in Kano

possessed numerous books, copied in his own hand, with copious annotations. At his death he left about 700 volumes. . He travelled in the East in the year 890 (A.D. 1485) and made the pilgrimage to Mecca. There he met al-Jalal al-Suyati! and Shaikh Khalid al-Waqqad al-Azhari,* the prince of grammarians, and other personages. He returned in the period of the persecution of the Kharijite, Sunni ‘Ali, 3 and visited Kano and other towns of the Sudan. He taught theology and succeeded in his teaching, from which numbers of people profited, among whom the most illustrious was the lawyer Mahmid, to whom he taught among other things the Mudawwana.+ As a teacher and scholar he showed outstanding learning. He went on working up to his death, which took place on Thursday evening of the month Rabi‘ IJ, in the year 943 [Sept./ Oct. 1536]: he was then about 80 years old. He was offered the post of Imam, but refused it, as well as other posts of less importance. .. .”

AL-suYUTI

: Advice to Ibrahim Sira’

From the fagir ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al-Suyiti, to the kings and sultans of the lands of al-Takrir in general and to the 1 For Jalal al-din al-Suyiti, see below, n. 5. 2 Khalid ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr al-Azhari, nicknamed al-Waqqad (= the fuel-merchant, his occupation until he devoted himself to full-time scholarship in his late thirties), the Cairo grammarian (died 1499), author of al-muqadimmat alazhariyya fi “ilm al-‘arabiyya and other works on Arabic grammar. 3 Sunni ‘Ali, ruler of Gao from 14.64 to 1492, who greatly extended the frontiers of the Songhai Empire; strongly disapproved of by the ‘ulamda’, on account of his unorthodoxy and his brutality towards themselves. Whether he really belonged to the radical-puritan sect of the Kharijites, and what such an adherence at this period in this region would have meant, is doubtful. On Sunni ‘Ali’s attitude to

Islam see Rouch (1953), p. 185.

A more balanced appraisal is given by Hunwick

(1966a), pp. 299-304.

4 Al-Mudawwana, Habib al-Tanakhi

a manual of Maliki law, by ‘Abd al-Salam ibn Sa‘id ibn Sahnin, a famous early ninth-century Tunisian pupil of Malik ibn Anas (ZI(1), iv, pp. 64-5). 5 Letter from al-Suyuti to the rulers of Tarkar, quoted in ‘“Uthman dan Fodio,

Tanbih al-ikhwan (see above, p. 116, n. 1). Al-Suyati (A.D. 1445-1505) is believed to have composed over 560 works on history, philology, hadith, Qur’anic exegesis, figh, etc. He met Askia Muhammad in Cairo during the latter’s pilgrimage (1497) and is said to have dedicated to him a brief work ofhadith on the sultanate. He also wrote this epistle to Sultan Muhammad Settefen of Agades and Sultan Ibrahim Sara of Katsina on the responsibilities of asultan, probably in a.p. 1493. Many of his works have become well known in West Africa, where the learned commonly name one of their sons after him. For further important evidence about al-Suyiti and his relations with the region see Hunwick (1970). For his part in the intro-

duction of Mahdist ideas into West Africa see Adeleye and Mukoshy (1966).

AL-suYUTI - Advice to Ibrahim Stra

pious monarch

Muhammad

ibn S-t-f-n

[Muhammad

119

Settefen],

ruler of Agades, and his brothers, Muhammad and ‘Umar, and the son of their sister, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, and to the monarch Ibrahim, ruler of Katsina, in particular. ! Peace be upon you and the mercy of God. After which I praise

God, other than whom there is no deity, and I offer prayers for His Prophet Muhammad—may God bless him and grant him peace. Next I enjoin upon you a prudent fear of God—Mighty and Exalted is He—for this is both the head and the hump of the matter and whoso holds fast to it shall surely attain success. And I urge you to uphold justice in dealing with your subjects and not to exceed the penalties [hudid] of the shari‘a law. Let no man be misled by the sovereignty and authority which God has given him, nor by the adornment of this world which surrounds him, for the whole of this

life is nothing more than a brief sleep from which there will be an inevitable awakening. Is any one of you deceived by his sovereignty which is like a bridge, wishing to cast aside the law of God by setting up his own _ decrees which are not worth a fly’s wing in God’s sight? ‘Do you feel secure from Him who is in Heaven that He may not make the earth swallow you up?’? Or fold in upon you what lies between its length and breadth? The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said, “The Sultan is the shadow of God on earth with whom every oppressed servant of His takes refuge. If he acts justly reward shall be his and thanks is incumbent on his subjects.

If he acts unjustly, upon him be the burden and patience shall be the lot of the subjects.’ 3 I have been informed that among the people of Gobir are those who sacrifice a male or female slave if they are ill, claiming that this will be their ransom from death. What unbelieving acts and claims are these. These are inspirations of the Devil and among the things he makes fair-seeming because of his enmity; they are acts which lead their perpetrator into unbelief. Such a man should know 1 Muhammad Settefen (= black in Tamacheq) ruled the sultanate of Air from 1487 to 1493-4. His nephew, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-rahman, succeeded him and ruled for nine years. Ibrahim Sara, the second of the Muslim rulers of Katsina, was in power for only two years (though one source says five) some time during the 1490s, 2 Qur’an, ch. 67, v. 16. 3 This very conservative hadith is not contained in any of the six ‘canonical’ books of Tradition and was almost certainly a later invention, reflecting the increased powers of the sultans, at the expense of the caliph, from mid-‘Abbasid times.

120

AL-SuYUTI* Advice to Ibrahim Sira

henceforth that God and His Messenger are quit of him; nor yet will he achieve his aim in this way. Were he to free a slave, this would be more likely to ransom him and take him farther away from transgression. Whoever has a course of action proposed to him should put it to the bearers of the shari‘a and ask a learned man in whose knowledge confidence may be placed and he must thereafter obey him. ‘Beware then of a day on which you shall all be returned to God, when every soul shall be paid in full according to what it has earned and they shall not be dealt with unjustly.’ ! Peace. This is the end of the letter. Peace be upon him who follows divine guidance.

PACHECO:

The Beginning of the Slave- Trade?

Twelve or thirteen leagues upstream from here [i.e. from Lagos] there is a large town called Geebuu,3 surrounded by a very large ditch. The river of this country is called in our days Agusale,* and the trade which one can conduct here is the trade in slaves, who are sold for brass bracelets,s at a rate of 12 to 15 bracelets for a

slave, and in elephants’ tusks. .. . There is no trade in this country [i.e. in the region of Lagos], nor anything from which one can make a profit. All this region of the river Lagua, of which we spoke above, as far as the river Primeiro,® and beyond for a distance of a 100 leagues, is all broken up inland by numerous other rivers in such a way that the whole consists of numerous islands. It is very unhealthy, and is very hot almost 1 Qur’an, ch. 2, v. 281.

2From Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, edited by Mauny (1956), pp. 130-47. I have also made use of Kimble’s translation (1937), pp 124-9, 132, and 145. Pacheco Pereira was born at Lisbon some time in the middle of the fifteenth century, and took part in the exploration of the West African coast

at the end of the century. He served in the Indies in 1503-5, and is believed to have written his Esmeraldo, primarily as a guide for navigators, on his return to Portugal, between 1505 and 1508. After serving as colonial adviser to King Manuel and Governor of S. Jorge da Mina (1520-22), he died in poverty some time between 1526 and 1534. 3 Clearly Ijebu-Ode (not Abeokuta, as Kimble suggests). A Portuguese league is about 4 English statute miles. 4 Mauny identifies this with the river Ogun, but Ryder suggests that there may in fact be a reference here to the ruler of Ijebu, the Awujale (1965b, p. 26, n. 6).

5 Manillas. On the use of manillas as currency in this region, see G. I. Jones (1958), pp- 43-53. Mauny points out that this importation of brass and copper assisted the manufacture of the famous Benin ‘bronzes’ (1956), p. 190. See also Ryder (1969),p. 40. 6 The river Mahin, presumably.

PACHECO *« The Beginning of the Slave- Trade

121

throughout the year, on account of the proximity of the sun. The middle of the winter occurs here during the months of August and September when it rains heavily. The Negroes of this country are idolaters and circumcised, without having any law, and without knowing the reason for their circumcision. Since these are matters which have not much relation to my subject, it is unnecessary to speak of them.... By this channel towards the sea is a village called Teebuu! and on the other side are some more villages. A league up this river on the left two tributaries enter the main stream: if you ascend the second of these for twelve leagues you find a town called Huguatoo [Ughoton], of some 2,000 souls: this is the harbour of the great city of Beny [Benin], which lies nine leagues? in the interior with a good road between them. Small ships of fifty tons can go as far as Huguatoo. This city is about a league long from gate to gate; it has no wall but is surrounded by a large moat, very wide and deep, which suffices for its defence.3 I was there four times. Its houses are made of mud-walls covered with palm leaves. The Kingdom of Beny is about eighty leagues long and forty wide; it is usually at war with its neighbours and takes many captives, whom we buy at twelve or fifteen brass bracelets each, or for copper bracelets which they prize more; from there the slaves are brought to the castle of S. Jorze da Mina where they are sold for gold. The way of life of these people is full of abuses and fetishes and idolatries, which for brevity’s sake I omit... . [In the country of Beny... they use as money shells which they call ‘iguou’, a little larger than these ‘Zimbos’ of Maniconguo; they use them to buy everything, and he who has most is richest . . .] + To the East of this Kingdom of Beny, 100 leagues inland, there is known to be a country which has at this time a King called Licasaguou.® He is said to be lord of many peoples and to possess great 1 Unidentified. Ryder suggests a possible identification with Dapper’s ‘Loebo’

(1969, p. 89, n. 1).

2 Benin actually lies about twenty miles from Ughoton.

3 For the archaeological evidence relating to the Benin city walls see Connah

(1963), and (1967).

4 Inserted from book iii, ch. 2, Kimble (1937), p. 145. Maniconguo, the King of the Kongo. On shell currencies in Benin see Ryder (1969), pp. 60--2—‘Clearly then the Portuguese did not introduce the shell currency to Benin’. See also M. Johnson (1970), I, p. 18. 5 Mauny, following Talbot (1926), pp. 281-2, identifies Licosaguou with the Alafin of Oyo. There are various grounds for questioning this identification, among them the fact that Oyo lies north-west, not east, of Benin. This has become

122

PACHECO~:

The Beginning of the Slave- Trade

power. Near there is another great lord, who has the name “Hooguanee’. He is considered among the Negroes as the Pope is yes us.! There is in these regions black pepper, much stronger than tha of the Indies: its seeds are almost the same size; but, while the pepper of the Indies is wrinkled, this has a smooth surface. ‘There are in this country wild men who live in the mountains and the forests of this region, whom the Negroes of Beny call Oosaa.? They are very strong and covered with bristles like pigs. They have all the characteristics of a human being, except that they shout instead of talking; I have heard their shouts at night, and possess the skin of one of these wild creatures. In this country there are many elephants, whose teeth we often buy, calling them marfim [ivory]. There are also many leopards and other animals of various kinds, as well as birds, which are so different from those found in our Europe that, at the beginning of the discovery of this part of the world, those who saw these things and told of them were not believed, until the experience of those who followed them meant that eventually both accounts were believed. A hundred leagues up the principal branch of this Fermoso [Benin] River one reaches a region of Negroes called Opuu.: There there is a great deal of pepper, ivory, and some slaves. ... The people of Beny and its districts have a line above their eyebrows such as no other Negroes have—neither of the same type nor in the same place. On account of this distinguishing mark they are easily recognized. . . . Beyond

the Fermoso

River, of which

we spoke above,

at five

leagues distant, is a river with quite a large mouth which we call the Escravos River; this name was given it when it was discovered on account of two slaves that were obtained by barter there... . Since in this Escravos River there is no trade, and nothing else worthy of note, it is unprofitable to waste time speaking further of it. Five leagues beyond the Escravos River is another river called the Forcados River: it was given this name because at the moment when it was discovered large birds with forked tails like swallows were found there—from which it received its name. . . Whoever enters this river [the Forcados] finds two arms—one to the right, the other to the left. Five leagues upstream along the a controversial passage; it is usefully discussed (with the related‘ Hooguanee’/ Oghene problem) in Bradbury (1959), p. 276. ‘ Probably the Oni of Ife: but see below, p. 124, n. 2. .& 2 Mauny suggests chimpanzees. 3 Mauny thinks that Nupe may be meant; Ryder suggests a possible identifi-

cation with the Ibo. Cf. Northrup (1972), pp. 223-4.

PACHECO~:

The Beginning of the Slave- Trade

123

left arm trade is carried on, principally in slaves, in cotton stuff, some leopard skins, palm-oil, and blue beads with red stripes which they call ‘coris’'—and other things which we are accustomed to buy here for brass and copper bracelets. All these commodities have value at the castle of Sam Jorze da Mina. The Factor of our prince sells them to Negro traders in exchange for gold. The people of this river are called Huela, and further inland there is another

country which is called Subou [Sobo]; it is very thickly populated. There there is plenty of pepper of the same quality as we have described above. . . . Beyond these there are other Negroes called Jos [Ijaw],? who possess a large territory; they are warlike people and cannibals. The main trade of this country is in slaves and a little ivory. ... At the mouth of the River Real,3 within the creek above men-

tioned, there is a very large village, consisting of about 2,000 souls. Much salt is made here, and in this country are to be found the largest canoes, made of a single trunk, that are known in the whole of the Ethiopia of Guinea; some are so large that they hold 80 men. They travel distances of a hundred leagues and more down the river, and bring many yams, which are very good here and make a tolerable diet, many slaves, cows, goats, and sheep. They call sheep bozy.* All this they sell for salt to the Negroes of the aforesaid village. The people of our ships buy these goods for copper bracelets, which are valued highly here, more than brass ones. With 8 or 10 bracelets one can buy a good slave here. The Negroes of this region go about quite naked; they wear round their necks copper collars as thick as one’s finger. They also carry aguumias (daggers) such as the white Moors of Barbary are accustomed to carry. They are warriors who rarely live at peace.... 1 On

the problem of ‘coris’ see Ryder (1969), p. 37, Mauny

(1958), and

Kalous (1966). 2 For some discussion of these early references to the Sobo [Urhobo], Ijaw, etc., see Ryder (1969), pp. 27-8, and Ikime (1969), pp. 11-12 and 44-8. 3 The Bonny and New Calabar River.

4 See G. I. Jones (1958), pp. 43-4.

SECTION

FOUR

The Sixteenth Century >;

rr

DE BARROS:

rr

oom

or oo

OOOO

OOOO

OO

OO

Benin: Relations with Ife?

Amonc the many things which the King Don Jodo learnt from the ambassador of the King of Beny, and also from Joao Affonso d’Aveiro, of what they had been told by the inhabitants of these regions, was that to the east of Beny at twenty moons’ journey— which according to their account, and the short journeys they make, would be about two hundred and fifty of our leagues—there lived the most powerful monarch of these parts called Ogane.? Among the pagan chiefs of the territories of Beny he was held in as great veneration as is the Supreme Pontiff with us. In accordance with a very ancient custom, the King of Beny, on ascending the throne, sends ambassadors to him with rich gifts to announce that by the decease of his predecessor he has succeeded to the Kingdom of Beny, and to request confirmation. To signify his assent, the Prince Ogane sends the King a staff and a headpiece of shining brass, fashioned like a Spanish helmet, in place of a crown and sceptre. He also sends a cross, likewise of brass, to be worn round the neck,

a holy and religious emblem similar to that worn by the Commendatores of the Order of Saint John. Without

these emblems

the

people do not recognize him as lawful ruler, nor can he call himself truly King. All the time this ambassador is at the court of Ogane he never sees the prince, but only the curtains of silk behind which he sits, for he is regarded as sacred. When the ambassador is leaving, he is shown a foot below the curtains as a sign that the prince is within and agrees to the matters he has raised; this foot they reverence as though it were a sacred relic. As a kind of reward for the hardships of such a journey the ambassador receives a small ‘ From De Barros, Da Asia, First Decade, book iii, in Crone (1937), pp. 126-7 (see above, p. 112). 2 ‘Presumably the Oni ofIfe whom the Edo still call Oghene’, Bradbury (1957), p. 20. But Ife lies north-west, not east, of Benin. Cf. above, p. 122. For a discussion

of the significance of this passage and the historical context of the embassy referred ** to here, see Ryder (1969), pp. 31-2 and 72, and (1965b). For the pectoral cross

see Willett (1967), p. 93.

DE BARROS:

Benin: Relations with Ife

125

cross, similar to that sent to the King, which is thrown round his neck to signify that he is free and exempt from all servitudes, and privileged in his native country, as the Commendatores are with us. I myself knew this, but in order to be able to write it with authority (although the King Don Joao in his time had inquired well into it), when in the year fifteen hundred and forty certain ambassadors of the King of Beny came to this Kingdom, among whom was a man of about seventy years of age who was wearing one of these crosses, I asked him the reason, and he gave an explanation similar to the above. ...

DE PINA* EGHAREVBA:: Portuguese Missionaries?

Benin:

King Esigie and _ the

1. The king of Beny sent as ambassador to the king a Negro, one of his captains, from a harbouring place by the sea, which is called Ugato [Ughoton], because he desired to learn more about these lands, the arrival of people from them in his country being regarded as an unusual novelty. This ambassador was a man of good speech and natural wisdom. Great feasts were held in his honour, and he was shown many of the good things of these kingdoms. He returned to his land in a ship of the king’s, who at his departure made him a gift of rich clothes for himself and his wife: and through him he also sent a rich present to the king of such things as he understood he would greatly prize. Moreover, he sent holy and most catholic advisers with praiseworthy admonitions for the faith to administer a stern rebuke about the heresies and great idolatries and fetishes, which the Negroes practise in that land... . 2. It is said that John Affonso d’Aveiro came to Benin City for the second time during this [Esigie’s] reign. He advised the Oba to become a Christian, and said that Christianity would make his country better. Esigie therefore sent Ohen-okun of Gwatto with him as an Ambassador to the King of Portugal, asking him to send priests who would teach him and his people the faith. In reply the King of Portugal sent Roman Catholic missionaries and many rich presents, such as a copper stool (Erhe), coral beads and a big umbrella, with an entreaty that Esigie should embrace the faith. ... 1 The first of these extracts is from Ruy de Pina, Chronica del Rey Dom Jodo I, ch. 24, translated in Blake (1942), i, pp. 78-9. De Pina (1440-1523) was Secretary to the Royal Court of Portugal, and in 1497 became its chief chronicler: in this capacity he wrote the chronicles of the lives and reigns of Kings Duarte, Affonso V, and John II (Blake, i, p. 42). The second is from Egharevba (1953), pp- 27-31.

126

DE PINA* EGHAREVBA * Benin: King Esigie

John Affonso d’Aveiro with the other missionaries remained in Benin to carry on the mission work, and churches were "built at Ogbelaka, Idunmerie and Akpakpava (Ikpoba Road), the last oe named being the ‘Holy Cross Cathedral’. The residence of the Fathers was situated between the present Roman Catholic School and John Holt’s Store. They had another at Idunmwu-Ebo, and the missionary cemetery was where the Government School now stands.! The work of the Mission made progress and thousands of people were baptized before the death of the great missionary John Affonso d’Aveiro, who was buried with great lamentations by the Oba and the Christians at Benin City. The Missionaries went with Esigie to the Idah war which took place in 1515-16.? This war was caused by the then Oliha who had a beautiful wife named Imaguero. . In 1540 Esigie made a crucifix in brass and sent it to the King of Portugal as a present. Valuable presents were sent to the Oba in return, including a copy of a Roman Catholic Catechism, which was placed in the house of Iwebo. This was unfortunately destroyed when the palace was burnt by Prince Ogbebo during the civil war between Osemwede and Ogbebo early in 1816. Esigie encouraged and improved the brass work which had been introduced to Benin by Oba Oguola. He invented Iwoki-iwe-uki (astrology) and he could speak and read the Portuguese language. During this reign guns were used in Benin for the first time. . . . Tradition says that during this reign Onitsha was founded by people who migrated from Benin. The robber Atakparhakpa lived in Benin at this time, and it was

he who introduced

the chief’s

drum ‘Emighan’ from Idah to Benin. The famous diviner and magician Azagbaghedi also lived during this period. Esigie lived to a great age and died peacefully after a long reign. 1 Ryder is sceptical about these traditions regarding the building of churches in Benin at this period (1969, p. 50). 2 Tdah: the capital of the Igala, on the river Niger, below the confluence with the Benue. For evidence of connections between the art of Igala and Benin, see Armstrong (1955), p. 81. For the difficult chronological and historical questions associated with Esigie and the Idah war, and the problem which is the war referred to in the following extract, see Bradbury (1959a), pp. 279-80. For a discussion of Igala—Benin relations from the Igala end see Boston (1962).

(127)

PIRES + The Portuguese Embassy at the Court of Benin! Most high and mighty king and prince, our lord. May God increase your royal estate. Sir, your highness will be pleased to know how Pero Baroso gave me a letter from your highness, which made me rejoice that your highness should be mindful of so humble a man as me; and now I render account to your highness in regard to the letter which you sent me. Sir, with reference to what you say about my being in very great favour with the king of Benjm [Benin], it is truly so; because the king of Benjm is pleased with what I said in favour of your highness, and he desires to be your very good friend and speaks nothing save what concerns Our Lord and your interest; and so he is very glad, and likewise all his noblemen and his people; and your highness will shortly know about this. The favour which the king of Benjm accords us is due to his love of your highness; and thus he pays us high honour and sets us at table to dine with his son, and no part of his court is hidden from us but all the doors are open. Sir, when these priests arrived in Benjm, the delight of the king of Benjm was so great that I do not know how to describe it, and likewise that of all his people; and he sent for them at once; and they remained with him for one whole year in war. The priests and we reminded him of the embassy of your highness, and he replied to us that he was very satisfied with it; but since he was at war, that he could do nothing until he returned to Benjm, because he needed leisure for such a deep mystery as this; as soon as he was in Benjm, he would fulfil his promise to your highness, and he would so behave as to give great pleasure to your highness and to all your kingdom. So it was that, at the end of one year, in the month of August, the king gave his son and some of his noblemen—the greatest in his kingdom—so that they might become

Christians;

and also he ordered

a church

to be built in

Benjm; and they made them Christians straightway; and also they are teaching them to read, and your highness will be pleased to know that they are very good learners. Moreover, sir, the king of Benjm hopes to finish his war this summer, and we shall return to Benjm; and I shall give your highness an account of everything that happens. Sir, I Duarte Pires, and Joham Sobrynho, a resident 1 This is a letter from Duarte Pires, who was the Portuguese representative, and probably Factor, in Benin, to King Manuel of Portugal, dated 20 October 1516,

published in Blake (1942), i, pp. 123-4. See Introduction, p. 36. For Duarte Pires,

the background to this extract and the other characters referred to in it, see Ryder

(1969), PP. 49-52.

128

PIRES + The Portuguese Embassy

in the island of O Principe, and Grygoryo Lourengo, a black man and formerly the servant of Francysquo Lourengo, all remain in the service of your highness, and we have submitted proposals on your* behalf to the king of Benjm, and we have described to him how your highness is a great lord and how you can make him a great lord. Done in this war, on 20 October 1516. To our lord the king. Duarte Pires.

A PORTUGUESE Divine King?

PILOT: Benin:

The

Funeral

of the

To understand the Negro traffic, one must know that over all the African coast facing west there are various countries and provinces, such as Guinea, the coast of Melegete, the kingdom of Benin, the

kingdom of Manicdgo, six degrees from the equator and towards the south pole. There are many tribes and Negro kings here, and also communities which are partly Mohammedan and partly Heathen. These are constantly making war among themselves. The kings are worshipped by their subjects, who believe that they come from heaven, and speak of them always with great reverence, at a distance and on bended knees. Great ceremony surrounds them, and many of these kings never allow themselves to be seen eating, so as not to destroy the belief of their subjects that they can live without food. They worship the sun, and believe that spirits are immortal, and that after death they go to the sun. Among others, there is in the kingdom of Benin an ancient custom, observed to the present day, that when the king dies, the people all assemble in a large field, in the centre of which is a very deep well, wider at the bottom than at the mouth. They cast the body of the dead king into this well, and all his friends and servants gather round, and those who are judged to have been most dear to and favoured by the king (this includes not a few, as all are anxious for the honour) voluntarily go down to keep him company. When they have done so, the people place a great stone over the mouth of the well, and remain by it day and night. On the second day a few deputies remove the 1 From the account of a ‘Voyage from Lisbona to the island of San Thomé south of the Equator, described by a Portuguese pilot, and sent to his magnificence Count Rimondo della Torre, gentleman of Verona, and translated from Portuguese into Italian’, published in Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1550), and retranslated by Blake (1942), i, pp. 150-1. The account was written in about the year 1540, according to Blake, and ‘the author may have been any one of the scores of ** Portuguese pilots who at this time were familar with the navigation from Lisbon to the island of Sao Thomé’.

PORTUGUESE

PILOT:

Benin: Funeral of the Divine King

129

stone, and ask those below what they know, and if any of them have already gone to serve the king; and the reply is, No. On the third day the same question is asked, and someone then replies that so-and-so, mentioning a name,

has been the first to go, and

so-and-so the second. It is considered highly praiseworthy to be the first, and he is spoken of with the greatest admiration by all the people, and considered happy and blessed. After four or five days all these unfortunate people die. When this is apparent to those above, since none reply to their questions, they inform their new king; who causes a great fire to be lit near the well, where numerous animals are roasted. These are given to the people to eat, and he with great ceremony is declared to be the true king, and takes the oath to govern well.

LEO AFRICANUS:

The Hausa States and Bornu!

The great province of Cano standeth eastward of the river Niger almost five hundred miles. The greatest part of the inhabitants dwelling in villages are some of them herdsmen and others husbandmen. Here groweth abundance of corn, of rice, and of cotton. Also here are many deserts and wilde woodie mountains containing many springs of water. In these woods growe plentie of wilde citrons and lemons, which differ not much in taste from the best of all. In the midst of this province standeth a towne called by the same name, the walles and houses whereof are built for the most part of a kind of chalke. The inhabitants are rich merchants and most civill people. Their King was in times past of great puissance,

and had mighty troupes of horsemen at his command; but he hath since been constrained to pay tribute unto the Kings of Zegzeg and Casena.? Afterwards Ischia the King of Tombuto3 forming 1 From John Pory Africanus, was born at the age

Leo Africanus, The History and Description of Africa done into English by (1896), iii, pp. 291-4. See also Epaulard (1956), ii, pp. 476-81. Leo originally known as al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Zayyati, at Granada between 1489 and 1495; studied at the University of Fez;

of about seventeen accompanied his uncle on a diplomatic mission from the Sultan of Morocco to the court of Muhammad Askia, ruler of the Gao Empire; followed this by a second journey through the Sudan; was captured by a Sicilian corsair in about 1518, and handed over to Pope Leo X, who baptized him with his own names, Johannes Leo de Medicis, in 1520. Leo’s Description of Africa was written some time during the 1520s, and first published in Italian by Ramusio in 1550. For further information about Leo and his work see Epaulard’s introduction (1956) and Bovill (1958), ch. 16, pp. 142-54. See also Introduction pp. 9-10. 2 i.e. Zaria and Katsina. 3 i.e. al-Hajj Muhammad Ture, otherwise known as Muhammad Askia, ruler of

130

LEO AFRICANUS:

The Hausa States and Bornu

friendship with the two foresaid Kings treacherously slew them both. And then he waged warre against the King of Cano, whom after a long siege he tooke, and compelled him to marie one of his daughters, restoring him againe to his kingdom, conditionally that he should pay unto him the third part of all his tribute: and the said King of Tombuto hath some of his courtiers perpetually residing at Cano for the receit. Of the Kingdom of Casena Casena, bordering eastwards upon the kingdom last described, is full of mountains and drie fields, which yield not withstanding great store of barlie and millfeed. The inhabitants are all extremely black, having great noses and blubber lips. They dwell in most forlorne and base cottages; neither shall you find any of their villages containing above three hundred families. And besides their base estate they are mightily oppressed with famine: a King they had in times past whom the aforesaid Ischia slew, since whose death they have all been tributarie unto Ischia.

Of the Kingdom of Kegzeg The south-east part thereof bordereth upon Cano, and is distant from Casena almost an hundred and fifty miles. The inhabitants are rich and have great traffique with other nations. Some part of this kingdom is plaine, and the residue mountainous, but the mountaines are extremely cold, and the plaines intolerably hot. And because they can hardly endure the sharpness of winter, they kindle great fires in the midst of their houses, laying the coles thereof under their high bedsteads, and so betaking themselves to sleepe. * Their fields abounding in water are exceedingly fruitfull, and their houses are built like the houses of the kingdom of Kasena. They had a King of their own in times past, who being sleine by Ischia (as is aforesaid) they have ever since beene subject unto the said Ischia.

Of the kingdom of Zanfara The region of Zanfara, bordering eastward upon Zegzeg; is inhabited by most base and rusticall people. Their fields abound with rice, mill, and cotton. The inhabitants are tall in stature and exthe Gao empire from 1493 to 1528 and founder of the Askia dynasty. For some account of Muhammad Askia see Rouch (1953), pp. 191-9 and Hunwick (1966a), Ppp: 304-10, and (1971), pp. 227—32. Timbuktu was in fact the major cultural and ¢,

intellectual centre within the Empire, of which Gao was the capital. 1 Beds of this type are still in use.

LEO

AFRICANUS:

The Hausa States and Bornu

131

tremely black, their visages are broad, and their dispositions most savage and brutish. Their King also was slaine by Ischia, and themselves made tributarie. .

Of the kingdome of Borno The large province of Borno bordering westward upon the province of Guangara, and from thence extending eastward five hundred miles, is distant from the fountain of Niger almost an hundred and fifty miles, the south part thereof adjoining unto the desert of Seu, ! and the north part unto that desert which lieth towards Barca. The situation of this kingdome is very uneven, some part thereof being mountainous, and the residue plaine. Upon the plaines are sundry villages inhabited by rich merchants, and abounding with corne. The king of this kingdome and all his followers dwell in a certaine large village. The mountaines being inhabited by herdesmen and shepherds do bring forth mill and other graine altogether unknowen to us. The inhabitants in summer goe all naked save their privie members which they cover with a piece of leather; but all winter they are clad in skins, and have beds of skins also. They em~~ brace no religion at all, being neither Christians, Mahumetans, nor Jewes, nor of any profession, but living after a brutish manner, and having wives and children in common: and (as I understood of a certaine merchant that abode a long time among them) they have no proper names among them, but everyone is nicknamed according to his length, his fatness, or some other qualitie. They have a most puissant prince, being lineally descended from the Libyan people, called Bardoa. Horsemen he hath in a continual readiness to the number of three thousand, and a huge number of footmen; for all his subjects are so serviceable and obedient unto him, that whensoever he commandeth them, they will arme themselves and follow him whither he pleases to conduct them. ‘They pay unto him none other tribute but the tithes of all their corne:4 neither hath this king any revenues to maintaine his estate, but only such spoiles as he getteth from his next enemies by often invasions and assaults. He is at perpetuall enmitie with a certaine people inhabiting beyond the desert of Seu; who in times past marching with an huge armie of footmen over the saide desert, wasted a great part of the king1 2 3 Leo 4

‘Set’, in error, in the text. A reference presumably to Sao, or So. i.e. Cyrenaica. i.e. Birni Ngazargamu, the Bornu capital, founded some thirty years before Africanus’s visit. The authorized Koranic ‘tenth’, or ‘ushr.

132

LEO AFRICANUS:

The Hausa States and Bornu

dome of Borno. Whereupon the King of Borno sent for the merchants of Barbary, and willed them to bring him great store of horses: for in this countrey they use to exchange horses for slaves, and to give fifteene, and sometimes twentie slaves for a horse. And by this meanes there were abundance of horses brought, howbeit the merchants were constrained to stay for their slaves till the King returned home conqueror with a great number of captives, and satisfied his creditors for their horses. And oftentimes it falleth out that the merchants must stay three moneths togither, before the King returneth from the warres, but they are all that time maintained at the King’s charges. Sometimes he bringeth not home slaves enough to satisfie the merchants: and otherwhiles they are constrained to awaite there a whole yeare togither; for the King maketh invasions but every yeare once, and that at one set and appointed time of the yeare. Yea I myselfe met with sundrie merchants heere, who despairing of the King’s paiment, bicause they had trusted him an whole yeare, determined never to come thither with horses againe. And yet the King seemeth to be marveilous rich; for his spurres, his bridles, platters, dishes, pots, and other vessels wherein

his meate and drinke are brought to the table, are all of pure golde: yea, and the chaines of his dogs and hounds are of golde also. Howbeit this King is extreamly covetous, for he had much rather pay his debts in slaves than in golde. In this kingdom are great multitudes of Negros and of other people, the names of whom (bicause I tarried here but one moneth) I could not well note. ...

AL-SA‘DI

* MUHAMMAD BELLO - The Rise of Kebbi!

At the end of the year gtg (A.D. 1513-14) he [sc. Muhammad Askia?] made an expedition against Katsina, and he returned in the month of Rabi‘ I of the year g20 (May-June 1514). At the end of the year 921 (1515-16) he made an expedition against al‘Addala,3 sultan of Agades, and returned in 922 (1516-17). At the moment of his return Kuta, chief of Leka and surnamed Kanta, revolted against him. 1 Of these extracts, the first is taken from al-Sa‘di’s Ta’rikh al-Sidan (1900), pp. 129-30 (Arabic text, p. 78), and the second from Muhammad Bello’s Infagq almaisir (1929) pp. 13-15. For al-Sa‘di, see above, p. 117; and for Muhammad Bello, see Introduction, pp. 56—7, and below p. 290. 2 Ruler of Gao: see preceding extract. 3 i.e. Muhammad al-‘Adil, who, with his twin brother, Muhammad Hamad; ¢ ruled as joint sultans of Agades from A.D. 1502/3 to 1516/17: they are said to have

taken it in turn to rule for a week each. Hunwick (1973), p. 38.

AL-SA‘DI * MUHAMMAD

BELLO:

Rise of Kebbi

133

This was the cause of the revolt. Kanta, returning with the King from his expedition against Agades, had expected to receive on his arrival in his country, his share of the spoils which had been obtained. Disappointed in this expectation, he mentioned the matter to the Dendi-Fari,! who replied—‘If you make such a demand to the King, you will find yourself treated as a rebel.’ Kanta made no answer. Later his companions came looking for them, and said— “Where is our share of the spoils? We have not yet seen it. Why do you not demand it?’ Kanta replied—‘I have indeed asked for it, and the Dendi-Fari has assured me that, if I persisted in my demand, I should be treated as a rebel. Now, I would not like to be alone in being treated as a rebel. But, if you support me, I will make the demand.’ ‘Certainly’, they exclaimed, ‘we will be treated as rebels along with you.’ “Thank you’, he answered. ‘That is just the assurance that I wanted from you.’ Thereupon Kanta presented himself to the Dendi-Fari, renewed his demand, and was faced with a refusal. The revolt broke out at once. In a great battle in which the rebels engaged the King’s troops, they held their own against their enemies, and from then on ceased “to recognize the authority of Askia al-Hajj Muhammad. This situation continued until the end of the dynasty of the Songhai rulers, and Kanta maintained his independence. An expedition launched against him in A.H. 923 (1517-18) did not produce the least result. 2. The people of Kebbi are descended according to what we are told from a Katsina mother and a Songhai father. The land of Kebbi is extensive and well watered and has many trees and sand.

The kingdom of Kebbi dates from the time of Kanta. It is said that Kanta was a slave of the Fulani. He rose up and conquered the towns and ruled countries far and near. It is even said that his rule extended over Katsina and Kano and Gobir and Zazzau and the town of Air and half the land of Songhai. He also made war on Bornu. . . . He defeated about seven of their armies and took much spoil from them. Then he retired and was returning to his own home when he reached a place called Dugul in the country of Katsina. Now these people were rebels and Kanta had a severe fight with them in which he was wounded by an arrow. He continued his 1 Governor of the Province of Dendi, who enjoyed a special right of access to Askia. See Rouch (1953), p. 192. For a discussion of Kanta’s revolt in the context of Songhai history, see Rouch (1953), pp. 197-8, and Hunwick (1971),

pp. 222-3.

134

AL-SA‘DI* MUHAMMAD

BELLO:

Rise of Kebbi

journey homewards till he reached Jirwa and there he died. His people carried his body and buried him in his own house at Surame. . Kanta had three garrison towns. The oldest of them was Ghunghu, then Surame, then Leka. No other kingdom in the past history of these countries ever equalled it in power. Their ruins, though it is about a hundred years since their cities were broken, surpass any we have ever seen. !

AL-SA‘DI*: Katsina:

The Gao War2

In the year 959 [A.D. 1551-2], a conflict broke out between Askia Dawud? and Kanta, the Sultan of Leka:+ it was concluded by a Treaty of Peace in 960 [1552-3]. Next year, in 961 [1553-4], Askia Dawud

went

to Kukia, whence

he sent the Hi-Koz,5

‘Ali Dada,

against Katsina at the head of a detachment consisting of twentyfour Songhai horsemen. This detachment encountered, at a place called Karfata, a body of four hundred horsemen belonging to the people of Libta in the country of Katsina. The two forces engaged in a hand-to-hand fight, which was very long and very bloody. The Katsina people killed fifteen of their enemy, among whom was the Hi-Koi, mentioned above, and his brother, Muhammad Benkan Kiima, the son of Faran ‘Umar Komzagho. They took the

remaining nine, all of whom were wounded, prisoner—including among them ‘Alwaz Lil, the son of Faran ‘Umar Komzagho and father of Qasim, Bakr Shila Iji, Muhammad

Dala Iji and others.

The victors took care of the wounded and gave them the greatest attention. They then set them at liberty and sent them back to Askia Dawid, telling them that—‘men of such quality, endowed with such great valour and such courage, did not deserve to die’. The vigour and daring of these warriors so amazed the people of 1 The ruins of Surame are still visible to the west of Sokoto. 2 From al-Sa‘di, Ta’rikh al-Siidan (1900), pp. 168-9 (Arabic, p. 103). See above, (oh agile 3 Askia Dawid, son of Muhammad Askia, and fourth in succession to him, ruled

the Gao Empire from 1549 to 1582. He is described in the Ta’rikh al-Fattash (p. 177) as ‘feared, eloquent, an able administrator, generous, liberal, gay, genuinely fond of jokes’. 4 i.e. Kebbi; see preceding extracts.

5 Hi-Koi, chief of canoes. Since transport along the Niger played an important part in Gao’s campaigns, the Hi-Koi was one of the four chief officers in the Gao military organization, to whom, as in this case, command of land operations might be entrusted. See Rouch (1953), pp. 192 and 206.

AL-SA‘DI: Katsina: The Gao War

135

Katsina that ever afterwards they spoke of them as models to be followed. ...

EDEN + English Merchants in Benin!

\

For when that Windam not satisfied with the gold which he had, and more might have had if he had taried about the Mina, commanding the said Pinteado (for so he tooke upon him) to lead the ships to Benin, being under the Equinoctial line, and an hundred and fifty leagues beyond the Mina, where he looked to have their ships laden with pepper: and being counselled of the said Pinteado, considering the late time of the yeere, for that time to go no further, but to make sale of their wares such as they had for gold, wherby they might have bene great gainers: Windam not assenting hereunto, fell into a sudden rage, reviling the sayd Pinteado, calling him Jew, with other opprobrious words, saying, This whoreson Jew hath promised to bring us to such places as are not, or as he cannot bring us unto: but if he do not, I will cut off his eares and naile them to the maste. Pinteado gave the foresaid counsell to go no further for the safeguard of the men and their lives, which they should put in danger if they came too late, for the Rossia which is their Winter, not for cold, but for smothering heate, with close and cloudie aire and storming weather, of such putrifying qualitie, that it rotted the coates of their backs: or els for comming to soone for the scorching heat of the sunne, which caused them to linger in the way. But of force and not of will brought he the ships before the river of Benin, where riding at an Anker, they sent their pinnas up into the river 50 or 60 leagues, from whence certaine of the marchants with captaine Pinteado, Francisco a Portugale, Nicholas Lambart gentleman, and other marchants were conducted to the court where the king remained, ten leagues from the river side, whither when they came, they were brought with a great company to the presence of the king, who being a blacke Moore (although not 1 From The Voyage of M. Thomas Windam to Guinea and the kingdom of Benin, Anno

1553, in Hakluyt (1904), vi, pp. 148-50 (iv, pp. 41~3, in the Everyman Edition), This account is by Richard Eden (1521? to 1576), taken from his Decades of the New World (1555). Blake (1942, ii, pp. 254-5) says that ‘as far as is known’, Eden ‘did not visit West Africa in person. His records of the voyages of Windham and Lok to Guinea were based upon what he learned directly or indirectly from others who had taken part in them.’ Eden’s main work was the collection and translation of travel literature, but he also had experience as a civil servant (private secretary to Sir W. Cecil in 1553), and achieved a reputation as a man of science (DVB). On this expedition see Tong (1957), pp. 221-8, and Ryder (1969), pp. 76-8.

136

EDEN + English Merchants in Benin

so blacke as the rest) sate in a great huge hall, long and wide, the wals made of earth without windowes, the roofe of thin boords,

open in sundry places, like unto lovers! to let in the aire. . And here to speake of the great reverence they give to their king, it is such, that if we would give as much to our Savior Christ, we should remoove from our heads many plagues which we daily

deserve for our contempt and impietie. So it is therfore, that when his noble men

are in his presence,

they never looke him in the face, but sit cowring, as we upon our knees, so they upon their buttocks, with their elbowes upon their knees, and their hands before their faces, not looking up until the king command them. And when they are comming toward the king, as far as they do see him, they do shew such reverence, sitting on the ground with their faces covered as before. Likewise when they depart from him, they turn not their backs toward him but goe creeping backward with like reverence. And now to speake somewhat of the communication that was between the king and our men, you shall first understand that he himselfe could speake the Portugall tongue, which he had learned of a child.? Therefore after he had commanded our men to stand up, and demanded of them the cause of their comming into that countrey, they answered by Pinteado, that they were marchants traveiling into those parties for the commodities of his countrey, for exchange of wares which they had brought from their countries, being such as should be no lesse commodious for him and his people. The king then having of old lying in a certaine store-house 30 or 40 kintals of Pepper (every kintall being an hundred weight) willed them to looke upon the same, and againe to bring him a sight of such merchandizes as they had brought with them. And thereupon sent with the captaine and the marchants certaine of his men to conduct them to the waters side, with other to bring the ware from the pinnas to the court. Who when they were returned and the wares seen, the king grew to this ende with the merchants to provide in go dayes the lading of al their ships with pepper. And in case their merchandizes would not extend to the value of so much pepper, he promised to credite them to their next returne, and thereupon sent the country round about to gather pepper, causing 1 OED defines ‘lovers’ or ‘louvers’ as an arrangement of sloping boards, laths or slips of glass overlapping each other, so as to admit air, but exclude rain. 2 “By Egharevba’s reckoning the Oba in question was Orhogbua. He may have been among the pupils of Afonso Anes [an Edo convert and teacher]’, Ryder

(1969), p- 77, n. 2.

EDEN - English Merchants in Benin

137

the same to be brought to the court: So that within the space of 30 dayes they had gathered fourescore tunne! of pepper. In the meane season our men partly having no rule of themselves, but eating without measure of the fruits of the countrey, and drinking the wine of the Palme trees that droppeth in the night from the cut of the branches of the same, and in such extreme heate running continually into the water, not used before to such sudden and vehement alterations (then the which nothing is more dangerous) were thereby brought into swellings and agues: insomuch that the later time of the yeere comming on, caused them to die sometimes three and sometimes 4 or 5 ina day....

IBN FARTUWA: Mai Idris Aloéma: Warfare

\

Bornu

Methods

of

In the building of these stockades,3 which the experienced thought and sound prudence of our Sultan had established, there was great advantage and usefulness. Firstly in that it obviated the need of tying up animals, so that they could be allowed to roam about in the midst of the camp. The horses and other animals also were unable to stray away. Then again it prevented thieves from entering for infamous and evil purposes, for they were frustrated and turned back. Again it prevented any one from leaving the camp on errands of immorality, debauch or other foolishness. Again when the enemy wished to force an entrance upon us either by treachery or open fighting he was obliged to stand up and occupy himself with the defences before he reached us. If we had taken many captives and much booty and put them inside, we could sleep restfully and the night hours were safe: also if the male or female slaves wished to run away from the camp, they were afraid to go out. ..: Now our enemies were divided into three groups: the first, those who snatched up by way of plunder whatever they could lay hands upon, living or dead, animals or stores, where and whenever they t Probably a measure of capacity, not weight: = cask, ibid., p. 78, n. 2. 2 From Ahmad ibn Fartuwa, The Kanem Wars in Palmer (1928), i, pp. 49, 52-3, and 55-6. These extracts are taken from Ibn Fartuwa’s account of Idris Al6éma’s fifth expedition against the Bulala, a people inhabiting the region to the east of Lake Chad, part of the former state of Kanem, with whose royal family Idris was related through his mother. Palmer refers the expedition to the year 1575, which seems approximately right; see Hunwick (1973), pp. 50-1. For a discussion of these military operations, and the methods employed, see Urvoy

(1949), PP. 75-9-

;

te

3 The Arabic word for a stockade is shawkiyya, lit. ‘thorn-fence’.

138

IBN FARTUWA:

Mai Idris Aléma: Warfare

could lay hands on them and then returned to the place from which they had set out; the second, those who went into battle, following the only drum hich was left to them; the third, who wandered at random in the camp until death overtook them, wandering aimlessly without the slightest idea in which direction to go. Now our people, the people of Bornu, were similarly divided into three sections: the first group warriors and fighters like our Sultan and these at that time were few; the second, those who remained behind the palisades and did not venture into battle but remained hidden from view as if cloaked in the veil of God: among these were the Koyam;! the third group were the type of people who wander about the inside and outside of a camp and are unskilled in the arts of

war. Our Sultan al-Hajj Idris ibn ‘Ali (to whom may God give a mighty victory) after returning from without the camp to the interior and after having driven the enemy back towards their own country, came upon the drummers in charge of the enemy’s sole surviving drum in the middle of his camp. All his horses were at the last gasp, weak from fatigue, and in the lather of perspiration from the heavy day’s work. He was quite nonplussed as to how to deal with this situation; yet with his innate sense he asked what would be the best course to adopt to drive out the enemy from the camp, without allowing them to take away the loot they had acquired. He inquired whether there was anyone of sufficient courage to deprive them of their booty: but was met with a blank response. But for the exhaustion of his horse, he would have made no appeal: he himself would have ventured forth on the errand. Had only his chiefs and governors and body-guard commanders shown the same energy and resource on that night the enemy would have given no further trouble. This was the upshot of the fighting during day-light on Monday, but the pen had written what was to be. . When the Sultan reached the hill called Milmila, the enemy surged forward towards it and the two armies met; our camel corps consisting of Barbars and Koyam did not dismount in spite of the enemy’s furious onset in their direction. As for the shield-bearers who had gone to the water with the Wazir, they did not rejoin the Sultan at this time. Consequently when the attack matured, there was a gap in the ranks and the army was not drawn up in its usual forma' Tributaries of the Kanuri, camel pastoralists, inhabiting the region west of** Chad, who provided the camel corps (see below, p. 143, and Urvoy (1949), p- 78).

IBN FARTUWA~: Mai Idris Alima: Warfare

139

tion. The only cavalry and riflemen! and shield-bearers in front of the Sultan were a very small party. At that moment the enemy attacked us fiercely and sent a shock through our entire army, piercing our ranks as if they had been sparks of flame or a swarm of locusts, armed with their cutting weapons and shields, fully accoutred and driven on from behind by their cavalry, spreading death with whatever weapons were in their hands, killing without moderation or cessation. At that moment the small body who were in front of the Sultan retreated, and swept by him rejoicing to be clear of the battle, but our people were involved in a heavy engagement. Our Sultan, al-H4jj Idris ibn ‘Ali, Amir al-Mu’minin (the leader of the Muslims, the visitor to the two holy precincts,? the descendant of those of noble blood, on whom be the honour of God in both worlds and His blessing upon His offspring until all eternity by the grace of our Lord and master Muhammad

the Elect and his descendants, upon whom

be the mercy of God) did not budge from the place where he had stood from the first, but remained immovable like a deep-seated mountain, patient and resolute, trusting in God and leaning upon Him, invoking Him and turning humbly towards Him. He remained firm on his grey charger grasping with his blessed hand his drawn sword, naked and sharp. When his horse made a movement to regain his place on account of the retreat of all the people on both sides, he reined him back and made him face the enemy. There he stood unshakeable until the Lord his God gave him the spacious delight of complete victory according to what He had written on His Tablets. One of the most wonderful things brought about by Almighty God was His lavishing help and assistance upon the Sultan on this battle field by His grace and generosity and loving kindness. Truly He distinguishes him whom He will with what He will and in His hand are ease and pain. I heard and saw— not I alone, but also my learned friend the master of jurisprudence Hajj ‘Umar, chief of Faya—as the proof of victory and a sign of truth, two mighty winds blowing from the west towards the east so that when they reached the interspace between our Sultan and the enemy, the latter turned and fled as one man in headlong retreat. Then our Sultan and his commanders and governors and bodyguards and chiefs followed as far as prudence dictated, hewing down the enemy with swords and spears, killing them and transfixing them until the sun sank down in the sky. The number of slain is 1 See below, p. 141, n. 4. 2 Mecca and Medina.

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unknown except to God Almighty and even had those of the mightiest intellect among mortal men put forth every endeavour to compute the number, it would have been entirely beyond their® POWER.) ons

IBN FARTUWA : Diplomacy, Innovation, and Reform! The Sultan was an accomplished diplomatist and was conversant with correct procedure and methods of negotiation. God most high had endowed him with knowledge. As has been said before in this book: There is no forbidding what God has given, Nor can that be given which God has forbidden.

This maxim Idris, with the wise political instinct with which, as we have noted, he was endowed, followed in sending an embassy with a note to the Sultan of the Bulala and his captains and his amirs and his chiefs. The ambassador was Fuski ibn Kilili of the tribe of Kayi. - The note ran as follows: If my note reaches you in safety, and you read it at leisure, know that my desire is that you should send to me an upright and sensible man to hear what I have to say about the true reason of our coming here, and return to you.

Such was the tenor of our Sultan’s letter to the Bulala. When it reached them, and they had read the contents in the presence of their people, they became very angry and positively refused to send anyone. They sent a letter written by Hajj ibn Dili, but sent no representative though they had plenty of sensible

men to send to us even as we had sent to them. The contents of their letter were to the effect that they could not understand our action, in that ‘you have burnt our houses on your way, and done evil in our land. You have done it and that is all’. That is what they said. When we saw their letter we were utterly astonished, and saw that their action was that of men puffed up with pride, and that none would return answer like this save people 1 All these three extracts are taken from the works of Ahmad ibn Fartuwa: the first from The Kanem Wars (see the foregoing extract), p. 22; and the second and third from his History of the First Twelve Years of the Reign of Mai Idris Alooma, trans- «« lated and edited by Palmer (1926), pp. 11-12 and 33-4. For the Bulala see

above, p. 137, n. 2.

IBN FARTUWA * Diplomacy, Innovation, and Reform

I4I

confident in their power and strength over all. Had matters been as they thought and argued and supposed, we should have remained at home in our country. Alas, alas, the matter was not as they thought. ... So he made the pilgrimage and visited Tayba' with delight, Tayba of the Prophet, the chosen one (upon whom be peace and the blessing of God), the unique, the victorious over the vicissitudes of day and night. He was enriched by visiting the tomb of the pious Sah4aba,? the chosen, the perfect ones (may the Lord be favourable and beneficent to them), and he bought in the noble city a house and date grove, and settled there some slaves, yearning after a plenteous reward from the Great Master. Then he prepared to return to the kingdom of Bornu. When he reached the land called Barak; he killed all the inhabitants who were warriors. They were strong but after this became weak; they became conquered, where formerly they had been conquerors. Among the benefits which God (Most High) of His bounty and beneficence, generosity, and constancy conferred upon the Sultan was the acquisition of Turkish musketeers and numerous household slaves who became skilled in firing muskets.+ Hence the Sultan was able to kill the people of Amsaka‘’ with muskets, and there was no need for other weapons,

so that God

gave him a great victory by reason of his superiority in arms. Among the most surprising of his acts was the stand he took against obscenity and adultery, so that no such thing took place openly in his time. Formerly the people had been indifferent to such offences, committed openly or secretly by day or night. In fact he was a power among his people and from him came their strength. 1 Tayba, Medina. 2 al-Sahaba, the Companions of the Prophet. 3 Palmer identifies this with Wadi Barak, on the Borku-Kanem road, between

N‘galaka and Mao, east of Chad (Ibn Fartuwa, Idris Alooma, p. 67). 4 This much discussed passage has to be read in the context of Bornu—Ottoman

relations at this period (see Introduction p. 34, below p. 145, and Martin (1969), pp. 24-6, and (1972)). The term used here is bunduq, the general word for handguns. We do not know the precise type of handgun which had reached Bornu at this time, though Hunwick supposes that they were some kind of matchlock (1971,

p- 211, n. 29). It would seem that handguns were first used by the Ottomans c. 1465 (or earlier) and by the Mamluks in Egypt c. 1490. On this whole subject, and particularly on the use of black slaves as arquebusiers in Mamlik Egypt, see Ayalon (1956). See also Fisher and Rowland (1971). 5 Amsaka, south-west of Lake Chad.

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IBN FARTUWA ° Diplomacy, Innovation, and Reform

So he wiped away the disgrace, and the face of the age was blank with astonishment. He cleared away and reformed as far as*he could the known wrong-doing. & To God belong secret things, and in His hands is direction, and prevention, and prohibition, and sanction. Owing to the Mai’s noble precepts all the people had recourse to the sacred Shari‘a,! putting aside worldly intrigue in their disputes and affairs, big or little. From all we have heard, formerly most of the disputes were settled by the chiefs, not by the ‘ulama’. . The Sultan was intent on the clear path laid down by the Qur’an and Sunna2 and the words of the wise, in all his affairs and actions.

He never went outside the sanctions of these three guides to conduct, or shunned or avoided their obligations. All his people knew that such was his character and no chronicler of his age would doubt it. As an indication of his excellent qualities, is the innovation he made in building a mosque of clay. Formerly the mosque was of thatch, but he planned and saw that there was a better and more correct form. He destroyed all the old mosques in the capital of Bornu, and built new ones of clay, knowing how to hasten in the cause of the Faith, as it is laid down in the Qur’an and the Hadith. He sought nothing thereby but a heavenly reward, from the mighty Lord. Again, he devised boats to help the Muslims and make it easy to cross the river in a short time and in comfort. In ancient days a boat was on the model of the hollowed-out drinking troughs, with which shepherds are wont to water their flocks and herds—a contrivance called in the Bornu language Gagara. Ifa Sultan wanted to cross the river with his army, it took him two days to do so or three days, even though the ferry men and polers did their best to get them over with all speed. But when the age of our Sultan Hajj Idris came, he discarded these Gagara and made big boats, so that the people crossed the river rapidly and were carried in large numbers in one boat. 4 Thus the Sultan arranged and planned for the benefit of the camels and horses and baggage of his army so as to lighten the 1 Shari‘a, literally the road to the watering place, the clear path to be followed, and thus the canon law of Islam, or rather the whole body of prescriptions regulating a Muslim’s relations with God and with his fellow men. 2 Literally, custom; hence ‘the theory and practice of the catholic Muslim community’ (SEI, pp. 52-3). 3 On Ngazargamu mosques see John Lavers (1971b).

4 On the significance of this improvement see R. S. Smith (1970), p. 529.

IBN FARTUWA ° Diplomacy, Innovation, and Reform

143

trouble of the march. Formerly most of the transport of the army was droves of oxen and ponies and mules and donkeys. No one then had many camels. Hence travelling in the waterless places was difficult for them. But the Sultan Hajj Idris ordered his amirs and captains and chiefs and all who were able to buy camels, to make easy travelling in his reign, since it was trying and difficult as has been related. So ingenious, clever, masterful, and able was he. Had it not been for these arrangement, the march to Agram and the country of Dirku! had not been easy for the amirs. In many other ways his ability was wonderful. We have mentioned a very little, passing over much in the fear of being lengthy and verbose. But the sensible reader will understand that beyond the stream there is a big sea.

WELSH

- Benin: Food, Drink, and Friendship?

The commodities that we carried in this voyage were cloth both linnen and wollen, yron worke of sundry sorts, Manillios or bracelets of copper, glasse beades, and corrall. The commodities that we brought home were pepper and Elephants teeth, oyle of palme, cloth made of Cotton wooll very curiously woven, and cloth made of the barke of palme trees. Their money is pretie white shels, for golde and silver we saw none.? They have also great store of cotton growing: their bread is a kind of roots, they call it.Inamia [yam], and when it is well sodden I would leave our bread to eat of it, it is pleasant in eating, and light of digestion, the roote thereof is as bigge as a mans arme. Our men upon fish-dayes had rather eate the rootes with oyle and vineger, then to eate good stockfish. There are great store of palme trees, out of the which they gather great store of wine, which wine is white and very pleasant, and we should buy two gallons of it for 20 shels. They have good store of sope, and it smelleth like beaten 1 In the Kuwwar oasis. 2 From A voyage to Benin beyond the countrey of Guinea made by Master James Welsh, who set foorth in the yeere 1588, in Hakluyt (1904), vi, pp. 456-8 (Everyman Edition, iv, p. 297). Chief Egharevba (1953, p. 33), says that James Welsh, John Bird, Newton, and other Englishmen visited Benin during the reign of the Oba Ehangbuda, who was ‘a noted magician. . . . Tradition says that he possessed a certain glass through which he could see many things which were invisible to the human eye. In reality this was a telescope presented to the Oba by his European friend, James Welsh, in 1590.’ For Welsh’s two Benin voyages (1588 and 1590) and their historical context, see Ryder (1969), pp. 81-4.

3 For cowrie currency in Benin see above, p. 121, n. 4.

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WELSH ° Benin: Food, Drink, Friendship

violets. Also many pretie fine mats and baskets that they make, and spoones of Elephants teeth very curiously wrought with divers proportions of foules and beasts made upon them.! There is upon the coast wonderfull great lightning and thunder, in so much as I never hard the like in no Countrey, for it would make the decke or hatches

tremble

under

our

feete, and

before

we

were

well

acquainted with it, we were fearefull, but God be thanked we had no harme. The people are very gentle and loving, and they goe naked both men and women untill they be married, and then they goe covered from the middle downe to the knees. They would bring our men earthen pottes of the quantitie of two gallons, full of hony and hony combes for 100 shelles. They would also bring great store of Oranges and Plantans which is a fruit that groweth upon a tree, and is very like unto a Cucumber but very pleasant in eating. It hath pleased God of his merceifull goodnesse to give me the knowledge how to preserve fresh water with little cost, which did serve us sixe moneths at the sea, and when we came into Plimmouth

it

was much wondered at, of the principal men of the towne, who said that there was not sweeter water in any spring in Plimmouth. Thus doth God provide for his creatures, unto whom be praise now and for evermore, Amen.

GIOVANNI

D’ANANIA:: Bornu and the Turkish Trade2

Then comes Borno on the banks of the River Negro (where there is a great lake, caused by aforesaid river), a very great city having much commerce. It has its own king... . He is attended with a great group of eunuchs, and certain young girls, who are made sterile by certain potions, so that in our speech they would be called ‘female mules’. The ancient Lydians did the same thing: Omphale became angry over the matter and made a bloody dispute over it. In writing to foreign princes, they use the Arabic language, as I am informed by Signor Giovanni di Vesti, a most honourable person. Among the Turks, where he was the slave of a great count, he himself saw a letter which he [the Mai of Bornu] * For Benin as a producer of ivory spoons at this period see Ryder (1964), p. 365. 2 From Giovanni Lorenzo d’Anania, L’Universale fabbrica del Mondo overo Cosmografia (1582), Trattaro Terzo, pp. 349-50. The greater part of this extract is quoted by Martin (1969), pp. 25-6, n. 34. D’Anania (c. 1545~-c. 1608) was a Calabrian scholar who combined geographical with demonological interests, and, in addition to his Cosmograjia (first published in Naples in 1573), composed two, major works, De Natura Daemonum and De Natura Angelorum (Dizionario Biografico

degli Italiani, iii, p. 191).

GIOVANNI

D’ANANIA =: Bornu and the Turkish Trade

145

wrote to the Bassa [Pasha] of Tripoli, with much eloquence and very great art. This prince is so powerful, that he has several times

put into the field 100,000 men against the King of Cabi [Kebbi]. Because of his power, the Negroes deem him to be an emperor. They also have a great multitude of horses, which the Arabs bring in from their countries, selling them for at least 700 or 1000 scudi each. These do not live long, for, when the sun enters the Sign of the Lion, many die each year from the extreme heat. The men here are for the most part so coarse that they do not use proper names, but give themselves nicknames according to their bodily peculiarities, like the ancient Atlas [giants], like ‘Squinty’, ‘the Limper’, ‘the Tall One’, ‘the Short One’. Many Turks go there to seek their fortunes, and also many Moors of Barbary, who are their learned men, and where, being very few, they are extremely well paid. This is the case amongst all of these Negroes who are Mahometans. And from there set out each year merchants who carry such quantities of the best Cordovan [leather] that it is accounted a great thing in the Fizzan [sic], whence they return with infinite numbers of horses for their country, accompanying the caravans of Negro merchants.

MURAD

111°

A Letter to Mai Idris!

This is our noble, sublime and Sultan-like letter, our exalted, high

and Khagan-like message—may God make effective its stipulations and facilitate its aims, for the good of the inhabitants of east and west! We have issued it and dispatched it, containing the favour of a salutation, the fragrance of whose mention permeates the lands, and enclosing the bestowal of a greeting, perfuming the regions by the wafting of its odours, to the honourable person of Amir’s rank, the most just, most great, most perfect and noble, most magnificent and orthodox, the one aided by God, the patron of the Ghazis 1 These passages are taken from the long Arabic version of a letter from the Ottoman Sultan, Murad III (reigned 1574-1595), to Mai Idris Aloma of Bornu, published by Martin (1972). This document, which would appear to be a copy of the diplomatic note actually dispatched to Mai Idris, is preserved in the series of registers known as Miihimme Defterleri at the Basvekdlet Arsivi (‘Prime Minister’s Archives’) at the former Sublime Porte in Istanbul. The date of dispatch is noted as 5 Rabi ‘II, 985 (23 June 1577). This date is important for the chronology of Mai Idris’s reign and suggests, with other evidence, that Palmer’s proposed date for his accession (1570) is probably approximately correct, while Urvoy’s dating is certainly too late (Hunwick (1973)). This correspondence is also referred to by the Turkish historian, Ilter (1937) and discussed by Martin (1969, pp. 22-6).

146

MURAD

111: A Letter to Maz Idris

among the true believers, the supporter of the brave among the adherents of Divine Unity (Muwahhidin), he who is surrounded by various sorts of affectionate love, the possessor of sovereignty ard dedication to the service of God, the governor (Hakim) of the wilaya of Bornu at the present time, MALIK IDRIs—may God prolong his happiness and make his intention successful! . . . Now, we have received your letter and opened it with our right hand and inspected its jewels of expression, which excel costly pearls in value. We have understood all that is in it and are acquainted with everything which it contains, a demonstration of the sincerity of your innermost thoughts towards our resplendent self, and your pride in the recital of the accounts of sincere friendship between the rulers of these two wilayas of ours, following the paths of the pleasure of our hearts, likewise your hastening to take action at our command. Furthermore, we are gratified by the frequent coming and going of caravans and the riding camels of merchants from the barren lands and empty deserts, and all visitors who pass back and forth in the open spaces, in safety and security of mind, as they wish, or pass from one city to another within our welldefended realm of broad expanse, so hindering the hand of protection from departing, and the claw of the hand of rebellion from returning, constructing the edifice of loyal friendship, and reinforcing the pillars of sincere amity. We have grasped fully the other requests, and the benefits of the detailed information, which we now possess, in quality and quantity... . And if you have constantly been in the domain of Our Exalted Munificence, and stand on the foot of fidelity, then we will agree and set up a means for obtaining the requests mentioned, in accordance with what is expected, except that for which your aforementioned messenger expressed a desire orally, the cession of the fortress of Q. ran(?),! one of the citadels of Our Well-Guarded Realm, in the course of his interview. For it has never been one of the customs of our Noble Fathers, nor the habits of Our Mighty Ancestors—May God the Omniscient Monarch illuminate their

proofs until the Day of Judgement!—to cede such fortresses or other places as they possessed, or even a foot’s breadth of their lands and estates. And if this letter of ours reaches you, it will be your business to give it the best of receptions, and if well-being is to be brought about by its content, then the proper performance of your obligat Martin discusses the problem of this unidentified fortress and its location, presumably somewhere on the frontier of Fezzan and Bornu (1972, p. 471).

MURAD

111:

A Letter to Mai Idris

147

tions will rest on the feet and legs of your endeavour, in controlling the regions under your government, and your defence of them with the greatest energy. You must deal favourably with your subjects, using a discreet policy, and attract their hearts to you by love. You should be on intimate terms with the amirs holding the highest power, and the remainder of the representatives (nuwwdab) of the all-conquering Sultanate, and the servitors of Our High and Brilliant Threshold who reside in your vicinity, and who are established in proximity to your regions... . If enemies should take control of your wilaya, and you seek aid from them [the amirs and nuwwdab] or vice-versa, it will be your duty and theirs to help with troops, materials of war, and supplies, in such a way that it will be realized by those living far and near, and by every obedient or rebellious person, that the two states are protected on the sides and flanks from the evils of dissention and difference, and are flourishing inwardly and outwardly, through perfect harmony and concord, owing to a high degree of unity of hearts, as if they were a single state, and as if the word of both were joined together at the same time by common interest, - since that is a means for the improvement of high and low, and a cause for the elevation of the word of Islam... .

AL-FISHTALI + A Bornu Embassy to Morocco! During the last days of the year ggo [ended 24 January 1583] there came to the Commander of the Faithful, may God support him, the

envoy of the ruler of the kingdom of Bornu,? who is one of the kings of the Sudan. He brought with him gifts of the type which it is their custom to bring, of male and female slaves of different ages and of these there was a large number totalling over two hundred. ... Among the objects of the letter which his sultan sent with him

was to seek support from the Commander of the Faithful, consisting of military units and equipment of hand-guns (bunduq) and 1 From al-Fishtali, Mandhil al-safa’ fi akhbar mulik al-shurafa’ (1964), pp. 61-3. Al-Fishtali (1549-1621) was the wazir and Secretary of Mulay Ahmad al-Mansir al-Dhahabi, the Sa‘dian sultan of Morocco referred to in this extract, who reigned from 1578 to 1603 (see below, p. 149 and Julien (1970), pp. 228-36). Al-Fishtali’s history of the Sa‘dian sultans, which ran to eight volumes or more, is lost except for yolume two which remains in manuscript. The abridgement of this volume, from which the extract is taken, is by an unknown hand. These events are also described in al-NAsiri, Kitab al-Istiqsa’, pp. 104-11. 2 i.e. Mai Idris Alma: for the background to these negotiations between Idris Aléma and Mulay Ahmad al-Mansir see Hunwick (1971), pp. 211-12, Hodgkin (1974), pp. 11-18, and Introduction, pp. 34-5.

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AL-FISHTALI: A Bornu Embassy to Morocco

cannons in order to wage the jihdd—so they claimed—against the unbelievers who border them on the extremity of the Sudan. . It so happened that when he showed his letter to the Commander of the Faithful there was a clear discrepancy between what he had said and what was in the letter... . Before this envoy arrived the Commander of the Faithful had resolved to prepare troops that year to pacify the lands of Tuwat and Tigtrarin [oasis of Gurara], hoping to make them a stirrup to the opening up of the lands of the Sudan and the conquest of their kingdoms. . . . He therefore took advantage of the conflict between the speech of the envoy and the letter and built upon it, using it as a pretext against the ruler of Bornu and sent back his envoy to him, who took with him for the ruler a gift of thoroughbred horses and magnificent robes of honour. When the envoy reached his sultan and presented the excuse to him, he disdained the gift and then clearly explained what he desired and sought and sent the envoy back again. The envoy presented himself to the Commander of the Faithful at the court of Marrakush and cleared up the ambiguity and explained the aim. At this the Commander of the Faithful, may God support him, propounded to them the Word of Truth and required them to pay allegiance to him and enter into obedience to him and submit to his mission. He announced to them through the tongue of the sunna, which gives utterance to the revealed Book, that the duty of jzhdd which they intended to accomplish and for which they had shown inclination and desire would not be completed for them nor would its execution be written down to their account so long as they did not support themselves in this matter with permission from the ‘Imam of the Community’, which noble epithet God had, in this age, exclusively given to the Commander of the Faithful, to whom He had given charge of defending the integrity of Islam and to whom He had given superiority over all other princes and potentates on earth by virtue of his Quraishite descent which is a sine qua non of caliphal authority, according to the consensus of the scholars of Islam and the learned imams of the sunna. . . . He enjoined them to propagate his mission! in their lands and to undertake jihdd against their unbelieving enemies with his authority and made the question of military aid dependent upon their fulfilling this condition and keeping their bond with him. The envoy agreed to this on behalf of his sultan. Then he bade 1 Arabic

da‘wa,

meaning

al-Mansir’s

Community’ to propagate Islam.

mission

as Caliph

and

‘Imam

of the rf

AL-FISHTALI* A Bornu Embassy to Morocco

149

farewell and departed. It was not long before his sultan sent him back a third time bearing gifts and the letter. He crossed the desert and reached Tigirarin where his fate overtook him and he fell sick and died. The authorities in Tigtrarin sent on the gift with the envoy’s party who had come from his sultan’s abode and they arrived at the court of Marrakush in the last days of the year ggt [ended 13 January 1584]. When the envoy had returned for the second time he had carried with him to his country a copy of the bai‘a! which he [the Commander of the Faithful] had concluded with them, having requested it should be written out to take with him for fear that some of its stipulations might be omitted. ... The baz‘a was read over to them and they understood its meaning and assented to it as it stood, giving allegiance and entering into obedience and adherence to the body of the Community.

AL-MANSUR:

Moroccan Threats to Kebbi2

To the ruler of the Kebbi kingdom within the borders of our -Sudanese dominions, Dawid Kanta—may God inspire you with right guidance and take you by the forelock to that which you will find praiseworthy today, tomorrow, and yesterday. Peace be upon you and the mercy of God and His blessings. . . . This letter of ours comes to you from our Marrakush residence— may God defend it—and our responsibility for the Community obliges us, by God’s might, to establish our allies under the shade of security and well-being, and to dispatch upon our wretched enemies clouds of distress and adversity, through the might and power of God. You are aware that your neighbour Askia, who has been crushed by our sharp swords, though we previously had no desire for his lands and our swords were sleeping in regard to him until we wrote to him concerning one of the important utilities of the Muslims.3 1 Bai‘a, oath of allegiance to al-Mansir as Caliph. (Al-Nasiri quotes the text of the bai‘a in full.) 2 Letter from al-Mansir, sultan of Morocco (see above, p. 147) to Kanta Dawid, ruler of Kebbi. The Arabic text is published in a collection of letters from

the Sa‘dian period, edited from a single manuscript by ‘Abdullah Ganin, (1954). The text of this letter appears on pp. 127-32. The English translation and commentary are taken from Hunwick (1971b). For Kanta Dawid (c. 1593-1616) see Hunwick (1971b) and (1973), p. 48, and Kirk-Greene (1966), pp. 253-5. 3 A reference to the Taghaza salt mines, formerly in dispute between Songhay

and Morocco.

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AL-MANSUR + Moroccan Threats to Kebbi

Then we charged him with obedience to us which God has made incumbent upon the Community. When he did not respond concerning the utility about which we wrote to him, nor over the oath

of obedience with which we charged him, and the word proved true of him,! the mightiest flood of our soldiers, victorious through God, poured upon him. And you are aware of what came to pass in this affair from our vanguard which ground him to dust, and from our swords which mowed him down so that no trace or sign remained of him and God despoiled him at our hands and effaced his tracks and caused our swords to possess his land and his dwellings—to God belongs the favour. And we observe that you have been negligent over this matter and have undertaken acts which will lead to what is most calamitous and bitter. This is on account of your ignoring the oath of obedience which God has made binding upon you and by giving asylum to the

band of Songhay which our swords spared and of which—by God’s might—nothing shall remain standing until the Hour of Judgement. Information has reached us that you are giving them protection, aiding them and reinforcing them with cavalry, seeking to oppose what God has predestined for those whom He has despoiled and for whom He has decreed perdition and woe. Furthermore you are preventing those who come from kingdoms which lie beyond you, such as the people of Kano and Katsina and those around

them, who desire to enter into obedience to us so that they may take their place in the victorious party of God, repulsing them and blocking their way from the Path which brings success. And although Almighty God through His aid has given us power over the present punishment of all those who deviate from the path of guidance and do not pursue a path of upright conduct, we must of necessity run the course of fair warning in accordance with the paths of the Sunna and in accordance with the words of Him who is Exalted, ‘Summon to the path of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation.’? And we summon you first of all to obedience and to enter into the bond of the Community. Although if you are holding fast to the tenets of Islam you will not be unaware of the obligatory obedience to our prophetic Imamate which God has imposed upon you and upon the petty states of the Sadan, in accordance with the Qur’4n and the Sunna and the consensus of the learned imams. ‘An echo of a phrase used several times in the Qur’an in describing those nations or persons who failed to heed the warnings and were overtaken by God’s wrath and destruction. 2 Qur’an, ch. 16, v. 125.

AL-MANSUR:*: Moroccan Threats to Kebbi

151

Next we command you to cut off the rebellious Songhay band by arresting any of them who are in your territory and by enabling the commanders of our kingdom to have power over them at your hand. Then by closing the door of acceptance in the face of any of them who come to you and to banish such persons utterly so that none takes refuge with you, nor does help reach them through you. Next, to hand over to us the whole of the yearly quota of boats which you used to give to Askia and to continue to perform their necessary duties.‘ For you did not disdain to give them to Askia who is so much your equal and peer that he has no superiority over you in any respect, except through conquest; how then should you not give them to the zmdm, obedience to whom God has imposed upon you and those Sudanese kingdoms which lie beyond you throughout the whole length and breadth—that zmém whom God has moulded from the mine of prophethood which has superiority and perfect nobility over one and all. To sum up: if you respond to the oath of obedience and to its conditions—to hand over to the governors of our Sudanese dominion those Songhay who are with you, and to expel into the empty lands . all those of them who come to your country, and you keep on providing the boats which you used to give to Askia, and you allow free passage to all the people of the kingdoms which lie beyond you who come to enter into obedience to us—which is an obligatory duty both for them and for you, then you and your subjects and your lands are safe and secure, protected by our sovereignty which shall protect you from all sides so that you shall not experience from our Exalted Abode anything which shall harm you or alarm you to the end of time, if God wills. Nay, you shall be safe and secure in your place of rest and from us you shall have support from our divinely victorious armies over your enemies and opponents. But, if you refuse to respond and your bad judgement causes you to deviate from the path of success, then receive the glad news of our

conquering armies aided by God and our extensive made victorious by God, which shall pour over your —if God wills—and from Tigirarin and Tuwat? forces which are there facing you, like the torrential 1 Kebbi had been independent of Songhay since 1516-17

military forces land from here and from the flood-water or

(see above, pp. 132-4),

although it had been attacked several times. After one of these conflicts a peace agreement was made in 1553 and it may be from this that the annual provision of boats stems. The royal barges of the Askia, of which he had 400 in 1591, were called kanta (see Ta’rikh al-Fattash, p. 150). 2 Al-Mansir’s troops had gained control of the Saharan oases of Tuwat and Gurara (Tigirarin) between 1583 and 1586.

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AL-MANSUR* Moroccan Threats to Kebbi

raging sea. You will think it a downpour flowing with ignominy and destruction, until—by God’s might—they shall reduce ,your land to a barren wilderness and bring you to the same plight as Askia, whom they made to taste death and whom together with his kingdom they swallowed up, since he had disobeyed our Exalted Command. We have given you fair warning and notice, so choose for yourself and pursue the path which your better judgement

commends. Peace.

SECTION

FIVE

The Seventeenth Century oC

rrr

rr

oo

BARTH«:

The Rise of Katsena!

om

OO

om

oo

om oo

or

Tue town [Katsena], probably, did not receive the name of the province till it had become large and predominant; which event, if Leo be correct, we must conclude did not happen much before the middle of the sixteenth century of our era, while in early times some separate villages probably occupied the site where, at a later period, the immense town spread out. The oldest of these villages is said to have been Ambutey or Mbutey, where we must presume Komayo2 and his successors to have resided. After Gogo [Gao] had been conquered by Mulay Hamed, the emperor of Morocco, and, from a large and industrious capital, had become a provincial town, great part of the commerce which formerly centred there must have been transferred to Katsena, although this latter place seems never to have had any considerable trade in gold, which formed the staple of the market of Gogo. Thus the town went on increasing to that enormous size, the vestiges of which still exist at the present time, although the quarter actually inhabited comprises but a small part of its extent. The town, if only half its immense area were ever tolerably well inhabited, must certainly have had a population of at least a hundred thousand souls; for its circuit is between thirteen and fourteen English miles. At present, when the inhabited quarter is reduced to

the north-western part, and when even this is mostly deserted, there are scarcely seven or eight thousand people living in it. In former times it was the residence of a prince, who, though he seems never to have attained to any remarkable degree of power, and was indeed almost always in some degree dependent on, or a vassal of, the king of Bornu, nevertheless was one of the most wealthy and conspicuous From Henry Barth (1857), ii, pp. 77-80. For Henry Barth (1821-65), see Introduction, pp. 17-18. 2 The legendary founder of the original ruling dynasty of Katsina; see above,

p. 56. Supplanted probably in the second half of the fifteenth century, by Muhammad Korau, founder of the dynasty which continued, effectively, until the jihad. See Urvoy (1936), pp. 232-4, and H. F. C. Smith (1961a), pp. 4-7. 3 i.e. Mulay Ahmad al-Mansir;

see above, p. 147.

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BARTH:

The Rise of Katsena

rulers of Negroland. Every prince at his accession to the throne had to forward a sort of tribute or present to Birni Ghasreggomo [Ngazargamu], the capital of the Bornu empire, consisting of ong hundred does not with. In turies of

slaves, as a token of his obedience; but this being done, it appear that his sovereign rights were in any way interfered fact, Katsena, during the seventeenth and eighteenth cenour era, seems to have been the chief city of this part of Negroland, as well in commercial and political importance as in other respects; for here that state of civilization which had been called forth by contact with the Arabs seems to have reached its highest degree, and as the Hausa language here attained the greatest richness of form and the most refined pronunciation,

so also the

manners of Katsena were distinguished by superior politeness from those of other towns of Hausa.

AHMAD BABA ° Belief, Unbelief, and Slavery in Hausaland' ... You asked: What have you to say concerning slaves imported from lands of the Sudan whose people are acknowledged to be Muslims, such as Bornu, ‘Afunu,? Kano, Gao, Songhay, Katsina and others among whom Islam is widespread? Is it permissible to possess them or not? Know—may God grant us and you success—that these lands, as you have stated, are Muslim except for ‘Afunu which I have not heard of and do not know where it is. But close to each of them are lands in which are unbelievers whom the Muslim inhabitants of these lands raid. Some of these unbelievers are under the Muslims’ t Ahmad Baba, Al-kashf wa ’l-bayan li asnaf majlib al-Siidan, otherwise known as Mi ‘raj al‘su‘id ila nail hukm majlib al-siid written in 1024H (1615/16 AD.) in reply to questions sent to him from Tuwat three years earlier. Abi *l-Abbas Ahmad Baba al Tinbukti (1556-1627), ‘one of the outstanding figures of medieval scholasticism in Timbuktu’, and a member of the Aqit family, (see above p. 117) devoted his whole life to teaching and writing mainly in Timbuktu, and from 1594 till 1607, after his capture by the Moroccans, in Marrakesh. For an account of his life, including his period of exile in Morocco and a bibliography of his works, see Hunwick (1962), (1964), and (1966b). This psasage, discussing which of the peoples of the western Sudan could properly be regarded as Muslims, came to have a particular importance during the period of ‘Uthman dan Fodio’s jihad and the theological-political controversies to which it gave rise,—see, e.g., pp. 244-5. 2 ‘Tdris Alooma, when he went to war against the Hausa, found all the people there wearing nothing but arse-cloths (funo). He therefore called them an-funo—

arse-cloth people’ (A. Schultze, trans. Benton (1913), p. 310). Afunu would seem to refer to the Habe of the bush, more particularly those of the Bornu marches, Cf, p-102, n. 1 and p. 185.

AHMAD

BABA - Belief, Unbelief, and Slavery in Hausaland

155,

protection and pay them khardj, according to the information we have received, as is the established practice. Sometimes there is war between the Muslim sultans of some of these lands and one attacks the other, taking as many prisoners as he can and selling the captive though he is a free-born Muslim—to God we belong and to Him shall we return!! This is a common practice among them in Hausaland; Katsina raids Kano, as do others, though their language is one and their situations parallel; the only difference they recognize among themselves is that so-and-so is a born Muslim and so-and-so is a born unbeliever. It is on account of this that the situation is confused regarding one who is brought to them (?) and they do not know the true state of the imported captive. You also stated: ‘What is known according to the shari‘a is that the reason for a man being possessed can only be because he is an unbeliever, and whoever purchases an unbelieving captive is allowed to have ownership of him. If not, then no. The fact that he becomes a Muslim after being in the afore-mentioned condition does not affect continued right of possession.’ The reply to this is that the matter is as stated, provided no contract of manumission has been made, nor is he a protected person; there is no escape from this obligation. You asked: In the case of the afore-mentioned lands of the Muslims of the Sudan, were they conquered in a state of unbelief and slavery and their Islam came upon them suddenly, or not? The reply is that they became Muslims without anyone conquering them, those such as the people of Kano, Katsina, Bornu, and Songhay. We have not heard that anyone overcame them before they became Muslims. Some of them have a long hictory of Islam, such as the people of Mali, since the fifth century of the Hijra,? and the people of Bornu and Songhay. You said: One of the gadis of the Sudan reported that the imam who conquered them while they were unbelievers preferred to let them remain as slaves. I would say that this is something I have never heard of, nor been informed of. So ask this Sudanese ga@di who this imam was and at what time he conquered these lands, and let him specify those lands. How unlikely is his statement to be the truth! If you inquire nowadays you will find no one who will confirm the

truth of his report, for what his statement is built upon is invalid. God knows best. ? Qur’an, ch. 2, v. 156. A familiar cry in times of distress. 2 By the time Al-Bakri wrote his Kitab al-masalik in 1067-8, the ruler of Mali had already been converted to Islam. See de Slane’s edition of the Masalik (1965), p.178, and Trimingham (1962), pp. 61-2.

156

AHMAD

BABA * Belief, Unbelief, and Slavery in Hausaland

. . Whoever is taken prisoner in a state of unbelief may become someone’s property, whoever he is, as opposed to those who have become Muslims of their own free will, such as the people of Kano Bornu, Songhay, Katsina, Kebbi, Gobir and Mali and part of the people of Zaria; they are Muslims and may not be possessed at all. So also most of the Fulani, except that we have heard of a group of them beyond Jenne who are said to be unbelievers, though I do not know whether through apostacy or birth. ... All those who are brought to you from the following groups are unbelievers and remain so to the present day: Mossi, Gurma, Busa, Borgu, Kotokoli, Yoruba, Tabango, and Bobo. There is nothing against your taking possession of them without further question.

‘p.R.’ + The Dutch in Benin! The Citie of Benin The towne seemeth to be very great, when you enter into it, you goe into a great broad street, not paved, which seemeth to be seven or eight times broader than the Warmoes street in Amsterdam; which goeth right out, and never crooketh, and where I was lodged with Mattheus Cornelison, it was at least a quarter of an houres going from the gate, and yet I could not see to the end of the street, but I saw a great high tree, as farre as I could discerne, and I was told the street was as much longer. Then I spake with a Netherlander, who told me he had been as farre as that tree, but saw no end of the street; ...so that it is thought that that street is a mile long [these are Dutch miles*] besides the Suburbs. At the gate where I entered on horse-backe, I saw a very high Bulwarke, very thick of earth, with a very deepe broade ditch, but it was drie, and full of high trees... . That Gate is a reasonable good Gate, made of wood after their manner, which is to be shut, and there alwayes there is watch holden. Without this Gate, there is a great suburbe: when you are in the great Street aforesaid, you see many great streets on the sides thereof, which also goe right forth, but you cannot see to the end of them, by reason of their great length, a man might write more of the situation of this Towne, if he might see it, as you may the Townes in Holland, which is not permitted there, by one that alwaies goes with you, 1 From A description and historical declaration of the Golden Kingdom of Guinea, . . . in Purchas (1905), vi, pp. 354-9. ‘D.R.’, the author of this account, may have been Dierick Ruiters. See Ryder (1965a), pp. 197-8, and (1969), p. 85, n. 3. : ? A Dutch mile was equal to about four English miles.

‘p.R.’ + The Dutch in Benin

157

some men say, that he goeth with you, because you should have no harme done unto you, but yet you must goe no farther than he will let you. Their Houses

The Houses in this Towne stand in good order, one close and even with the other, as the Houses in Holland stand, such Houses as Men

of qualitie (which are Gentlemen) or others dwell in, have two or three steps to go up, and before, there is, as it were, a gallerie, where aman may sit drie; which Gallerie every morning is made cleane by their Slaves, and in it there is a Mat spred for men to sit on, their

Roomes within are foure-square, over them having a Roofe that is not close in the middle, at the which place, the raine, wind, and light

commeth in, and therein they lie and eate their meate; but they have other places besides, as Kitchins and other roomes.... The Court

The King’s Court is very great, within it having many great foursquare Plaines, which round about them have Galleries, wherein there is alwaies watch kept; I was so far within the Court, that I passed over four such great Plaines, and wheresoever I looked, still I saw Gates upon Gates, to goe into other places, and in that sort I went as far as any Netherlander was, which was to the Stable where his best Horses stood, alwaies passing a great long way; it seemeth that the King hath many souldiers, he also hath many Gentlemen, who when they come to the Court ride upon Horses, and sit upon their Horses as the women in our Countrie doe, on each side having one man, on whom they hold fast; and the greater their estate is, the more men they have going after them. Some of their men have great Shields, wherewith they keepe the Gentlemen from the Sunne; they goe next to him, except those on whom hee leaneth, the rest come after him, playing some on Drums, others upon Hornes and Fluits, some have a hollow Iron whereon they strike, and so they ride playing to the Court. ... There are also many men Slaves seen in the Towne, that carrie Water, Iniamus [yams], and Palme-wine, which they say is for the King; and many carrie Grasse, which is for their

Horses; and all this is carried to the Court. The King oftentimes sendeth out Presents of Spices, which are carried orderly through the streets, and... they that carrie them goe one after the other, and by them there goeth one or two with white Rods, so that every man must step aside and give them place, although hee were a Gentleman.

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‘p.r.’ + The Dutch in Benin

Sixe hundred Wives. Gentlemen their making The King hath many Wives, and every yeere goes twice out of his Court and visiteth the Towne,

at which

time he sheweth all his

Power and Magnificence, and all the Braverie he can, then he is convoyed and accompanied by all his Wives, which are above sixe hundred in number, but they are not all his wedded Wives. The Gentlemen also have many Wives, as some have eightie, some ninetie and more, and there is not the meanest Man among them but hath ten or twelve Wives at the least, whereby in that place you find more Women than Men. They also have severall places in the Towne, where they keepe their Markets; in one place they have their great Market Day, called

Dia de Ferro; and in another place they hold their little Market, called Ferro. ... They... bring great store of Ironworke to sell there, and Instruments to fish withall, others to plow and to till the land withall; and many Weapons, as Assagaies, and Knives also for

the Warre. holden. ...

This

Market

and Traffique

is there very orderly

Warres

... The King hath many souldiers which are subject to him, and they have a Generall to command over them, as if he were their Captaine: This Captaine hath some souldiers under him, and goes always in the middle of them, and they goe round about him, singing and leaping, and making great noise, and joy. Those Captaines are very proud of their Office, and are very stately, and goe exceedingly proudly about in the streets. Their Swords are broad, which hang about their necke in a leather Girdle which reacheth under their ApITLCS 1nes Wrong to a stranger They are very conscionable, and will doe no wrong one to the other, neither will take anything from strangers, for if they doe, they should afterward be put to death, for they lightly judge a man to die for doing any wrong to a stranger. . They respect strangers very much, for when any man meeteth them, they will shun the way for him and step aside, and dare not be so bold to goe by, unlesse they be expressly bidden by the partie, and prayed to go forward, and although they were never so sore laden, , yet they durst not do it; for, if they did, they should be punished for

‘p.R.’ + The Dutch in Benin

159

it: They are also very covetous of honour, and willingly desire to be praised and rewarded for any friendship they doe. ...

DAPPER * Benin at the Height of its Power? Size: Gotton

The kingdom of Benijm, or Benin, called by our people after the capital city, great Benin. . . . How far this kingdom stretches from the south to the north is as yet unknown because some places are cut off from each other by impenetrable bush, but from east to west it is about the length of a hundred miles. There are many cities in the kingdom whose names are not yet known by anyone because they lie eight or nine days travelling beyond the city of Benin, by Ulkami [Oyo], and also there are innumerable small towns and villages, lying beside the river of Benin and inland. . . . Inland is dense bush and a number of narrow paths where two people cannot walk abreast. About twenty miles higher up the same river near its source is a town, Gotton [Ughoton], which is the same length as Arbon? but much wider. The city of Benin Nine or ten miles north of Gotton and fifteen miles farther inland

is the town of Benin, called Great Benin by us on account of its size (because there is no town of equivalent size to be found in these 1 From

Olfert Dapper

(1668), pp. 495-505.

Dapper

(1636-89), a doctor of

medicine, spent most of his life in Amsterdam, a history of which he also wrote, as well as works on the Africanislands, on the trade of the Dutch East India Company and on Asia, in three volumes (VBW,

vii, pp. 354-5). He did not himself visit

Africa but says in his preface that he obtained much of his information from the writings of Samuel Blommaart, handed him by the historian, Isaac Vossius. Blommaart’s account, Dapper says, was very full, containing much information

not previously recorded. He adds that Blommaart lived several years in Africa. Ryder says that Blommaart was ‘once a private merchant in the Guinea trade and later a director of the West India Company who was able to draw upon personal experience and company records’ (1965a, p. 197). Ryder also explains that ‘the

material upon which [Dapper] based his account of Benin does not extend beyond 1644, and refers back in some of its details to the beginning of the century’ (1969, p. 88). The passages translated here have been taken from the first Dutch edition, which is a good deal fuller and more detailed than the French translation (1686) used in the first edition of this book, or the English version in Ogilby (1670). This new translation is the work of Mrs. Barbara Trapido. 2 For Arbo, which began to be an important trading centre in ¢. 1640, see Ryder (1969), pp. 88-92, and below, pp. 166-7 and 195.

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DAPPER * Benin at the Height of its Power

regions), and called Oedo! by the inhabitants. The town, together with the Queen’s court, is about five or six miles in circumference, or, to exclude the court, three miles within the gates. The town is forti-

fied on one side by a wall ten feet high, made of a double palisade of broad trees with joists of five or six feet laid crosswise, each fixed to each other, the whole worked solidly together with red loam.? This wall runs round only one side of the city, and on the other side is a marsh and dense bush which is no small protection for the city. The town has several gates, eight or nine feet high and five feet wide, with doors made of single whole pieces of wood, which turn on staves like farmers’ gates in this country. The King’s Court The king’s court is square and on the right side of the town when you enter from Gotton. It is easily as big as the town of Haarlem and enclosed by a remarkable wall, similar to the city wall. It is divided into many fine palaces, houses and rooms for courtiers and has beautiful long galleries about as big as the Exchange at Amsterdam, and one yet bigger than the others, all resting on wooden pillars, covered from top to bottom with cast copper, which depict deeds of war and battle scenes. These are carefully maintained. Most of the royal houses in the court are covered with palm-leaves instead of planks, and each is adorned with a pyramidal tower which has at its apex a skilfully wrought, very life-like copper bird, spreading its wings. The town has thirty very straight broad streets, each about 120 feet wide, as wide as the Keisersgracht or the Heerengracht in Amsterdam, from the houses on one side to those on the other, and in addition there are many broad intersecting streets, though these are somewhat narrower. Houses

The houses stand beside each other, built in an orderly way, as

here in this country, displaying handsome fronts and verandahs and roofed with palm or banana or other kinds of leaves. They are not higher than one storey, but they are usually large with long galleries within, especially the houses of noblemen, and divided into many rooms. The interior walls are of red loam and very pleasantly made. ‘ This is the earliest known European reference to Edo ‘the older indigenous word for the people of Benin and their language’ (ibid., p. 10). For problems associated with Dapper’s account of these walls see Connah,

(1967).

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161

With washing and polishing they are made as smooth and even as any plastered wall in Holland and as shining as a looking-glass. The floors are made of the same earth. Each house furthermore has a fresh-water well. In brief there are no houses anywhere in those parts as nicely built as these. Koffo One day’s journey east of the city of Benin is the town called Koffo. The Country

The country of Benin is very low-lying and densely wooded, broken up at intervals by rivers and marshes, but in some places badly supplied with water, particularly between Gotton and Great Benin. For this reason the king appoints certain people to supply the traveller with drinking water. There are large pots with cool, sweetsmelling water, as clear as crystal, with curved shells for drinking from. Nobody may take a drop of water before he has paid the fixed price, which is placed on the spot even though no attendant is rete. Plants

One finds all kinds of plants here, including oranges and lemons, particularly on the road between Gotton and the city of Benin. Pepper grows in the country, which the Dutch call Benin pepper, but it is not to be had in large quantities. It grows like East Indian pepper, only the seeds are smaller. Cotton grows all over the country in great abundance and is very fine. The inhabitants use it for making clothes... . Animals

The country is full of wild and tame animals, such as tigers, leopards, civet and wild cats, elephants, horses, chickens, donkeys,

goats, sheep with hair instead of wool. There are many kinds of mongooses,

squirrels, tortoises, snakes, and similar creatures. One

finds many birds, parrots, doves, partridges and also storks, turtle doves, large birds like ostriches, and many other varieties.

Fish The rivers nourish many crocodiles and very large hippopotamuses. There are many edible and delicious fish. There are certain small fish caught which, when touched by anyone, will make his

162

DAPPER - Benin at the Height of its Power

whole arm move and vibrate. We call them quivering-fish for this reason. Inhabitants: their nature

&

The land is well populated, especially with nobility. The inhabitants are a proper and well-mannered people, and surpass the other Negroes of this coast in everything. They live harmoniously together under good laws, and show great respect to the Dutch and to other foreigners who come to trade and to everyone. The menfolk are handsomer than the women. They are not a thieving people, nor are they drunkards, but they are great lechers. Clothing Their clothes are like those of Arder.! They—people of wealth, that is—wear two and sometimes four cloths on top of each other, one shorter than the other and sewn so that the undermost cloth shows through the top one. Ordinary people wear a single cloth over their naked bodies. The women wear blue skirts over their lower bodies, coming to below their calves, and small cloths covering each breast. They have their hair prettily dressed and plaited, like a garland, on the crown of the head, one half black and the other dyed red, and they wear brass rings on their arms. No man at court may clothe himself before he is clothed by the king, and until then he may not let his hair grow. There are men at court of twenty and twenty-five years of age who without any sign of shame go about stark naked, wearing only a necklace of fine corals or jasper. But when the king gives them clothing he usually gives them a wife at the same time, and in so doing changes them from boys into men, Afterwards they always go about clothed and allow their hair to grow without ever again having to shave it with a knife. In the same way women may not wear clothes until they have been given clothes by their men, so one sees women of twenty and twenty-five walking about the streets stark naked without any shame. If a man wants to clothe a woman, he must first have a house built for her and sleep with her, as with other women. Marriage

Each man marries as many wives as he wishes and can feed, and he has a great number of concubines over and above these. They x Ardra or Great Ardra (Allada), the state from which Dahomey was founded by.«

early in the seventeenth century, and which was conquered and annexed Dahomey in 1724. See Akinjogbin (1967), chs. 1 and 2 and pp. 214-15.

DAPPER *- Benin at the Height of its Power

163

wallow in lust and voluptuousness, but a white man or a Christian has difficulty in finding a whore, for fear of punishment, because it is forbidden on pain of death. A widow becomes the servant of her son When a woman has had a son by her deceased husband she becomes the servant of the son and may not be given in marriage to another person without his permission, but must wait upon the son as a slave. Should it happen that any man desires such a widow he asks the son for permission to marry her and promises to provide a young woman as a wife instead who must then serve as a slave for as long as he requires. The man may not sell the old mother without the king’s permission unless the son agrees. A daughter is not given in marriage by her father until she is twelve or fourteen years old, after which time she is no longer his concern. After a man dies all the wives with whom he has had sexual relations become the King’s and are given again in marriage by him; but those with whom he has not slept go to the son who may keep them or remarry them to others. It happens also that the King sometimes does not give these women in marriage but makes them regetaires who must annually contribute to his treasury a certain number of cowries. These women, who have nothing to fear from men’s authority, choose as many lovers as they like and play the whore lustily, as married women also do sometimes. These regetaires, when they become pregnant outside marriage and bear sons, are freed from having to make these payments; but if one of them has a daughter the King gives the girl as a wife to someone or other. _ There are also great regetaires to whom the smaller must present annual accounts, and likewise the great regetaires must present accounts to the Fiadors,! or justices, who alone show them to the King. After a man’s wife has been in childbed he has no sexual relations with her until the child is one-and-a-half years old and can walk. But if he comes to know that his wife has meanwhile been making shift with another he makes a complaint to the Fiadors. 1 For Fiadors, see below, p. 168, n. 3.

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Why there are no twins! There are no twins to be found, although it is likely that some are born. Presumably one of the two is smothered by the midwife, since producing two children from one pregnancy exposes a woman to great slander in that country, because it is firmly believed that one man cannot be the father of both children. ”

Funerals

They bury their dead in all their clothes, and kill (that is in the case of people of consequence) a certain number of slaves to serve them in the other world, and they occupy seven days with dancing and music-making with drums and other instruments at the graveside. Sometimes they dig up the bodies again to provide them once more with people and animals, and they mourn as before, with a great noise. Whenever a woman has died, her friends come and take pots, pans, chests and boxes, and make their way along the street with the things on their heads, to the accompaniment of drums and other instruments, and they sing the praises of the dead woman. If she is a woman of consequence, then a number of slaves are put to death at the grave and laid out beside the corpse. On one occasion a certain woman ordered on her death-bed that seventy-eight slaves were to be slaughtered, and eventually, to make the number up to

eighty, a boy and a girl had to be added. Nobody important dies there without its costing people blood. Inheritance

In matters of inheritance they proceed in this way: the man takes all the goods which the wife leaves behind without letting the children keep anything unless the mother gave it to them during her lifetime. But the wife in contrast, after her husband’s death, cannot touch the least of his goods, since everything—wives and slaves as well as other things—goes to the King. If there are sons the King often makes the eldest the only heir to his father’s slaves and property, and also to any wives with whom the father has not slept, because those with whom he has slept are given as wives to others. Commerce

Commercial dealings between foreigners and inhabitants take place up the river Benin in the town of Gotton, which the Hollanders 1 On twins, cf. below p. 195, n. 1. Since the Edo (Bini) welcome twins this is** presumably a reference to non-Edo inhabitants of the Benin Kingdom.

DAPPER » Benin at the Height of its Power

165,

reach in long boats and yachts. Such trade cannot take place without the King’s permission. The King chooses certain Fiadors and merchants, and they alone are allowed to approach the Europeans, whom they call ‘Whites’. It is decreed that those enlisted as soldiers are wholly forbidden to trade with white men, and dare not so much as enter the warehouses, let alone buy anything. Instead they must buy from the appointed Fiadors and merchants at higher prices. Equally a merchant or Fiador may not take part in war, for each must remain within the bounds of his occupation. Neither may any woman enter a warehouse, for she would expose herself to slander. Whenever a ship with its cargo has anchored on this coast a Passador is sent to inform the King, and he calls two or three Fiadors, accompanied by twenty or thirty ‘Veeljes’ (these are merchants), who are commanded to go and trade.! They go forthwith and travel posthaste overland to Gotton, commandeering on their way as many canoes and oarsmen as they require, even when the owners need them for themselves. If the owners complain they remind them of the King and ask whether they are not the King’s slaves and whether all their property does not belong to the King, _and command them to be silent in future, and threaten that they will be sent to the court for correction. When they arrive in Gotton, or wherever else they may have to go, they choose the best houses and dwellings and, without asking the owners’ leave, use them to house all their goods. Sometimes, should the house seem too cramped, they order the owner to build another house, and they use that as well, so that often the owner has no place for himself at all. Also the owner is often obliged to cook for them on the first day without getting anything for his pains. How the Fiadors welcome the Whites

Whenever these Fiadors come for the first visit to the warehouses they are magnificently dressed, wearing jasper necklaces; and kneeling, they bring greetings from their king, from his mother, and from the greatest Fiadors, in whose names they bring gifts of food, and with much ceremony they then inquire about the state of the country and the wars against their [sc. the Hollanders’] enemies and similar things. Afterwards there is drinking and leave-taking, without there having been any mention of trade. On the following days they return with requests to see the newly-arrived merchandise. The goods which they have already bought previously remain at the agreed price, but for new items a new price is fixed. They sometimes 1 For ‘Passadors’ and ‘Veeljes’ see pp. 198-200.

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occupy themselves with this for months, bargaining as hard as they can. As soon as the price is set the transactions proceed.!, Wares of Benin : The wares which the Hollanders and other Europeans acquire in exchange for goods from our lands are cotton cloths, like those in Rio Lagos beside Kuramo,? jasper stones, slaves (none but women, because they are not willing to have men leave the country) leopardskins, pepper and akor13—this is a kind of blue coral which is got out of the ground by diving, because it grows, like a species of coral, treelike upon stony ground in the water. Our people buy this akorz to sell to the Negroes of the Gold Coast because they know how to polish oval corals. The women wear them in their hair for decoration.

The aforesaid cloths, called mouponoqua+ by the inhabitants and ‘Benin cloth’ by the white men, are made of cotton thread and are completely blue, or striped white and blue in four large strips and are 24 or 2? ells long and only two ells wide. There are also small cloths called ambasis+ which consist of only three strips. All these cloths are either made in Benin or made in other places and transported there. In exchange for these things the Hollanders give the Negroes, among the wares of our land, the following: gold and silver brocade; red cloth; kannekens (white cloth with a red stripe at one end); all kinds of fine cotton; linen; orange, lemon and green

beads;

red velvet;

brass

lavender and violet beads;

bracelets

weighing

5% ounces;

small

coarse flannel; fine coral; Haarlem fabrics,

starched and flowered; red glass earrings; iron bars; gilded mirrors; crystal beads; boesjes or East Indian cowries, which are used by them

instead of money. The larger cloths, particularly the striped ones, our people sell again on the Gold Coast, where they are greatly in demand; but the plain blue ones are traded most in the region of Gabon and Angola. Also, there is a market in Gotton every three or four days to which people come from Great Benin, Arbon, and other neighbouring places, where not only the cloth already mentioned is available but all kinds of food are bought and sold. Nobody here may buy from the 1 For a discussion of Benin—Dutch

trade at this period see Ryder (1969),

pp- 84-98. 2 For the problem of the identification of Kuramo, on the Lagos lagoon, see Ryder (1965a), pp. 196-7. 3 For coris, see above p. 123.

4 For mouponoqua and ambasis (or annebaas) see Ryder (1969), p. 94-

DAPPER > Benin at the Height of its Power

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Dutch. Only one person chosen by the King is allowed to buy our and other European goods in Arbon which are then sold again in Gotton. The inhabitants of the city of Benin buy and sell among themselves cloth which is made in the town of Koffo,! which lies one

day’s journey from Great Benin, but no white man may go there. On the road between Gotton and the city of Benin are many large open spaces where markets are set up on appointed days and people come from all the surrounding districts to buy things. All disputes and complaints which arise in the course of trade are brought before the noblemen because the justices of these places have very little to say, and, so long as they are there, merely represent the King. Arms

The weapons of these people are shields, spears, bows, assegais, and poisoned arrows which the Fetiseros, or devil hunters, know how to prepare very cunningly. The noblemen, whenever they must depart for war, clothe themselves entirely in scarlet, which they buy from the Dutch. Others have collars of elephants’ teeth with _ leopards’ teeth fitted below and tall red Turkish hats, ornamented with leopard or civet skin, from which hangs a long horse’s tail, for decoration. Ordinary soldiers go naked from the waist up, but wear garments as fine as silk on the lower parts of their bodies. In battle they maintain good order and discipline because nobody may yield a step even if he has death before his eyes. Nobody enjoys

any part of all the booty because of the Field-Marshal, whom they call Owe Asserry or Siasseere,? or, if he does, he must take it secretly on

the sly and keep it quiet. In spite of this all thank the King for considering them worthy to take part in the ceremony and to fight for him. All the arrows which remain unshot are placed, after the battle, in wonderful chambers in the King’s armoury and as many new ones are made which are poisoned by the Fetiseros, or devil hunters, for use in wars to come. The King’s power The King of Benin can in a single day make 20,000 men ready for war, and, if need be, 180,000, and because of this he has great in1In spite of the wild discrepancy in regard to both distance and direction Professor Ryder has suggested that by ‘Koffo’ Dapper may in fact mean ‘Kulfo’, the important centre of the Nupe cloth trade, which was in commercial relations with Benin in the early nineteenth century. Ryder (1965a), p. 203. 2 i.e, the Iyase: see above, p. 112, n. 2.

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fluence among all the surrounding peoples. His army is led by a Field-Marshal called Owe-Asserry who has complete control over the army and does everything as it suits him, as much as the King him-

self.

8

Government

The King of Benin rules with absolute and harsh power, and regards all his subjects, no matter what great nobles they may be, as slaves.! Children are not recognized as his slaves until their father or mother presents them to the King, who marks them with the proper incision, and from that time the child is the King’s slave among all the others—because all his people, great and small, nobody excluded, must be recognized as the King’s slaves. His authority stretches over many cities, towns and villages. There is no King thereabouts who, in the possession of so many beautiful cities and towns, is his equal. Also other Kingdoms, such as Istanna, Forkado [Warri], Jaboe [Ijebu], Isago [?Oyo] and Oedobo, pay

tribute to the King, although Isago is itself a mighty Kingdom and respects the King of Benin the least.? Ministers There are three chief Ministers of State in Great Benin, appointed by the King to govern the realm, called ‘Fiadors’ by the Portuguese, who are the most senior in the land next to the King (because above them there is nobody closer to the King apart from the Fieldmarshal and the King’s mother), each of whom has authority over one quarter, or ward, of the city, and they derive large profits from this. Their official names are Ongogue [Uwangue], Ossade [Osodin] and Arribo [Eribo].3 In the same manner every town is governed by a certain number of nobles, called Fiadors, who are responsible for 1 On the ‘King’s slaves’ see below, p. 197, n. 4. As Bradbury says of Van Nyendael, Dapper ‘is here describing the ideology of Kingship rather than the political reality’. 2On problems of identification of neighbouring and tributary kingdoms see Ryder (1965b), pp. 32-3. Northrup (1972) wishes to identify ‘Jaboe’ with Aboh. 3 See Bradbury (1957), pp. 35-44. Cf. Ryder—‘Fiador is a corruption of the Portuguese Veador, a general term to denote an overseer or controller of a public office—the word entered into the vocabulary that served Portuguese—Benin intercourse at a very early stage and was at first only applied to the highest-ranking title holders. In the course of centuries it suffered many mutilations of form and debasement of usage. At this stage, in the mid-seventeenth century it still applied to title-holders of fairly senior rank.’ (1965a) p. 199, n. 1. Here the ‘three chief Ministers of State’ are the three senior Palace Chiefs (Eghaevbo n’Ogbe). Cf. below,. « p- 199.

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trying all cases not involving corporal punishment and for condemning the accused man to certain punishments according to the extent of his misdeeds. But cases involving corporal punishment are referred to Great Benin where the high court is and are tried there because the court sits every day. Yet often the judges are bought over with bribes of cowries without the King’s knowledge, even with the connivance of the greatest Fiadors. The town of Gotton is controlled by five noblemen and the town of Arbon by seven. The King of Benin has many wives The King has a great number of wives; the number would be well over a thousand, because with his father’s death he inherits all the wives with whom his father has not slept. The others may by no

means marry again, but are locked up together in a cloister and guarded by eunuchs. Should one of these women try to escape with someone and be caught she must die directly with all her belongings. Wages many wars The King of Benin wages many wars against neighbouring Kings beyond Benin in the east and the north where he takes many cities and towns and gets large booty of jasper and other things. Comes out of his court only once a_year

The King comes out of his court only once a year on an established feast-day and appears before the populace on horseback, beautifully adorned with all kinds of royal decorations and in the company of three or four hundred noblemen, either on foot or on horseback, with many players before and behind acting out all kinds of merriment. In this manner, as it appears in the foregoing illustration, the town of Benin has its pageantry. He does not ride far, but turns after a small distance and heads again for the court. Then the King has certain tame leopards, which he keeps for his amusement, paraded on chains. Also many dwarfs and deaf-mutes, in whom he takes his pleasure, make an appearance. On this holiday ten, twelve or thirteen slaves are killed by strangling or decapitation in the King’s honour, because they believe that these slaves, after they have been

dead a little while, enter another land where they return to life and live more pleasantly and everyone will have his slaves again. There is also another day when the King displays his riches before all the people, consisting of jasper, coral, and other valuables, and makes

many presents of slaves, women,

and other things to the well-

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DAPPER * Benin at the Height of its Power

deserving; then he also appoints many officials who are to be responsible for the government of towns and villages. a

The King’s mother is a great eminence ‘ The King’s mother is held in great reverence and has a wonderful court a little outside the city, well and grandly built, where she holds court with many women and girls, and is asked her advice on all the affairs of the land. Yet, by force of an extraordinary law, the King and his mother may not see each other as long as they live. The Succession!

The crown passes to the sons and, in the absence of sons, to the brothers. Whenever the King is on his deathbed, and leaves sons (which is usually the case owing to the number of wives) he summons one of his nobles, whom they call Onegwa,? and confides to him the name of

his successor. This nobleman may not expose the secret until the King has been dead for a considerable time, but directly after the King’s death he takes over the supervision of all his possessions. The dead King’s sons come to greet him and fall on their knees, although nobody yet knows which of them shall inherit the crown. Everyone comes to honour this Onegwa and to greet him, in the hope of becoming king, but he may not disclose his secret. When the time has come, he summons Owe-Assery or Siasseere, the Field-Marshal and next in importance to the King, who asks him what he has to say. He is then told which of the dead King’s sons has been chosen as the heir.

Owe-Assery then asks four or five times if this was the King’s wish which is answered ‘yes’. ‘Then Siasseere departs for his house without speaking a word. Onegwa then once more calls the son chosen to succeed his dead father and tells him to go at once to Siasseere and make him many presents because he will appoint the new King. Then the future King is sent home again. After four or five days Siasseere comes to court once more and again asks Onegwa if this is as the King instructed. When the question has been answered affirmatively two or three times, the chosen heir is called and told to fall upon his knees and to take upon himself the government of the kingdom. He gives them thanks, and receives his kingly robes, and sits down. Then all the vassals, from Siasseere to the meanest, come and fall upon their knees to greet him. As soon as this homage is done the ' This passage is discussed in Ryder (1969), pp. 16-17. 2 i,e. Uwangue, one of the most influential of the palace chiefs.

iy

DAPPER * Benin at the Height of its Power

rat

new King goes to another town, called Ooseboe, to hold his court there, because his time to rule has not yet come. But he may come into Benin if any offerings of people or animals, such as horses, cows, or anything else, are made to the devil in memory of his dead father, and he is marked with the blood of the sacrificial beast. Whenever the afore-mentioned Siasseere considers it to be time, and that the new King is sufficiently well instructed in the lives and lessons of his forebears, he calls him to Benin and from this time he holds his court there and rules after his inclination.

The new King kills all his brothers The King, having come to the throne, tries at once to eliminate his brothers so that he may govern in safety and have no rivals for the crown: or he usually does not allow them to live beyond twenty-five years of age for fear that they might collaborate with bribed or banished fiadors or justices, as happened a few years ago....

DAPPER * Dom Antonio Domingos, King of Warrt! The Kingdom of Ouwerre or Forkado About twenty-four miles east of the river Benin a river, called Rio Forkado [Forcados] by the Portuguese, flows into the sea, and the Kingdom of Ouwerre [Warri], otherwise called Forkado, is situated on this river. It lies pleasantly in the shade of trees which stand beside both river banks, is half a mile wide and navigable by yacht... . The Town Ouwerre

About twenty-seven miles up the river is a town, Ouwerre, where the King has his court. It is about half a mile in circumference, encircled on the land side with woodland. It has fine buildings, particularly the houses of the nobility, roofed with palm leaves, and like those in Benin, but made of grey earth while those in Benin are red. The court of the King is established in the manner of that in Benin but very much smaller. 1 From Dapper (1668), pp. 506-8. For further information about Dom Antonio Domingos, the question of his identification with Oyenakpara in Itsekeri legends and evidence regarding his father Dom Domingos’ residence in Portugal from 1600 to 1610, see Lloyd and Ryder (1957). See also the full and interesting account of the relations between the Catholic powers and the Warri dynasty from the midsixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century in Ryder (1960).

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DAPPER * Dom Antonio Domingos, King of Warri

Vegetation It is an unhealthy country on account of the great heat, the disagreeable and sultry damp which often causes people (particularly” foreigners who come by river to trade with the inhabitants) who carelessly lie and sleep in the evening light or the moonlight to be snatched off to the place of no return. The fields are very scanty and without grass yet yield many treefruits, coconuts, sweet and bitter oranges, year-in, year-out, besides other tree-fruits and earth-fruits. There is also pepper, as in Benin, but again in no great abundance

because there is little cultivation. Bananas grow in quantity and the inhabitants also cultivate Mandihoka [manioc] from which they make flour in order to bake bread. Because of the sparseness of the pastures one finds no tame or domestic animals like horses or cows, but many fairly large hens, which the inhabitants know how to roast very well, basting them with their own fat mixed with the yolk of an egg. Fish are obtainable in fair abundance, and sometimes also hippopotamuses which taste good. Inhabitants

The menfolk are well built, and similarly the womenfolk are well formed, impressive after the beauty of those countries. All the nativeborn, both men and women, are marked with three incisions, each cut an inch long, one on the forehead above the nose and one on either side of the eyes on the temples, and they may wear their hair short or long, according to their inclination. The inhabitants are in many things more ingenious than the people of Benin. Their clothing is like that in Benin, yet they wear also a kind of beautiful fine cotton or silk garment (as those in Benin dare not do), as large as small bed sheets, which they fasten above the navel with an ingenious knot under the arms. Each may take as many wives as he likes to have, or as he can come by, and once in a while the King hands out widows. Government

The King of Ouwerre, although he pays tribute to the King of Benin, governs his land with absolute power notwithstanding, and is in alliance with the King of Benin. The King usually has three great nobles as his councillors to whom

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DAPPER + Dom Antonio Domingos, King of Warri

173

certain territories are allotted which they govern in the King’s name with general consent. The King who reigned in the year 1644 was a Mulatto or halfcaste, called Dom Antonio de Mingo by the Portuguese and other Europeans. His father! was married to a Portuguese girl whom he took with him out of Portugal (since he had been there in person) and by whom he had this son. He always dressed as the Portuguese do, and always wore a sword at his side as other Mulattos do. Religion

In the matter of religious observance they are almost the same as the people in Benin, though they make fewer offerings of men and animals, but regard such things as atrocities, and the work of the devil, so that these people could be brought to Christianity with a little instruction. Also, no Feticeros or devil-hunters are permitted in that country; people forgive one another readily there, not as in Benin. The inhabitants, and the king himself, lean towards the Roman religion.? There is a church in the city, with an altar and on it a picture of Christ on the Cross with Mary and the Apostles, and beside it two ~ candlesticks. And the Negroes enter this church with paternosters in their hands all the while, like true Portuguese people, and they read these, as well as other Popish prayers. They appear to be most godly,

and can also read and write, and are eager for Portuguese books, pens, ink, and paper.

DAPPER:

The Kingdom of Ulkami [Oyo]

The Kingdom The kingdom of Ulkami or Ulkuma, a mighty place, lies above Arder,t between the kingdoms of Arder and Benin, in the northeast, yet it has no access to the sea. 1 i.e. Domingos, who married a Portuguese noblewoman, a niece of the Conde da Feira, and who appears, at some date after 1620, to have succeeded his father, Sebastian, as Olu (Ryder (1960), pp. 7-10, and below, pp. 176-8). 2 Sebastian, who had been converted probably in the early 1570s, succeeded as Olu before 1597. The dynasty remained Catholic until the 1730s (ibid., p. 19; see below, pp. 137-9 and 231). 3 From Dapper (1668), p. 494. For the probable identification of Dapper’s ‘Ulkami or Ulkama’ with Oyo see Morton-Williams (1964b), pp. 26~—7; Akinjogbin (1967), p. 13; and Law (1970a), pp. 5-6. Versions of this name—probably variants of Olukami, a term known to have been applied to Yoruba-speakers—

appear in seventeenth-century European sources before Dapper. 4 See above, p. 162, n. 1.

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DAPPER:

The Kingdom of Ulkami [Oyo]

Trade

From this kingdom come many slaves, either those captured ia war or those who are made into slaves on account of their misdeeds* They are brought to the small Arder and sold there to the Dutch and the Portuguese to be sent to the West Indies. The children, that is the boys, are circumcised after the Moham-

medan fashion. Likewise the girls have their peculiar way of circumcision. Because these, after they have reached their eleventh or tenth year, place a small stick, fetched out of the field, and containing ants, in their vaginas to bite out the flesh, and from time to time, to make the biting more powerful, insert new ants.

DAPPER

~: Kalabari and the Eastern Delta

The town of Kalbarien On the north side of the same river is a town, Kalbarien [Kalabari], the most important place of trade for the Dutch; enclosed on the land side with palisades to ward off invasion. On the south side an offshoot of the river flows and on the north side is marshy bush land where the river ebbs with every tide. South of the stream lies a long, low, wooded island which is separated from the mainland by a small channel, so that from afar it appears to be part of the mainland. Eight miles to the west of the town of Kalbarien lies a town called Belli [Bile] which is ruled by a captain. About fourteen miles up the river Kalbarien, a stream flows eastnorth-east on which several towns lie. On the river Kalbarien, some miles to the north, is a place called

Krike [Okrika] which borders on another called Moko.? South of Moko, on the sea side, is Bani [Bonny] in which there is quite a big place called Kuleba3 where a certain sea captain or governor lives who rules at least ten villages and whose authority spreads over easily three miles, that is from west of the river Kalbarien to the town Sangma.4 1 From Dapper (1668), pp. 509-12. 2 ‘The district of Moko probably refers to a southern Ibo community, possibly to the Isiokpo or Okpo-mbu-tolu tribes who occupy the area to the north-west of Okrika and bordering the New Calabar river.’ G. I. Jones (1963), p. 36. 3 “Culeba is one of the local names for Bonny’ (ibid.). 4 ‘A village to the west of Cape Formosa’ (ibid.).

DAPPER « Kalabari and the Eastern Delta

175,

The People of the Kalbarien are Cannibals All the Negroes of the east bank of the great river Kalbarien, and higher up to the north, are cannibals; that is, they eat those among their enemies whom they capture dead in war; but those whom they capture alive they bring to Kalbarien to sell. Among these people the number one is called Barre; two Ma; three Terre; four Ni; five Sonny, and soon....

Currency of Moko

In the region of Moko a kind of money made of flattened iron is used, in the form ofa ray fish, and about as big as the palm ofa hand,

with a tail attached, almost +4 ths of an ell in length.! Canoes

The Negroes navigate the river Kalbarien in very large canoes with twenty oarsmen or paddlers on either side, in which sixty, even eighty, men can be carried. All these canoes are made from the trunk of a tree and shaped by burning out and carving, to the length of fifty, sixty, and seventy _~ feet. They are pointed fore and aft, but are wide in the middle. At intervals of six feet notched beams about one hand wide are laid and bound firmly. The oarsmen sit on these beams, and on the edge of the boat, but they drive the boat along with paddles, not with oars. How these are Armed

In front, on each side, are large shields and, on each side, bundles of wooden assegais, for protection against attack by their enemies (because these people live perpetually in a state of war with each

other). Every canoe also has a fireplace on which they kindle a fire, and beside which the most important have their sleeping place.? How they convert the Canoes into Tents Whenever these Negroes have to be out at night in their canoes they make tents over them in this way. Each of the beams mentioned before, which lies crossways over the canoe, has a hole in the middle into which they fit certain poles, right to the base of the canoe, with a forked prong at the top. In these prongs cross-poles are laid and mats are stretched over them. (These poles are also used in navigat1 For this type of currency in Ibo society cf. G. I. Jones (1958), p. 48, Northrup (1972), pp. 229-30, and see below, p. 214, n. 2.

2 See R. S. Smith (1970), p. 518.

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DAPPER

Kalabari and the Eastern Delta

ing, to push the canoes forward.) Over the beams which lie across the canoes small flat sticks plaited together with cane are placed which they can roll up or roll out for sleeping on within the tent. The slaves, whom they transport in these boats from high up the river and sell to the Europeans, lie below in the hold. Where the slaves come from whom our people buy The slaves whom the Negroes bring to the river Kalbarien to sell come mainly from the east side of the river and are mostly those captured alive in war, because the dead are eaten. But these Negroes also buy and sell slaves who are brought from higher up, and the Negroes who sell slaves to the former buy them from other Negroes who come from still farther inland. The Negroes who bring slaves in their canoes to sell in the river Kalbarien, and in this way bring them aboard our ships, also bring food for them which they sell, such as yams, bananas, palm oil, pigs, buck, and chickens. There are many slaves for sale in the town of Belli, but not as many as on the east side of the river Kalbarien. River Loitomba

East of the mouth of the great river Kalbarien, and about two miles from her east bank, lies the river Loitomba, called Rio Sante

Domingo in the Portuguese, which has a village situated a little way from its mouth on the eastern side, fairly big and full of traders who travel inland to buy slaves whom they sell again to the whites. The Old Kalbarien River

After Loitomba is the river of old Kalbarien, called old Kalborgh by some. Between these one finds no rivers, but flat and wooded country... :

DOM

ANTONIO

DOMINGOS:

Appeal to the Pope?

I have been informed of the fervent zeal that burns in the breast of Your Holiness to spread the Holy Faith in these parts, which, because they have not been watered by the blood of Jesus Christ or any apostle or saint, are deprived of the light of the faith. Also I have heard that to remedy this Your Holiness dispatched a mission of fathers called Capuchins to the Kingdom of Benin, a people neigh1 This extract from a letter, written in Portuguese, from the Olu of Warri, probably Dom Antonio Domingos (see the foregoing extract) to the Pope, dated‘ 20 November 1652, is translated in Ryder (1960), pp. 11-12.

DOM

ANTONIO

DOMINGOS:

Appeal to the Pope

177

bouring mine, who rejected the favour offered them and expelled the fathers from their Kingdom; nor did they tell the fathers anything about me and my Kingdom. I truly believe, Holy Father, that Your Holiness intended these priests to come to me, judging by their information that the King of Benin was a Christian who desired ministers of the Gospel.1 I am that king, and my kingdom is on the same coast adjoining Benin and distinguished from it only by the fact that mine is called Oery [Warri]. Such is my need of disinterested ministers to spread the faith in my kingdom that it has almost gone to perdition, for it is more than seven years since a priest has been here, and those who used to visit came only once a year and remained only so long as the pinnace from Sao Tomé was trading here. I wondered that none came for so long: they tell me that they have no bishop in Sao Tomé and so few priests that they are in almost the same straits as myself. I leave it to Your Holiness to imagine how many are falling away from the Faith. I am acting as preacher myself, as far as I am able, urging my subjects to trust in the mercy of God that all will soon be set in order. This can only be done, I believe, by Your Holiness. I beg you therefore by the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ to come to my aid and send me a mission of “Capuchin fathers who because they are disinterested (as I am informed) will do great good to me and my kingdom. As a faithful Christian I kneel and kiss the feet of Your Holiness, and, like other Christian kings, I offer to Your Holiness the obedience of myself and my kingdom, not to Your Holiness alone, but to all who shall afterwards be elected canonically to that dignity. Again I beg Your Holiness to send me the fathers as soon as possible, and, if possible, to instruct the Prefect of the fathers in Portugal to see that every year some priests are sent with the ships that come from Lisbon to Sao Tomé, and from there to my kingdom to trade. I will give them all the help in my power and reliable interpreters so that they may bring my neighbour, the King of Benin, and others to the faith. I beseech Your Holiness to send me some relics for myself and my kingdom. I am writing to my cousin King John of Portugal asking him to 1 The first mission which the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide dispatched had in fact gone to Benin instead of Warri, in the mistaken belief that the Oba was a Christian, the Portuguese (who knew the actual situation) having adopted an attitude of non-co-operation, fearing it to be a cover for Spanish political designs (ibid., pp. 9-10). A Capuchin mission, composed of Italians, eventually succeeded in reaching Warri in c. 1656 and spent about four years travelling in the kingdom. (This is the mission to which the extract on pp. 187-8 refers.)

178

DOM

ANTONIO

DOMINGOS:

Appeal to the Pope

help me by assisting the fathers with their passage and the necessary provisions. I believe he will do this ‘for the Portuguese have often done me favours; also, because they introduced the faith into my kingdom and my forebear King Dom Domingos married a Portbguese lady, I hold them in great brotherly affection. .

DAN MARINA: Mai ‘Ali of Bornu Defeats the Kororafa' ‘Ali has triumphed over the heathen, a matchless triumph in the path of God. Has he not brought us succour? Verily, but for him Our hearts had never ceased from dread of the unbelievers. Narrow had become to us the earth pressed by the foe, Till ‘Ali saved our children and their children yet unborn.

He drove back to their furthest borders the army of the Jukun, And God scattered their host disheartened. I heard that ‘Ali, the Amir al-Mu’minin, Went to the land of the heathen and there lay in wait for them.

Lewufaru worked iniquity in the Sudan, in his overweening pride, Stalking forth with the stride of a tyrant, and Setting his promises at nought.

He and his people spared not rivers nor cities; The Kwararafa followed the track of his doom, And their hour too Passed to the grasping palm of the fortunate Prince, The pious Hajj to the holy cities. tA poem by Dan Marina

(Muhammad

al-Kashinawi

Ibn al-Sabbagh),

a

Mallam resident at Katsina in the first half of the seventeenth century, translated by Palmer (1927), pp. 226-7; reproduced in the shortened version quoted here by Meek (1931), p. 27. The poem apparently celebrates a victory of Mai ‘Ali ibn alHajj ‘Umar of Bornu over the Kwararafa [Kororofa]. The chronological problems which it raises are discussed in Bivar and Hiskett (1962), pp. 113-14. If, as is believed, Dan Marina died in c. 1655, this is a strong argument for accepting Barth’s and Palmer’s suggested reign-dates—1645-84—for Mai ‘Ali (Urvoy puts him a decade later). The poem might then have been composed c. 1650. It was during this reign that Bornu was attacked at the same time by the Tuareg from

the north and the Kororafa (formerly subject to Bornu) from the south: Mai ‘Ali ‘managed to set the latter against the former and then destroyed them also’s Barth (1857), ii, p. 659.

DAN

MARINA*: Mai ‘Ali of Bornu Defeats the Kororafa

179

Give thanks again for what our Mai ‘Ali has wrought; For he has ransomed the whole Sudan from strife.

KANURI SONGS « Song to the Kaigama! Kaigama Anterashi, He is the Star of the morning. ...

Holder of the principal of the Sultan’s offices: Less than the Sultan, certainly, but greater than all the prosperous men: If the chief slave wages war, he does not do so in vain. If he does not engage in war, his idleness is not useless: Chief slave, if I say to you ‘Slave’, I mean the slave of the Sultan: Chief slave, if I say to you ‘Bushcow’, You are a man with the heart of a bush-cow among men: Chief slave, if I say your town is Ngumfane, I mean that you are the

forehead of all the slaves: Chief slave, patience is your attribute: _ Your patience like that of a dromedary: Chief slave, in your hand is a large-headed spear: Chief slave, you practise witchcraft but its source is in the palm of your hand: Chief slave, my master, war is your hobby: Your play, play with a shining spear: You owner of the town of Zarara, your attributes those of a Sultan: You and a Sultan do not eat from one calabash, Neither do you eat what a Sultan leaves: Sun of greatness, seat of power: Embers of the Sultan’s assembly: If the Sultan counts as ten large whole kola-nuts, The Kaigama counts as twenty halves: If he and the Sultan are sitting together and their horses are fighting: He will not catch the Sultan’s horse: Nor will the Sultan catch his: 1 This is an extract from “The Song to Kaigama Anterashi, son of Lima’, from Patterson (1926) (cf. above, p. 90), pp. 14-16, originally composed during the reign of Mai ‘Ali ibn al-Hajj ‘Umar, i.e. in the latter part of the seventeenth century (see foregoing extract). Patterson adds that ‘the Kaigama, who was the chief slave of the Sultan, held the rank of Commander-in-Chief in the Bornu Army. He was Warden of the southern section of the Empire as the Galadima, Mestrema, and

Yerima were respectively of the western, eastern, and northern sectors.’

180

KANURI SONGS + Song to the Kaigama

Some other man will catch them: These are the privileges of a chief slave. : You are the father of all the minor chiefs: a And the elder brother of all the great chiefs: Chief slave, owner of the town of Ala and of Alari: Who lives between the Rivers Shari and Sharwa: Chief slave, Commander of Bornu’s army: Should the Sultan come out of an old woman’s dilapidated hut even, After him will come the holder of the office of Kaigama. . .

GIRARD + Maz ‘Ali and the Pasha of Tripoli! After the Pasha of Tripoli [Sakisli Mehmet Pasha] had ended the business which he had with the Porte he made a plot against the king of Bornu. This Pasha had made an alliance with Mai ‘Umar who was the ruler of this state. So long as the latter was alive, they had a close relationship, both of friendship and trade. When Mai ‘Umar died in 1647, he left as his successor his eldest son, Mai ‘Ali, who put all his brothers to death for fear that they might form a faction in opposition to him. As soon as the Pasha Mahomet had learnt of the death of Mai ‘Umar and the succession of Mai ‘Ali, he sent an ambassador

to him, in 1648, to congratulate him and to request the reaffirmation of the alliance and of the trade agreement. This ambassador was not received with the honours which he expected. When he proposed the renewal of the alliance and of the agreement, Mai ‘Ali, who was still inexperienced in state affairs, treated him with such coldness that,

seeing no likelihood of achieving his aims, he left the city of Bornu in great dissatisfaction and set out on the return journey to Barbary. When the ambassador had given an account of his journey, the Pasha was so deeply incensed by the lack of courtesy which the king of Bornu had shown to his ambassador that he resolved to take his revenge and to carry war into the territories of that prince. This, however, was something quite impossible on account of the vast 1 From Girard, Histoire chronologique du royaume de Tripoly de Barbarie, sometimes known as the Narrative of the French Prisoner (Rélation du Médecin-esclave). The Appendix to this document was published in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris, 1849), and used by later writers on Bornu, e.g. Barth, Benton; see Martin

(1969), p. 23, n. 27. Girard, the probable author of this work, was a physician from Provence who was captured in the Aegean by Tripoli Corsairs in 1668, He was freed in 1676 and returned to France where he became physician to the Swiss Guard of Louis XIV. He appears to have written this account of the history of Tripoli, which contains a good deal of material relating to Bornu, in ¢. 1685. See Cumont (1925) and Bono (1953).

GIRARD + Mai ‘Ali and the Pasha of Tripolt

181

tract of country which separated their states, but he found another opportunity, better suited for the carrying out of his plan, which enabled him to express more strongly his desire for vengeance. Mai ‘Ali was profoundly attached to the superstitious ceremonies of the sect of Mahomet. He had already made the journey to Mecca before he ascended

the throne, and, after his enthronement,

he

decided to make the pilgrimage a second time. Mahomet Pasha, once he had been informed of this resolve, planned to capture him on his return in order to exact retribution for the insult to which he, in the person of the ambassador, had been exposed and to extract a substantial ransom. With this in mind he put 600 horsemen in the best possible condition under the command of Osman Bey, to whom he gave instructions to await Mai ‘Ali on his return journey and to take him prisoner. Osman carried out this order with all possible diligence in the month of October, making in the direction of the province of Cyrene, and he continued with his troops as far as Augella [Awjila]! to obtain some news of Mai ‘Ali. Here he learnt that the king had left Cairo to return to Bornu accompanied by about 400 people, most of them unarmed, and that they would be -unable to put up any powerful defence. This news greatly pleased - Osman, who believed that the king of Bornu was already in his grasp. He marched immediately to the boundaries of Nubia and the province of Fezzan, and for many days traversed these terrible deserts without finding anything, until he met a body of pilgrims from the Fezzan, on their way back from Mecca, who assured him

that Mai ‘Ali had already passed them a few days previously and that he might already be more than fifty leagues away. Osman was deeply distressed by this news. Seeing himself deprived of all hope of catching the prey he sought, finding no food for his people or for his horses in these sandy deserts, he made his way back to Tripoli after having suffered a thousand hardships in the course of this journey. The Pasha was evidently enraged at having lost an opportunity which could never be recovered. And Mai ‘Ali, when he learnt of the

danger which had come so close to him, blessed a thousand times the Providence which had enabled him to avoid an encounter with the pirates of Barbary. 1 About 250 miles south-south-east of Benghazi, on the main Bornu-Egypt trade route. Cf. below, p. 185.

(182)

GIRARD + 1652 + Mai ‘Ali’s Letter to Pasha Osman! The Treaty of Commerce which had lasted for a whole century between the Kings of Bornu and the Pashas of Tripoli had been interrupted for the reasons which I have mentioned during the reign of the Pasha Mahomet [Sakisli Mehmet Pasha]. Osman, who realized the profit which he would derive from this commerce, resolved to reestablish it a little while after he had ascended the throne. To this end he wrote to Mai ‘Ali, King of Bornu, offering him a continuation of the alliance, which had lasted for so many years under their predecessors for the common advantage of their states, with all possible friendship and sincerity. He added that, since this commerce had been interrupted by the imprudence of Mahomet Pasha, it was possible for Mai ‘Ali, now that the Pasha was dead, to reopen relations with himself without any fear of the consequences. Mai ‘Ali, who on his own side had greatly resented the incon-

veniences arising from the breaking off of relations, was delighted by the approach of the Pasha. When he had received his letter and presents he declared to the envoy that everything that the Kingdom of Bornu produced was at the service of his master; that he would renew the ancient alliance with him with all good will, hoping that he would act with more sincerity than his predecessor had done, and that henceforth commerce would be free between the two Kingdoms. After these friendly remarks the King entertained the envoy magnificently, and, when he was sure he was on the point of departure, he sent with him a letter for Osman written in the Arabic language. I have the original in my possession and [?] he is still indebted to him for the presents referred to in this letter [?]. Since the King of Bornu is only known in Europe in a very confused fashion, and since this letter is something of a curiosity, I have had it translated very faithfully, and I hope that I shall be excused for transcribing it word for word in this History. ‘The envoy who brought it with him arrived in Tripoli in the month of January 1653. 1'This extract is also taken from Girard, Histoire chronologique du royaume de Tripoly de Barbarie. Mai ‘Ali’s letter to the Pasha of Tripoli is also reproduced in French translation, with small variations, in the Discours Historique du l’Estat du

Royaume de Borno, which forms the Appendix to Girard’s second volume, quoted in the Bulletin de la Societe de Géographie (1849). 1 have modernized the spelling— Hajj ‘Ali for ‘Hagy Haly’, ‘Umar for ‘Hamour’, etc.

(183)

1653 + Letter from Haj ‘Ali, King of Bornu, written to the Pasha of Tripoli in Barbary In the name of God, the Compassionate, who raised up His Prophet Mahomet and all those of his family who followed him, as also the Prince who will always persevere in doing good, who is patient, performing his prayers unceasingly and leading a just life, who reposes his trust in God in all his affairs, who is liberal towards all, who is always victorious with the help of God, who frequently makes the pilgrimage to Mecca, and who hopes to enter Paradise, the King Hajj ‘Ali, son of King Hajj ‘Umar (may God pardon him) —may God forgive him his sins; may He preserve him on his throne and keep him all his life in health, and may He pardon his faults and give him total victory over all his enemies. Amen. By the grace of the great God who has brought to birth our acquaintance with one another, our good friendship and our continual good will, to the Prince of Tripoli salutation and God’s pardon for his advantage. If you wish to know our condition we are in good heart and in perfect health with the help of God and by His grace, for which we thank Him doubly. You are our good friend in absence, as though we were present in one another’s company, and if God wills we shall always have a particular regard for you, there being nothing more noble among men, nor anything which gives them greater satisfaction, than friendship, particularly when one establishes it with a great Prince like yourself. We have given to your envoy and to your ordinary merchant a present which we are sending you and which it may please you to accept. This present consists of seventy heads of ‘smalls’ and ‘greats’, and thirty heads of ‘smalls’ and five dwarfs which make altogether the number of a hundred. In addition we have consigned to his care twenty eunuchs and twenty-four camels to carry the foodstuffs for the above, together with four gowns, two white and two green, and thirty drinking cups. May God ensure that everything arrives safely.

This letter is undated. It is the custom in the East among Mahometans to affix a stamp at the bottom of letters which authenticates them in place of a signature. But at the base of this letter there is a five-pointed star drawn with black ink, and round the borders of the star one can read words in the Arabic language which may be translated as follows—‘King Hajj ‘Ali, may God aid him’. Since this script is different from that of the rest of the letter, one may suppose that these words were written by the King’s own hand.

184

1653 + Letter from Hajj ‘Ali, King of Bornu

As for the presents, those which the Prince called ‘heads’, they are Negro men and women whom the King of Bornu takes as slaves in the territories of the Emperor of Ethiopia. The ‘small heads’ age young boys. The four gowns were of white and green cloth with wide sleeves, and the cups were of porcelain. Osman appeared extremely satisfied with this letter and with the presents, and since that time he has maintained the commerce with Bornu with much concern and energy. None of his subjects can engage in this trade without his permission—so much so that the profits which he derived from it constituted the most solid basis of his economy.

GELEBI: Bornu and Hausaland: A Turkish View" The Country of Mai Bornu The King is a most orthodox Sunnite of the Hanbali school.? His subjects likewise are both faithful and monotheistic. The people give their rulers the title of Mai, for example, Mai Sanjal, Mai ‘Abbas

and Mai Sadiq, ‘Mai’ being the equivalent of sultan. They have no coinage of their own. They import from Egypt small glass beads, in exchange for which Egypt takes their gold as a substitute for money. The kings, as well as the women, bind strings of beads about their heads as adornment instead of pearls. Every year they come to Egypt after crossing the desert, which takes them eight months, bringing with them gold-dust with which they enrich Egypt. In fact, when their ruler, Mai Sanjal al-Din,3 came to Egypt in order to perform the pilgrimage, accompanied by 1,000 camels, I, all unworthy as I was, was privileged to meet him. The ruler covered his face and eyes like a woman in front of strangers; bowing his face 1 From Evliya Celebi (1938), book x, p. 72. Evliya Celebi ibn Derwish (c. 161180), the Turkish traveller, known as setyah-i ‘Alam, ‘the globe-trotter’, was in Egypt between 1672 and 1680, and it was presumably here that he gathered his information on Bornu and Hausaland. For further information regarding his life

and works, see EI (2), ii, pp. 717-20. This passage has been discussed at some length by Habraszewski who has drawn attention to the Kanuri vocabulary which Evliya Celebi, a traveller with strong linguistic interests, collected, and helpfully corrected errors in the translation in my first edition (1967), pp. 59-66. See also Ciecierska-Chlapowa (1964), pp. 239-44, and Hair (1969), pp. 27-9. 2 The most rigorous of the four orthodox schools of Muslim Law, founded by Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal of Baghdad (a.p. 780-855). Celebi is almost certainly in error here. All other evidence indicates that the dominant school of Law in Bornu was consistently Maliki. See p. 98. 3'The Mai of Bornu during the 1670s was in fact still Mai ‘Ali ibn ‘Umar referred to in the preceding extracts. According to Bornu sources he died in Egypt" on his fifth pilgrimage.

GELEBI + Bornu and Hausaland: A Turkish View

185

he lay on the ground and thus conducted the conversation. He died at ‘Aqaba while returning from the pilgrimage. The Country of the Hausa! People There are seven tribes of Hausa,? one of which is Muslim, a swarthy people who possess no coinage of their own but who observe the Friday sermon. The other tribes live in ignorance of their own error but, by reason of their lack of the true doctrine, another tribe

takes captives from them in war and sells them at Awjila3 and in Egypt. They have many chiefs, though I have not been there to see them. But this I do know: that however many clothed people there may be on the face of the earth, there are as many naked men in the land of Egypt.

JOHNSON: Ajagho*

Oyo’s

Southward

Expansion:

Obalokun

and

Obalokun succeeded to the throne of his fathers. His mother was the daughter of the Alake, the Primus of the Egba chiefs. The most memorable event of this reign was the introduction of salt into the Yoruba country. The article hitherto used for it was an insipid rock salt known as Obu. Salt now known as iyo was at first called dun-momo.s This King was said to be in friendly relations with the King of France (probably Portugal) with whom he had direct communication.® It was said that the King sent 800 messengers with presents to that European sovereign, but that they were never heard of again. 1 2 3 4

Celebi uses the term ‘Afnu’. Cf. above, pp. 102 i.e. the seven ‘true’ Hausa States (Hausa Bokoi). See above, p. 181, n. I. From Samuel Johnson (1921), pp. 168-9. Robin to the importance of this passage relating to the

and 154. See p. 76, n. 1.

Law has drawn my attention reigns of these seventeenth-

century Alafins, ‘Obalokun, with the first contacts with Europeans, and Ajagbo,

with the first military expansion towards the south, which together seem to mark a crucial stage in the development of Oyo into a considerable power’. See also R. C. C. Law (197024). 5 That is, the Oyo had previously only had rock salt, imported from the north, ultimately from the Saharan mines. They now began to import marine salt from

the south, 6 This reference to Oyo’s first European contacts as occurring in the reign of Obalokun, i.e. in the first half of the seventeenth century, seems to fit fairly well with the evidence from European sources. See Law, op. cit., Akinjogbin (1967), ch. 1, and passages included here on pp. 173-4.

186

JOHNSON

+ Oyo’s Southward Expansion

Tradition says that the sounds of bells ringing in the skies was plainly heard in the Akesan (King’s) market, and it was conjectured that it was the voices of the unfortunates speaking to them from the otheg world to tell their fate. What natural phenomenon this may have been due to which was interpreted thus, we do not know, but so it was believed at the time, and similar omens are not unknown to history.

It was said that a white traveller visited OYO during this reign. This King placed the first Ajele (political resident) at jana near Ilaro, with the title of Onisare. The appointment of an Onisare was regularly from OYO and he must be a Tapa by birth.' More of this will be noted hereafter. He sent an expedition into the Ijesa country which was ambushed and defeated by the tribe known as Ijesha Arera, the OYOS being then unaccustomed to bush fighting. So great was the loss of life in this expedition that the Ologbo? was sent out as a town crier to inform the bereaved of their losses in this war. During this reign Sabigana emigrated from the Sabe to the Yoruba country.

The Basorun of this reign was Iba Magaji. Ajagbo who succeeded Obalokun was remarkable for a long reign. He was said to have reigned 140 years and is an exception to the recent rule.+ He was born a twin, and so striking was the resemblance between himself and his brother Ajampati that the one was often mistaken for the other, and very often royal honours were paid to the latter as to his brother. Ajagbo was also a warlike prince; several expeditions were sent out by him. He had a friend at Iwoye called Kokoro-gangan whom he made his Kakamfo.’ This was the first Kakamfo in the Yoruba country. ‘ For Ijanna, on the trade-route to the coast, and its ajele, see R. S. Smith (1969), pp. 42, 46, 88, and 193, and below p. 292. “Tapa’, i.e. Nupe.

2 Ologbo, the head of the Arokin. See p. 79, n. 3. 3 Sabiganna, title of the King of Iganna: Sabe, a Yoruba kingdom west of Oyo, in modern Dahomey.

4 i.e. Samuel Johnson’s ‘rule’ that this is a chapter dealing with ‘a succession of despotic and short-lived kings’. 5 Iwoye, north-west of Ede, in the Oyo Kingdom. Kakamfo (Are Ona Kakamfo), the commander-in-chief—one of the Eso (‘a body of seventy noble captains usually resident in the capital’): ‘he established an independent base near the frontiers of « the kingdom and was not usually allowed to visit the capital’, R. S. Smith (1969), p- 121. See Johnson (1921), pp. 73-5, and Introduction, pp. 47-8.

JOHNSON

- Oyo’s Southward Expansion

187

It was his custom to send out four expeditions at the same time under four commanders. One under the Basorun, the next under the Agbakin, the third under the Kakanfo, the fourth under the Asipa.

Those under this last consisted of the youths of the metropolis. He destroyed Iweme in the Popo country, Ile Olopa, Onko and his maternal town Ikereku-were, an Egba town.! The rest of his reign was peaceful. The Basorun of this reign was Akidain.

DA SORRENTO:

Warri: Ecclesiastical Match-Making?

. . . The vice-superior, father Angelo Maria d’ Aiaccio of the province of Corsica, together with father Bonaventura da Firenze, having but just set footing in the kingdom of Ouueri [Warri], they were very courteously received by that King. This prince was better bred than ordinary, having been brought up among the Portuguese, whose language he was an absolute master of, and could besides write and read, a qualification unusual among these Ethiopian princes. Almost at the first sight of the King, the vice-superior broke out into these words: If your majesty does desire to have me to continue within your dominions, you must lay your injunctions on your subjects that they embrace the holy state of matrimony, according to our rites and ceremonies ; and moreover, that whereas now the young men and women go naked till they are marriageable, I desire your majesty to command that they may all go covered. ‘To which the King answered, that as to what related to his subjects, he would take care that they should comply with his request; but as for himself, he could never consent to do it, unless he were married to a White, as some of his predecessors had been.3 But what White would care to marry with a Black, even though he were a crowned head, especially among the Portugueses, who naturally despise them? Nevertheless the pious father, trusting in God’s providence to promote his own glory, gave no repulse to the obstinate monarch, but seemed to approve of all he said. To bring this good work to effect, he immediately departed, taking his way towards the island of 1 Iweme, a small Egun Kingdom, on the lower Weme river; Onko, a region of

the Oyo Kingdom, around Iganna. These are references to the first southward campaigns. 2 From Father Jerom Merolla da Sorrento, in Churchill (1744-6), 1, pp. 606-7. Father Merolla da Sorrento, a ‘Capuchin and Apostolic Missioner’, travelled in the Kingdom of the Kongo, but his information about Warri seems to have been second-hand. For the background to this extract see pp. 176-8 and Ryder (1960),

. 12-13. ae A reference presumably to the former Olu, Dom Domingos; cf. pp. 171-3.

188

DA SORRENTO:

Warri: Ecclesiastical Match-Making

St. Thomas, situate under the equinoctial line, and reckoned one of the nine countries conquered by the Portugueses in Africa. There he made it his business to inquire after a White woman that would marry a Black that was a crowned head. Whereupon he was informed that there was one in that island, tho’ of mean condition, whose poverty and meanness were nevertheless ennobled by a virtuous education, and a comely personage... . The young lady not long afterwards, having first taken leave of her relations, set out with some few Portugueses, and the missioner, for the aforesaid kingdom. Being just entered the confines, she was joyfully and universally saluted by the people for their Queen, having triumphal arches raised for her, and several other demonstrations of joy paid her by the inhabitants. Being arrived at the King’s palace, she was received by that monarch like another Rachel by Jacob, Esther by Ahasuerus, or Artemisia by Mausolus; and afterwards marry’d by him after the Christian manner, thereby giving a good example to his subjects, who soon forgot their former licentious principles, and submitted to be restrained by the rules of the gospel, that is, were all married according to the rites and ceremonies of the church.

DOM DOMINGOS II: Warri: Shortage of Priests! I received a letter from Your Excellency written on 15th August last year, and with it came the Reverend Fathers to the very great joy of myself and my chiefs. We gave thanks to God for them. But, as there is no perfect happiness in this life, it was the misfortune of myself and my subjects that we were not able to do so much as we would have wished for these Reverend Fathers, although we have always shown them every due regard and assisted them as far as our resources allow, as Your Excellency knows. I realize that it could not meet with their entire satisfaction, nor be according to their deserts.? At any rate Your Excellency must know that matters here are in such a state that everyone is suffering in some degree because the Ijaw are stopping me from going to Benin, and my subjects are unable to 1 This extract is from a letter, written in Portuguese, from the Olu of Warri, who signs himself Dom Domingos II, to Father Francesco da Monteleone, the

Italian Prefect of the Capuchin Mission in Sao Tomé. It would seem to have been written late in 1692, shortly after the departure from Warri of Father Protasio. It has been translated in Ryder (1960), pp. 15-16. a

2 “Here there seem to be echoes of complaint from the table. . . The Olu had undertaken to supply the priests and their servants with food’ (ibid., p. 15, n. 3).

DON DOMINGOS

I1+ Warri: Shortage of Priests

189

cultivate their farms, which is a great hardship.' As I have already remarked to Your Excellency, there is no perfect happiness in this life, and my misfortune has given me further proof of this in the loss of those two servants of God, Father Gioseppe Maria and Father Bernardino. I have felt their loss deeply, and now I have to lament the departure of Father Protasio because he finds himself without a companion. Neither my persuasions and prayers nor those of my chiefs have been able to dissuade him from his determination to leave, although I told him that he and I could write to Your Excellency so that a companion might be sent at the first opportunity to help him. ... I well know that the Reverend Fathers will make many accusations against us, but everyone, including Your Excellency, knows full well how little help we have received from the Fathers for many years past, and how few labourers there have been in this vineyard, so it is naturally full of blemishes. But if the work goes forward without interruption, it will undoubtedly bear fruit. The Reverend Father has promised me that he will come back, if God so wills and Your Excellency approves.2 His companion or companions should be of his age and disposition so that they may bear the fatigue and labour of the service of God and the conditions of life in this land. As Your Excellency will learn, the hospice is almost complete after our manner of building, and I shall begin the construction of a church on the plan that the Reverend Father has left me. May God be pleased to bring him back so that he may see it finished and praise the Lord therein.

BARBOT + Bonny in 1699: Commercial Procedures Trade adjusted The thirtieth of June, 1699, being ashore, had a new conference which produced nothing; and then Pepprell [Pepple] the King’s brother, made us a discourse, as from the King, importing, He was sorry we would not accept of his proposals ; that 1t was not his fault, he having a great esteem and regard for the Whites, who had much inriched him by 1 Cf. below, p. 197, n. 2. 2 A promise which Father Protasio was in fact unable to keep, since he was sent instead to the Island of Principe. 3 From the Journal of Mr. James Barbot, An Abstract of a Voyage to New Calabar River or Rio Real in the year 1699, translated and published in Churchill (1744-6), v, p. 459. For a commentary on this account see G. I. Jones (1963), pp. 40-6; and for a discussion of the trading system described here and its characteristic institutions see ibid., pp. go-101.

190

BARBOT - Bonny in 1699: Commercial Procedure

trade; That what he so earnestly insisted on, thirteen bars for male, and ten for female slaves, came from the country people holding up the price of slaves at their inland markets, seeing so many large ships resort to Bandy [Bonny] fox them; but to moderate matters, and incourage trading with us, he would be contented with thirteen bars for males, and nine bars and two brass rings for females, etc. Upon which we offered thirteen bars for men, and nine

for women, and proportionably for boys and girls, according to their ages; after this we parted, without concluding any thing farther. On the first of July, the King sent for us to come ashore, we staid there till four in the afternoon, and concluded the trade on the terms offered them the day before; the King promising to come the next day aboard to regulate it, and be paid his duties. .. . The second, heavy rain all the morning. At two o’clock we fetch’d the King from shore, attended by all his Caboceiros! and officers, in three large canoos; and entring the ship, was saluted with seven guns. The King had on an old-fashion’d scarlet coat, laced with gold and silver, very rusty, and a fine hat on his head, but bare-footed; all his attendants showing great respect to him and, since our coming hither, none of the natives have dared to come aboard of us, or sell the least thing, till the King had adjusted trade with us. We had again a long discourse with the King and Pepprell? his brother, concerning the rates of our goods and his customs. This Pepprell being a sharp blade, and a mighty talking Black, perpetually making objections against something or other, and teasing us for this or that Dassy,3 or present, as well as for drams, etc., it were to be wish’d, that such a one as he were out of the way, to facilitate trace. Thus, with much patience, all our matters were adjusted indifferently, after their way, who are not very scrupulous to find excuses or objections, for not keeping literally to any verbal contract; for they have not the art of reading and writing, and therefore we are forced to stand to their agreement, which often is no longer than they think fit to hold it themselves. The King order’d the publick cryer to proclaim the permission of trade with us, with the noise of his trumpets, being elephants teeth, made much after the same fashion as is used at the Gold Coast, we paying sixteen brass rings to the fellow for his fee. The Blacks objected against our wrought t Portuguese term, meaning those involved as middlemen in the European trade: hence, in a general sense, as here, chiefs and elders. 2 For Captain Pepprell, see ibid., pp. 106-7. vt 3 ‘Dassy’ (modern ‘dash’), present; possibly from the Portuguese das me, give me (ibid., pp. 99-100).

BARBOT - Bonny in 1699: Commercial Procedure

IgI

pewter and tankards, green beads, and other goods, which they

would not accept of... . We gave the usual presents to the King, etc... . To Captain Forty, the King’s general, Captain Pepprell, Captain Boileau, alderman Bougsby, my lord Willyby, duke of Monmouth,! drunken Henry and some others two firelocks, eight hats, nine narrow Guinea stuffs: We adjusted with them the reduction of our merchandize into bars of iron, as the standard coin,? viz.: One bunch of beads, one bar. Four strings of rings, ten rings in each, one ditto. Four copper bars, one ditto. One piece of narrow

Guinea stuff, one ditto. ...

And so pro rata for every sort of goods... . The price of provisions and wood was also regulated. Sixty King’s yams, one bar; one hundred and sixty slave’s yams, one bar; for fifty thousand yams to be delivered to us. A butt of water, two rings. For the length of wood, seven bars, which is dear; but they were to deliver it ready cut into our boat. For a goat, one bar. A cow, ten or eight bars, according to its bigness. A hog, two bars. A calf, eight bars. A jar of palm oil, one bar and a quarter. We paid also the King’s duties in goods; five hundred slaves, to be purchased at two copper rings a head. We also advanced to the King, by way of loan, the value of a hundred and fifty bars of iron, in sundry goods; and to his principal men, and others, as much again, each in proportion of his quality and ability. . . .3

AKIGA

> J1v and Fulani+

The Tiv married women from the neighbouring Bush Tribes,’ and had children by them, with sons and daughters. When their sons grew to manhood and their daughters reached puberty, the Bush 1 On 2 See bars as 3 For

the G. the the

Duke of Monmouth, see ibid., p. 134 and passim. I. Jones (1958), pp. 49-50, and (1963) pp. 90-2, for the use of iron local currency unit for purposes of foreign trade. system of advances to African traders see G. I, Jones (1958), p. 50, and

1963, pp. 96-7. Cf. below, p. 198 n. 1 and pp. 369-71. 4From

Akiga, Akiga’s Story, trans.

East (1939), pp. 21-2—a

study of Tiv

history and institutions, originally written in Tiv. Akiga, or Akighirga, son of Sai, a senior elder and blacksmith, was born in the late 1890s, and was first of his

people to come under the influence of the Dutch Reformed Church Mission, This account of Tiv-Fulani relationships, based upon traditional sources, Rupert East

suggests, refers to a period not earlier than the end of the sevententh century, the supposed period of Tiv migrations from the south-east. 5 ‘Bush People’—the term used by the Tiv to refer to the peoples to the east and south of them.

192

AKIGA + Tiv and Fulani

People cast their eyes upon them, and demanded that the Tiv should now give them their daughters to marry in return. When they refused to do this, the Bush Men were angry, ‘What!’ they crieda ‘Why are these Tiv becoming so assertive ? We used to give them our daughters to marry, thinking of our children who were yet unborn; why will they not give their daughters to our sons? Is it we who have been fools then?’ This was the beginning of the quarrel.! Faced with the hostility of the Bush Tribes, the Tiv abandoned their site and began to move down. They left the east on the one hand, the south on the other, and came down between, until they

met with the people called Fulani. The Fulani shepherded them and escorted them down. They never troubled them, or oppressed them in any way, but came down in company with the Tiv, quite peacefully. Thus the Tiv formed a close friendship with them. Whenever they came up against any other tribe that wanted to fight with them, the Fulani would attack their enemies and drive them off. When the Tiv saw the strength of the Fulani, they gave them the name of ‘Pul’, which in the Tiv language means ‘to be stronger’.? For the Fulani were stronger than all others at that time; whatever tribe they attacked they were sure to overcome it. The Fulani fought with staves, little white spears, and swords, but they never agreed to give the Tiv any of these weapons of war, for they did not want to teach them all they knew. Some, judging only by outward appearances, say that the Tiv are the slaves of the

Fulani. This was never so; but in so far that they greatly helped the Tiv in delivering them from the hands of the Bush Tribes, so the Tiv repaid them by giving them the help of their labour. For the Tiv were a people who understood how to cultivate the soil, whereas the Fulani were a tribe of herdsmen, and knew nothing about farming. So when they went out with their cattle to graze, the Tiv would do their farm work for them.3 The two races differed in appearance be‘ “Up to the present-day [1939] it is almost unknown for a Tiv woman to marry outside the tribe, though the men, especially in the border clans, will take nonTiv wives’. East (1939), p. 21. 2 East (1939, p. 24) points out that this is a fancy derivation: ‘Pul is the true root of the name by which the Fulani call themselves, of which the term ‘‘Fulani’’ is a Hausa corruption. But this error is in itself evidence in favour of the authenticity of the tradition. . . . For if the 'Tiv were once in such close contact with the Fulani as they claim, it is evidently thus that they came to learn their real name.’ 3 “There is nothing improbable in this account of the arrangement between the Tiv and the Fulani by which the former did the farm work in return for protection. |, . .- Before the jihad (early nineteenth century) the Fulani were not in a position to requisition labour for this purpose . . .’, loc. cit.

AKIGA + Tiv and Fulani cause the Fulani wore clothes, but the Tiv were unkempt;

193 and for

this reason the Fulani children used to jeer at the Tiv children, whenever there was a quarrel, saying, ‘Your fathers are slaves who work for our fathers’. But their fathers never took any notice of this, nor did the Tiv. The Fulani and the Tiv, however, were not together very long

before they parted company. The two peoples were so intimately interconnected that they did not refrain from intermarriage. But the Tivy did not like the Fulani marrying their daughters. When the elders saw that this was their intention, they were not at all pleased. ‘For,’ they said, ‘this is just the thing which we have already refused to allow, and here it is again. We do not let the Bush Tribes marry our daughters, so why should the Fulani be scheming to take them? They are not of our race, and it is best that we should separate. We will go our way, and they shall go theirs. But let us not part with ill feeling, let us part good friends.’ So the Tiv elders, having first talked the matter over among themselves, called all the chief men of the Fulani, and they sat down and discussed it together. . . . The Fulani elders agreed to the Tiv proposal, but they said, ‘Since our parting is without rancour, it seems to us that each of us should leave some

memorial of the event. What do you think? It may be that some day hence our children and your children will not know of the good fellowship that exists between us today. Let us then appoint a token.’ The Tiv said, “That is not necessary. Even though we have no token, the resemblance between us is the main thing. For our daughters have borne children to you, and your daughters have married our sons and borne children to us, so that we have indeed intermingled our blood; this is a fact which will never be forgotten.’ The Fulani said, ‘Nevertheless, let us make it an occasion for giving small presents. We will set aside a month in which you may catch us and take a little money from us, or a cloth which has been burnt in the fire.’! ‘Very well then,’ said the Tiv; but it did not seem to them to matter very much. They agreed in order that the Fulani should leave them to go their own way. And that is why, even down to the

present day, the Tiv do not trouble to catch the Fulani, and receive their cloths. So they separated. The Fulani turned back towards the rising sun, and the Tiv passed on down alone.... 1 The month referred to as set aside by the Fulani for present-giving between ‘cousins’ is the Muslim month Muharram (ibid., pp. 24-5).

SECTION

SIX

‘

The Eighteenth Century -: Dilemma of the Wazir

—393

Muslims] to carry heavy things and to build houses here and there. When I considered this attitude of theirs, I rejoiced and gave praises to God and thanked Him for it. I then stayed in Sokoto and worked with them. After all this, something entered my heart and excited my grief and I became bewildered in my affairs. When I saw this, I sent a boy, ‘Abd al-Qadir to the very learned and very understanding [i.e. penetrating] brother, Ahmad ibn Sa‘d,! to ask him for a clarification of the truth in this matter of ours. When he reached him and gave

him my letter, he wrote the following pages: . ‘After this, we have see your letter about what fate brought to pass upon us and all the people of Islam. The world is a house of distress and trials. We have a precedent in what the unbelievers did with the Caliph of the Messenger of God (the peace of God be upon him) in Baghdad. They burnt it [i.e. Baghdad], destroyed it, desecrated the graves of the saints, tore the community apart and killed the Caliph so that the world was without a Caliph for a while. 2 We have a precedent and a consolation in the Qarmatian unbeliever whom God granted the power (by means of his army), over Mecca on the Day of Sacrifice.3 Muslims were killed until the holy mosque was filled up with their corpses. . . . Even the Black Stone he took and went away with it. As God restored normalcy for the Muslims by the return of the Stone and the Khildfa [i.e. Caliphate] to them, so also do we hope that God will resolve this matter for us and grant us amelioration by His power and His grace. ‘This deed of yours is definitely the right thing, and God knows best, because this our land is a land of Islam and if we emigrate from it, it becomes a land of unbelief. Nevertheless, emigration (hijra) is an obligation which Muslim people must put before everything, even life. It is such that it is incumbent on the individual to emigrate from a place where unbelievers prevent him from the practice of the five foundations of Islam or turn him into a slave. However, those [i.e. the Christians] do not impede religion and the rites of Islam established in our land. Their goal is seeking for territory and overlordship in worldly matters. As regards Islam, they do not hinder 1 Ahmad

ibn Sa‘d was Alkalin

Gwandu,

a Tijani, and a close friend of the

Vizier’s family, who later composed Tarikh Gwandu for the British Administration. Last (1967a), pp. xliii, 219-20 and 249. 2 A reference to the overthrow of the Abbasid Caliphate and the sack of Baghdad by Hulagu the Mongol in a.p. 1258, Hitti, (1953), ch. 33. 3 For the sack of Mecca and the carrying off of the Black Stone by the Qarmatians (‘the Bolsheviks of Islam’) in A.D. 930, see ibid., pp. 444-6 and SEI, pp- 218-23.

394.

MUHAMMAD

AL-BUKHARI~: Dilemma of the Wazir

any one from it from Futa to here. Thus the best thing for you is to negotiate a truce with them and to seek settlement withythem since truce negotiation is permissible to the Imam and his deputy when Muslims are too weak to fight... . “This is our particular kind of friendship with them at present. We show regard to them with the tongue and have intercourse with them in affairs of the world but never love them in our hearts nor adopt their religion.’! i.e. adopt a policy of fagiyya (dissembling in order to preserve the faith): ‘the central recommendation of the Risala is fagiyya’, Adeleye (1968), p. 298.

.&

SECTION

NINE

Epilogue

HASSAN

AND

SHUAIBU - Scepticism!

Axsourt five miles to the south-east of the town of Abuja near Zuba of the Koro, a single rock, shaped like a kneeling elephant, rises massive from the plain. Since the earliest times the men of Abuja have told many different stories about the rock, and even today most people believe that certain spirits have their dwelling at its foot, and that a band of Pagans serve them. A very thick forest surrounds the foot of the rock, and deep inside a family of Koro live in a single small village, and it is their chief who is the priest of the fetish of the rock. This fetish lives in a small rock near the other, and it is at the foot of this small rock that the sacrifices are made. The duty of these people is to keep others away from the rock, and indeed nobody goes near them except some of their fellow-tribesmen who live in a village named Chachi on the outside edge of the forest, and not many of these will ever venture far inside. So few people have dared to go to the fetish village that it is commonly supposed to be invisible to human sight. In former times, just before the beginning of the rains, each year the Emir would send a black ox, a black he-goat and a black dog to the villagers of Chachi to be handed over to the guardians of the rock for sacrifice to the fetish. Even at the present day a fire is sometimes seen burning on the top of the rock, and when this fire is seen, men say that before the year is out something of note will happen in the land of Abuja. It is certain that no human hand lights this fire, for no man born of woman could climb the sheer smooth granite flanks of the rock, and none but the birds or perhaps a passing airman have ever seen its top. Two years ago for the first time a party of men from Abuja, the District Officer, the Iyan Bakin Kasuwa who is now our Emir, the Sarkin Malamai who is now the Sarkin Ruwa, together with the Chief of Zuba who is now the Sarkin Yamma, went to find out the 1 From Hassan and Shuaibu (1962), pp. 86-7, ‘the Zuma Rock’. See above, P- 333-

396

HASSAN

AND

SHUAIBU * Scepticism

truth about the rock. It was said that we should never reach it alive,

and the priest would not see us if we did. It was said that this priest wore no clothes and neither cut nor dressed his hair; and it was sajd that in the old days human beings, usually virgins, were sacrificed to this fetish. We went to Chachi, and the men of Chachi would not come into the forest with us, but they showed us the path leading to the village. This we followed for a long way over difficult ground and came at last to the village. The fetish priest had some unexpected visitors that day! We sat outside his house and all the people came out to welcome us. There they talked to us in proper Hausa—not in any strange tongue which needed interpreting. We found that all the stories we had heard were nonsense—the priest was just like other men, properly clothed and shaved as we were. He showed us the place where the former priests are buried, and said that he knew nothing of human sacrifices but believed that at one time they had been made. Nowadays the sacrifice is made, not to the rock itself, but to the spirits of the dead priests, his ancestors. Thus we were the first men, except for some of their fellowtribesmen of Chachi, ever to visit these guardians of the rock. Very many people prophesied that before the year was out we should all suffer some great misfortune; but the time passed and nothing untoward occurred, on the contrary each of us has since then been given a title of greater honour. Wonderful are the works of God!

LASEBIKAN ° Variety! Why do we grumble because a tree is bent, When, in our streets, there are even men who are bent?

Why must we complain that the new moon is slanting? Can any one reach the skies to straighten it? Can’t we see that some cocks have combs on their heads, but no

plumes in their tails? And some have plumes in their tails, but no claws on their toes. And others have claws on their toes, but no power to crow? He who has a head has no cap to wear, and he who has a cap has no head to wear it on. He who has good shoulders has no gown to wear on them, and he who has the gown has no good shoulders to wear it on, The Owa has everything but a horse’s stable. This is a translation of a Yoruba poem belonging to the class known as ropa i.e. poems composed on abstract subjects, quoted by Lasebikan (1956) p. 49.

LASEBIKAN ° Variety

397

Some great scholars of Ifa cannot tell the way to Ofa. Others know the way to Ofa, but not one line of Ifa. Great eaters have no food to eat, and great drinkers no wine to drink: Wealth has a coat of many colours!

A BIDA

DRUMMER:

Modernization!

The name of Allah is the beginning of all learning. Let us speak of the day when Etsu Bello bought a motor-car. On the day when Etsu Bello bought a motor-car, The whole of Bida went out to build a road. Younger brother and elder brother, they went out to build the road. All the people on the farms went out to build the road. The young bride, she went to build the road. The bridegroom, he went to build the road. But why did they all go out to build the road? It was because Etsu Bello had bought a motor-car. Because of that all the people went out to build a road. They said: Let us build a road on which the car can travel. Then the man who wants to go to Baddeggi, in this car he will go. And Zungeru, the man who wants to go to Zungeru, in this car he wil go. And Wuya, who will travel to Wuya, in this car he will go. The man who will go to Jima, in this car he will go. The man who will go to Kacha, in this car he will go. The man who will travel beyond the river, in this car he will go. Thus he will go, they said, and therefore let us make the road. Etsu Bello has the money to buy the car, But the car will benefit all the people of Bida, from the farms and from the city, The great man and the servant. They thank Etsu Bello because he has bought the car. Etsu Bello, who has horses, and who now has a car. Etsu Bello can say: Though the horse may break his legs We shall go all the same. On the day when £tsu Bello bought the motor-car, The bottles of the glass-makers turned into red beads. And the kernels of the gombara grass became necklaces.” 1 Translation of a Nupe praise-song, composed in 1918 by one of the drummers of Bida in honour of Etsu Bello’s first motor-car, and quoted by Nadel (1942), pp. 140-1, as an example of efficient ‘propaganda for the [Nupe] Kingdom’, Etsu Bello reigned from 1915 to 1924. 2 ‘i.e., all the people who went out to see the motor-car were dressed in their

398

A BIDA DRUMMER + Modernization

In that year when Etsu Bello bought the motor-car, The men were beating the ground, And the woman, she was waiting at home. How did it happen that the woman was sitting at home? Of old it was the woman who was beating the ground, And the man he just stood and watched.

&

But because of this motor-car of Etsu Bello,

All the men were beating the ground, and that is that.! And all the people, the whole of Bida, They were saying their thanks to mace da ciki.? And all Bida was giving thanks to karan guya,? Who has sold the car to Etsu Bello. And all the people were giving thanks to Eitsu Bello, Because he gave his money to buy a motor-car, That motor-car that will become a thing of benefit To all the human beings.

AKIGA

+ The Idea of History3

It has been my constant prayer that God would help me to write this book, in order that the new generation of Tiv, which is beginning to learn this New Knowledge, should know the things of the fathers as well as those of the present generation. For everything that belongs to the Tiv is passing away, and the old people, who should tell us about these things, will soon all be dead. It makes me sad to think that our heritage is being lost, and that there will be none to remember it... . You, then, my Tiv brothers of the new generation that can read, read [this book] and tell others, who cannot, of the things of our ancestors; so that, whether we have learnt to read or not, we all may still know something of our fathers who have gone before us. And do you, however great your knowledge may be, remember that you are a Tiv, remain a Tiv, and know the things of Tiv; for therein lies your pride. Let us take heart. The old mushroom rots, another springs up, but the mushroom tribe lives on. most beautiful dress, and the glass-makers of Bida were busy manufacturing ornaments for the occasion.’ (Nadel.) ' “By “beating the ground” is meant the levelling of the ground in road building. The same term is also used for the levelling of the floor in Nupe huts, a work which is reserved for women. Therefore this comment on the change of times.’ (Nadel.) 2 Mace da ciki (Hausa, pregnant woman); Karan giya (Hausa, a grass with prickles, Pennisetum)—both nicknames for the District Officer of the day. (Nadel.) 3 From Akiga (1939), pp. 2-4. See above, p. 191.

Bibliographies PPP

PP

PPP

PP

PPP

PPP

PP

PP

OP

OO

OOOO

OP

This bibliography is arranged alphabetically in two sections: (1) Sources: works of various kinds from which the extracts appearing in this anthology have been taken. (2) Works: books, articles, and the like—referred to in the Introduction and notes or having some general relevance. There is necessarily some overlapping, in the sense that a number of works listed under (1) would also qualify for inclusion under (2). I. SOURCES

‘Abdullah dan Fodio, 1963. Tazyin al-waragat. Trans. and ed. by M. Hiskett, Ibadan. Also published by A. Brass. Der Islam, X, 1920. ‘Abdullah dan Fodio, 1957. ‘Ida’ al-nustikh man ‘akhadhtu ‘anhu min alShuytkh. Trans. and ed. M. Hiskett BSOAS, XIX, 3, as ‘Material relating to the State of Learning among the Fulani before their Fihad’. Adams, John, 1823. Remarks on the Country extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo. London. (Reprinted 1966.) Africanus, Leo, 1896. The History and Description of Africa done into English by John Pory. (Ed.) Robert Brown, Hakluyt Society, London. See also Jean-Léon Vl’Africain, Déscription de l’Afrique. Trans. and ed. A. Epaulard. Paris, 1956. Agbebi, Mjola (David B. Vincent), 1892. Quoted in E. A. Ayandele, The Missionary Impact on Modern Nigeria, 1842-1914. London, 1966. Akiga, 1939. Akiga’s Story. Translated and annotated by Rupert East, Oxford. ‘Ali, Mai Hajj. See Girard. Allen, William, and Thompson, T. R. H., 1848. Narrative of the Expedition to the River Niger in 1841. London. (Reprinted 1968.) Baba of Karo, 1954. Autobiography. Trans. and ed. M. F. Smith, London. Baba, Ahmad. Al-kashf wa ’l-bayan li asnaf majlib al-Sidaén or Mi‘rdj al-

suid ila nail hukm majlib al-sid. Translated from MS

5259/19-23,

Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, and MS 82/293, University of Ibadan Library.

Backwell, H. F., 1927. London, 1969.)

The Occupation of Hausaland.

Lagos.

(Reprinted,

400

Bibliography: Sources

Baikie, W. B., 1856. Narrative of an Exploring Voyage up the Rivers Kwo’ra and Bi’nue. London. Al-Bakri al-Kortubi, Abi ‘Ubaid ‘Abdallah ibn ‘Abd al- aie Kitab, almasalik wa’l-mamalik. (Ed. De Slane, with Arabic title—Aitab Sh mughrib fi dhikr bilad Ifriqiya wa’l- Maghrib, French—Description del Afrique Septentrionale, Paris, 1859.) (Reprinted 1965.) Barbot, James (Jacques), An Abstract of a Voyage to New Calabar River or Rio Real in the Year 1699. Trans. in A. and I. Churchill, Collection of Voyages and Travels (Third edition 1744-6), V. Barth, Henry, 1857. Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa 18491855. vols. I-V. London. (Reprinted 1965.) Benton, P. A., 1912. The Languages and Peoples of Bornu. London. (Reprinted 1968.) Bosman, William, 1705. A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea. London. (New edition, J. R. Willis, J. D. Fage, and R. E. Bradbury, 1967.) See also Van Nyendael. Bowen, T. J., 1857. Adventures and Missionary Labors in Several Countries in the Interior of Africa from 1849 to 1856. Charleston. Burton, Richard, 1863. Wanderings in West Africa. London. Burton, Richard, 1863. Abeokuta and the Cameroons Mountains. London. Campbell, Robert, 1861. A Pilgrimage to my Motherland, an Account of a Journey among the Egbas and the Yorubas of Central Africa in 1859-Go. New York. Celebi, Evliya, 1938. Seyahatndme. Istanbul. Clapperton, Hugh, 1829. Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo. London. (Reprinted 1966.) Clemison, John. Letter dated 27th January 1777 to Richard Miles, Governor of Cape Coast Castle. (PRO, T. 70/1534.) Craigie, Robert, Dispatch published in Papers relating to Engagements entered into by King Pepple and the Chiefs of Bonny with Her Majesty’s Naval Officers on the subject of the suppression of the Slave Trade. (C. 11 July, 1848.) Crowther, Samuel, 1855. Journal of an Expedition up the Niger and Tshadda Rivers...in 1854. London. (Second edition with Introduction by J. F. A. Ajayi, 1970.) Dalzel, Archibald, 1793. The History of Dahomy, an Inland Kingdom of Africa. London. (New edition with introduction by J. D. Fage, 1967.) D’Anania, Giovanni Lorenzo, 1582. L’Universale fabbrica del Mondo overo Cosmografia. Third edition, Venice. Dan Marina (Muhammad al-Kashinawi ibn al-Sabbagh), 1927. Maz ‘Ali of Bornu Defeats the Kororafa. Translated by H. R. Palmer in ‘History of Katsina’, JAS, XXXVI, April. A shortened version in C. K. Meek, A Sudanese Kingdom, London, 1931. Dapper, Olfert, 1668. Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche Gewesten. Amsterdam. French edition—Description de l’Afrique, Amsterdam, 1686. English edition Africa, by J. Ogilby, London, 1670. Da Sorrento, Jerom Merolla, A voyage to the Congo and several other countries

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Smith, H. F. C., 1970. ‘Some considerations relating to the Formation of States in Hausaland’. JHSN, V, 3, December. Smith, H. F. C., 1971. ‘The early States of the Central Sudan’. In Ajayi aS Crowder (Ed.), History of West Africa, I. London. Smith, H. F. C., 1972. ‘The Legend of the Sefuwa’. Unpublished, reer Bello ihe Zaria, December. Smith, M. G., 1960. Government in Zazzau 1800-1950. International African Institute, London. Smith, M. G., 1961. ‘Field Histories Among the Hausa’. JAH, II, 1. Smith, M. G., 1964. ‘Historical and Cultural Conditions of Political Corruption among the Hausa’. Comparative Studies in Society and History, VI, 2, January. Smith, R. S., 1962. ‘Ijaiye: The Western Palatinate of the Yoruba’. JHSN , II, 3, December. Smith, R. S., 1963. ‘Manuscript Notes in a book in the Africana Section of the Library of the University of Ibadan’. JASN, II, 4, December. Smith, R. S., 1965. ‘The Alafin in exile: a study of the Igboho period in Oyo history’. 7AH, VI, 1. Smith, R. 8., 1967. ‘Yoruba Armament’. JAH, VIII, 1. Smith, R. 8., 1969. Kingdoms of the Yoruba. London. Smith, R. S., 1970. ‘The Canoe in West African History’. JAH, XI, 4. Smith, R. S., 1971(a). ‘Event and Portent: the fall of Old Oyo, a problem in historical explanation’. Africa, XLI, 3, July. Smith, R. S., 1971(b). ‘Nigeria—Ijebu’. In Crowder (Ed.), West African Resistance. London. Smith, R. S., and Williams, D., 1966. ‘A Reconnaissance Visit to Old Oyo’. Odu, n.s., ITI, 1. Smith, W. Cantwell, 1957. Islam in Modern History. Princeton. Sédlken, H., 1959-63. ‘Die Geschichte von Kabi nach Imam Umaru’. Mitt. Inst. f. Orientforschung, VII, 1; IX, 1. Stenning, T., 1959-63. Savannah nomads: a study of the Wodaabe Pastoral Fulani of Western Bornu Province. International African Institute, London. Stewart, C. C., 1968. ‘Notes on North and West African MS. material relating to the West African Qadiriyya tariga’. Research Bulletin, IV, I and 2. Stiffers, H., 1967. (Ed.) Heinrich Barth. Wiesbaden. Suret-Canale, J., 1964. Essai sur la Signification Sociale et Historique des Hégénomies Peules (XVII°-XIX® siécles). Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Marxistes, Paris. Talbot, P. A., 1926. The Peoples of Southern Nigeria. London. Tamuno, T. N., 1965. “Some aspects of Nigerian Reaction to the Imposition of British Rule’. JASN, III, 2, Dec. Tapiéro, N., 1968. ‘Concerning an Arabic manuscript of Sudanese origin preserved in the Bibliothéque Nationale Paris’. Research Bulletin, [Vy 1 & 2, December.

Bibliography: Works Tong, R., 1957. “Captain Thomas Wyndham

421 and the Voyage to Benin

ee 553°. History Today. VII, 4, April.

‘Trimingham, J. S., 1959. Islam in West Africa. Oxford. Trimingham, J. S., 1962. A History of Islam in West Africa. London. Tubiana, M.-J., 1964. Survivances préislamiques en pays Zaghawa. Paris, Institut d’Ethnologie. Ukwu, U. I., 1967. ‘The Development of trade and marketing in Iboland’. JHSN, III, 4. Urvoy, Y., 1936. Histoire des populations du Soudan central. Paris. aaa Y., 1949. Histoire de l’Empire du Bornou. Mémoires de ’IFAN, 7, aris. Verger, P., 1959. ‘Notes on some documents in which Lagos is referred to by the name “Onim”’ and which mention relations between Onim and Brazil’. JHSN, I, 4, December. Verger, P., 1964. Bahia and the West Coast Trade 1549-1851. Ibadan.

Verger, P., 1968. Flux et reflux de la traité des Neégres entre le golfe de Benin et Bahia de Todos os Santos du XVII? au XIX° siécle. Paris/The Hague. Waldman, L. K., 1965. ‘An unnoticed aspect of Archibald Dalzel’s The History of Dahomey’. FAH, VI, 2. Waldman, M. R., 1965. “The Fulani Jihad: a reassessment’. FAH, VI, 3. Waldman, M. R., 1966. ‘A Note on the Ethnic Interpretation of the Jihad., Africa, July. Webster,J. B., 1963. “The Bible and the Plough’. JHSWN, II, 4, December. Webster, J. B., 1964. The African Churches among the Yoruba, 1888-1922. London. Wilks, Ivor, 1967. ‘Wargee of Astrakhan’. In Curtin (Ed.) Africa Remembered. Madison. Wilks, Ivor, 1968. ‘The Transmission of Islamic Learning in the Western Sudan’. In Goody (Ed.) Literacy in Traditional Societies. Cambridge. Wilks, Ivor, and Ferguson, Phyliis, 1970. ‘In Vindication of Sidi al-Hajj ‘Abd al-Salam Shabayni’. In Allen and Johnson (Ed.) African Per-

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‘Investigations at Old Oyo 1956-57: An Interim 1, December. ‘Ife and its Archaeology’. 7AH, I, 2. ‘Recent archaeological discoveries at esha’. Odu,

Willett, Frank, 1967. [fe in the History of West African Sculpture. London. Willett, Frank, 1971. ‘Nigeria’. In Shinnie The African Iron Age. Oxford. Willis, J. R., 1967. ‘Jihadfisabil Allah’. FAH, VIII, 3. Wolfson, Freda, 1958. Pageant of Ghana. London. Young, M. W., 1966. ‘The Divine Kingship of the Jukun: A Re-evaluation of some theories’. Africa, XXXVI, 2, April. Im4m Yisuf ibn ‘Abd al-Qadir. ‘Elegy for al-Kanemi’s death’. (U.J. MSS 82/66, HSN Bulletin, V1, 2, September).

eo —

Index PPPPP

PPP

PPPS

PPS

SS

SS

S$

OOO

OOOO

OOO

OOS

Tuts is an index of personal and place names. For the sake of brevity themes have in general been omitted. Among geographical terms I have left out the names of those states and peoples that recur constantly and form the essential subject matter of this book—Benin, Bornu, the Hausa states, the Ibo, Oyo and the Yoruba. The List of Contents indicates fairly clearly the sections of the book where these societies appear. Similarly I have omitted the names of frequently recurring European nations—British, Dutch, Portuguese. Authors whose names are listed in the bibliography have been for the most part excluded—apart from those who (like the Dan

Fodio brothers) are important as participants in Nigerian history, or who are referred to in contexts other than those of their written contributions. Alternative names are in square brackets; titles, descriptions, and locations in round brackets.

Abbasids, 8, 88, 119 n., 393 n. ‘Abd-Allahi, Mode, 329 ‘Abd al-rahman ibn Atiku (Caliph of Sokoto), 390

281-2 ‘Abd al-Salam ibn Sa‘id ibn Habib alTantkhi Sahnin, 118 n.

Abuyazidu, 74 Abyssinia [Habash], 78, 210 Accra, 36, 372 Adahoonzou II or Mpengula [Kpengla] (King of Dahomey), 224-5 Adama, Mallam (Amir of Adamawa), 328-30 Adamawa, 54, 280, 317, 324, 328-31, 346, 359, 3875 see also Fumbina Addizetta, 297 n., 298-9 Adele (Oba of Lagos), 226 n.

Abdu (Son of Tsoede), 108 Abdul Dar, 75 ‘Abdullah dan Fodio, 11 and n., 13, 45,

Agades), 132 Afnu, ‘Afuni (= Hausa),

‘Abd al-rahman ibn Muhammad alAmin al-Kanemi, 320 n., 321 and n.

‘Abd al-Salam (Arewa scholar), 54 ‘Abd al-Salam (Amir of Ilorin), 62-3,

53, 56-7, 240-3, 245, 254 n.

‘Abdullah ibn al-Sayyid Muhammad (Khalifa

of Sudanese

Mahdi),

61,

87-9

ieakates 63, 65, 69, 120n., 338-40, 341-2 and n., 344, 361 n., 362 n.

Abiodun (Alafin of Oyo), 47-8, 224 n. Abipa (Alafin of Oyo), 40 Abo [Abob], 6, 168 n., 297 n., 336, 349, 37 Abomey, 222, 223 Abi Faris ‘Abd al ‘Aziz ibn Mas‘id alDabbagh, 94 and n. Aba Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ya‘qib al-

Kanimi, 93, 98 Abuja, 333-4, 395

Abu Kwaka, the Tall (King of Abuja), 333-4

Al-‘Adil,

Muhammad

(Sultan 4n.,

of

rog,

154, 185 n., 244

Afonja, Kakamfo (ruler of Ilorin), 61-2, 271 n., 279-82, 296 n. Africa, John (trader), 234. Agades, 2, 44-5, 119, 132 n.

Agaja [Guaja Trudo] (King of Dahomey), 47, 222 n. Agusale, 120 Ahadee, Bossa, see Tegbesu Ahmad Alimi (Mai of Bornu), 58, 273 Ahmad ibn Sa‘d (Alkalin Gwandu),

393 Ahmad

ibn ‘Umar

Hajj, 117-18

al-Tinbukti,

al-

Ahmadu II (Caliph of Macina), 319 Ahmadu, Shaikh (founder of the Caliphate of Macina), 52, 58, 319 n. Air, 114, 119 n., 133

Index

424

Ajagbo (Alafin of Oyo), 41, 185, 186-7 Ajaka, 109, 111 Ajase Ipo, see Ardra, Little

Akengbuda (Oba of Benin), 229 n. Akenzua I (Oba of Benin), 48 Gees [Akighirga], son of Sai, 191-3,

39

Akinsemoyin (Oba of Lagos), 225 n. Akitoye (Oba of Lagos), 346 n. Akpakpava (street), 111, 126 Aksum, 77 n. Akure, 31 Akus, the [Yoruba], 350-1 ‘Ali Dada (Hi-Koi of Songhay), 134 ‘Ali Gaji ibn Dunama (Mai of Bornu), 25, 27 ‘Ali ibn Dunama (Mai of Bornu), 44 ‘Ali ibn al-Hajj ‘Umar [Hajj ‘Ali, ‘Ali Tair] (Mai of Bornu), 178-84 Alimi, see Salih ibn Janta Aliyu (Sarkin Kano), 390-1 Aliyu Babba ibn Bello [*Ali] (Caliph of Sokoto), 291-2, 330 Alkalawa [al-Qadawa], 45, 259 Allada [Great Ardra], 41, 47, 162 n.,

173, 174, 180, 197

Almoravids, the, 51

fk

Lil (Songhay

war

prisoner),

Rea [Amakree] (King of Kalabari), 232 Amina (Queen of Zaria), 28, 106 Amsaka, 141 Andoni [Dony], 203-4, 369 Angola, 166, 210 Angornou [Ngorno], 273; see also Birni adid Anterashi, Kaigama, 179-80 Anya, 310-II ‘Aqaba, 185 Aqua, Ephraim, 235-8 Aqit (family), 117, 154 Arabia, 20, 240

Arbo [Arbon, Arebo], 159, 166-7, 169, 195-6, 206 Archibong (King of Duke Town, Calabar), 355

Arder, see Allada

Ardra (Little) [Ajase Ipo, modern Porto Novo], 174, 227 and n., 228-9, 272 1.

Arguin, 317, 324.

Aro-Chuku oracle, Aros, 49, 336-8 Asara, 80 Asbenawa, 114; see also Air

Ashanti, 2, 5, 48, 65, 315, 347 n.

Askia Dawid (ruler of Songhay), 134

Askia Ishaq II (ruler of Songhay), 38, sf

151

skis(Muhammad/aberay Mubane

mad Ture] (Askia the Great, uae Songhay),

34-5,

II5n.,

129 N., 130, 132 n., 133, 261 n.

Asma’ bint al-Shaikh, 12 n. Aswan, 104 Atakparhakpa (robber), 126 Atiba (Alafin of Oyo), 63 Atiku, Abi Bakr, ibn * Shaikh [‘Atiq] (Caliph of Sokoto), 288 n., 290-1

Attahiru, Muhammad

(Caliph of So-

koto), 68, 390 n., 392 n. Awjila [Augella], 181, 185 Awole (Alafin of Oyo), 47, 61, 279 n. Azagbaghedi (diviner and magician),

12 6 Al-Azhari, Khalid ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr [al-Waqqad], 118 Baba, Abua’l-‘Abbas Ahmad, al-Tinbukti, 39-40, 117 and n., 154-6, 244 Baba [Babba] (Ijaw chief), 205-6 Baba, of Karo, 384-6 Baba Goro ibn al-Hajj Muhammad, 35

Babuma, Amadu (Kanuri praisesinger), 90 Badagri [Badagry], 47, 226 and n., 228, 293, 339-40 Bagauda (Sarkin Kano), 76, 92 n.

Baghdad, 319, 393 Bagirmi, 2, 58, 61, 274 n., 317, 319, 389

Bahr al-Ghazal, 387 n. Bani Hashim, 77-8 Bani Kan‘an, 78 Bani Khattab, 87 n. Banza Bokoi, 76 Barak, 141 Barbary, 120, 123, 13 2, 145, 181, 283; see also Maghrib Bardoa (‘Prince of Bornu’), 131 Al-Barnawi, Aba Muhammad ‘Abdullah (shaikh and gnostic), 93-4 Al-Barnawi, al-Imam Muhammad

ibn

al-Hajj ‘Abd al-rahman, 44, 207-8 Baroso, Pero, 127

Barqa [Barca, Cyrenaica], 131 Barqigq, al-Zahir Saif al-din (Mamluk Sultan of Egypt), 103 Bashir, al-Hajj, ibn Muhammad Tirab

{el-Haj Beshir ben Ahmed

Tirab]

(Vizier of Bornu), 59, 320-2, 332 Basorun, the (office), 47-8, 186-7, 342 n. Bawa (Sultan of Gobir), 46 vs Bawogari, 76

Index Beecroft, John (Consul), 348, 356 Bedingfield, Commander, 346 Belli [Bile], 174, 176 Bello (Etsu Nupe), 397-8 Bello, Muhammad

(Caliph of Sokoto),

I, II, 13, 17, 445 53> 55-7, 59, 78 n.,

92 n., 264-7, Berbers, Beriberi

132-4, 209n., 256-8, 261 n., 283-5, 290, 308 n. 22-3, 87 n., 88, 93, 95-6 [Kanuri], 114, 386

Bida, 359 n., 397-8

Bilal, Kachella, 358 Bini [Beni] (Nupe), 29, 106, 108 Biram, 76 n. Biri (friend of Sango), 109-10 Biri ibn Dunama (Mai of Kanem),

gI-2 Birni Jadid [New Birni, Birni Kafela],

273 n.

Bonny, 5, 20, 31, 43, 66, 69, 174, 189QI, 203, 228, 230, 231-4, 300-5, 313, 347-8, 362-4, 369 n. (Oba

of

Benin), 229 Braima, 80

Brass, 5, 43, 68-9, 83-6, 310, 336, 3646, 377-8

Brazil, 203, 229, 312, 346

‘Breeché’ [‘Embrenché’], 210, 233 Bukhari, Muhammad,

ibn Ahmad ibn

Gidado (Vizier of Sokoto), 67, 390 n., 392-4

Al-Bukhari,

Muhammad

ibn

Isma‘il

(traditionist), 242, 256, 383 Bulala, the, 26-7, 33 n., 137 n., 140 Burmi [Bormi], battle of, 68 Bussa, 29, 156 Byzantium, 93, 241, 277 n.

Cairo, 9, 24, 98, 118n., 181, 265n., 277 D., 279 Calabar [Old Calabar], 5, 43, 49, 69,

232, 234-8, 336, 338, 353-6, 36

Caliphate, the, 148, 149n., 3933; see also Bornu, Masina, Morocco, Ottoman, Sokoto, etc. Calmina [Cana], 222-3 Cam, Diogo, 112 Cameroons [Kamerun], 356 n., 373 n.

Chachi (Abuja), 395-6 Chad, Lake, 26, 35, 87, 91 n., 94n., 137, 138 n., 141 n., 173 Chamba (Adamawa), 330-1 Clarence (Fernando Po), 348-9

Creek Town (Calabar), 353

Crowther, Samuel (Bishop), 12, 54, 69,

309-11, 334-6, 340, 352, 374-6

Cuba, 338 Cyrenaica, see Barqa

Dabo, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad (Sarkin Kano), 276 n, da Firenze, Bonaventura (Father), 187 Dahomey, 2, 46-8, 62-5, 162, 186,

221-5, 227, 337, 338-40, 367

d’Aiaccio, Angelo Maria (Father), 187

Blommaart, Samuel, 15, 159 n.

Borgu, 38, 156, 271 Bornu Caliphate, 27 ‘Bowarré’ [? = Obanosa]

425

Congo, see Kongo Cootry, see Kutere Copts, the, 265 Cordova, 88 n. eee [Ikorodu] Lake (Lagos), 228-9, 34 Craigie, Commander Robert, 303-5

Dala (Kano), 26, 322-3 Damietta, 263 Dan Marina [Ibn al-Sabbagh], 39-40,

17

Dan Masanih hammad ibn Dara, Ibrahim Darfur, 87, 388

[Aba ‘Abdullah Masanih], 39 (of Karo), 384-6 n.

Mu-

Dauda Bakon Damisa (Sarkin Kano), 105-6 Daura, 24, 74-6, 254 n. d@Aveiro, Joao Affonso, 124, 125-6

32, 37, 113,

Dawid ibn Ibrahim Nikale (Mai of Kanem-Bornu), 27, 77, 102 Dawudids, the, 27

Degel, 46, 53, 247 n.

Dendi-Fari (Governor of Dendi, Songhay title), 133 Dendo, Mallam, 306-7, 359 n. de Seqeira, Ruy, 32, 112

Dihya ibn Khalifa al-Kalbi al-Khazraji, 277 and n. Dikwa (capital of Bornu), 61, 387 n. Dokomba, 108 Domingos, Dom (Olu of Warri), 43, 171 n., 173 n., 178, 187 n. Domingos, Dom Antonio (Olu of Warri, son of Dom Domingos), 43 and n., 171-3, 176-8 Domingos II, Dom (Olu of Warri), I8 Den fees (Benin ambassador), 36 Dragut the Corsair (ruler of Tripoli), 34 Dryden, John, 352 Dugul (Katsina), 133 Duke, Antera, 12, 50, 235-8 Duke Town (Calabar), 353-6

Index

426 Duma (King of Gobir), 76 Dunama Dibbalemi (Mai of Kanem), 24-6, 95n., 100 n., IOI n.

Dunama 269 n., Dunama Dunama 24,

ibn 270 ibn ibn

Ahmad (Mai of Bornu), n., 271 n., 274-5 ‘Ali (Mai of Bornu), 44 Umme (Mai of Kanem),

58, gi

Edo [Oedo] (Benin language and people), 27, 124n., 160, 164n.,

Forcados, river, 122-3, 171

Fulani, 28, 43-5, 70-1, 113, 156, 191-3, 261 n., 262, 269n., 281, 287-9, 295,

323 328, 333 n., 335 n.

Fumbina, 44, 330; see also Adamawa Fuski ibn Kilili (Bornu ambassador), 140 Al-Fustat (Cairo), 98 Futa Toro, 45, 113, 241, 317 Gabon, 166, 366

195n

Efik, 236 n., 237 n., 337

Egba, the, 48, 62-4, 66, 338-40, 344-5, 350, 361-2; see also Abeokuta Egbadoes, the, 350 Egypt [Misr], 2, 8-9, 20, 39, 78 n., OI,

102, 103-4, 141 n., 184, 263 Ehengbuda (Oba of Benin), 37, 41,

143 n.

Gaga [Kaka] (capital of Bornu), 97, 102, 103 Gaha (Basorun of Oyo), 47-8, 224 n. Galadima (office), 26, 44, 105-6, 179n., 252, 327-8 Gambaru, 44 Gao [Kawkaw,

Gogo], 2, 4, 9-10, 17,

33-5, 38-9, 115, 129N., 153-4; see

Eisami, ‘Ali, 268-72 Ekiti, 31, 40, 111

Ekpe [Egbo] society (in Calabar), 49,

235-8, 355-6, 366-7

Elempe (King of Nupe), 31, rro Elmina [S. Jorge da Mina], 112, 123 Equiano, Olaudah [Gustavus Vassa], 6, 12, 13, 49, 209-21 Erinmwinde (wife of Oranmiyan), 82 Escravos, river, 122

Esigie (Oba of Benin), 37, 125-6 Essaka, 210

Evin-an (‘President’ of Benin), 81 Ewedo (Oba of Benin), 27 Eweka I (Oba of Benin), 27, 82-3 Ewuakpe (Oba of Benin), 197 n. Ewuare the Great (Oba of Benin), 31-2,

I1I-12

Eyamba V Calabar), Eyo Honesty Calabar),

Fon [Foys], the, 222-3

also Songhai Gaoga [Bulala], 33 Gara, see Igala Garazawa (Kano), 92, 100 Gawakuke, battle of, 287 n. Gazargamu, Birnin, see Ngazargamu Gazaura (King of Daura), 76 Gbara (capital of Nupe), 108 George IV (of England), 11, 233, 278 Gezo (King of Dahomey), 340 n. Ghadamis, 289, 325 Ghana (Empire), 9, 24, 94 Ghat, 324, 325-6 Ghunghu [Gungu] (Kebbi), 134 Gidado dan Laima (Vizier of Sokoto), 10, 266 and n., 283-5, 289, 291 Gijimasu (Sarkin Kano), 92 Ginuwa, 42, 301 n.

(King of Duke Town, 353-4 III (King of Creek Town, 353-6

Fasam [Fatima] (mother of Mai Biri ibn Dunama), 91

Fatima (daughter of the Prophet Muhammad), 253 Fatimids, 74 n. Fermoso [Benin] river, 122 Fernao do Po, 112 Fernando Po [Ilha Formosa] (island), 112-13, 293 N., 345, 349, 355 Fez, University of, 99 n., 129 n., 218 n. Fezzan, the, 23, 25-6, 34, 87 n., 95-6, 99, 145, 146 n., 181, 240, 282, 326, a

Firabri, Muhammad

(teacher), 242

Glover, Governor, 360

Gobir, 39, 45-6, 76, 79, 99, 114, I19, 133, 156, 245-7, 253, 259 n., 287-8 Gogobiri, see Gobir Gold Coast [modern Ghana], 39, r12n., 114n., 166, 194, 195, 348, 367-8 Gonja [Gwanja], 39, 65, 114 Gotton, Gwatto, see Ughoton Granada, 129 n.

Grubbe, Sir Hunt (Admiral), 372 Guangara, see Wangara Gudu, 247 Gunguma (King of Zazzau), 76 Gwandu, 62, 308 n. Gwari, 76 n., 386

Gwoni Mukhtar, 58, 261 n., 269 n. Habash, see Abyssinia

Hadi al-‘Uthmani, 98

ba

Index Hadith, 28, 114, 118, 119 n., 242 n., 257

Hafsids (dynasty), 24, 25, 99 Hajj, the, 8, 24, 52, 58

Hamad, Muhammad (Sultan of Agades), 132 n. Hamdallahi (capital of Masina), 318—

427

Idrisids, the, 27 Idunmerie (Benin), 126

Idunmwu-Ebo (Benin), 126 Ife, 2, 22, 27, 80-3, 96, 109,

122n.,

Hameda (of Ghadamis), 289 Hanafi, school of law, 277 n., 333

124-5 Ifriqiya [Tunisia], 88 Igala, wiS 31, 54, 106-7, 126 n., 314—15,3 Iganna rene 186-7

Hanbali, school of law, 184

Igbebe, 334-5

20

Hanifa, Imam Abi, 277 n. Hashim ibn ‘Umar al-Kanemi (Shehu of Bornu), 60, 387 n. Hausa Bokoi, the, 76 n.

Igbirra [Igbira], 3, 54, 324, 335 and n. Igue-igha (brass-smith), 96 Ijanna [Jannah], 186, 292-3 Tjaw [Ijo], the, 43, 49, 84, 123 n., 188,

Hawwa (daughter of Rabih), 61 Hayatu ibn Sa‘id (Mahdist), 56, 61, 387-8

_195 1., 197 N., 205 n., 373, 378 Tjaye, 63, 342-3

Hee Chen (‘Anna Pepple’s’ secretary), 3935 Henshaw, Robin, 235, 237

Tjebu-Ode [Geebuu], 120 Ijesa, 186 Iji, Bakr Shila (Songhay war prisoner),

Heraclius (Byzantine Emperor), 277 Himyar, Himyarites, 77 and n., 78, 103 Honesty, Willy [Eyo Nsa], 235-8 Horton, James Africanus Beale, 12-13,

Tji, Muhammad prisoner), 134

Ijebu, the, 63-4, 66, 168, 228, 339

134

Dala

(Songhay war

ee 54, 62-5, 279-82, 296, 335, 359to)

350-2 Haulagu, the Mongol, 393

Ilorin, battle of, 63

Indabawa, Indabo (Kano), 114

Ibadan, 63-5, 307, 343, 359-60

Ibadis, 23, 87 Ibibio, the, 3, 232, 235 n. Ibn al-‘Arabi, 256 Ibn Battita, Muhammad

ibn ‘Abdul-

lah, 9, 99, 251 n.

Ibn Dili, Hajj (Bulala), 140 Ibn Fartuwa, Ahmad (Imam),

33-4, 77-8, 137-43

10,

Ibn Khaldin, ‘Abd al-rahm4n, 9, 24, 87 n., 99-100 Ibn Mani, Muhammad, 89-90 Ibn Sa‘id, al-Maghribi, "94-6, 98 Ibrahim ibn Ahmad (Mai of Bornu),

59, 320 n.

Ibrahim ibn Saif (Mai of Kanem), 77

Ibrahim Nikale, ibn Kashim Biri (Mai of Kanem), 100 Ibrahim (‘the Pullo’), 317-18 Idah [Iddah], 31, 107-8, 126, 308, 314—

16, 335 n., 359, 360, 378

Idoma, 3» 54, 335

Idris Aléma ibn ‘Ali, al-Hajj (Mai of

Bornu), 10, 25, 33-4, 40, 77-8, 13743, 145-7 and n., 154 n.

Idris. ibn Ibrahim Nikale (Mai of Bornu), 27, 99 n., 102, 104 Idris ibn Muhammad (Bornu ambassador), 104 Idris Katagarmbe (Mai of Bornu), 33

India, 14, 113, 204.n. Istanbul, 145 n., 329 Isuama (Ibo), 337, 352 Itsekiri, the, 42, 49, 171, 196, 373 Ivory Coast, 348 Iwebo (association, Benin), 126 Iweme, 187

Iwoye, 186 ‘Iyad ibn Masa ibn ‘Tyad al-Yahsibi,

117, 383

Tyase, the (office), 42,

112, 167-8, 170

Jaboe, see Ijebu Jaja (Kanem), 94 and n. Jaja, Emma, 67 Jaja [Jubo Jubogha] (King of Opobo), 66-7, 69, 369-73 and n. Jenne, 117 n., 156 Jews, the, 115 n., 218-19, 221, 239 Jibril Gaini, 56, 61 Jibril ibn ‘Umar (shaikh), 45, 51, 242 and n. Jihad (of ‘Uthman dan Fodio), to-12, 21, 44, 50-4, 61, 153n., 154n.,

192 n., 240-3, 244-9, 259 n., 261-4, 3330. Jimi, see , Njimi

Jirwa, 134

Johnson, George {[Osokele Tejumade, ‘Reversible’], 66 n., 361-2

428

Index

Johnson, James [‘Holy’], 70 Johnson, Samuel (historian), 5, 62, 69, 79-81, 108-11, 185-7 Jonas, Simon, 310, 312 Judar Pasha, 38 Judham Arabs, 103-4 Jukun, 29, 31, 335; see also Kororafa

Kadai Hawami (Mai of Bornu), 89 Kaigama (office), 179-80, 269 Kakamfo [Are Ona Kakamfol (office),

47-8, 186, 343 n.

vas Kalabari

108, 335, 351 [New Calabar],

174-6, 197, 202-4,

5, 38, 43,

230-2,

233, 378

Kanajeji (Sarkin Kano), 28, 105 Kanem [Kanem-Bornu], 3-4, 6, 9, 11,

20, 23-6, 33-4, 58, 77, 87, 88-go and N., 99-100, 140 n., 272

I0I-2,

105,

137Nn.,

Kanembu, the, 44, 59, 273, 358

Al-Kanemi,

hamma’ al-Amin (Shaikh of Bornu), 11, 17, 57-9, 60,

261-4, 270 n., 272-9, 333, 358 n. Kano, 17, 21, 25-9, 31, 33, 35» 39) 56, 92-3, 100-1, 105-6, 113-15, 118, 129, 133, 150, 154-6, 244,259; 285-7,

322-8, 378

Kanta Dawid (ruler of Kebbi), 35, 149-52 Kanta Kuta (ruler of Kebbi), 35, 1323, 134 Kanuri, the, 4, 11, 23, 90-1, 138n.,

Kongo, Kingdom of, 14, 112, 121 n., 187 n. Korau, Muhammad (Sarkin ae 28, 153 n.

Kororala

[Kwararafa],

31,

39, be

76 n., 105, 178-9, 335

Kosoko (Oba of Lagos), 346 Koyam, the, 138 Kukawa [Kika], 58, 79-80, 273, 317-

22, 329, 356

Kukia, 134 Kulas, the, 85-6 Kunni [Konni], 241 Al-Kunti, Shaikh Sidi al-Mukhtar ibn Ahmad, 46 Kuramo, 166 Kukuruku, 111

Kurunmi (ruler of Ijaye), 63, 343 n. Kusseri [Kusuri], battles of, 320, 389 n. Kutere, Ologun (Oba of Lagos), 226 n., 229 Kutniski (Bornu), 103 Kuwar [Kawwar], 9, 44, 88, 95-6, 143 n.

Lagos, 31, 41, 47, 64, 69-70, 120, 225-9, 310,

343N-,

345-7,

350-1,

359;

361 n., 362 Lambart, Nicholas, 135 Laminu [al-Amin] (vizier of Bornu),

59, 322, 358 n.

Lamurudu (‘King of Mecca’), 79-80; see also Nimrud

179-80, 184, 209, 323, 386 n

Lawal, Muhammad [Lowel, al-Awwal]

114, 129, 130, 132-5,

Leo X (Pope), 4, 129 Leo Africanus, 4, 9, 15, 18, 28, 33, 35 n.,

Karfata, battle of, 35, 134 Karo, 384-6 Katsina [Casena], 28, 35, 39, 45, 76n.,

150, 153-5,

178, 244, 271, 277, 327, 330

Kawkaw, see Gao Kayi, 140

Kazaure, 327 Keats, John, 282 n.

Kebbi, 33, 35, 39, 44, 76 n., 132-4 and N., 145, 149-52, 156, 252 n.

Kharijites, the, 75 n., 118n.; see also Ibadis

Khurasan, 87 n., 318 Kirk, Sir John, 377-8

Kisra Anisharwan [Chosroes], 77 n. Knights of Malta, 34 Koffo [?Kulfo], 161, 167 Kokomi, 330 Kokoro-gangan [Kakamfo], 186 Komayu [Kumayau] (King of Katsina), 76, 153 Koncha, 330-1

(Amir of Adamawa), 328-31 Leka [Lika] (Kebbi), 132-4

129-32

Liberia, 366 n. Libta (Katsina), 134 Licasaguou, I21 Livingstone, Charles (consul), 372 and n.

Loebo, 121 n.

Lokoja, 334 and n., 336 n., 359 Lourengo, Francysquo, 128 Lourenco, Grygoryo, 128 Lugard (Lord), 70, 392 n. Liniya, mountains, 96

Luway ibn Ghalib, 78

Macdonald, Sir Claude, 55 n., 377 n. Madaki (office), 11, 378 n., 379 Madawaki (office), 26 Al-Maghili, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd als Karim (shaikh), 13, 29, 115-17

Index Maghirmi, Abdullahi (Kachella), 358 ae the, 2, 8-9, 17, 20, 26, 87, 93,

429

Muhammad Sharif (Sultan of Wadai), 59 Muhammad Tirab (Vizier of Bornu),

58-9

At Maske (Kanem), 94

Magira, 75

Mahdism, Mahdiyya, 45, 51, 54, 56,

Mugawris mountains, 95 Murad III (Ottoman Sultan),

Mali, 2, 9, 26, 34, 93, 97, 100, 103, 113, 155, 156, 319

Al-Mustansir, Aba

60-1, 68, 118 n., 252-4, 387-9, 390-1 Majotu (Alafin of Oyo), 62, 295 n.

Malik ibn Anas, Imam, 98, 118 n. Maliki, school of law, 24, 90, 98 n.,

118 n., 184 n. Malinke [Dyula], too n., 117 n. Mamluks (dynasty), 103, 141 n. Mansa Musa (ruler of Mali), 100 n. Manan (Kanem), 94-5 Mandara, 44 Mandawali, 100 (King of Manicédgo [Maniconguo] Kongo), 121, 128 Mansolah, see Majotu Al-Mansir, Mulay Ahmad al-Dhahabi (Sultan of Morocco), 35, 147n., 149-

34; 145-7 Murzugq, 58, 87 n., 282 n. Musa Jokollo [Jukullu], 113, 241 and n.

Caliph), 24, 99

‘Abdullah

(Hafsid

Nafata (Sultan of Gobir), 46 Najib the Canaanite, 74 Nana (Olimu of Benin), 66, 373-4 Ndoki, 336 Nestorians, 284 New Calabar, see Kalabari Ngala (Bornu), battle of, 58, 60, 274 n.

Ngazargamu, Birni [Birnin Gazargamu] (capital of Bornu), 27, 28n.,

44, 58, 131 n., 142n., 154, 209n.,

261 n., 268 n., 270 n., 273 n. Nimbe (Brass), 336, 377-8

52, 153 n. Al-Mansir, Ya‘qib, the Almohad, 93 Al-Magrizi, Aba’1-‘Abbas Ahmad Taqi

Nimrud, 78 Njimi [Djimi, Jimi] (capital of Kanem),

al-Din, 9, 24, 77 n., 98 n., 101-2 Marafa, Muhammad, 390 n., 391 Marnona (Sokoto), 392

Nku (Nupe), 106-8 Nok (culture), 20 n., 22 Nupe, 2, 16, 29, 31, 37, 40, 54, 62, 65-6, 76 n., 79, 106-8, 122 n., 186 n.,

Marrakesh, 9, 93, 148-9, 154n

Al-Marrakushi, Muhammad

ibn ‘Abd

al-Malik, 98 Marryat, Frederick (Captain), 282 n. Masaba (Etsu Nupe), 66, 334, 336 n., mea es es of), 52, 319, 320n. Mejub, Ahmed bel, 317 Mecca, 81, 91, 118, 139 n., 181, 259n.,

282, 317, 320, 392

Medina,

277 n.

98n.,

139n.,

141,

247N.,

Melegete, 128

Merinid [Bana Marin], (dynasty) 93 and n. Mina, Castle of S. Jorge da, see Elmina Moko (160), 174-5

Morocco, 7, 9, 33-5; 38-9, 93 n., 147-9, 154, 239, 317 Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-rahman (Sultan of Agades) 119 n. Muhammad Ngeleruma (Mai of Bornu), 273 n. Muhammad ‘Rabbo (Sarkin Zazzau),

28 Muhammad Settefen (Sultan of Agades), 118 n., 119

25, 91, 94-5, 97, 99, IOI n.

305-9, 323, 325, 335s 359-61

Nupeko, 108

Obalokun (Alafin of Oyo), 41, 185-6 Obanosa (Oba of Benin), 229 n. Obi Ossai (Obi of Abo), egies 310-14 Oboloama (Brass), 84 Ochejih (Ata of Igala), 914-16 Oduduwa, 79-81, 82 Ogara (King of Panda), 335-6 Ogbebo (of Benin), 126 Ogbelaka (Benin), 126 Ogboni (society), 341, 344-5 Oghene [Ogane, “Hooguanee’] (Oni of Ife), 96, 122, 124 Ogiamwen, 81-2 Ogun (river), see Agusale Ogunbonna (Balogun of Ikija), 338 n., 339-40, 342

Ogundipe [Agutipe] (Basorun of Abeokuta), 360 Oguola (Oba of Benin), 96, 126

Ohen-Okun

(Benin ambassador), 36, 125 Ojigi (Alafin of Oyo), 47 Ojoboh (of Ibadan), 360

Index

430 Oko Jumbo, 371

Okrika [Krike], 174

Pinteado, Captain, 135 Pires, Duarte, 36, 127-8

Okukenu (Alake ofNyce amael 341 Olodiama (Brass), 84 hae Kutere (Oba of Lagos), 226,

Poro, 366 Porto Novo, see Ardra, Little

Olean (Alafin of Oyo), 63 Omdurman, 61, 387 Omiram (friend of Sango), 109-11 Omphale, 144 Onitsha, 6, 126, 210 n., 352, 378 Onko, 187 Onyo (King of Onyoama), 84-6 Onyoama (Brass), 84-6 Opobo, 66, 369 n., 371-3 Opubu the Great (of Bonny), Pepple

a aa (Order), 46, 52, IIt5n., 25 Al-OadawA, see Alkalawa Al-Qalqashandi, Ahmad ibn ‘Abdullah, 9, 77 n., 102-4 Qarmatians, 393 Q.ran (fortress), 146 Qua (river), 354 Quraish, 78, 103, 104, 148

see

Oranmiyan, Prince, 82-3 Oranyan (Alafin of Oyo), 109 Orhogbua (Oba of Benin), 136 n. Oru, 33

Osemwede (Oba of Benin), 126 Oshogbo, battle of, 64 Osman (Pasha of Tripoli), 182-4 Otoo [? = Manuel Otobia] (Olu of Warri), 231 Ottoman Empire, 7, 33-6, 59, 141 n., 145 n., 277 n.; see also Turks Otun (Ekiti), 40 coos [Whydah], 224 n., 310 WO, 3 eek (Osis of Benin), 81 n. Owu, 10

rebar: {Alake of Abeokuta), 362

361 n.,

Old

62-3,

[Oyo

Ile, Katunga],

37,

109, 271, 272 N., 295-7

Oyo-Igboho, 38 Oyo, modern [Ago Oja], 63

[Henry

John

Temple], 303, 332

Panda [Funda], 335-6 Payne, John Augustus Otonba, 374-6 Pepple (‘Captain Pepprell’], 189-91 Pepple, Anna [Alali], 303-5 Pepple, Iloli [Elolly], 369-70 Pepple [Perukule, Opubu the Great] (King of Bonny), 232-4, 300-3, 369 n. Pepple, William Dappa (King of

Bonny), 66, 303-5, 348-50, 369

Rano, 76

Rio Sante Domingo [Loitomba], 176 Robert, King (Kalabari chief), 202 Rumfa,

Muhammad

[Abia ‘Abdullah

Muhammad ibn Ya‘qib] (Sarkin Sere 26, 28-9, 31, 113 n., 114-15, II Rustamids (dynasty), 87 n. Sa‘adians (dynasty), 34, 147n., 149 n. Sabe, 186

Al-Sa‘di, ‘Abd al-rahman ibn ‘Abdullah, 4, 10, 117-18, 132-3,

134-5

Saifawa (dynasty), 23, 25, 27, 54, 58-9, 77-8, 87n., 89n., gt n., 98, ggn., 275 Saif ibn Dhi Yazan, 77-8, 98, 101-4 St. Louis [Nder], 318

Oyo Mesi, the, 41, 47-8, 111 n. Ozolua (Oba of Benin), 32 Palestine, 74 Palmerston, Viscount

Raba Pi pe A of Nupe), 56, 296, 305 Rabih ibn Fediaiiah [Zubair], 60-1, 66, 387-90 Raka [? = Raba, see above], 295

Sa‘id, al-Hajj, 10, 57, 290 and n., 291-2

Oyenakpara, 171 n. Oyigu (King of Panda), 335-6

Oyo,

Popo, the [Egun], 111, 87

Sakisli Mehmet (Pasha of Tripoli), 180-2 Sakiyet el Hamra, 317 Salekuodi (Basorun), 111 Salih ibn Janta [Alimi], 62, 280-1 Al-Salaliji, ‘Abd Allah, 97 Sambo, Muhammad [Amba] (Governor of Chamba), 331 Sangma (Bonny), 174 Sango [Shango] (King of Yoruba), 31, 108-9 Sansanding [Sansandi], 318, 324 Sao Tomé [St. Thomas] (island), 37, 128, 177, 188 n, Saro, 65 Sebastian (Olu of Warri), 42, 173 n.+&

Segu [Sego], 290 n., 319

Index Senegal, 210, 317-18, 347 n. Sennar, 319 Seu, desert of, 131 Shadadoko (Kano), 115 Shafi‘i, school of law, 97 n. Shagou (Bornu), 270-1 Shitta [Shi’ta] (Amir of Ilorin), 63, 281 Shodeke (founder of Abeokuta), 63 Shuwa Arabs, 26, 59, 270 n., 357 Sierra Leone, 65, 69-70, 210 n., 268 n.,

313, 335, 338, 351, 362, 366 n.

Al-Sijilmasi, Ahmad ibn Mubarak, 94 Sifawa (Sokoto), 54, 244 n. Siko (Bornu), 266 Smyrna, 212 n., 213 n. So, the, 26, 131 n., 209 n.

Sobo [Urhobo], the, 123 and n. Sobrynho, Joham, 127 Socinians, 284 Sofara, 318 Sokoto Caliphate, 3, 10, 17, 21, 52, 54-6, 62-3, 66, 68-9, 71, 261, 287 n.,

308, 329-30, 360, 387 n., 390-1

Sokoto (town), 134, 272, 283-4, 290 n.,

296, 309, 346, 392-3

ee ru (leader of the Yoruba Muslims), 62, 281 Somoye (Basorun of Abeokuta), 341 n., 361 n.

Songhai [Songhay], 29, 35, 118, 133,

150-1, 154-6, 2 Sudan (bildd al-siidin), 2-4, 10-11, 13,

17, 20, 23-4, 26, 29, 34, 39, 52, 61,

89, 99, 115 n., 118, 147, 148, 151,

154 n., 387

431

Tegbesu [Bossa Ahadee] Dahomey), 221-3

(King

of

Tepowa, Adebiyi, 83-6 Tigirarin [Gurara], 148, 149, 151 Tijaniyya, (Order), 56, 290 n., 393 n. Timbuktu, 28, 35, 70, 117n., 130n., 154 n., 318, 320, 324 Tinubu, ‘Madam, 68, 342-3 Tiv, IgI-3, 398

Tlemcen, 115 n.

Tondibi, battle of, 35, 38 Townsend, Henry, 339-40 Traghan (Fezzan), 9, 25

Tripoli, 34, 40, 56, 58, 74, 100, 181, 239-40, 279, 284, 308-9, 318, 324, 326, 331, 356 Trudo, Guadja, see Agaja Tsoede [Edegi], 29, 106-8 Tuareg,

the,

33>

40,

44,

52,

173 euh

241 Tubu [Tibu, Teda], the, 44, 87, 91,

282, 357

Tunis, 95, 100, 238 Tunisia, 9, 24, 93n., 99, 239; see also Ifriqiya Turawa, 114 and n.

Turks, Turkey, 7, 33, 36, 141, 144-5, 184, 209, 212, 319; see also Ottoman Empire

Tuwat [Tuat], 148, 151, 154.n., 325 Ubangui, Ughoton Gwatto, Benin),

389 n. ([Agatton, Gato, Gotton, Huguatoo, Ugato] (port of 32, 113, 121, 125, 159-60,

Sugurti (Kanembu clan), 358 Sulaiman ibn al-Zubair, 387 n. Sunni ‘Ali (ruler of Gao), 118 Sara, Ibrahim (Sarkin Katsina), 28, 118-20 Surame (Kebbi),1 Al-Suyati, Jalal mths 28, 118 and n., 118-20

161, 164, 165, 169, 201, 204 n., 205 Ulkami [Oyo], 173-4

Syria, 104, 263

‘Umar ky Sa‘id, al-Hajj (founder of Segu Empire), 290 n. AlGmari, Shihab al-din, 9, 89n.,

Tadamakka [Tadmekka], 96 Tagadda (Takedda, Tegidda

semt), 99

n’Ti-

Tahert, 23, 87 n. Taja, ror Tajuwa [Tajawa], 95-6 Takrar, 28 and n., 102 and n., 118 n., 329 Tangier, 99 Tapa, see Nupe Tayba, see Medina Teda, Tibu, see Tubu

‘Umar ibn Idris (Mai of Bornu), 26, 102, 104 ‘Umar

ibn

Muhammad

al-Amin

al-

Kanemi (Shaikh of Bornu), 59, 275 n., 320 and n., 321 and n., 329,

331-3,356

102 n. Umaru Majigi

[Amoroo

Ichaboh]

(Etsu Nupe), 359-60 Umayyads, 24, 88, 263

Umbatu, battle of, 105 Umme Jilmi (Mai of Kanem), 24, 88-

gi ‘Ugqba ibn Nafi‘, 88 Uranta (Bonny chief), 369

-Usa, see Ijaw

Usama (Benin), 82, 83

Index

432 Usman

[Usuman]

Zaki (Etsu Nupe),

306, 359, 360 n.

‘Uthman al-Kanimi, Shaikh, 97 ‘Uthman dan Fodio [ibn Fadi, Shehu], Io, Ii n., 29, 45-6, 50-1, 56-8, 79;

ITGn ellOM esLIG. 1 54 eee 4O ns, 241, 244-59, 261n., 264, 280n., 387 n., 392 n.

‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan (third Caliph), 98 ‘Uthman ibn Idris (Mai of Bornu), 102, 104 n. Uwaifiokun (Oba of Benin), 111 di Vesti, Giovanni, 144 Vossius, Isaac (historian), 159 Wadai [Waday], 58-9, 282 n., 319-20,

356 n., 389

Wagadugu, 319 Wahhabiyya, the, 51, 52 Waira, 75 Walata, 9 Wangara, Wangarawa, [Malinke], 26,

29, 100, 114. n. El-Wardy [Wordee] Mohammed, 276 Wargee, the Tatar, 16 n. Warisi (Sarkin Kano), 92 Warri [Ouwerre, Forkado], 37, 42, 43, 168, 171-3, 177, 187-9, 196, 230-1,

300, 378

Warribo (Bonny chief), 371 West Indies, 174, 215, 217; 219-20, 372 Whydah, see Ouidah Winnaboes, 68, 364-6 a Yakubu (Sarkin Kano), 113-14 Yauri, 76 n., 78-9, 271 Yemen [Yaman], 77, 320

Yimmaha, 335-6

Yola, 319, 330, 390

Yunfa (Sarkin Gobir), 45-6 Yusa Tsariki (Sarkin Kano), 92-3 Yusuf ibn ‘Abd al-Qadir, Imam, 58 n. Zaghawa, the, 87, 95, 99, 101 Zaiti [Zagaiti], ‘Abd al-rahm4n, 100

Zain al-din Tahir (secretary), 103 Zaki, Ibrahim (Amir of Katagum), 58, 271 nN. Zalla (Kanem), 97 Zamfara, 44-5, 76 n., 130-1 Zamna Kogi (King of Rano), 76 Zarewa (Zaria), 384, 386 Zaria [Zazzau, Zegzeg], 21, 28, 31, 35,

39, 76n., 105, 106, 129, 130, 133, 156, 244, 288, 333, 359, 384-6

Zassa [Zanza] (Dahomey), 222-3 Zawila, 23, 58, 87-8 Al-Zubair, Rahma Mansir, 387

Zubeiru (Lamido of Adamawa), 390

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