Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T16:35:50.213Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trade, Coasters, and Conflict in the Rio Pongo from 1790 to 1808

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Bruce L. Mouser
Bruce L. Mouser
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin—La Crosse
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The movement from ship to shore and to merchant stores occurred prior to 1790 in the Rio Pongo, where an indigenous trading system between the coastal Baga and the Fula of the interior had long existed. Between 1790 and 1808 contact with the interior improved. A vibrant European and Eurafrican trading community developed at the mouth of the river and coalesced to oppose an attempt by the Sierra Leone Company to capture control of the river's commerce. More significant than the threat of monopolistic control was the company's opposition to slave trading. This study of trade, coasters, and conflict in the Rio Pongo outlines the importance of the landlord-stranger relationship, the interaction of slaving and legitimate commerce, the influence of long-distance African traders upon littoral trade and politics, and the manner in which traders and chiefs cooperated to forestall company success.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , January 1973 , pp. 45 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

l Rottenberg, Simon, ‘The Business of Slave Trading’, The South Atlantic Quarterly, LXVI (Summer, 1967), 415.Google Scholar

2 Rodney, Walter A., A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545–1800 (Oxford, 1970), 81–3.Google Scholar

3 Newbury, Colin W., ‘Prices and Profitability in Early Nineteenth-century West African Trade’, in The Development of Indigenous Trade & Markets in West Africa, ed. by Meillassoux, Claude (London, 1971), 94–6;Google Scholar see Mouser, Bruce L., ‘Trade and Politics in the Nunez and Pongo Rivers, 1790–1865’ (unpublished Ph.D. disseration, Indiana University, 1971), 1–24, for a detailed description of this coast.Google Scholar

4 Laing, Alexander Gordon, Travels in the Timannee, Kooranko, Soolima Countries in Western Africa (London, 1825), 409;Google ScholarDemougeot, Antoine Marie Jean, Notes sur l'organization politique et administrative de Labé avant et depuis l'occupation française (Paris, 1944), 18.Google ScholarGuebhard, M. Paul, ‘L'Histoire du Fouta Djallon et des Almamys’, Supplement à l'Afriquefrançaise (03 1909), 49–51; [Richard] Bright, ‘Journal of Mr. Bright's Expedition to the Mandingo Country’, 60, 80, C.O. 270/8, P.R.O.Google Scholar

5 W. Rodney, Upper Guinea, 83. This relationship remained consistent throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.

6 Mayer, Brantz, Captain Canot or Twenty Years of an African Slaver (New York, 1854), 130. Dantica is the Susu word for this ceremony.Google Scholar

7 Butscher, Leopold, ‘Extracts from the Journal of the Missionary Butscher’, Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society, II, 491–2; Wenzel to Secretary, 14 Nov. 1811, C.A.I./ E2/107, C.M.S.Google Scholar

8 Mayer, , Canot, 110–17.Google Scholar

9 See Mouser, ‘Trade and Politics’, chapters III and IV.

10 Stock, Eugene, History of the Church Missionary Society (London, 1899), I, 134. This factory formerly belonged to John Ormond, Sr.Google Scholar

11 Rodney, Upper Guinea, 196, calls the bar simply an ‘accounting unit’. Sundstrom, Lars, The Trade of Guinea (Uppsala, 1965), 70, 74–75.Google Scholar

12 ‘Enoch Richmond Ware's Voyage to West Africa, 1844–1845’, in New England Merchants in Africa, ed. by Bennett, Norman R. and Brooks, George E. Jr, (Boston, 1965), 319–24.Google Scholar

13 Rodney, , Upper Guinea, 196–9; Council, 27 Feb. 1796, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.; Macaulay to Cooper, n.d., enclosed in Council, 26 Apr. 1796, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.Google Scholar

14 Mayer, , Canot, 179–80.Google Scholar

15 Ibid. 86–9, 93.

16 Watt, James, ‘Journal of Mr. James Watt, in his expedition to and from Teembo in the year 1794’ (Rhodes House Library, Oxford, MSS. Africa S. 22), 74.Google Scholar

17 Afzelius, Adam, Sierra Leone Journal: 1795–1796, ed. by Kup, Alexander P. (Uppsala, 1967), 113.Google Scholar

18 ‘Enoch Richmond Ware's Voyage to West Africa’, 283–98. Ware's account dramatizes the problems of fever upon a crew and the uncertainty of markets.

19 Buckle to Cooper, 25 May 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.; MacCarthy to Leeke, 9 May 1820, enclosed in MacCarthy to Bathurst, 27 Aug. 1820, C.O. 267/55, P.R.O.; Corry, Joseph, Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa (London, 1807), 92.Google Scholar

20 Afzelius, , Journal, 114; Buckle to Governor, n.d., enclosed in Council, 29 May 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.Google Scholar

21 Afzelius, , Journal, 109.Google Scholar

22 Ibid.; Corry, Observations, 92; Cooper to Council, 24 Aug. 1795, enclosed in Council, 1 Sept. 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.

23 Afzelius, , Journal, 76; Royal Gazette & Sierra Leone Advertizer 17 July 1819. Mayer, Canot, 76, states that Ormond was a Liverpool captain.Google ScholarDurand, J. P. L., A Voyage to Senegal (London, 1789), 81, says that Ormond was an English cabin boy.Google Scholar

24 Mayer, , Canot, 76–7; Renner to Secretary, 29 July 1812, C.A.I./E3/13, C.M.S.Google Scholar

25 Afzelius, , Journal, 102, 105–6. Afzelius termed Gomez ‘a white Portuguese a villain’Google Scholar

26 Ibid. 105–6 or 108.

27 Knutsford, Viscountess, Life and Letters of Zachary Macaulay (London, 1900), 125–6, 212; John Holeman Statement, 25 April 1849, enclosed in Pine to Gray, 2 May 1849, C.O. 267/207/36, P.R.O.Google Scholar

28 Britain, Great, Council, Privy, Report of the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council…. London, 1789, quoted in Afzelius, Journal, 159 n.Google Scholar

29 Ibid. 115, 161.

30 Ibid. 109.

31 Corry, Observations, 92. Ventura's location is uncertain in the early sources. Hawkins, Joseph, A History of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa (Troy, New York, 1797), 154, mentions a John Stone trading in the river in 1795. Wadstrom, An Essay on Colonization, 557, also mentions a Johnstone on the coast, but claims that he was a Black trader from Bissau.Google Scholar

32 Paulme, Denise, ‘Structures sociales en pays Baga’, Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N., xviii, sér. B (1956), 98.Google Scholar

33 ‘Ware's Voyage to West Africa’, 314–17.

34 Hawkins, , Voyage, 155.Google Scholar

35 Ibid. 157.

36 Council, 29 Oct. and 1 Jan. C.O. 267/2, P.R.O.

37 Knutsford, , Zachary Macaulay, 49.Google Scholar

38 Afzelius, , Journal, 12–13, 17; Buckle to Cooper, 25 May 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O. Buckle to Governor, 29 May 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.Google Scholar

39 Macaulay to Witchell, 25 April 1796, enclosed in Council, 26 Apr. 1796, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

40 Buckle to Governor, 29 May 1795, CO. 270/3, P.R.O.

41 Ibid.

42 Cooper to Council, 24 Aug. 1795, enclosed in Council, 1 Sept. 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.

43 For Tilley, see Knutsford, , Zachary Macaulay, 49, 151; Afzelius, Journal, 6z, 109; Sierra Leone Company, Substance of the Report of … 1796 (London, 1796), 8; Council, 30 Sept. 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.Google Scholar

44 Cooper to Gray, 12 Nov. 1795, enclosed in Council, 29 Nov. 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.; Afzelius, Journal, 62. Brooks, George E. Jr, Yankee Traders, Old Coasters and African Middlemen (Boston, 1970), 55–6, notes that during the period 1794–1794 trade goods of American origin were extremely scarce on the Windward Coast due to the fear of French privateers and to high interest rates stemming from the Anglo-French war. In consequence, it is doubtful that Pongo traders had large quantities of goods to exchange for slaves, excepting salt, or that the halting of trade in late 1795 caused them great financial losses.Google Scholar

45 Council, 1 Sept. 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.

46 Cooper to Gray, 12 Nov. 1795, enclosed in Council, 19 Nov. 1795, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.

47 Cooper to Council, 21 Jan. 1796, enclosed in Council, 3 Feb. 1796, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.

48 Liang, Travels, 413; Sierra Leone Company, Substance of the Report of …. 1798 (London, 1798), 4–5.Google Scholar

49 Council, 27 Feb. 1796, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.; Sierra Leone Company, Substance of the Report of…. 1798, 4.

50 Macaulay to Cooper, n.d., enclosed in Council, 26 Apr. 1796, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

51 Afzelius, , Journal, 103, 109.Google Scholar Macaulay sent Adam Afzelius, botanist for the company, and Dr Thomas Winterbottom to the river in March 1796 to investigate Coop'.r's complaints. Afzelius's journal is an important source for this period.

52 Afzelius, , Journal, 113.Google Scholar

53 Knutsford, , Zachary Macaulay, 125–6; Macaulay to Witchell, 25 Apr. 1796, enclosed in Council, 26 Apr. 1796, CO. 270/4, P.R.O.Google Scholar

54 Knutsford, , Zachary Macaulay, 126.Google Scholar

55 Macaulay to Lawrence, 2 June 1796, C.O. 268/5, P.R.O.; Macaulay to Cooper, 3 June 1796, C.O. 268/5, P.R.O.

56 Afzelius, , Journal, 47.Google Scholar

57 Cooper to Council, enclosed in Council, 3 Feb. 1796, C.O. 270/3, P.R.O.

58 Council, 26 Apr. 1796, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

59 Cooper to Council, 8 July 1796, enclosed in Council, 18 Nov. 1796, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

60 Sierra Leone Company, Substance of the Report of…. 1798, 6; Council, 26 Apr. 1796, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

61 Sierra Leone Company, Substance of the Report of…1798, 6; Letter, McGowan to author, 13 Jan 1970.

62 Brooks, , Yankee Traders, 56;Google Scholar Gray to Cooper, 7 Oct. 1796, C.O. 268/5, P.R.O.

63 Brooks, , Yankee Traders, 56.Google Scholar

64 Cooper to Council, 11 Nov. 1796, enclosed in Council, 18 Nov. 1796, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O. The results of this palaver are uncertain in the sources.

65 Afzelius, , Journal, 103.Google Scholar

66 Brooks, , Yankee Traders, 56.Google Scholar

67 Macaulay to Cooper, 18 July 1979, C.O. 268/5, P.R.O.; Council, 13 Sept. 1797, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

68 Sierra Leone Company, Substance of the Report of…. 1798, 7.

69 Council, 5 May 1798, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

70 Knutsford, , Zachary Macaulay, 183; Council, 8 Dec. 1797, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.Google Scholar

71 Company, Sierra Leone, Substance of the Report of… 1794, (Philadelphia, 1795).Google Scholar

72 Knutsford, , Zachary Macaulay, 183; Council, 8 Dec. 1797, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.Google Scholar

73 Missionary Records: West Africa (London, 1836), 68–71.Google Scholar

74 Sierra Leone Company, Substance of the Report of… 1801 (London, 1801), 22; Knutsford, Zachary Macaulay, 211.Google Scholar

75 Missionary Records, 71–2. Most sources erroneously cite January 1800 as the date of Greig's death. If Greig spent only one rainy season at Freetown, it must have been in 1799.

76 See Brooks, , Yankee Traders, 56–7, for a revival of American trade.Google Scholar

77 W.O. 1/1/352, p. 25, P.R.O., in Sierra Leone Inheritance, ed. by Fyfe, Christopher (London, 1964), 126–7.Google ScholarPeterson, John, Province of Freedom (Evanston, 1969), 34–5.Google Scholar

78 Peterson, Province of Freedom, 35; Martin, Eveline C., The British West African Settlements, 1750–1821 (London, 1927), 136–7.Google Scholar

79 Council, 8 Nov. 1800, C.O. 270/5, P.R.O.; Council, 20 Feb. 1801, C.O. 270/5, P.R.O.

80 Council, 24 Feb. 1801, C.O. 270/5, P.R.O.; Gray to Council, 18 Apr. 1801, enclosed in Council, 18 Apr. 1801, C.O. 270/5, P.R.O.; Gray to Council, 18 Aug. 1801, enclosed in Council, 22 Aug. 1801, C.O. 270/7, P.R.O.

81 Gray to Council, 10 Dec. 1801, enclosed in Council, 11 Dec. 1801, C.O. 270/7, P.RO.

82 Carew to Council, 20 July 1802, enclosed in Council, 29 July 1802, C.O. 270/8, P.R.O.

83 Captain Martin Benson to Brown and Ives, 18 Sept. 1802, Schooner Olive Branch (V—06, 1801–3), John Carter Brown Library.

84 Smith, Alexander, ‘Journal of a Voyage from Sierra Leone to the River Kisi Kisi, Ec, in the Schooner King Kanta of Sierra Leone by Mr Alex[ander] Smith’, 12–13, C.O. 270/18, P.R.O.Google Scholar

85 Corry, , Observations, 92.Google Scholar

86 The Trials of the Slave Traders (London, 1813), 19.Google Scholar

87 Council, 22 July 1799, C.O. 270/4, P.R.O.

88 Mayer, , Canot, 76–7.Google Scholar

89 Ibid. 77, Corry, Observations, 92, locates Ormond in the Fatala River. This is highly unlikely, since Baké was chief at Lisso.

90 Corry, Observations, 92; Fyfe, Christopher, A History of Sierra Leone (London, 1962), 108.Google Scholar

91 Smith, , ‘Journal’, 13, C.O. 270/8, P.R.O. The first names of Lancaster, Trion, and Varing are not mentioned.Google Scholar

92 Corry, , Observations, 92.Google Scholar

93 Trials, 21–2, 29–30.Google Scholar