The Indigenous Aristocracy, the Atlantic Trade, and the Gunpowder Economy

Folasade Ifamose 

The whole region between the Volta and Niger area was acutely convulsed and destabilized by the direct involvement in the gun and gun powder trade across the Atlantic between 1500 and 1800. The desire to capture cities with precious metals as well as those with direct access to the Atlantic coasts directly affected and influenced the attempt of the kings to participate actively in the trans-Atlantic trade. The ultimate desire of the traditional rulers was to acquire, among other things, firearms from the triangular trade through the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and the American traders at the Coast. This study examines the prevailing conditions of the institution of kingship among the tribes that occupied the region between the Volta and Niger area. It evaluates the copious authority embedded in the institution and how such authorities were altered by the advent of guns and gunpowder through the Atlantic. The study offers an analysis of the gradual but progressive drift away of the kingship from the very basis of their existence – promotion of commerce, defence and protection of the traditions, cultures and values of their communities. The effects of these activities on the entire political economy of the aristocracy shall be adequately examined. The study highlights the complete erosion and subsequent decay of the authority bestowed on the kingship institution. The result was across-the-board anarchy and total disintegration of an established political and economic system. The study relies heavily on primary source materials made up of oral interviews, archival materials, and written records of early European visitors to the Coast. These materials will be supplemented by published works in history, sociology, anthropology, and other relevant disciplines.

[WP # 99017]