₦airaland Forum

esere826: ^^ Seun,
Kindly take note and divide Nairaland population size by 4

lol

Most people on NL don't seem to have multiple monikers/usernames though, even despite the spam bot.

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/8/0/19392_images_image_8061_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1874. Skertchly, J.A. Dahomey as it is; Being A Narrative of Eight Month's Residence in that Country with a full account of the notorious annual customs, and the social and religious institutions of the Ffons. Also an appendix on Ashantee, and a Glossary of Dahoman Words and Titles.

Original language: English

Caption:

The Gun Custom

Text:

This was a splendid affair, at least as regards the roof, which was covered with a white cloth,along the centre of which a crimson plaid ran parallel to the eaves. Above and below this division were quaint figures of ships, with conspicuous poops and prows, rigged with a single mast, and two triangular sails like jibs set. Scarlet pennons were flying from the trucks, and beneath the keel two stockless anchors of blue baft were hung. Between each of these were curious affairs which Beecham called "pillars of salt." To me they appeared to be Christmas crackers resting on scarlet muskets. These ornaments were constructed of coloured cloth, and sewn on the white calico covering of the paviion. [p425]

The pillars of this shed were swathed in crimson velvet; and the back and sides were composed of gorgeous green, violet, blue, and crimson silks, satins, and damasks; the richness of their colouring being, however, lost in the shadow of the pavilion. In the centre was the royal sofa, covered with a splendid patchwork of velvet cloth of many colours; and a gorgeous umbrella, of yellow velvet, with dark crimson birds; with emerald-green necks, carrying blue guns in their black dexter claw, was set before the divan. [p425-6]

Illustrator: , illustrations are from sketches by the author

Illustration technique: colored lithograph

Keywords:
• Republic of Benin (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• damask (Materials and techniques)
• fabric (Materials and techniques)
• satin (Materials and techniques)
• silk (Materials and techniques)
• appliqué (Materials and techniques)
• birds (Notable features)
• divan (Notable features)
• guns (Notable features)
• pavilion (Notable features)
• tent (Notable features)
• architecture (Notable features)
• sailing ships (Notable features)
• umbrella (Notable features)
• tent decoration (Object name, type)
• roof ornament (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

esere826: so what happens when PhysicsMHD is also banned?

lol, I had one or two other monikers. Hopefully I won't have to use any of them.

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/8/70798_images_image_808_medium.jpg[/img]]

Publication: 1917. Wuhrmann, Anna. Vier Jahre im Grasland von Kamerun.

Original language: German

Caption translation:

Entrance to the chief's compound

Illustrator: Anna Wuhrmann

Illustration technique: b/w field photograph

Publication page: 35

Publication plate/figure: fig

Related images: This drum was photographed in front of a different doorway in the palace: see #s 69 & 1151.4/2. For another Bamum drum in a related style, see #599

Keywords:
• Cameroon (Country, region, place)
• Grassfields (Country, region, place)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• rawhide (Materials and techniques)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• architecture (Notable features)
• layers (Notable features)
• standing figure (Notable features)
• high relief (Notable features)
• palace entrance (Notable features)
• column (Object name, type)
• pillar (Object name, type)
• figurated post (Object name, type)
• war drum (Object name, type)
• Bamum (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/2/44472_images_image_252_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1867. du Chaillu, Paul B. A Journey to Ashango-Land: And Further Penetration Into Equatorial Africa.

Original language: English

Caption: Ishogo Houses, with ornamented doors

Text: “June 11th. Igoumbié is the largest village I have met with yet, and forms one long and tolerably broad street. I counted 191 huts; each hut has a wooden door, and is divided into three compartments or chambers. The houses are generally placed close to each other, not wide apart like the houses of the Aponos. There are many of the curious alumbi houses scattered about. A large mbuiti or idol house stands about halfway down the street, with a monstrous wooden image inside, which the villagers hold in great reverence….What was most remarkable, there was here an attempt at decorative work on the doors of many of the houses. The huts, neatly built, with walls formed of the bark of trees, had their doors painted red, white, and black, in complicated and sometimes not inelegant patterns. These doors were very ingeniously made; they turned upon pivots above and below, which worked in the frame instead of hinges. Each house is of an oblong shape, about twenty-two feet long by ten or twelve feet broad; the door being in the middle of the front, three and a half feet high and two and a half feet broad. The walls are four and a half feet high and the highest part of the roof is about nine feet.” (pp. 264-265)

Illustration technique: field engraving

Keywords:
• Gabon (Country, region, place)
• Igoumbi (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• architecture (Notable features)
• shrine house (Notable features)
• bas-relief (Object name, type)
• door decoration (Object name, type)
• Tsogo (Style, culture group)

[img]http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SlaveTrade/collection/large/Allen10.JPG[/img]

House of Muslim Religious Leader, Fandah, Central Nigeria, 1832-33

Source:

William Allen, Picturesque views on the river Niger, sketched during Lander's last visit in 1832-33, by Commander William Allen (London, 1840), facing p. 15 (bottom). (Copy in Library of Congress, Rare Book/Special Collections)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/8/96569_images_image_809_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1840. Allen, William. Picturesque Views on the River Niger, Sketched during Lander's Last Visit in 1832-33.

Original language: English

Caption: Attàh

Illustrator: William Allen, author

Illustration technique: context engraving

Keywords:
• Idah (Country, region, place)
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• brass (Materials and techniques)
• courtiers (Notable features)
• Ata=king (Notable features)
• umbrella (Notable features)
• regalia (Object name, type)
• jewelry (Object name, type)
• necklace (Object name, type)
• pectoral mask (Object name, type)
• pendant mask (Object name, type)
• Igala (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/2/6/12714_images_image_2614_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1848. Allen, William and T.R.H. Thompson. A Narrative of the Expedition Sent by Her Majesty's Government to the River Niger, in 1841. Under the Command of Captain H. D. Trotter, R.N, Vol. I (of II).

Original language: English

Caption: The Court of the King of Iddah

Text: "The Attà was arrayed in an ample robe, fantastically brocaded with gold, beneath which was another of red velvet; and judging from his size, many others of various hue might have been his under-graments… A large brass or gilt plate, with a raised representation of the human face (not unlike 'the man in the moon'), suspended from his neck, and hanging down on the breast, seemed to be an important article in the 'regalia.' It was worn by the former King when Lander and Allen visited him. His cap was conical, something like that of the Obi's, but ornamented with feathers; and in his ears were ivory discs, stuck in the lower lobe, large enough to cover the whole ear." (pp. 293-294)

Illustrator: Allen, William; Cook, J.W. Allen, William; Cook, J.W., signed: "painted by Capt. W. Allen, R.N." LL and "Engraved by J.W. Cook" LR

Illustration technique: field engraving

Keywords:
• Idah (Country, region, place)
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• architecture (Notable features)
• courtiers (Notable features)
• king (Notable features)
• moon-shaped (Notable features)
• umbrella (Notable features)
• jewelry (Object name, type)
• necklace (Object name, type)
• pendant mask (Object name, type)
• regalia (Object name, type)
• Igala (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/1/3/88862_images_image_1346_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1912. Vollbehr, Ernst. Mit Pinsel und Palette durch Kamerun: Tagebuchaufzeichnungen und Bilder.

Original language: German

Caption translation: Njoja's palace in Bamum and the Basler Mission church. The palace is 81,60 m wide and 150 m long. It, and the church, are built from the leaf stalks of raffia palms and unfired clay. The Basler Mission church was built by 1000 natives. In the foreground lies an idol-drum.

Text translation: “As has already been told, a giant square is found in front of the palace. There beneath trees stands the Basel mission church, built in the native style from 1000 people in one day. A red and white flag blew on a large white pole in our honor. The market place, also under shady trees, is connected to the square and is alive with thousands of people twice a week. Half broken, old idols and giant carved drums lay around this place, signs of an earlier time.” (p. 90)

Publication page: f. 88

Keywords:
• Cameroon (Country, region, place)
• Fumban (Country, region, place)
• Grassfields (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• architecture (Notable features)
• torso (Notable features)
• anthropomorphized (Notable features)
• figurated handle (Notable features)
• Njoya's palace (Notable features)
• gong (Object name, type)
• slit drum (Object name, type)
• Bamum (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/1/3/47231_images_image_1358_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1914. Thorbecke, Franz. Im Hochland von Mittel-Kamerun, Vol. I.

Original language: German

Caption translation: Attending court in the chief's palace in Fumban

Caption: Ehrenhof im Häuptlingspalast in Fumban

Text translation: “Inside the palace there are high, dim, almost empty rooms in which are at most a few beds, pots, drums and weapons, as well as narrow, pitch black hallways and broad, airy courts. The royal court of the chief, in which he receives guests or holds court [plate 9], reminds one of a European cloister entrance with its broad, circular, shadowy transition which is accompanied by ornamented, carved posts facing the court. On the narrow side of the hallway is a overhanging cupola and the posts are twice as high. The bright, sunny courtyard is in the middle and contains grey, pole-like gravestones of the ancestors under glowing green trees and low shrubbery.” (p. 17)

Illustrator: Marie Pauline Thorbecke, author's wife

Illustration technique: b/w field photograph

Publication plate/figure: plate 9

Keywords:
• Cameroon (Country, region, place)
• Fumban (Country, region, place)
• Grassfields (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• reception hall (Notable features)
• architecture (Notable features)
• court (Notable features)
• figurative (Notable features)
• Njoya (Notable features)
• paired (Notable features)
• palace (Notable features)
• column (Object name, type)
• Bamum (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/1/3/24991_images_image_1349_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1912. Vollbehr, Ernst. Mit Pinsel und Palette durch Kamerun: Tagebuchaufzeichnungen und Bilder.

Original language: German

Caption translation: The Bamum chief in his audience court. Inside a round hall, with richly carved bars, Njoja sits. He is smoking a pipe, and youths and all of his attendants surround him. The throne is of estimable, old beadwork.

Illustrator: Ernst Vollbehr, author

Illustration technique: field drawing; color

Keywords:
• Cameroon (Country, region, place)
• Fumban (Country, region, place)
• Grassfields (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• architecture (Notable features)
• court (Notable features)
• figurated (Notable features)
• frieze (Notable features)
• Njoya (Notable features)
• palace (Notable features)
• reception hall (Notable features)
• post (Object name, type)
• paired columns (Object name, type)
• Bamum (Style, culture group)

Ishilove: What do you expect, when we were in the age of the Trevor-Ropers of this world? "Africa has no history. What is called African history is nothing more than the gyrations of babarous tribes in picturesque yet insignificant parts of the globe".

The historiographers of that era were racists, pure and simple. Literature like Doyle's 'King Solomon's Mines' depicted Africa as a dark continent of savages in need of salvation, so European historians often used that annoying condescending tone when writing about Africa.

Yeah, there are a lot of condescending or offensive comments that I came across but there are also some purely objective comments and also some positive comments from writers from back then that I have come across on this same archive. I still intend to post the comments if they're not too offensive. For that picture it was at least necessary to establish what the house was for (religious), so I included the comment even though I didn't really approve of the tone.

So I see that this made the front page. Although that's a good thing, I do wish I had been able to post at least half the pics that I wanted to before the thread was even considered for the front page. The spam bot kept blocking me and hiding my posts, but I'll try and post some of what I wanted to post under this alternate moniker now that more people are viewing the thread and hopefully the spam bot won't ban me and hide the post this time.

Hey odumchi, I got banned in the same thread again. Could you unban me again? Thanks.

My post in this thread (under the moniker PhysicsQED) was hidden and the PhysicsQED account was banned by the spam bot until tomorrow morning:

https://www.nairaland.com/1249503/interesting-images-precolonial-early-colonial

If the spambot keeps banning me, even when I'm not including links in my posts, then it looks like I'll have trouble actually posting in that thread and sharing some of the images I found that I wanted to share.

Thanks Odumchi (I'm assuming it was you) for un-hiding that old post I corrected and unbanning the PhysicsQED moniker.

Obiagu, I am not trying to be dishonest here and I don't think I am being dishonest. Maybe from your perspective it looks that way, but that is not my intention.

I explained to you that the Niger Coast Protectorate was rather limited in extent, something which it doesn't seem you were aware of before (although maybe you were) and also explained that the Royal Niger Company surrendered its rights and charter to "the Crown" in exchange for compensation in 1899, instead of their territory merely being automatically "acquired" by the Niger Coast Protectorate. The British Government then decided to merge the two (NCP and RNC territory) and rename that area. I also gave at least 2 sources which referred to the merger as an amalgamation.

Here is another British source which describes the merger as an amalgamation:

"The transfer took place on the 1st of January 1900, from which date the company, which dropped the name of "royal," became a purely trading corporation. The southern portion of the territories was amalgamated with the Niger Coast Protectorate, the whole district taking the name of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, while the northern portion, extending from a line drawn slightly above 7° N to the frontier of the French possessions on the north and including the confluence of the Niger and the Benue at Lokoja, was proclaimed a protectorate under the name of Northern Nigeria." - The Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 19, 1911.

If it wasn't an amalgamation, maybe the editors of the Historical Dictionary of the British Empire should contact you to get approval of the words they decide to use when describing what happened back then. Maybe they don't have a good grasp of their own language.

lol, thanks to whichever mod unbanned that post ^^^^, but I tried to edit the post after it had already been hidden and then unhidden and I got banned again . I know not to try that in the future. Anyway, Please unhide the post again. Thanks.

whitecat007: ibo logic at work again. Ask your self the following questions

Which part of Yorubaland is Benin spoken? But Some speak Edo Yoruba

Where in Yoruba do they bear Benin names? But Benin bear Yoruba names

It's called Ondo state. For example, Babatunde Osazuwa (a Yoruba geophysicist from there) has that Edo last name. Even in the 1930s there were still some (non-assimilated) Edo people in Akure.

Do Yoruba and Benin speak the same language? The answer is no

If there was a colonial master between the two, then you should know that Yoruba was the colonial master.

I believe the real Ibini people that were part of Yoruba are the Itsekiri and Ugbodu people, Itsekiri language is word for word same as my Ijebu dialect.
If you take a close look at Yoruba/Benin history, there is no way it's the modern day Benin we share the ancient history with. There were real Ibini people on the land that is now called Benin, reason our Oduduwa sent his son to rule over them.

I believe that when our own Oduduwa sent one of his children to go and rule over Ibini the people had just been pushed out or something, but all this story has nothing to do with the people who are called Benin today

"Ibini" or "Ubini" is just one particular exonym. The name is and has been Edo, which the Yoruba called Ado. The world might call Deutschland by the name "Germany" or "Allemagne"/"Aleman" or "Niemcy" but that doesn't change the fact that the real name is still Deustchland. The same applies here. There are other exonyms for the Edo people besides Bini anyway. As for the rest of your post, it seems like you're falling for the bait, since that issue has nothing to do with the actual topic.

SmoothCrim: People deserve to be proud!!!

The Germans are proud of their cars, Brazilian their football!!

Ghanaian their history in Africa, football, culture, leadership etc etc!!!

Indeed:

SmoothCrim: Ghana has the most Slave Castles in Africa! FACT!!!

You dumb Bakassi's are proud of pumping oil out and having numerous babies!! ; Should I take that away from you!!

Nigeria's population has always been many times that of Ghana. I don't know why you keep promoting this idea that Nigerians are reproducing at some kind of astronomical rate. You put forward the same idea in that "Is Nigeria a threat to Africa" thread, but I don't know where you're getting this idea that Nigerians are "pumping out babies" at some crazy rate that others aren't.

In 1960, Ghana's population was around 6.7 million and in that same year, Nigeria's population was around 45 million.

Meaning Nigeria's population was about 6.7 times that of Ghana.

Today, Ghana's population is around 25 million and Nigeria's population is around 170 million

So Nigeria's population is about 6.8 times that of Ghana.

There's basically no difference.

SmoothCrim: Yes I would be offended... I don't talk about dead people!!

There is nothing a dead person can do to improve...

If you know of them by name, right?

But you label dead people from centuries ago barbarians even when you don't know for certain exactly how they lived.

I'll spare you what I think of Gaddafi's appearance because I don't want you to get all sensitive and start crying "sissy tears."

SmoothCrim: That is because when dealing with snakes sometimes you need to go where snakes are found!!!

Evasive maneuvers part 2

Anyway, long story short, I said some dead dictator looked like a rat and you got all outraged even when you had been mocking Somali children and even comparing ordinary people that you don't know to baboons because of their nationality/ethnicity. Weird.

Would you be offended if I told you what I thought of Gaddafi's appearance, or do you only have a soft spot for the Ethiopians?

You're willing to go to the gutter most times, even when not needed.

SmoothCrim: Either way don't generalize!!

Coming from you, this is ironic.

I judge people by how they act in front of me but, most people tend to be nice to me... That is what happens when you look like an Emperor in the Heart of West Africa!!

That's why you were posting pictures of starving Somalis and comparing Somalis to baboons, right? Very "emperor-like" behavior.

SmoothCrim: Why don't you look it up if you don't believe me!!

It's not that I don't believe that it's one of the largest, I just haven't seen any proof that it was larger than those of some other places I mentioned.

SmoothCrim: Very disrespectful to bring up a dead person

Yeah, that was wrong, but he looked how he looked. I would edit it out, but you quoted the post so. . .that's that.

SmoothCrim: Ghana has the most...

That comes with having the most slave Castles!! As I said! People may think destroy those Castles but, they are a powerful reminder of the Barbarian era!!!

Well do you actually have proof of this though?

A study could be carried out to determine if what you say is true, but if it hasn't already been done, then I don't know why you're making the claim.

onila: hehe Ethiopians posted this 2 me when I said ethiopia is nothing but a poor refugee country

I don't think you should have said that though.

If they made jokes about how you look, make jokes about how they look back.

I always thought this guy (Zenawi) looked like a rat:

https://elgonnews.com/wp-content/uploads/meles_zenawi2.jpg

https://newshour.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/2012/08/21/raysuarezpiece_edited_blog_main_horizontal.jpg

RIP to him, but really the guy had rat or mouse-like features.

SmoothCrim: Of course!! But, a lot of it is backed up!!

That's not really unique to Ghana though.

You can say the same thing about Kongo or Dahomey.

SmoothCrim: Mali's historical scripts from Timbuktu Islamic schools schools are vast but, they are mainly school books and not actual detailed history...

There's almost certainly more precolonial written history from the Islamic states in West Africa anyway.

And are you really claiming that no oral history is relied upon in reconstructing the history of Ghana?

Kenyaphilia: I thought these were destroyed by the Touareg rebels

You're right:

http://news.linktv.org/videos/timbuktus-heritage-under-threat-as-rebels-loot-ancient-city

http://article.wn.com/view/2012/07/01/Terrorists_destroy_religious_Timbuktu_artifacts/

http://www.gadling.com/2012/07/12/people-of-mali-fight-back-against-fundamentalists-destroying-the/

That's a shame. But what can be done about it?

SmoothCrim: Everyone writes their history to feel proud... If I wrote Ghana's many of you would be crying!!

It would be 10 times what you have listed

lol, just write it already then