Free Trade in Africa

Elbl, Ivana. "Cross-Cultural Trade and Diplomacy: Portuguese Relations with West Africa, 1441-1521"
Journal of World History, Vol. 3, (Fall, 1992), 163-204. 172.
While this paper does not discuss John Hawkins' activities with the Mane, Walter Rodney and P.E.H. Hair both claim that this was the group which requested Hawkins' aid in their war against a rival group in 1567. Hawkins' account can be found in Richard Hakluyt, Richard. Voyages, Introduced by John Masefield, in eight volumes, Everyman's Library, 1962 (Originally published as The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, Made by Sea or Overland ... , 1598-1600). Vol. 7, 54. The debate over the identity of the two warring groups in Hawkins' account can be found in Walter Rodney, "A Reconsideration of the Mane Invasions of Sierra Leone" Journal of African History, viii (1967) 219-46. As well as in P.E.H. Hair, "Protestants as Pirates, Slavers and Proto-missionaries: Sierra Leone 1568-1582" Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 21. Cambridge, 1970. 203-224.
Walter Rodney states that the Sapes was a loose community of ethnic groups that shared a common culture and could all speak either Temne or Bullom. He identifies these ethic groups as the Bulloms, Temnes, Limbas Bagas, Nalus, and an ethnic group variously known as the Cocolis, Landumas or Tyapis. 219.

This will be explained in greater detail as the paper progresses.
Andrews, Kenneth. Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British
Empire, 1480-1630, (originally published 1984) Cambridge University Press, 1994. 112.
Williamson, J.A. Maritime Enterprise, 1485-1558, Oxford University Press, 1913. 306.
H.E.P. Hair, "Discovery and Discoveries: The Portuguese in Guinea 1444-1650" Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, (Jan. 1992). 11-28. 11.
This is true of both the historiography of English maritime history and exploration and discovery as well as of the historiography of the transatlantic slave trade. This is illustrated by the fact that all of the following works from the historiography of English maritime activity discuss John Hawkins' activity in Africa in relation to his activities in the Spanish Main or in relation to the fact that he was the first Englishman to enter the transatlantic slave trade, however, none of them offer any discussion of how his activities effected Africa or what they reveal about Africa at the time. John C. Appleby, Under the Bloody Flag: Pirates of the Tudor Age The History Press: 2009. James Anthony Froude, English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century: Lectures Delivered at Oxford Easter Terms 1893-4, Green and Co.: 1928. Kelsey, Harry Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate, Yale University 2000.
___________ Sir John Hawkins: Queen Elizabeth's Slave Trader, Yale University 2003.
Susan Ronald, The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers and the Dawn of Empire Harper Collins Publishers 2007. Derek Wilson, The World Encompassed: Francis Drake and His Great Voyage Harper & Row Publishers: 1977. Nick Hazlewood in The Queen's Slave Trader: John Hawkyns, Elizabeth I, and the Trafficking in
Human Souls William Marrow 2004. Neville Williams, The Sea Dogs: Privateers, Plunder and Piracy in the Elizabethan Age, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.: 1975. A cursory look at the historiography of the transatlantic slave trade reveals the same trend, the focus, (understandably as the studies focus on the slave trade) is on Hawkins influence in the slave trade, there is no discussion of Africa or the Africans he worked with, simply a general acknowledgement that he was the first Englishman to enter the transatlantic slave trade. This can be seen in the books focusing on the slave trade that are included in the bibliography of the paper.
Robin Hallett, The Penetration of Africa: European Exploration in North and West Africa to 1815,
Frederick A. Praeger, 1965.
George E. Brooks, Eurafricans in Western Africa: Commerce, Social Status, Gender, and Religious
Observance from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Ohio University Press, 70-72.
James Walvin, Making the Black Atlantic: Britain and the African Diaspora, Cassell, 2000. 14.
Christopher Ebert, "European Competition and Cooperation in Pre-Modern Globalization: "Portuguese"
West and Central Africa, 1500-1600" African Economic History, Vol. 36 (2008), 53-78. 53-4.
Mota, A. Teixeira da. And P.E.H. Hair. East of Mina: Afro-European Relations on the Gold Coast in the
1550s and 1560s: An Essay with Supporting Documents. University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. 3.
Mota, 3. This assertion is further illustrated by such discussions as the one over the origins of the Mane people in Sierra Leone. Walter Rodney, P.E.H. Hair, Linda Heywood and John Thornton all rely heavily on contemporary English and Portuguese sources to track the movements of the Mane. Rodney, 221-33. P.E.H. Hair, "Protestants as Pirates, Slavers and Proto-missionaries: Sierra Leone 1568-1582" Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 21. Cambridge, 1970. 203-224. 214-16. Linda M. Heywood, John K. Thornton. Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660. Cambridge University Press, 2007. 12.
Asiegbu, J.U.J. "The Turning Tide: Medieval West Africa and the Foreign Connections in the 15th and
16th Centuries" Fifteenth Century Studies, Jan. 1983; 6. 22-32. 23.
Asiegbu, 24-26.
Heywood, 9. Elbl, 168.
Heywood, 9.
Often they had to travel far inland to do this, as they had to meet with the ruler of the ethnic group, not just the ruler of the local village.
This is nicely illustrated in the account of John Lok's voyage in 1554 and in the accounts of Towerson's voyages in 1555 and 1556 as found in Hakluyt vol. 4, 47-65, 66-110. The practice of gift giving as a form of tax or customs is discussed by both Thornton and Northrup in their respective works. John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2008. 66-67. David Northrup, Africa's Discovery of Europe: 1450-1850, Oxford University Press, 2002. 53.
Thornton, Africa and Africans, 66, 68. Thornton does point out that these were very limited monopolies as no African sovereign was able to dominate the trade over much of the coast as "African sovereignty was just as fragmented as the theoretical sovereignty that Europeans tried to maintain over the trade." 66.
Elbl, 174. Thornton argues that in this manner local officials used the complexities of local politics to set themselves up as rulers of what appeared to Europeans to be independent states. Thornton, Africa and Africans, 67. This is illustrated in the accounts of Towerson's first two voyages. On his first voyage he first had to meet with Don John or one of his sons to open up trade with the villages under his control. On the second voyage he was welcomed by the villages and only had to offer gifts to the local officials to open trade. See Richrd Hakluyt Voyages, Introduced by John Masefield, in eight volumes, Everyman's Library, 1962 (Originally published as The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, Made by Sea or Overland ... , 1598-1600). vol. 4 for the first two voyages.
This is also seen in Lok's account, though less illustratively, as he states that the Africans are very careful in their bargaining and to ensure that they get the best prices. He also states that they have to be "gently" used or they will shut down the trade and refuse to sell if they think they are being cheated. Hakluyt, vol. 4, 63.
Hakluyt,Vol. 4, 72.
Malyn Newitt, ed. The Portuguese in West Africa 1415-1670: A Documentary History, Cambridge
University Press, 2010. Document 23, 96-97.
Elbl, 168, 172. Northrup also highlights the efforts of the ruling and commercial elites of Africa to maintain an advantageous trading relationship with the Europeans, but they did not limit this to the Portuguese. Northrup, 54.
Elbl, 176-7.
Elbl, 178.
Hakluyt did not write this account, it was copied from Richard Eden's Decades (1555).
Hakluyt, Vol. 4, 39.
Oba is the term for King in the Edo language.
Tong, Raymond. "Captain Thomas Wyndham: Tudor Merchant Adventurer" History Today, Apr. 1957;
222-228. 227-8.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 42.
Hakluyt, Vol. 4, 42.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 42.
Northrup, 59.
Hakluyt, Vol. 4, 43.
Asiegbu, 26.
Northrup, 84.
Towerson believed that he was close to the land of Don John, who Mota has argued was likely an "Afuto" or Fetu. Towerson states that this encounter happened somewhere between Shama and Mina Castle, which would place him within the area that appears to have been under the dominion of Don John. Mota, 9.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 83.
Hakluyt, Vol. 4, 82.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 83.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 84.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 63. Lok is referencing African people groups in general in this statement, not one specific group or location.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 106.
Hakluyt, vol 4, 106.
This makes it very likely that this was a Fetu village. Mota, 2.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 107.
Blake, John W. Europeans in West Africa 1415-1560: Documents to Illustrate the Nature and Scope of
Portuguese Enterprise in West Africa, the Abortive Attempt of Castilians to Create an Empire there, and the Early English Voyages to Barbary and Guinea. Hakluyt Society, 1942. Document 73, 181.
Mota, document C, 60.
Mota, document D, 65-66.
John Vogt, Portuguese Rule on the Gold Coast, 1469-1682, University of Georgia Press, 1979. 111-12
Thornton, Africa and Africans, 70. He also cites Curtin's Economic Change, 83-91 to demonstrate the degree to which the Jula switched their trade from port to port to achieve the best price and thwart European company attempts to monopolize the region in the later part of the seventeenth century.
Toby Green, The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa 1300-1589. Cambridge
University Press, 2012. 257.
Northrup, 53.
Boubacar, Barry. Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge University Press, 1998. 36-8.
Crone, G.R. Translator and editor. The Voyages of Cadamosto and other Documents on Western
Africa in the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century. Hakluyt Society, 1937. 92. This warm welcome of first contact is also seen with William Hawkin's first voyage to Africa in which he was able to quickly and easily obtain a large cargo of ivory and grain. Hakluyt, vol. 8, 13.
Crone, 93.
P.E.H. Hair, The Founding of the Castelo de São Jorge da Mina: An Analysis of the Sources, University
of Wisconsin, 1994. 3.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 63.
While Lok does not offer any indication of which people group this was, it appears to be referencing the Gold Coast in general, or Don John's people the Fetu. Lok does not specify whether or not the dog collars were only for the elite but the general description he is giving appears to be referencing the people as a common group, not singling out the elite members of society, so it seems plausible that the use of gold for dog chains and collars might have been rather common at this time.
Northrup, 58.
P.E.H. Hair, The Atlantic Slave Trade and Black Atlantic, the Historical Association, 1978, 14.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 129-30.
Northrup, 80-83.
Valsecchi, Piertuigi. Power and State Formation in West Africa: Appolonia. Translated by Alian
Cameron. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 61-62.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 102.
Towerson calls him a king, however, the English often called local rulers king, whether they were or not.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 107.
Hakluyt, vol. 4, 108.
Thornton, Africa and Africans, 71.
Vogt, 121.


Towns 29

When the Portuguese first began to establish trade with the different African ethnic groups along the West African coast, they did so by entering into pre-existing trade networks. The people groups along the West African coastline had already established intricate trade networks amongst each other and with the trans-Saharan trade network. Thus, the Portuguese did not create a new trade system when they entered the African trade, rather, they found themselves negotiating with African polities in an attempt to gain entrance into the African trade networks and establish themselves as "traders rather than raiders," so that they could gain the right to build trading posts along the coast. The Portuguese recognized their tenuous position as guests among the various African kingdoms, however, this is not the image that they created for their European competitors or that has been handed down through the historiography. To be able to gain a true appreciation for the ability of the African ethnic groups to control their trade networks and keep them open to any Europeans interested in trading along the coast, the primary documents relevant to the portrayal of Portugal's trade monopoly and the incursions upon this trade monopoly must be deconstructed to reveal the hidden reality of Portugal's tenuous position.
After the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, Portugal claimed all of Africa as its trading domain and attempted to convince the rest of Europe that it had established a solid monopoly over the West African trade. This is the image that Portugal tried to foster through diplomatic relations throughout the sixteenth century, and this is the image that has been passed down throughout the historiography of European involvement along the West African coastline. The historiography has painted a picture in which Africa was exploited by the Portuguese trade monopoly while the African ethnic groups were unable to resist, and in which no other European power had the ability to break through this trade monopoly and thus have an impact on Africa in the sixteenth century. However, even just a cursory look at the English and Portuguese primary sources reveal that this last assertion is simply not true, and a more careful reading of these sources reveal that the first assertion is just as false as the latter. The English and the French were able to break through Portugal's supposed trade monopoly, and they did so numerous times during the mid-sixteenth century. When they arrived in Africa they were welcomed by the different African ethnic groups, such as the Jolofs and the Sereer in Senegal, the Sapes and the Mane along the Grain Coast and the Malaguetta Coast, the Fute on the Mina Coast, and the Edo in Benin. Not only were they welcomed, but they were invited to participate in the local trade systems. Through this participation, the English merchants of the sixteenth century not only broke through the Portuguese trade monopoly, but these traders also provided an outlet through which the African enthic groups could resist Portuguese domination and assert their control over their trade networks by determining who they would trade with and at what price.
While this assertion of African agency is clearly seen in the primary documentation it has largely been ignored or overlooked in the historiography of sixteenth century trade in West Africa. Instead of discussing this African agency, the historiography has tended to focus on the Portuguese claim to monopoly and the diplomatic debates between the European powers over the seemingly few and insignificant English and French interlopers who attempted to break into the trade. The majority of the historians who have discussed European involvement in Africa at this time have marginalized the English activity, if not overlooked it all together. This is clearly demonstrated in the historiography of English exploration and early activity in the Atlantic world. Kenneth Andrews, one of the foremost historians of English maritime activity in the Atlantic world during the early modern era, gives one of the few summaries of English activity in Africa to include all of the known voyages. However, he only offers a brief summary of the events as they unfolded and the impact they had on English diplomatic relations with Portugal and Spain. He concludes his discussion of West Africa by pointing out that the English failed to establish permanent trade in Africa in the sixteenth century, as they never established any coastal strongholds or forts along the coast and lacked good harbors from which to trade. Because of the lack of permanent structures, he argues, the English could not possibly have had any lasting effect on the West African coast at this time. No insight is offered regarding the role Africans played in the narrative, or how they might have been affected, be it good or bad, by the arrival of illicit English trade.
In a similar manner, James A. Williams, the renowned historian of English maritime history, acknowledges that, after the voyages of Towerson, the Africans along the western coast were "inclined to play off one competitor against the other" and that this reveals the weakness of the Portuguese monopoly, however, he argues that the true significance of this activity was that it led others, such as John Hawkins and Francis Drake to question Spain's monopoly over the New World. According to Williams, there is no real significance for Africa in these voyages and he skips over the English trade in Africa during the 1560s in order to focus on the English challenge to the Spanish Caribbean.
Part of the reason for the general oversight, or blatant disregard for the African agency, demonstrated by their willingness to trade with the English in the mid-sixteenth century, may be, as Paul Hair has stated, due in part to the fact that "the Portuguese role in Guinea, enacted during this period of some two hundred years, has received limited historical attention in world history…the post-1500 Portuguese experience is subsumed in an activity minor for both Africans and Portuguese, the Atlantic slave trade." This statement is true of the English activity as well, as the vast majority of historians who mention any English activity in Africa during the sixteenth century focus on the impact John Hawkins had on the slave trade. Robin Hallett mentions William Hawkins in passing and then skips straight to the English involvement in the slave trade during the seventeenth century, completely ignoring the numerous, and very successful voyages of the mid-sixteenth century. George Brooks mentions John Hawkins' activities in 1567 but says nothing of the other voyages Hawkins took, nor does he mention the other English voyages, mentioning only that French raiders had been active along the West African coastline in the 1580s. He does not make any reference to the early activity of the French and English along the coastline. James Walvin briefly mentions William Hawkins, Wyndham, Lock and Towerson by name, however, he marginalizes their voyages, moving quickly to John Hawkins' slaving activities in the 1560s. While Walvin does mention the fact that the early merchants purchased gold, ivory and pepper, he does not offer any analysis of how these activities impacted the region, or what they can reveal of the Africans who traded with the English. Christopher Ebert states that the Portuguese monopoly was not breached until the arrival of the Dutch in the seventeenth century, thus ignoring the activities of the French and English and arguing that it took a European power to break the Portuguese monopoly. By making this statement, Ebert removes the agency from the African merchants, who had been trading with the Portuguese, English and French for the past century and had thus been "breaking" the Portuguese monopoly, and places it in the hands of Europeans.
As has already been stated, the primary documentation from this period offers a much different story. Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations, contains numerous accounts of sixteenth century Africa, including both accounts of the English voyages to the West African coast as well as descriptions of the African landscape, animal wild life and cultures. His cumulative account, gathered from multiple sources and written by many different authors over a forty year span, is one of the most complete and insightful contemporary sources yet found of Africa in the sixteenth century. A. Teixeira da Mota has stated that "extant accounts of the early English voyages provide the African historian with a modest amount of detailed evidence on the territory, an amount exceeding in certain respects that in the longer and larger Portuguese record." He further states that it is largely from the fragmented documents regarding these voyages that "the African historian has to deduce the history of the contemporary activities of the African peoples on the coast" and that the English records seem to be the best and most complete, as the French seem almost non-existent and the Portuguese records "concentrate on the problem of administering a permanent commercial base so far from home." In addition to this, J.U.J. Asiegbu states that modern scholars are finding that the early European accounts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are "much more reliable and much closer to the truth about African peoples and their past histories than the later records compiled by other Europeans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." He argues that this is due, in large part, to the fact that early European authors were so surprised by what they found in Africa, by the seeming lack of organized governments that they were used to, by the strangeness of cultures, that they recorded their findings in a more direct and shocked manner that is free of the disdain found in later writings. Thus, a careful reading of the primary sources regarding English activity in the West African trade networks should provide a glimpse into African history and reveal the African agency in breaking down the Portuguese imagined trade monopoly.
Despite the European and historiographical trend to view the Portuguese monopoly as legitimate and established, it never truly was. From the beginning of their trade with Africa, Portugal knew of the near impossibility of conquest along the African coastline. This was due to the many navigation problems along the coast and the African's advantages in warfare, such as shallow draft vessels and poisoned arrows, but it was also due to the fact that African people groups were already very well established and simply presented too great a power and network for the Portuguese to quickly conquer the coast with a few men. Thus, if the Portuguese wanted to trade along the coast they had to do so on African terms and from small, isolated trading posts. To ensure the safety of these posts and to open up trade routes with the already well established African trade networks, the Portuguese had to first cultivate diplomatic relations with the rulers of the whole coast, from Cukuli Mbooj of Great Jolof in Senegal to Nzinga Nkuwu in Kongo.
To do this they had to negotiate with each and every African leader to establish the right to trade. As a general rule, trade was first conducted through negotiations and diplomacy. The Europeans would meet with the ruler or king of the local African people group and a truce or treaty would be agreed to. This first contact normally included a series of lavish gifts given to the African ruler. In many instances gifts would have to be given each time the Europeans tried to open up a trading session. In these instances the gifts became an annual tax paid to the local ruler. In this manner African rulers were able to exert control over their trade networks and ensure that they benefited first and foremost from the trade, and, to an extent, exert their own trade monopolies over their networks and coastal region. Once trade became routine, the local village officials were left to handle the affairs of the trade. In Senegambia and the Guinea rivers, where much of the European competition occurred during the mid-sixteenth century, the local officials were often the leaders of the seashore or riverside village located close to the place where ships usually landed. These local rulers had the power to open and close trade and to determine prices at will, as is seen in William Towerson's first voyage to West Africa.
On his second day of trading on the River Sestos (Cess or Cesto), Towerson states that he was not able to conduct as much trading as he had hoped, as the villagers were not willing to trade as readily as they had the day before. This was because;
Their Captaine, who would suffer no man to sell any thing but through his hands, and at his price: he was so subtile, that for a bason hee would not give 15. Pound waight of Graines and sometimes would offer us small dishfuls, wheras before wee had baskets full, and when he saw that wee would not take them in contentment, the Captaine departed, and caused all the rest of the boates to depart.
Through this example the power that local rulers had over trade can be seen. Not only were the Europeans subject to the will of the African kings, but they were also subject to the will of the local lords who had the right to close trading if they did not like the prices being offered. This fact is further illustrated in a letter from Dom João III to Afonso de Albuguergue, the governor of São Jorge da Mina written on October 13, 1523. In this letter the tensions that had grown up between the Portuguese officials, who were attempting to enforce the royal monopoly of the gold trade at Almina, and the local traders is clearly demonstrated. King João states that he has been informed that the officials at Mina behaved harshly towards the local traders, to the point that they were leaving the town and "departing from there to other places." He cautions them against such action and urges them to;
behave better towards them and do not banish them as far as you are able, rather that you should direct them to follow a path which is more in our service and to strive to prevent them from straying from it because this is in the interest of the factory….Otherwise, when they are no longer in the land, as well as losing the service which we receive from these men, merchants will not come with their goods as they used to come.
This shows the important role played by local traders in ensuring Portugal's ability to trade in the region, further demonstrating the African agency and control over the trade in the region.
Even after diplomatic relations had been established and trade networks opened, the Portuguese position remained precarious, as demonstrated in the previous example. When there was mutuality of interests, negotiations were normally successful between the Portuguese and the Africans. However, when there was no mutuality of interests they were not so successful, and despite their physical presence, as represented by the forts established along the coast, the Portuguese were only welcomed along the coast as long as they were useful. Once they were no longer seen as useful, when their merchandise or prices were no longer desirable, they were no longer welcomed and their position became very precarious. This can be seen with the closing of the Portuguese outposts at Wadane in Mauritania and Gwato in Benin. The main function of the Portuguese forts during the sixteenth century was to keep out European competition. African rulers were not blind to this aspect of the Portuguese agenda and both Wadane and Gwato were closed after a short period as a result of the hostility of local political and commercial leaders who believed that their interests were being damaged by the Portuguese attempts to keep out other Europeans from the African trade. Ivana Elbl points out that the Gwato factory, in particular, was perennially at the mercy of the oba of Benin. This is the same African ruler who warmly welcomed Wyndham's crew in 1553.
According to Hakluyt, Wyndham's expedition set out in August, 1553 to trade in "Guinea" and Benin. After successfully trading along the Gold Coast the expedition sailed to the River Benin where Wyndham sent ashore some of the English merchants who had accompanied him, along with their Portuguese captain Pineado, their Portuguese guide Francisco, and others. The landing party traveled some ten leagues from the river before they reached Edo (present day Benin City) where they were granted an audience with Oba Orhogbua. At this time Benin was at the height of its power and stretched form the banks of the Niger to present-day Dahomey. Oba Orhogbua was thus one of the more important African kings in West Africa, and the English were more than impressed with what they saw. The encounter is described in Hakluyt thusly;
They were brought with a great company to the presence of the king, who being a blacke Moore (although not so blacke as the rest) sate in a great huge hall, long and wide, and wals made of earth without windowes, the roofe of thin boords, open in sundry places, like unto lovers to let in the aire.
So it is therefore, 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 then they are coming toward the king, as far as they doe 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 back toward him, but goe creeping backward with like reverence.
So impressed were they with the reverence shown the oba that they compare it to the reverence the English show to God, stating;
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 remove from our heads many plagues which we daily desrve for our contempt and impietie.
Such reverence is surely reserved for only the most powerful of kings, reinforcing the impression that the English had that they were dealing not with a small tribal chief but with a very powerful king of a large nation. The English were further impressed and awed when the oba spoke to them in Portuguese, demonstrating not only his bilingual abilities but that he was well educated to the point of knowing a European language. The fact that "he himslefe could speake the Portugall tongue, which he had learned of a child" indicates the value placed on European trade even before the English arrived. Northrup has argued that "In every era and on every coast it was Africans, not Europeans, who took the lead as translators and culture brokers." This indicates not only a willingness to learn new languages and cultures to expand one's trade network and power, but also the fact that they were willing to learn European languages indicates that they welcomed European trade and worked to incorporate the Europeans into their trade networks. The fact that Orhogbua had been taught Portuguese as a child indicates that it was considered part of his training in preparation for his future role as oba. This is indicative of the importance of trade to Orhogbua's power base and the value placed on the new and expanding trade with Europeans.
Upon learning that the English had come to his land to trade for pepper, Orhobgua ordered that their trade goods be brought before him so that he could determine whether or not he wanted to trade with them. When he had seen the wares, Orhobua told the merchants that within thirty days he would fill all of 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 the same to be brought to the court: So that within the space of 30 dayes they had gathered fourscore tunne of pepper." When the English arrived at his court Orhobua already had "30 or 40 kintals of Pepper (every kintall being a hundred weight)" in a store house. He was apparently so impressed with the quality of goods brought by the English, and eager enough to ensure an established trading relationship with the English, that he ordered his people to gather all the pepper in the countryside and then offered to extend credit to these merchants whom he had never dealt with before. Thus, the English did not have to force their way into the African trade networks, nor did they take advantage of the Africans by forcing them to trade for goods they were not interested in. Rather, at least in this case, the English trade was sought after and eagerly welcomed by the Edo, indicating a willingness on the part of the oba to defy Portugal's perceived monopoly and establish a trading alliance with the English on their own terms, just as they had done with the Portuguese when they first arrived in Africa, and just as they had done with other African kingdoms for generations.
It should not be assumed that the Europeans found a society overawed by trinkets and cheaply made goods, as is often assumed of European trade in the Americas. The African trade networks knew quality products, and they recognized cheap products when the English offered such to them. The English in Benin reported that they observed African manufactures of iron goods, spearheads, fish hooks and short swords and that the Benin market was already producing carefully crafted and well manufactured goods. Northrop has shown that iron production was widespread in tropical Africa "and employed diverse ingenious and highly effective techniques." Upon an encounter with one of the African lords along the Gold Coast, who was likely a Fetu, Towerson described the clothing and armaments of the lord's entourage as being very intricate and well made.
All their cloth, cordes, girdles, fishing lines, and all such like things which they have, they make of the bark of certaine trees, and thereof they can worke things very prettily, and yron worke they can make very fine, of all such things as they doe occupy as darts, fishhooks, of hooking yrons, yron heads, and great daggers, some of them as long as a woodknife, which be on both sides exceeding sharpe, and bended after the maner of Turkie blades, and the most part of them have handing at their left side one of those great daggers.
Not only did they possess well worked iron but they also had cloth that was "very pretty" and intricately woven. In addition to their own, well made products, with the expansion of trade through the trans-Saharan network and with the coming of more and more European merchants in the Atlantic market, African merchants were well versed with the quality of products on the market and rejected goods they judged to be subpar. On Towerson's first voyage he discovered just how picky the African market could be. While trading along the Gold Coast he came upon a village believed to be under the authority of an African king known to the Portuguese as Don John. The English were welcomed ashore by a very formal group accompanying the local chief or lord who sat upon his stool "very solemnly" surrounded by six "tall men….every one with his dart & his target." Towerson presented him with "two ells of cloth, and two basons," but the African lord appears to have been unimpressed with the goods Towerson brought, for he would not take them, nor would he allow the town to buy anything but the basons of brass. Towerson tried again and showed them "all our things which we had, but they did not esteeme them." Later that day three more African lords arrived, with very large entourages, to trade with the English. They apparently did not like the prices Towerson had expected to be able to get, for it appears they spent the majority of the evening negotiating prices before they could finally agree on a price for his goods. Towerson's exchange reveals that, not only did the Africans have an idea of the quality of the goods they wished to purchase, for they were unimpressed with the cloth Towerson brought and would only purchase his basins, but they also had a preconceived notion of what prices they were willing to work with, and they were able to exert their will upon Towerson and force him to negotiate his price. Likewise, Thomas Lok recounted that the Africans he traded with were "very wary people in their bargaining, and will not lose one sparke of golde of any value. They use weights and measures, and are very circumspect in occupying the same." These encounters reveal that it was the Africans who determined trading conditions, not the English. This is further illustrated by Towerson's second voyage.
On Towerson's second voyage, 1556-57, while trading along the Gold Coast near the Castle of Mina, Towerson found that French merchants, who arrived before him, had not only driven up the prices in the area, but had also brought in higher quality cloth and thus reduced the demand for the English textiles. Towerson states that he saw "that the Negros perceived the difference in Cloth betwixt ours and that which the Frenchmen had, which was better, and broader then ours." Because of this, he was unable to sell any of his cloth at this town. At another village he found that the "French which had bin there, had done much hurt to our markets." Several weeks later, while trading at an unnamed village somewhere along the Mina cost, Towerson states that the local merchants "enquired for fine cloth, and I opened two pieces which were not fine enough, as they sayd, but seeing that we had no other, they bought of them." These encounters demonstrate the competitive market the African lords were creating by allowing trade with both the French and the English, as well as the Portuguese who were already established in the region. Not only were the Africans now able to choose the best products on the market but they were also able to create a price war. This is further seen in the Portuguese diplomatic documents related to Towerson's second voyage.
In a letter from Francisco Pires, cheif mayor of Mina, to Queen Catherine dated April 17, 1557 Pires states that;
Madam. I wrote to your highness by Guaspar Anrrigues to tell you how this coast is overrun by corsairs, and to submit that our lord the king should be pleased to command it to be protected. This year there were so many ships of the corsairs here that they glutted the whole coast with many goods of every kind, as Cristovão d'Oliveira will tell your highness. He sent two large ships of the corsairs to the bottom, whereby he did an honorable thing and one worthy of a considerable reward…..These ships carry to our lord the king some 53,500 cruzados, and your highness may well believe that, if it were not for the corsairs, double that amount would be available. I am not writing to our lord the king. Your highness will see the point of this, and you will not allow this harvest to be lost, because much produce will always be forthcoming, provided the coast is protected as I say."
Through this letter it is seen that the Portuguese were having trouble conducting enough trade with the Africans to meet the desired quota of gold. This was due to the fact that the "corsairs here....glutted the whole coast with many goods of every kind." In other words, the Africans had found either better products or better prices, and had chosen to trade with the English and the French merchants instead of the Portuguese merchants, demonstrating their control over their trade networks. This is further seen in a letter from Affonso Gonçalves Botafogo, Governor of Mina, also from April 1557. In this letter Botafogo states that the gold he was sending the King of Portugal was all that had been made in the six months prior to the arrival of the French and the English that year, "after which I never again opened this trading post to sell anything except some cooking pots. And may Your Highness truly believe that, in terms of the takings that used to be the case, I could have sent Your Highness close to 100,000 cruzados if these pirates had not come." Not only did the African traders prefer the goods and prices offered by the English and the French, they did so to the extent that in 1557 they stopped trading with the Portuguese completely for the year. This demonstrates the African agency in the trade networks. They were not subjugated to the Portuguese monopoly, as the traditional historiography depicts, nor were the English kept out of Africa by the Portuguese monopoly. Rather, the Africans remained in control of the trade networks along the African coast. They determined who would trade, when they would trade, and at what prices they would trade. The arrival of the English and French was welcomed and encouraged by the Africans as it increased their trade outlets, allowing them to maintain a competitive price market from which they would benefit.
The African agency in this West African trade network is clearly depicted in a second letter sent by Botafogo in April 1557, to Queen Catherine of Portugal. In this letter he states that he had attempted to convince the African rulers to ban trade with other Europeans by sending men to the
kings of Afuto and Comane, for these are the leading kings in terms of wealth and power, and if they withdrew from trade what was left would be little. I ordered the men to offer them gifts and other things if the kings desired them, just as was done successfully by me the previous year…..Notwithstanding all this, I was quite unable to bring the kings to agree to renounce trading. Don John, in whom I most trusted, gave as an excuse that it was only because his people were compelling him to [permit] this against his own wishes…[he] dared not quarrel with them…..But all this was mere words, an evasive reply from blacks who do not recognize or keep to the truth, especially when self-interest is involved. I have found out through spies that Don John and his son-in-law, and the people of the king of Comane, traded more than 30,000 pesos. Whenever pirates come they will do this and will not forbid trading, because self-interest and the profit they gain count for more than whatever this fortress can give them in bribes.
This letter reveals several things about the supposed Portuguese monopoly in West Africa and the African agency in the West African trade. First, it shows that the Portuguese position was becoming ever more tenuous and strained with the increase in English and French activity. As has been stated, when there was mutuality of interests, negotiations were normally successful between the Portuguese and the Africans. However, when there was no mutuality of interests they were not so successful, and at this point in time there was no mutuality of interests between the Portuguese and the Africans, thus the position of the Portuguese was becoming quite tenuous. Without the desired levels of trade Portugal could not financially support the maintenance of its holdings along the West African coast. Secondly, this letter suggests the high demand for the goods brought by the French and the English, or the extremely good prices to be had from this trade, for despite Botafogo's attempts to bribe the African kings, and thus purchase their loyalty, it was more expedient for them to trade with the French and the English. Finally, the letter states that Don John had given the excuse that his people were forcing him to allow the trade. Assuming that this is true, this statement most likely refers to the African lords under his authority, revealing that there was a decided preference with whom they would trade. It also demonstrates that, not only were the Portuguese unable to control a trade monopoly over the West African Coast, but, if this statement is true, even the African kings were unable, at this point, to maintain a trade monopoly in their regions. For if Don John was being forced to accept trade with the French and the English against his will, then his control over who his under lords would trade with was slowly breaking down as they fought for better prices and better products.
The assertion that the Portuguese at Mina could not sell their trade goods because of the influx of goods brought by the English and French, and because of the prices they were willing to offer, is further backed up by John Vogt who states that "the local merchants of Accra preferred the favorable prices offered by English and French factors to the fixed prices of Portuguese goods. An ounce of gold bought eighty manilahs from the English and French, while the same amount of gold at São Jorge bought only half as many." This favorable price difference is not an isolated case, and the African merchants did not hesitate to change trading partners if it meant they would receive a better, more competitive price. John Thornton demonstrates that the Jula merchants in the Gold Coast gold trade did not hesitate to send their products to Senegambia or North African markets if they could not find the right quantity or quality of goods on the Gold Coast. Likewise, Toby Green has shown that by the latter half of the sixteenth century the Sereer trade shifted to focus on the English and French markets, stating that the Sereer acquired goods from deep within the interior for the English and French and that each year this trade grew as the English and French procured a larger number of cowhides, buffalo and gazelle hides, ivory, wax, rubber, gold and other things. Green goes on to point out that the area inhabited by the Sereer had been a growing focus of the slave trade in the 1530s and 40s, but the English and French do not appear to have purchased any slaves from them and after 1560 there is a significant falling off of the number of Jolof and Sereer slaves in the New World. He argues that this is because the English and French were willing to trade for other goods, unlike the Portuguese who wanted slaves, and thus, the Sereer shifted their trade to focus on the French and English merchants.
In a similar manner, the obas of Benin had become so well versed with Portuguese trading that they had established special markets for overseas visitors, and while they began their trade with Portugal by exporting pepper, ivory, cloth and beads, the "Portuguese demand for slaves for sugar plantations on the island of São Tome led the oba in 1516 to create separate markets for male and female slaves with each market requiring separate presents to open and close." In doing this, they shifted the focus of their trade somewhat, and the items which they were willing to trade, to insure that they continued to receive, or were able to increase, the trade with their European partners. This was not an isolated case of shifting markets to satisfy the demand for European goods and trade. As has already been stated the Sereer also shifted their trade to monopolize on the European trade most desired at the time. After the Portuguese established trade at Arguin around 1445, the trade along the Senegal and Gambian rivers began to divert some of the gold trade from the Sudan to the new Atlantic markets, as the Portuguese trade quickly found its way to the key commercial center of Wuli, which was the starting point for caravans linking the Gambia northward with upper Senegal and eastward with the Niger Bend. Because of this new trade market, which connected Wuli with the Atlantic world, Boubacar has argued, the Gambia became the principal outlet for the waning Mali Empire with a very significant gold trade being directed towards the Atlantic. This diversion of trade, or creation of new trade markets to incorporate the Atlantic trade network into the already existing African networks, was not forced upon the African societies, nor was it enacted for cheap European goods. Rather, this was done because the African trade networks desired the goods being offered by the Europeans.
When Diogo Gomes first arrived on the Gambia River in the latter part of the fifteenth century he was greeted in a very friendly manner by the African chief Frangazick, who was eager to trade for the Portuguese merchandise, such as cloths, necklaces, and such. Word of his arrival quickly spread along the river and he states that there seemed to be a lot of excitement caused by the news that Europeans had come to trade along the river. Gomes records that he was taken to Cantor, a large town near the river's edge to trade and that
When the report spread throughout the country round, that the Christians were in Cantor, the natives came together from all quarters, viz., from Tambucutu in the north, from the Serra Geley in the south, and there came also people from Quioguun, which is a great city, surrounded by a wall of baked tiles, and where I understood there was abundance of gold, and that caravans of camels and dromedaries crossed over thithser with merchandise from Carthage or Tunis, from Fez, from Cairo, and from all the land of the Saracens, in exchange for gold.
From this account it can be seen that the arrival of European traders attracted attention from even the most well established and prosperous trade networks in Africa. The fact that merchants came from Tambucutu and Quioguun, both of which were prosperous trading centers which were significant to the trans-Saharan trade networks, and that these merchants not only welcomed trade with the Europeans but were eager to insure that it continued demonstrates that they wanted the goods being offered.
P.E.H. Hair pointes out that Africans in the Akan region had a ready supply of gold but a limited supply of the harder metals, such as iron. He states that, in Akan societies, gold objects had "only passing value and were not per se sacrosanct" arguing that objects of gold were frequently recycled, due in part to the wear on a soft metal, or because they outlasted the lives of original owners and were adjusted to new personal whims and fashions. He further states that it is plausible that a majority of the Akan families had among their effects some gold objects. This also appears to be true of other people groups along the Gold Coast. Thomas Lok described the people along the Gold Coast as wearing a considerable amount of gold jewelry.
Some of their women weare on their bare armes certaine foresleeves made of the plates of beaten golde. On their fingers also they weare rings, made of golden wires, with a knot r wreath, like unot that which children make in a ring of a rush. Among other things of golde that our men bought of them for exchange of their wares, were certaine dog-chaines and collers.
Thus, gold was so readily available in this region that it was commonly worn in many forms and even used for dog chains and collars. Iron and other hard metals, on the other hand, were much harder to come by. These metals were essential for the manufacturing of farming implements, household items, such as pots, as well as weapons. Northrup supports this argument with his assertion that "demand for copper and brass was nearly insatiable in some parts of West Africa in the first half of the sixteenth century, …On the Gold Coast between a third and a half of African gold exports were paid for with copper or brass. The kingdom of Benin imported copper or brass manillas (wristlets) by the tens of thousands along with copper and brass basins of various sizes." Hair makes a similar assertion when he states that Africans welcomed iron and brass anyway they could get it and that they appear to have preferred to trade for it with the European traders as the Saharan trade only brought in expensively worked metal items.
The remaining English records indicate that hard metals, such as iron, were among the most commonly traded items in the West African trade. Hakluyt records that the commodities and wares most desired in West Africa between Sierra Leone and "the furthest place of the Mine" were as follows.
Manils of brasse, and some of leade. Basons of divers sorts, but the most of lattin. Pots of course tinne, of a quart and more. Some wedges of yron, margarites, and certaine other slight beads. Some blew corral. Some horse tailes. Linen cloth principally. Basons of Flanders. Some red cloth of low price, and some kersie. Kettles of Dutch-land with brazen handles. Some great brasse basons graved, such as in Flanders they set upon their cupboords. Some great basons of pewter, and ewers graven. Some lavers, such as be for water. Great knives of a low price. Sleight Flanders-caskets. Chests of Roan of a lowe price, or any other chests. Great pinnes. Course French coverings. Packing sheets good store. Swords, daggers, fries mantels, and gownes, clokes, hats, red caps, Spansih blankets, axe heads, hammers, short pieces of yron, sleight belles, gloves of a lowe price, leather bags, and what other trifles you will.
As can be seen, the majority of the items that the English brought to the West African market were metal items of which the Africans were in short supply due to the lack of hard metals. Items of brass and led seem to have been very common while iron bars appear to be one of the most commonly imported items. In addition to the metal items being brought in from Europe there was a large demand for cloth, both the course English linens as well as the highly sought after French textiles. However, the Europeans did not just bring in imported European textiles, they also traded for textiles along the coast and then traded these textiles further down the coast. The English often stopped along the Barbary Coast or in the Canary Islands on their way south and picked up Moroccan textiles which they then traded down the coast where they were in high demand. In this way, the African communities could ensure that they received the best prices on the goods they needed. Now, through the English and French, the West African communities could obtain desired goods both through the trans-Saharan trade network and through the growing and competitive Atlantic network. By playing the European merchants off of each other, African communities were further able to ensure that they received the best possible prices and the highest quality goods, as has already been illustrated with the voyages of Towerson.
The Portuguese response to the increasing competition in the West African trade was primarily an aggressively defensive one. They attempted to reassert the monopoly they had professed, through an increasing investment in forts, naval fleets and military action against African polities that entered into relations with Portugal's European rivals. Instead of decreasing the rival trade and reestablishing Portuguese dominance in the area, the opposite seems to have occurred. According to Valsecchi, in the 1550s and 1560s the Portuguese lost about one-third of the total quantity of gold they would have exported from the Gold Coast due to the incursions of the French and English. Rather than forcing the local African groups to abandon their trade with other Europeans, this policy appears to have increased the hostility of African merchants towards the Portuguese. While trading at Shamma, during Towerson's voyage of 1556-57, the village received word that the Portuguese were headed that way to stop the English from trading with the local merchants. When this news arrived the villagers asked the English to ensure that they would defend them from the Portuguese and use force to keep the trading open. Towerson states that he made the required assurances, and once these assurances were made the local merchants appeared even more willing than before to conduct trade. Later, on that same voyage, while conducting trade with King Abaan, Towerson was told that he should ask the king of England to send men and provisions to build a castle in Abaan's country. Abaan stated that he had little gold at the moment, but that if the English would wait he would "send into all his country for gold for us," suggesting that he desperately wanted to trade with the English. Abaan continued by entreating the English to speak to their king "to send men and provisions into his country, to build a castle, and to bring Tailors with them, to make them apparel, and good wares, and they should be sure to sell them: but for that present the Frenchmen had filled them full of cloth." By suggesting that the English build their own fort to trade, thus adopting the trade system the Portuguese had begun a century earlier, Abaan shows that he wished to increase the rate of trade with the English and increase the trading options along the coast. This offer was also made during the buildup of Portuguese aggression towards those who traded with the English, and came only weeks after Towerson was forced to agree to defend African merchants against the Portuguese in order to fully open up trade along the coast. Thus, Abaan's request for the English to build a fort in his lands, coming when it did, suggests that he preferred to trade with the English rather than the Portuguese, now that the Portuguese were resorting to force in an attempt to control the local trade.
John Thornton states that "the presence of private traders, their interconnections, and the military and political rivalries of both African and European state systems went a long way to reduce the potential impact of state control." As has been seen through the records relating to the English in West Africa in the mid-sixteenth century, African ethnic groups were able to assert their agency over the West African trade systems throughout the sixteenth century and were able to drastically effect, if not completely control, the trading conditions along the coastline. Despite Portugal's attempts to convince rival European powers of their solid trade monopoly in West Africa, African kingdoms remained able, and willing, to trade with whomever offered them desirable goods at desirable prices. The English activity along the West African coast in the mid-sixteenth century highlights this fact. Rather than being minor activity along the periphery of a trade network dominated by the Portuguese, and thus lacking any significance to the study of African history at this time, the English activity along the West African coast played a key role in the efforts of the various African kingdoms, such as the Edo of Benin, the Sereer of Senegal and the Fute in Mina, to resist the efforts of the Portuguese to monopolize trade. So pervasive was this so called "illicit" trade, which the Africans eagerly welcomed and saw as completely legitimate, that the Portuguese were forced to recognize their inability to control whom the Africans could and could not trade with.
In 1571, King Sebastian of Portugal finally "relented to English demands in order to forestall further armed interventions in Mina" and agreed to permit English ships to sail to Mina and trade, as long as they agreed to do so unarmed and to pay the official duties. While this statement demonstrates Portugal's understanding that they could not prevent the English from trading with Africa, it places the agency of this realization with the English. Rather than relenting to English demands, the sources indicate that Portugal was relenting to the reality of African control over the West African trade networks. As demonstrated throughout this paper, it was the African ethnic groups who first broke through the mirage of a Portuguese monopoly over West African trade. Due to the level of control African ethnic groups, such as the Edo and Fute, had over the West African trade networks, Portugal never actually had any real control over the West African trade. Rather, African rulers were able to play European powers against each other and maintain their traditional methods of establishing trade networks, creating what the Europeans would see as a "free trade" system in West Africa.




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