A big thanks goes out to Greg Martin for purchasing my print at the very successful Cleveland Print Room Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser earlier today! In addition, the exact spot of the tree is marked by an X next to a fort. The story goes that this tree had witnessed the slave trade out of The Gambia River. In the beginning, the fort adjacent to the tree served to protect the trade… and towards the end the same fort helped end the trade. A historical context is provided here: As happened in other West African countries Europeans generally did not travel inland to purchase or capture slaves but depended on African middlemen who bought slaves from tribal leaders and local chiefs in exchange for European goods including guns. They then proceeded to bring them down to the coastal regions to the European slavers. Many chiefs saw an opportunity to accumulate substantial wealth from the trade in battle captives. So as the demand for slaves increased, so did inter-tribal warfare and attacks on other villages. However, there are also many accounts of raiding parties where villages were ransacked and raised to the ground in pursuit of their human cargo. African American Slaves, One historical account given by Francis Moore when visiting Gambia in 1721 describes how merchants would bring ivory and sometimes slaves who were bought from local chiefs. They were shackled by the neck with leather tongs in lines of between 30 to 40 people and at the same time hold either ivory or a bundle of corn in each hand. Another historical account of March 1814, states that an unnamed US square brig attacked a ship originating from Liverpool just off the coast of Senegal with inconclusive results. What later appeared to be the same ship - thought to be owned by a Mr. James de Wolf (of Rhode Island) - made an appearance in The Gambia a couple of days later under Spanish colours and carrying 400 hundred enslaved Africans. There were many small armed clashes between the various European nations over ownership of a number of slaving posts which lay along the River Gambia. This included the skirmishes between the French and the British over Fort James Island near Juffureh. After abolition in 1807 British traders complained that they were at a clear disadvantage. They argued that the legitimate trade in peppers, ivory, gum, wax and hides could not compete with the slave trade. As a result in 1815 the Earl of Bathurst ordered the occupation of James Island and any nearby areas which gave a distinct advantage to foreign traders. In 1831 war broke out between the British and the people on the north bank state of Niumi partly because of the colonial powers attempt to interfere with the slave trade by sealing the entrance to the river. The Mandinka king of Niumi, Burungai Sonko, and his people had benefited over the years from taxing slave traders who wished to ship their human cargo out of the country. In January, 1832 a peace treaty was signed in Juffure in which Niuminkas ceded control of their section of the river mouth to the colonial power. After the British abolished the slave trade it began a policy of enforcing the ban by establishing a human settlement (1816) on St. Marys Island called Bathurst (Banjul). This was to be the base of a military barracks with big guns to guard against rogue nations who attempted to smuggle slaves out of the Gambias river mouth. Britain abolished slavery in 1833. It was not until 1895, 88 years after the abolition of the trade, that local Gambian chiefs decided to cease trading in or keeping slaves. However, the practice continued until the turn of the 20th century. It should be noted that many African rulers and Europeans condemned the trade throughout its history.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 02:03:25 +0000
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