Showing papers in "International Journal of African Historical Studies in 1968"

Aspects of Central African history

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Problems and Possibilities of the Prehistoric Rock Art in Northern Africa

Abstract: The present paper is intended both as a review and as a critique of the present status of research into the prehistoric rock art of northern Africa. It should be stated at the beginning that no short account such as this one could hope to deal adequately with this immense subject as far as a description of its development through time or its geographical distribution is concerned. I am more concerned with outlining what seems to me to be the documentary significance of this rock art for anthropology and for culture history, to discuss some of the problems which need to be investigated, and to offer some suggestions for new or better concepts and techniques of analysis. It may appear somewhat inappropriate that in a colloquium devoted to historical studies I have chosen to discuss prehistoric materials. I There are several explanations. The first is that I am not sufficiently acquainted with the historical records of northern Africa to deal properly with the later rock inscriptions, and my principal interests are in the prehistoric range. The second is that prehistory is a relative term, the line between history and prehistory in Africa is often difficult to establish, and the materials I am discussing often have a very direct relevance to the problems of the historic or protohistoric periods. The paper is offered with all the modesty required of one who is neither an authority in art (prehistoric or otherwise) nor, strictly speaking, an Africanist but a prehistorian whose own field research on excavated sites and rock art in northeastern Africa has made him acutely aware of the possibilities of these documents and of some of the limitations and failings of past and present studies in the prehistoric rock art of this part of the continent.

Nineteenth Century African Protest in Angola: Prince Nicolas of Kongo (1830?-1860)

Abstract: In the history of Angolan resistance to Portuguese rule the traditional and most common form of protest has been armed rebellion. In the late nineteenth century, however, new forms of protest appeared. African and mestigo assimilados (Angolans with varying degrees of Western education) began to express their protests in writing, both in letters to authorities and in colonial newspapers. Perhaps the earliest case of Angolan written protest came in 1859-1860 in the activities of a prince of the Kongo Kingdom, Nicolau de Agua Rosada de Sardonia. Nicolau, or Nicolas, protested against Portuguese commercial and political activity and military expansion by publishing a letter in a Portuguese newspaper in Lisbon. His written protest, as far as I know, is the first case of Angolan written assertion against modern colonial influence and, therefore, represents an antecedent to later Angolan nationalism.

English Chief Factors on the Gold Coast, 1632-1753

Abstract: The list presented below is intended to bridge the most obvious gap of its sort yet remaining in our knowledge of European governors and chief administrators on the Gold Coast. Claridge was able to provide serviceable (though incomplete and sometimes inaccurate) lists of Dutch governors from 1624, of Danish governors from 1698, and of English governors from 1751;1 and Furley left us his valuable, though provisional, list of Portuguese governors from 1482 to 1634.2 But, though at least ninety-six men shared in the chief command of the English over the period 1632-1751, their names have hitherto been largely unknown -Claridge could find trace of only five of them. The reason has been that published works have made very little mention of most of the individuals concerned, and the relevant archives have not been extensively used. Moreover, the complexities of the English command in the pre-1750 period have prevented the drawing up of the usual type of list. For only about sixteen of the sixty-three years before 1750 were there individuals one might reasonably call "Governors, " while for the rest of those years command was normally exercised by a triumvirate of merchants, the composition of which was likely to change with bewildering rapidity; indeed, no fewer than sixty individuals had a share in the command in the course of the forty-seven years.

The Sponsorship and Financing of Livingstone's Last Journey

Abstract: David Livingstone's last venture in Africa lasted from 1866 to 1873. It fascinated contemporary observers and has since called forth numerous studies by biographers and historians, because so many elements seem involved: the epic of one man's struggle to fulfil his destiny, the culmination of the exploration of the "dark continent, " the beginnings of serious missionary enterprise in East and Central Africa, the campaign against the slave trade, and, perhaps, the beginnings of imperialism. Given this multiplicity of factors, it has proved difficult enough to place Livingstone's journey in a convincing context of his whole life. Was he, for example, a "mystic in search of a visionary goal" or simply a geographical explorer?l To set the journey and Livingstone's death in a wider context of European activities in Africa is even more difficult although many attempts have been made. 2 In the future there will need to be greater emphasis on the place of the journey in African history. Provisionally, it can be suggested that the extremely modest strength of his party meant that he had a smaller direct impact on the immediate situation than other contemporary explorers like, say, Burton, Speke, or especially Stanley, who all had larger and better armed caravans. Yet the less tangible and less direct impact of Livingstone is generally held to have been more important for Africans in the long run. The position may be summed up by saying that Livingstone believed that there was nothing to justify the idea that Africans were inferior and unfitted to become full members of the civilized