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Of Origins and Colonial Order: Southern Nigerian Historians and the ‘Hamitic Hypothesis’ c. 1870–19701

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Philip S. Zachernuk
Philip S. Zachernuk
Affiliation:
York Univeristy, Ontario
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Extract

The professional Nigerian nationalist historiography which emerged in reaction against the imperialist Hamitic Hypothesis – the assertion that Africa's history had been made only by foreigners – is rooted in a complex West African tradition of critical dialogue with European ideas. From the mid-nineteenth century, western-educated Africans have re-worked European ideas into distinctive Hamitic Hypotheses suited to their colonial location. This account developed within the constraints set by changing European and African-American ideas about West African origins and the evolving character of the Nigerian intelligentsia. West Africans first identified themselves not as victims of Hamitic invasion but as the degenerate heirs of classical civilizations, to establish their potential to create a modern, Christian society. At the turn of the century various authors argued for past development within West Africa rather than mere degeneration. Edward Blyden appropriated African-American thought to posit a distinct racial history. Samuel Johnson elaborated on Yoruba traditions of a golden age. Inter-war writers such as J. O. Lucas and Ladipo Solanke built on both arguments, but as race science declined they again invoked universal historical patterns. Facing the arrival of Nigeria as a nation-state, later writers such as S. O. Biobaku developed these ideas to argue that Hamitic invasions had created Nigeria's proto-national culture. In the heightened identity politics of the 1950s, local historians adopted Hamites to compete for historical primacy among Nigerian communities. The Hamitic Hypothesis declined in post-colonial conditions, in part because the concern to define ultimate identities along a colonial axis was displaced by the need to understand identity politics within the Nigerian sphere. The Nigerian Hamitic Hypothesis had a complex career, promoting élite ambitions, Christian identities, Nigerian nationalism and communal rivalries. New treatments of African colonial historiography – and intellectual history – must incorporate the complexities illus-trated here.

Type
The Historiography of Origins in West Africa
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , November 1994 , pp. 427 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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75 Ibid, i, 319–49. Frobenius is not explicit, but apparently white Atlantic colonists ruled at IIe-Ife. He suggests the early Yoruba were not ‘negro’ (95), hints at racial parallels between the ancient and modern colonial missions (43), and clearly believes in a hierarchy of races (145)

76 Ibid, i, 146, 148.

77 Ibid, i, 98, 41, 107, also 143.

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79 In a somewhat exceptional essay, William Leo Hansberry selected evidence from Frobenius and Ling Roth to reject foreign roots for Ife and Benin, art: ‘The Material Culture of Ancient Nigeria’, Journal of Negro History, vi (1921), esp. 290–5.Google Scholar

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82 Ibid. 14–18, 352–4. Herbert Macaulay cited African-American authors on the same point, for example in Henry Rawlinson Carr [1924], (2nd ed., ed. by Ojugbele, A., Ebute Metta, 1983), 23.Google Scholar

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87 Solanke, , United, 13, 21.Google Scholar He cites (7) an African-American reiteration of this argument based on Scripture: Webb, J. M., The Black Man (Seattle, 1910).Google Scholar

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93 The Ghanaian case would seem to have many parallels which would reward a companion study to the southern Nigerian case. Peter Shinnie recalls that in 1958 many western-educated Ghanaians accepted Hamitic Hypotheses such as Williams's Hebrewisms, and notes that while historical scholars have since abandoned such ideas they persist in some circles. He also notes a varied tradition of speculation about oriental connections, from Bowdich's 1821 Essay, through Williams's Hebrewisms, Danquah's, J. B.The Akan Doctrine of God (1944; repr. London, 1968)Google Scholar, and the books of Meyerowitz, E. L. R., such as The Divine Kingship in Ghana and Ancient Egypt (London, 1960).Google Scholar Letter, Peter Shinnie to the author, 24 Feb. 1994.

94 Epelle, S. (6. c. 1929), The Promise of Nigeria (London, 1960), 15.Google Scholar

95 Arikpo, O. (b. 1916), Who are the Nigerians? (Lagos, n. d. [1957?]), 32Google Scholar; also Mbadiwe, K. O., ‘Nigeria in the new commonwealth’ (London, 1956), 3Google Scholar, in Fabian Colonial Papers, Rhodes House, Oxford, Box 83/2.

96 Biobaku, S. O. (b. 1918), The Origin of the Yoruba (Lagos, 1955; repr. 1971), 22.Google Scholar

97 Biobaku claimed that his profession owned the tools to rise above the myth and distortion permeating existing oral and written Yoruba historiography. See his ‘The problem of traditional history with special reference to Yoruba traditions’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, I (1956), 43–7.Google Scholar

98 Biobaku, , Origin, 6, 20.Google Scholar Biobaku also notes (13) physical resemblances between the Yoruba and north-east Africans to support his theory. We should note that in the context of Yoruba rather than West African history, Solanke also suggested that his ancient ‘Ife culture’ was imported rather than homegrown: Lectures Delivered, 2–3.

99 The lectures were broadcast on radio in the 1950s, reproduced for visitors attending the Independence celebrations in 1960, and reprinted by popular demand in 1971: Biobaku, , Origin, 3–4.Google Scholar For similar claims about the special roots of the ‘Yoruba race’ and the common background of all Nigerians, cf. Ojo, S., The Origin of the Yorubas, Part I (3rd ed., Ibadan, 1953), 7–12.Google Scholar

100 Ughulu, E. O. (b. 1906), The Short History of (Esan) Ishan-Benin (Lagos, 1950), 2–11.Google Scholar

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102 Ike, A. (b. 1918), The Origin of the Ibos, (2nd ed., Aba, n. d. [1951]), 8.Google Scholar See also Ijeomanta's, E. K. account discussed in Afigbo, ‘Traditions’, 2.Google Scholar

103 Numa, F. Y. (b. 1916), The Pride of Urhobo Nation (Lagos, 1950), 6–13.Google ScholarEgharevba, J. U. (b. 1897) traced Benin roots through Ife to Egypt: A Short History of Benin (2nd ed., rev. and en I., Benin, 1953), 1.Google Scholar

104 Aye, E. U., Old Calabar Through the Centuries (Calabar, 1967), 30.Google Scholar

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107 IIuri (b. 1917) is discussed in Falola, , ‘Alternative History’, 6Google Scholar; and Farias, P. F. de Moraes, ‘“Yoruba origins” revisited by Muslims’, in Farias and Barber (eds. ), SelfAssertion, 134–43.Google Scholar

108 Fagg, B. E. B., ‘The Nok culture in prehistory’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, I (1959), 293.Google Scholar Fagg was Director of the Nigerian Department of Antiquities.

109 Armstrong, R. G., ‘The development of kingdoms in negro Africa’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, 11 (1960), 27–39Google Scholar; Greenberg, J. H., Studies in African Linguistic Classification (Branford CT, 1955)Google Scholar; Drake, ‘Detruire le myth’.

110 Wescott, R. W., ‘Ancient Egypt and modern Africa’, J. Afr. Hist., 11 (1961), 311–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar This largely reiterates his ‘Did the Yoruba come from Egypt?’, Odu, Iv (1957), 10–15.Google Scholar

111 Losi, J. B., for example, traces the Egba only to Oduduwa, identified as a native of ‘the Niger territory’: History of Abeokuta (Lagos, 1924), 1.Google Scholar

112 Ademakinwa, J. A. (b. 1897), I fe, Cradle of the Yoruba (2 vols. ) (Lagos, n. d. [1965? ]), i, 3Google Scholar and passim. Biobaku wrote the foreword as the Director of the Yoruba Research Scheme.

113 Dosumu, G. A. (b. 1899), ‘Oduduiva’ The Origin of Mankind (Ibadan, 1951);Google Scholar ‘Queen of Sheba’ ‘Balkis’ ‘Eteye’ ‘Makeda’ ‘Sungbo’ Wife of King Solomon; a native of Oke Eri, Ijebu Province, Western Nigeria, (W. A. ) (n. p., [1955]).

114 For example, Idigo, M. C. M., A Short History of Aguleri (Yaba, 1955), 5–6Google Scholar; Ekeghe, O. O., A Short History of Abiriba (n. p., 1955), 7–16.Google Scholar

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116 See Omer-Cooper, J. D., ‘The question of unity in African history’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, III (1964), 103–12Google Scholar; Horton, R., ‘Ancient Ife: A reassessment’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, ix (1979), 69–149Google Scholar; Afigbo, , Ropes of Sand, 1–30Google Scholar; Obayemi, A., ‘The Yoruba and Edo-speaking peoples and their neighbours before 1600’, in Ajayi, J. F. Ade and Crowder, M. (eds. ), History of West Africa (2 vols. ) (3rd ed., New York, 1985), i, 255–322.Google Scholar For rejections of Johnson's theory in particular, see Atanda, ‘Johnson’, and B. Agbaje Williams, ‘Samuel Johnson, Yoruba origins, and archaeology’, both in Falola (ed. ), Pioneer.

117 Aderigbe, A. B., ‘Biobaku: the scholar and his works’, in Olusanya, G. O. (ed. ), Studies in Yoruba History and Culture (Ibadan, 1983), 15Google Scholar

118 Afigbo, ‘Traditions’.

119 Afolayan, F., ‘Reconstructing the past to reconstruct the present: the nineteenth century wars and Yoruba history’, Passages, vi (1993), 12–13.Google Scholar