Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny War

In 1869 Bonny in the Eastern Niger Delta area of present-day Nigeria fought a civil war which split it into component parts. This came at a time when most West Africa states were experiencing the transition from slave trade to ’legitimate commerce.’ For this reason, explanations of the war were oft...

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Main Author: Nimi Wariboko
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nordic Africa Research Network 1999-12-01
Series:Nordic Journal of African Studies
Online Access:https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/647
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author Nimi Wariboko
author_facet Nimi Wariboko
author_sort Nimi Wariboko
collection DOAJ
description In 1869 Bonny in the Eastern Niger Delta area of present-day Nigeria fought a civil war which split it into component parts. This came at a time when most West Africa states were experiencing the transition from slave trade to ’legitimate commerce.’ For this reason, explanations of the war were often given in the broad context of the impact of the commercial transition on coastal West African states. Scholars such as Anthony G. Hopkins (1968: 580-606; 1973: 125-6, 135-64) look at the 1869 war and the endemic Yoruba wars in the nineteenth century as parts of the ’crisis of adaptation’ of coastal trading states, which left them vulnerable to European annexation. On the other hand, students like Jacob Ade Ajayi and Ralph A. Austen (1972:303-6) are protagonists of the view that the structure of the palmoil (legitimate) trade in the Delta was virtually the same as that of the slave trade. Hence, commercial transition does not offer an explanation for wars in Bonny and Yorubaland (Law 1993: 91-115; 1995: 1-31).
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spelling doaj.art-ce9515d94d2946568f6c23e00fdd2cb22023-09-03T11:54:50ZengNordic Africa Research NetworkNordic Journal of African Studies1459-94651999-12-017210.53228/njas.v7i2.647Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny WarNimi Wariboko0Baldwin New York In 1869 Bonny in the Eastern Niger Delta area of present-day Nigeria fought a civil war which split it into component parts. This came at a time when most West Africa states were experiencing the transition from slave trade to ’legitimate commerce.’ For this reason, explanations of the war were often given in the broad context of the impact of the commercial transition on coastal West African states. Scholars such as Anthony G. Hopkins (1968: 580-606; 1973: 125-6, 135-64) look at the 1869 war and the endemic Yoruba wars in the nineteenth century as parts of the ’crisis of adaptation’ of coastal trading states, which left them vulnerable to European annexation. On the other hand, students like Jacob Ade Ajayi and Ralph A. Austen (1972:303-6) are protagonists of the view that the structure of the palmoil (legitimate) trade in the Delta was virtually the same as that of the slave trade. Hence, commercial transition does not offer an explanation for wars in Bonny and Yorubaland (Law 1993: 91-115; 1995: 1-31). https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/647
spellingShingle Nimi Wariboko
Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny War
Nordic Journal of African Studies
title Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny War
title_full Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny War
title_fullStr Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny War
title_full_unstemmed Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny War
title_short Capability Distribution and Onset of the 1869 Bonny War
title_sort capability distribution and onset of the 1869 bonny war
url https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/647
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