Benin Paramount Chiefs Osula, Ero, Osagie, Iyamu Ine, Esogban, Obaraye, Obaseki, Obahiagbon, Eribo and others during the opening of the new court house, Benin City in 1911.

The Emir of Kano Sarkin Kano Alu (Aliyu Babba) (1894-1903) in exile, Lokoja circa 1903.

Oluwo (of Iwo town) and his wives, 1890.

A Yoruba Bride and Groom, Circa 1910

Benin Social Circle with visiting speaker Dr. Nmandi Azikwe. Pictured (first row, center left), Elijah Gbinigie, the first secretary of the Circle (first row, center right), and his wife Emily Gbinigie (first row, fourth from right), Photographer Solomon Osagie Alonge can be seen standing in the back row on the far left and Mr. P.N.C. Molokwu, the principal of Edo College Benin City from 1942-1947 is seated on the far left during the opening of Edo College Benin City in 1937.

Accounts of An Oyo Empire expedition into Dahomey, 1727.
----------------------------------------
On a visit to a mulatto Portuguese in the Dahomian court at Allada, April 1727, This person had in the court of his house two pretty horses, each about thirteen hands [52 inches] high, which were every way much better than those we had seen at Jaqueen [Jakin]. Upon our asking him, from whence he had them, he replied, “They came from the Kingdom of Ojoe (Oyo); which lies towards the north-east, many days journey off, beyond a great and famous lake, which is the fountain of several large rivers, that empty themselves into the Bay of Guinea. And he further added, that several fugitive Princes, whose fathers the King of Dahome [Dahomey] had conquered and beheaded, fled to the King of this country for protection, and at last prevailed with him to make war on the King of Dahome which he did soon after the latter had conquered Ardra (Allada). The King of Ojoe sent, under the command of a General, a great army of horse, consisting of many thousands (for they never use infantry), wherewith he invaded the Dahomes in their own country:

Accounts of An Oyo Empire expedition into Dahomey, 1727. contd.

On this sudden and unexpected invasion, the King of Dahomey marched immediately from Ardra into his own kingdom, and made head against the Oy-oes. But as he had none but infantry, whose arms were guns and swords, he was hard put to it: for the country being open and without inclosures, the horsemen, who were armed with bows and arrows, javelins and cutting swords, had certainly conquered, if the unusual noise of the Dahome's fire-arms had not so frightened the horses, that their riders could never make a home-charge on the enemies foot.58 However, the dispute having lasted, at times, four days, and the King of Dahome finding his soldiers so fatigued, that they could not hold out but a little longer, he contrived the following stratagem:

He had great quantities of brandy by him, formerly bought at Whidaw [Whydah], which is the principal commodity the French ships bring there, to exchange for Negroes. So the King resolved to retreat in the night with his army, and leave the liquor as a bait for the enemy, with great quantities of valuable goods, which were in store, in a large town near the camp. When day came, the Oy-oes thinking the Dahomes had fled, fell to plundering and destroying the town, and drinking greedily of the brandy; and as they seldom had tasted of that liquor before, it so intoxicated them, that they fell asleep in great numbers on the ground. The King of Dahome being informed of this by his spies, returned with the utmost speed, and attacking them while they were in this disorder, routed them; but the greater part of the Oy-oes escaped with the help of their horses, and fled out of the country; however, the loss was so great, that the others esteemed it a complete victory.

Accounts of An Oyo Empire expedition into Dahomey, 1727. contd.


The Portuguese gentleman added, that at the time of this rout, he took the two horses we had seen in his yard, and a great many more were seized at the same time by the Dahome soldiers. He said further, (but enjoin’d us secrecy) that tho’ the Dahomes were exceeding proud of his victory, they were still much afraid of a second invasion, an army of horse being very terrible to them: and that the King had lately sent great presents to the King of Ojoe, to prevent his attacking them a second time. However, in case he did, and they should not be able to withstand them, they comforted themselves with this thought, that they might save their persons, by fleeing to the sea coast, to which the Oyoes dare not follow them. For as their national fetiche was the Sea, they were prohibited by their priests from ever seeing it, under no less a penalty than death; which they made the people believe, would by their God, if they were so presumptuous, be inflicted upon them”

SNELGRAVE, 1734.

The End.

Belzoni in Benin

"Benin," or " Binnin,"— by the natives called "Ibini," ''Bini," or "Ini," — held her head high amongst African kingdoms during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In our age the name has fallen into disuse, and few know anything beyond the fact that she lies somewhere in West Africa.... Benin was discovered by the Portuguese, of whom old Willem Bosman politely says, " They served for setting dogs to spring the game which was seized by others."

The explorer was Joam Afonso de Aveiro, and the date 1485, one year after Diogo Cam had begun that conquest of the Congo which has lately been completed by Mr. Henry M. Stanley. Men were enthusiasts in those days. Fernan de Poo (Fernando Po) called his trouvaille A Illha Formosa (Fair Isle) ; and the Benin River became O Rio Formoao, or Fermoso, — an older form, — but not Formosa, the feminine. In our times the British mariner sings, — with variants : — The Bight of Benin ! the Bight of Benin ! One comes out where three goes in.

The natives know the stream mouth as Uwo ko Jakri, or " Outlet of Jakri," the latter being African for the European Wari, Owari, Awerri, Ouueri, Owhyeri, or Ovare, a petty princedom on the southern fork. The late Mr. Beecroft, H. M.'s Consul for Fernando Po, proved (1840) by a cruise in the Ethiope steamer that this Wari branch leaves the Niger a little below Abu or Ibu town. Consequently the Rio Formoso is the Western arm of the Delta, whose hypothenuse measures some 180 miles.

* illustration of G. Belzoni from wiki commons

Belzoni, Giovanni Battista By Richard F. Burton
The Cornhill magazine- Smith, George; Thackeray, William Makepeace Editors

Published 1860

Treaty between King Pepple and the Chiefs of Andony

...
3rd. No marriages between Andony, Young Calabar, and Creeka country will be allowed.

4th. When the Andony men make their great Jewjew, the natives of Bonny promise to give them hip-cloths, caps, rum, &c. ; and when the Andony men come to receive the above, they promise to present the Bonny men with some dried fish.

5th. The Andony men further promise, that when desired by the King of Bonny to catch fish for the public feasts, they will do it.

6th. They, the Andony men, also promise not to destroy the Guano, but allow the animal liberty the same as in Bonny.
...

Dated this 22nd December, 1846, in the Jewjew House, or Parliament House, Grand Bonny.

Narrative of an exploring voyage up the rivers Kwóra and Bínue (commonly known as the Niger and Tsádda) in 1854.
by William Balfour Baikie

Published 1856

The Reverend Joseph Claudius May, F.R.G.S. (1845-1902)

He was the first Prinicipal of Methodist Boys' High School (then Wesleyan Methodist Boys' High School) in Freetown, Sierra Leone on the 6th of April 1874

He was born at Charles Street in Freetown on August 14, 1845, the son of a Yoruba recaptive schoolmaster and Wesleyan minister named Joseph May, who was sold as a child to Portuguese slavers but was rescued by a British cruiser and landed at Sierra Leone.

At the age of three he went with his parents to MacCarthy Island on the Gambia River where they spent six years. Through the request of Quaker friends of his father, who himself had received part of his own education abroad, May was sent to England for further studies, but his departure was delayed until 1865 by his mother's reluctance to part with her son.

Joseph’s brother, Cornelius, later became Mayor of Freetown.

Together, they sought to embrace their African heritage by forming the Dress Reform Society. Its aim was to eliminate the use of Western clothes as the first step towards ending the influence of European customs over Sierra Leonean society.

He gained a University of London degree in 1868.

* photo from Lives in Between: Assimilation and Marginality in Austria, Brazil, and West Africa, 1780-1945. Leo Spitzer (1989)

mbhs-laboramus.org/…/brief-history-methodist-boys-high-scho…
londoninternational.ac.uk/150/history/first_graduates.shtml
dacb.org/stories/sierraleone/May_Joseph.html
dacb.org/stories/sierraleone/may_joseph.html

Kano

National Geographic 1956

In 1703, or 1704, the price of slaves at Calabar was twelve bars a man, and nine a woman.

The slaves got there, says he [Mr Grazilhier, who, since his voyage in the Albion frigat, has made three more thither, commander of English and Dutch ships, assur'd me at Southampton, in 1705...] are generally pretty tall men, but washy and faint, by reason of their ill food, which is yams at best, and other such sorry provisions.

A very considerable number of them is exported yearly from that river by the Europeans; he having, as has been said above, seen there ten ships at a time, loading slaves, which is the reason the price of them varies so much, being double some years to what it is others, according to the demand there is of them ; the natives being cunning enough to enhance the price upon such occassions.

He computes there are also exported from thence yearly, from thirty to forty tuns of elephants teeth, all very fine and large, most by Dutch ships.

The most current goods to purchase slaves at New Calabar, in 1704, were iron bars, copper bars, of which two sorts, a great quantity, especially of the iron ; rangoes, beads goosberry-colour, large and small, Indian nicanees, little brass bells, three-pound copper basons, and some of two pounds ; Guinea stuff's, ox-horns for drinking cups, pewter tankards great and small ; blue linnen, blue long beads, or pearls, spirits, blue perpets a few.

A description of the coasts of North and South Guinea : and of Ethiopia inferior, vulgarly Angola by Barbot, Jean

Published 1732

naijalander:
Benin Paramount Chiefs Osula, Ero, Osagie, Iyamu Ine, Esogban, Obaraye, Obaseki, Obahiagbon, Eribo and others during the opening of the new court house, Benin City in 1911.

Does anyone know who the chief in a turban is? I didn't know turban-wearing had reached Benin City at that point in history.

naijalander:
Mr Felix Bankole Cardoso (1925 - 2006)

Educated at Holy Cross primary school followed by Methodist Boys high school. He quickly distinguished himself and his devotion to duty won him one of the first training awards for Nigerians to undertake the Crown Agents course in London.

This was followed by a scholarship to study accountancy and in short time was able to dismiss with pleasurable ease the final exams of the dreaded institute of corporate and certified Accountants (Uk).

He returned to Nigeria as one of the earliest professionally qualified accountants and went to work in the ministry of finance where he spent the period up to independence working his way up the civil service structure. When the decision was finally made to select appropriate staff to take over the running of the ministry from expatriates, His exemplary record came to bear when he was finally appointed the first Nigerian Accountant-General of the federation of Nigeria in 1963.
He retired from the civil service at the age of 47 and joined Barclays Bank in 1972 as the assistant to the general manager, as always he quickly rose to the enviable position of the first African vice chairman and managing director of Barclays Bank of Nigeria, under his leadership the bank became Union Bank.


In 1980 the federal government decided that he should employ his expertise in another of its nationalised banks but as he had reached the peak of his career in two different professions, declined the move and instead chose to retire a second time.
He was also a member of the stock exchange since 1975, he became a member of council of the exchange in 1983.


He was a quiet and private Man who did a lot of philanthropic work and was very generous to the older members of his family. I know this because he was my grand uncle and I spent the a lot of time with him whenever he came to London.

so your cousin is the new CBN governor?

Interesting