₦airaland Forum

Konquest:
You are NOT having a convo with a man who listens to "hearsays" but a man who has built up a large body of archival materials and global history in my personal home libraries and much more since the year 1980. Prior to that 1980, I grew up with a vast collection of encyclopedias in my then family home library due to my father's love for books.

Forget about the simple Google search result. The French claim of "banning slavery" contradicts the historical FACT that slavery continued on Haitian slave plantations until the enslaved Africans rebelled and freed themselves after being led by Toussaint and other leaders of the violent Haitian Revolution. That's the point I was making in my last post! If the French were indeed serious in their claims of stopping the slave trade as of 1793, the lucrative Haitian plantation slavery would NOT have continued until the enslaved Africans rebelled after being inspired by the French Revolution which led to the wiping out of the French monarchy. The Haitian Revolution initiated by the gallant African-Haitians to liberate themselves from Napoleon's French enslavement and domination is what triggered the rise of Cuba and Brazil as the new epicenters of the lucrative BUT highly unfortunate plantation slavery from the late 1790s right beyond the early 1800s, and this is why Brazil stopped their own slave trade in the late 1800s.
Have a nice day.

France freed black people from slavery in Haiti in 1794, while Britain OFFICIALLY did the same several years later in 1833.

That's what is on historical records.

tctrills:
Most people have been taught to see colonialism and slavery as the crime of the west but it is not so. My great great grandfather had many slaves but somehow, we are made to believe that the whites were the only slave owners.

@tctrills

Succinctly stated.

Colonialism and slavery were highly insidious global phenomena. The etymology of the word "slave" is got from the "SLAV" or Slavic people of the Caucasus region who were captured in large numbers and enslaved on European plantations before the rise of the Americas as the new hub of the infamous trans-Atlantic slave trade.

I like your honestly in referencing your ancestor's history here. It is what it is.

Enjoy your day.

musicwriter:
France freed black people from slavery in Haiti in 1794, while Britain OFFICIALLY did the same several years later in 1833.

That's what is on historical records.

Just for further emphasis... I agree with you but those were NOT matched with words in reality especially by the French in Haiti. Just political correctness. Pure and simple.

However, as of the 1810s, the British Navy Squadrons like I stated in my earlier post were already patrolling the West African Atlantic coast to capture several slave ships and arrest the slave ship captains and crew. If they hadn't done that, we would NOT have known of the historical Reverend Samuel Johnson who wrote the book "The History of the Yorubas" and his fellow Oyo cousin and linguist, Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther today because they were liberated and set free in Free Town, Sierra Leone from those Portuguese, Spanish, and American slave ships sailing for Brazil, Cuba, and other parts of the Americas.

The British too were doing that Navy Squadron patrols of the Atlantic Ocean near West Africa to stop the slave ships from leaving Africa from the 1810s (with heavy deaths or casualties of British Naval officers due to scurvy and more) due to self-interest because of the already evolving Industrial Revolution which had led to the LESSER use of extreme plantation slave labor and the works of the abolishionists (such as Wilberforce and others) led to the total abolition of that evil.

Konquest:
Just for further emphasis... I agree with you but those were NOT matched with words in reality especially by the French in Haiti. Just political correctness. Pure and simple.

However, as of the 1810s, the British Navy Squadrons like I stated in my earlier post were already patrolling the West African Atlantic coast to capture several slave ships and arrest the slave ship captains and crew. If they hadn't done that, we would NOT have known of the historical Reverend Samuel Johnson who wrote the book "The History of the Yorubas" and his fellow Oyo cousin and linguist, Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther today because they were liberated and set free in Free Town, Sierra Leone from those Portuguese, Spanish, and American slave ships sailing for Brazil, Cuba, and other parts of the Americas.

The British too were doing that Navy Squadron patrols of the Atlantic Ocean near West Africa to stop the slave ships from leaving Africa from the 1810s (with heavy deaths or casualties of British Naval officers due to scurvy and more) due to self-interest because of the already evolving Industrial Revolution which had led to the LESSER use of extreme plantation slave labor and the works of the abolishionists (such as Wilberforce and others) led to the total abolition of that evil.

It was Britain itself that kept the slave trade going even after officially abolishing it, in fact, they were the only country that supplied slaves to other European countries around that period.

Others already gave it up, and that's the reason Britain found themselves trapped with the responsibility of stopping it. Because they were the LAST country still doing it!!

musicwriter:
It was Britain itself that kept the slave trade going even after officially abolishing it, in fact, they were the only country that supplied slaves to other European countries around that period.

Others already gave it up, and that's the reason Britain found themselves trapped with the responsibility of stopping it. Because they were the LAST country still doing it!!

[1] In the 18th century a brutal trade network transported kidnapped Africans to European colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean to work as slaves, mostly on plantations. In 1787, campaigners against slavery such as Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp founded the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, believing that ending the trade was the first step towards eradicating slavery completely. They raised awareness about conditions (including with publications from former slaves such as Olaudah Equiano), boycotted slave-produced goods and petitioned Parliament.

In Parliament, the campaign was led by William Wilberforce. It was only after many failed attempts that, in 1807, the slave trade in the British Empire was abolished. However, slaves in the colonies (excluding areas ruled by the East India Company) were not freed until 1838 – and only after slave-owners, rather than the slaves themselves, received compensation.

=>https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/2015-parliament-in-the-making/get-involved1/2015-banners-exhibition/maria-amidu/1807-abolition-of-the-slave-trade/



[2] Ending the Transatlantic Slave Trade:

The British Parliament outlawed the transatlantic slave trade for British subjects in 1807.

However, the trade continued through other nations and within Africa itself. British naval efforts were crucial in intercepting slave ships and enforcing the ban, although this came at a high cost in lives and resources, according to the Royal Navy.

This act was followed by the establishment of the West Africa Squadron by the Royal Navy, tasked with patrolling the African coast to intercept slave ships.


Expansion and Treaties:
The movement expanded its focus to include the abolition of slavery in British colonies, culminating in the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.

This act freed over 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa.
British anti-slavery efforts also involved treaties with African rulers, aiming to discourage or abolish the slave trade within their territories.

For instance, treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers, and the British deposed the "usurping King of Lagos" in 1851 for refusing to outlaw the slave trade.


Impact:
The British anti-slavery movement had a significant impact on the global landscape of slavery and the slave trade.

The Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron seized thousands of slave ships and freed over 150,000 enslaved Africans.

The movement also influenced other European nations to take action against the slave trade.


Britannica
"Western Africa - Abolition, Slavery, Emancipation"
=>https://www.britannica.com/place/western-Africa/The-abolition-of-slavery

Konquest:
[1] In the 18th century a brutal trade network transported kidnapped Africans to European colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean to work as slaves, mostly on plantations. In 1787, campaigners against slavery such as Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp founded the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, believing that ending the trade was the first step towards eradicating slavery completely. They raised awareness about conditions (including with publications from former slaves such as Olaudah Equiano), boycotted slave-produced goods and petitioned Parliament.

In Parliament, the campaign was led by William Wilberforce. It was only after many failed attempts that, in 1807, the slave trade in the British Empire was abolished. However, slaves in the colonies (excluding areas ruled by the East India Company) were not freed until 1838 – and only after slave-owners, rather than the slaves themselves, received compensation.

=>https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/2015-parliament-in-the-making/get-involved1/2015-banners-exhibition/maria-amidu/1807-abolition-of-the-slave-trade/



[2] Ending the Transatlantic Slave Trade:

The British Parliament outlawed the transatlantic slave trade for British subjects in 1807.

However, the trade continued through other nations and within Africa itself. British naval efforts were crucial in intercepting slave ships and enforcing the ban, although this came at a high cost in lives and resources, according to the Royal Navy.

This act was followed by the establishment of the West Africa Squadron by the Royal Navy, tasked with patrolling the African coast to intercept slave ships.


Expansion and Treaties:
The movement expanded its focus to include the abolition of slavery in British colonies, culminating in the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.

This act freed over 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa.
British anti-slavery efforts also involved treaties with African rulers, aiming to discourage or abolish the slave trade within their territories.

For instance, treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers, and the British deposed the "usurping King of Lagos" in 1851 for refusing to outlaw the slave trade.


Impact:
The British anti-slavery movement had a significant impact on the global landscape of slavery and the slave trade.

The Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron seized thousands of slave ships and freed over 150,000 enslaved Africans.

The movement also influenced other European nations to take action against the slave trade.


Britannica
"Western Africa - Abolition, Slavery, Emancipation"
=>https://www.britannica.com/place/western-Africa/The-abolition-of-slavery

Read your own post, it's British struggle to end slavery by Britain!! Or did you see any place it says Britain was trying to end slavery by France or Portugal or Spain? Of course, they had to end it because pressure was building from Europe, Africa and America. I wonder the essence of your post.

musicwriter:
Read your own post, it's British struggle to end slavery by Britain!! Or did you see any place it says Britain was trying to end slavery by France or Portugal or Spain? Of course, they had to end it because pressure was building from Europe, Africa and America. I wonder the essence of your post.

You come off as someone who is very IMPATIENT to read, understand and accept other perspectives. I gleaned some aspects of this flaw when you posted in that first post of yours about a non-existent "hearsay" without getting to know me and my decades of advanced historical knowledge.

My last post before this one was made with CLEAR references to article sources merely to back up (or complement) some of your claims though there are a few historical inconsistencies in your assertions. It's irritating when a person displays this kind of impatience and passive-aggressive show which isn't good for proper historical and academic engagement, NOT propaganda.

My convo with you ends right here and now. Period.

Konquest:
You come off as someone who is very IMPATIENT to read, understand and accept other perspectives. I gleaned some aspects of this flaw when you posted in that first post of yours about a non-existent "hearsay" without getting to know me and my decades of advanced historical knowledge.

My last post before this one was made with CLEAR references to article sources merely to back up (or complement) some of your claims though there are a few historical inconsistencies in your assertions. It's irritating when a person displays this kind of impatience and passive-aggressive show which isn't good for proper historical and academic engagement, NOT propaganda.

My convo with you ends right here and now. Period.

Sorry, if you have a wrong impression of me. I am none of anything you think, in fact, I think you're the impatient one here.

I do understand everything you said but you have fallen for the rhetorics instead of the facts behind the matter.

Yes, Britain helped in finally ending the slave trade (which they Europeans started) but they didn't help end it because they loved blacks, which you want me to believe.

The real reason Britain so called helped to end slavery was because they had become the most invested country in the trade, had a vast naval power, and trade network, and therefore, when public opinion turned against the slave trade, they became like the de facto country to help end it.

They were stopping what they Europeans started. And I'll never applaud them for that.

Thanks for your understanding

musicwriter:
Sorry, if you have a wrong impression of me. I am none of anything you think, in fact, I think you're the impatient one here.

I do understand everything you said but you have fallen for the rhetorics instead of the facts behind the matter.

Yes, Britain helped in finally ending the slave trade (which they Europeans started) but they didn't help end it because they loved blacks, which you want me to believe.

The real reason Britain so called helped to end slavery was because they had become the most invested country in the trade, had a vast naval power, and trade network, and therefore, when public opinion turned against the slave trade, they became like the de facto country to help end it.

They were stopping what they Europeans started. And I'll never applaud them for that.

Thanks for your understanding

@ musicwriter

I read your post and I MUST let you know here and now that contrary to your post, I'm NOT fooled or "fallen" for any of these Western "rhetorics" because I CLEARLY have several years of advanced knowledge of global geopolitical issues going back to several centuries ago. History repeats itself and we can learn from these historical patterns to project events happening right now and in the future. We live in a world where the strong seek to dominate the week and insidious people try to grab what belongs to others.

Contrary to your assertions in the bolded second and third paragraphs right ABOVE, there's absolutely NO where in my posts on this NL thread page where I stated OR insinuated that "the British ended slavery" because they "love" Africans. It was all self-interest on their part and I stated that. Even the internationally respected American economist and United Nations adviser, Professor Jeffrey Sachs whose video speeches and respect Jeffrey for his consistent constructive criticisms of the Western countries for undermining African countries. Jeffrey Sachs has been invited by the African Union (AU) several times to give developmentally insightful speeches on how Africa and African countries can leapfrog economically just like China did from 1980 to the year 2020.

Indeed, [b]I couldn't have said in absolute terms that the British "loved" Africans when I know FULL WELL that before and after the trans-Saharan slave trade, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the trans-Indian Ocean slave trade (operated largely by Arab and French slave ships heading to Seychelles, Madagascar, Southern India, Oman, etc) ended, the Europeans proceeded to colonize and partition Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world for their selfish interests and caused a lot of the ethnic dislocations and tensions being experienced in many countries today by partitioning many culturally and ethnically homogenous people in Africa into different countries WITHOUT their consent. The Yorubas were divided right into 3 countries of Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Togo for instance under the British, French, and German Colonial rules. [Germany however lost their colonies in Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, etc, after the World War 1 ended to the British and French].[/b] If Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria hadn't been amalgamated into one country in 1914, the indigenous Yoruba folks of Kwara and Kogi States would have been a minority in another country called Northern Nigeria [making 4 countries that indigenous Yorubas would have been haphazardly distributed into right in West Africa] but for providence.

Though a Diasporan of Nigerian descent, I have some African-Americans and Caribbean folks in my family, so plantation slavery history is something I don't ever take lightly or trivialize.

[b]NOW, the MAJOR thrust of my post which I stated very CLEARLY (with official references from the British Parliament and Britannica official Websites) was simply to let YOU know that as of 1807 after the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, (This is before the year 1838 you quoted for the second wave of total BAN by the British on the far-flung colonies of the Caribbean after compensations had been paid to the slave plantation owners), the British Parliament unanimously and officially BANNED the slave trade and IMMEDIATELY approved in that same year 1807, the total deployment of several British Royal Navy ships to patrol the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa and they liberated 150,000 Africans on board the slave ships after capturing a lot of the slave ships totalling about 1,600 from Portugal, Spain, some from the United States, some from France, etc, thereby freeing the enslaved men, women, and children from different ethnic groups on board the ships right in Free Town in Sierra Leone and Sao Tome.[/b] Sierra Leone was made a colony by the British for that special purpose of resettling Africans from England, Nova Scotia and those freed from the slave ships heading out to the Americas from Lagos Island, Badagry, Whydah in Benin Republic, Escravos, Bonny Island, Congo, Madagascar, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. I have an archival database of the names and ethnic groups of the about 150,000 Africans who were rescued from those infamous slave ships.

I always insist on correcting historical misconceptions and deliberate disinformation online and offline so that the younger ones here and elsewhere do NOT read one-sided stories or historical revisionisms and hence get misled. If I know NOTHING about a subject matter, I simply zip my mouth, sit on my hands, and listen to those who know as that helps to simplify my own life and saves my time for BETTER things instead of speaking on about what I know nothing about just to sound like a "Mr. Know-it-all."


That's all I have to say.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Konquest:
@ musicwriter

I read your post and I MUST let you know here and now that contrary to your post, I'm NOT fooled or "fallen" for any of these Western "rhetorics" because I CLEARLY have several years of advanced knowledge of global geopolitical issues going back to several centuries ago. History repeats itself and we can learn from these historical patterns to project events happening right now and in the future. We live in a world where the strong seek to dominate the week and insidious people try to grab what belongs to others.

Contrary to your assertions in the bolded second and third paragraphs right ABOVE, there's absolutely NO where in my posts on this NL thread page where I stated OR insinuated that "the British ended slavery" because they "love" Africans. It was all self-interest on their part and I stated that. Even the internationally respected American economist and United Nations adviser, Professor Jeffrey Sachs whose video speeches and respect Jeffrey for his consistent constructive criticisms of the Western countries for undermining African countries. Jeffrey Sachs has been invited by the African Union (AU) several times to give developmentally insightful speeches on how Africa and African countries can leapfrog economically just like China did from 1980 to the year 2020.

Indeed, [b]I couldn't have said in absolute terms that the British "loved" Africans when I know FULL WELL that before and after the trans-Saharan slave trade, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the trans-Indian Ocean slave trade (operated largely by Arab and French slave ships heading to Seychelles, Madagascar, Southern India, Oman, etc) ended, the Europeans proceeded to colonize and partition Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world for their selfish interests and caused a lot of the ethnic dislocations and tensions being experienced in many countries today by partitioning many culturally and ethnically homogenous people in Africa into different countries WITHOUT their consent. The Yorubas were divided right into 3 countries of Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Togo for instance under the British, French, and German Colonial rules. [Germany however lost their colonies in Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, etc, after the World War 1 ended to the British and French].[/b] If Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria hadn't been amalgamated into one country in 1914, the indigenous Yoruba folks of Kwara and Kogi States would have been a minority in another country called Northern Nigeria [making 4 countries that indigenous Yorubas would have been haphazardly distributed into right in West Africa] but for providence.

Though a Diasporan of Nigerian descent, I have some African-Americans and Caribbean folks in my family, so plantation slavery history is something I don't ever take lightly or trivialize.

[b]NOW, the MAJOR thrust of my post which I stated very CLEARLY (with official references from the British Parliament and Britannica official Websites) was simply to let YOU know that as of 1807 after the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, (This is before the year 1838 you quoted for the second wave of total BAN by the British on the far-flung colonies of the Caribbean after compensations had been paid to the slave plantation owners), the British Parliament unanimously and officially BANNED the slave trade and IMMEDIATELY approved in that same year 1807, the total deployment of several British Royal Navy ships to patrol the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa and they liberated 150,000 Africans on board the slave ships after capturing a lot of the slave ships totalling about 1,600 from Portugal, Spain, some from the United States, some from France, etc, thereby freeing the enslaved men, women, and children from different ethnic groups on board the ships right in Free Town in Sierra Leone and Sao Tome.[/b] Sierra Leone was made a colony by the British for that special purpose of resettling Africans from England, Nova Scotia and those freed from the slave ships heading out to the Americas from Lagos Island, Badagry, Whydah in Benin Republic, Escravos, Bonny Island, Congo, Madagascar, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. I have an archival database of the names and ethnic groups of the about 150,000 Africans who were rescued from those infamous slave ships.

I always insist on correcting historical misconceptions and deliberate disinformation online and offline so that the younger ones here and elsewhere do NOT read one-sided stories or historical revisionisms and hence get misled. If I know NOTHING about a subject matter, I simply zip my mouth, sit on my hands, and listen to those who know as that helps to simplify my own life and saves my time for BETTER things instead of speaking on about what I know nothing about just to sound like a "Mr. Know-it-all."


That's all I have to say.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Alright.

But within that same period, the British was the first country to use a machine gun in a war. Do you know where they used it? Right here in Africa!

See, Africa must learn SCIENCE to survive into the future https://www.africason.com/2025/06/africa-must-learn-science-to-survive.html

musicwriter:
Alright.

But within that same period, the British was the first country to use a machine gun in a war. Do you know where they used it? Right here in Africa!

See, Africa must learn SCIENCE to survive into the future https://www.africason.com/2025/06/africa-must-learn-science-to-survive.html

Yes, it (the machine gun) was known as the Maxim gun. That's what they used to conquer Africa using recruited African mercenaries themselves. Embarrassingly, 50 of Jaja of Opobo's boys were recruited through Jaja to fight for the British in the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) during the Anglo-Ashanti War of the late 1800s. This is one of the reasons why I view Jaja (He was a very brutal man anyway who prevented (and killed through mass beheadings) other upriver tribes from trading directly with the British on the Opobo river) as one of the enemies of Africa and NOT a nationalist like some historians and writers try to FALSELY portray in those outdated Social Studies books we read decades back. Without that, Africa would NOT have easily been conquered if the various African communities and ethnic folks had been more enlightened.

I agree with you totally, Africans MUST be scientifically aware and superior to avoid being colonised again. That's the way to earn respect. Despite the hard-hitting sanctions of several years on Iran, they were able to develop their technology to advanced levels as can be seen with the new generation zigzagging Sujjel missiles that have evaded the Israeli Iron Dome and caused massive damage.

absalut:
Hi Racoon,

I've been reading your posts on the ECOWAS and ISWAP situation. Your analysis of the GIABA report was spot on - the kind of evidence-based discussion that's rare these days.

That PLO Lumumba quote you shared really hit home: "In Japan a corrupt person kills himself. In China, they will kill him. In Europe, they join him. In Africa, he will present himself for election." So true about how we keep rewarding dysfunction here.

A few of us are starting something different - a space for serious Nigerian political discussion without the usual noise. We're looking for people who actually think before they post, like yourself.

From Zik to Nzeogwu to the Biafran scientists, some of us have always pushed this society to aim higher. Your posts continue that tradition of calling out mediocrity.

Interested in being part of something that values quality over quantity? We could use voices like yours.

Let me know if you want to hear more.

Hello,

Please invite me to this discussion.

DeepSight:
Please add me to the conversation. Thanks.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sure, DeepSight, please check my profile. Let's talk