Africa During the Scramble: The not so Free Towns

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this article by @Gary Oswald here

 

[Alex Richards]

I find it fascinating how there's an implicit answer in the obvious question of 'well what if you avoid the Hut Tax'

And that's 'we'd just have something similar happen over the domestic servant emancipation but 30-odd years earlier than OTL.'

 

[Ricardolindo]

Good to see this series return after over a year.

 

[Gary Oswald]

Good to see this series return after over a year.

Haha, yeah. It's been far too long. Luckily I already have the next couple finished so the next gap shouldn't be quite as long.

Mind the article I am currently writing is one I am very nervous about because it's about the Kat River Experiment, which I suspect @Sulemain knows much more about than I do and is going to call me on a lot of stuff.

 

[Ricardolindo]

Haha, yeah. It's been far too long. Luckily I already have the next couple finished so the next gap shouldn't be quite as long.

Mind the article I am currently writing is one I am very nervous about because it's about the Kat River Experiment, which I suspect @Sulemain knows much more about than I do and is going to call me on a lot of stuff.

BTW, no offense and I have pointed this out before, but when an article is by yourself, why do you say "by @Gary Oswald" instead of "by myself"?

 

[Gary Oswald]

BTW, no offense and I have pointed this out before, but when an article is by yourself, why do you say "by @Gary Oswald" instead of "by myself"?

When I took over from Andy I copied the style almost entirely so there was a smooth transition and that was how he always did it for his own articles. So I just did the same and never really thought about it. I guess it gives a uniform formal style.

 

[Redolegna]

Would be interesting to see if there are parallels that can be drawn with Libreville and Gabon.

 

[Gary Oswald]

Would be interesting to see if there are parallels that can be drawn with Libreville and Gabon.

I would love it if a French speaker who knew the time period joined the forum and contributed. Because they'd be able to answer questions like this and I can't.

My knowledge of the history of French Speaking Africa (Dahomey aside) is just so small compared to English Speaking Africa. I will try and cover some of that history on this, as I already have, but it's going to be far more basic than the coverage of the British Empire, simply because I can't read most of the primary and secondary sources.

 

[Redolegna]

I've read Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch autobio a few months ago (Choosing Africa) about the emergence of a true discipline rather than just a bunch of clichés thrown together emerging around the time of the independences and the development of generations of African historians, first going through European unis and then creating their own faculties. It comes with a number of recommendations of historians, so I might read a few more there.

On the other hand, after having read King Leopold's Ghost, Amazon threw some, er, interesting suggestions for my next reads. Such as several defences of Leopold. And not by European imperialists either, Congolese authors claiming to strip away the fake news peddled re a much maligned brilliant man.

 

[Hendryk]

The effects on the interior of this new tax led to the arrival of Lebanese traders in the 1890s.

The Lebanese were also an important middleman minority in French-colonized Africa.

 

[Ricardolindo]

I would love it if a French speaker who knew the time period joined the forum and contributed. Because they'd be able to answer questions like this and I can't.

My knowledge of the history of French Speaking Africa (Dahomey aside) is just so small compared to English Speaking Africa. I will try and cover some of that history on this, as I already have, but it's going to be far more basic than the coverage of the British Empire, simply because I can't read most of the primary and secondary sources.

We have @LSCatilina but he is inactive.

 

[Omi]

very interesting how the freetown /sierra leone situation also applied to Lagos vs the rest of Nigeria together with Cape Coast /Gold coast. they were basically footholds to advance into the hinterland. The Gambia was the failed one due to the French interests there. Lovely to see you back always enjoyed it.
Also the prominence of the Krio people continued till at least the 30s in lagos together with the portugese returnees. still very prominent because of the 1st mover advantage in education

 

[Gary Oswald]

very interesting how the freetown /sierra leone also applied to Lagos vs the rest of Nigeria together with Cape Coast /Gold coast. they were basically footholds to advance into the hinterland. The Gambia was the failed one due to the French interests there. Lovely to see you back always enjoyed it. Also the prominence of the Krio people continued till at least the 30s in lagos together with the portugese returnees. still very prominent because of the 1st mover advantage in education

Fantastic that you're still reading them Omi, you always have some good takes.

I'll get to writing about Nigeria at some point and you can shout at me for all the mistakes I'll inevitably make.