A contribution to the understanding of one of the many puzzling features of West African art history, this article deals with the stone sculptures found in an area centred in southern Sierra Leone. These ‘nomoli’, as they are usually called, were made and used in the area where they are found, rather than having been imported. The authors believe that these figurines were made by the groups of peoples called ‘Sapes’ by the early explorers of the region. This is partially confirmed by the fact that features of these people at the time of the first contacts seem to correlate with features found on nomoli.

Originally intended as ancestor figures, these stone statuettes are used by some of the modern inhabitants of Sierra Leone as ‘swearing’ devices and to help increase agricultural yields. This latter use, at least, would go along with the authors' contention that the nomoli, after they ceased being regarded as ancestral figures—due to being lost, stolen or forgotten—were regarded as material representations of spirits known as krifi. The similarities between the supposed appearance of some of the krifi and the features of the nomoli would support this hypothesis. The ‘monstrous’ appearance of many of the nomoli might be due to their being carved as representations of krifi or of heads of secret societies.

As to their dating, stylistic relationships between some of the nomoli and some of the ancestral figures in the Sudan, along with an apparent influence from that area dated about the seventh or eight century A.D., might mean that they were first manufactured at that time. Evidence exists that they were still being made in some places in the present century, but this might represent a revival of the art rather than a continuance, since the sale of these figures is quite profitable.

European trade in slaves from at least the seventeenth century, and in palm oil during the nineteenth century, has become established as a crucial factor in the development of states in the Niger Delta. However, there is already a dangerous tendency to see these external factors as the only forces responsible for the creation of states in the area. Oral traditional evidence is marshalled to show that internal long-distance trade with these states as focal points existed before European trade. Internal long-distance trade consisted of (i) a north-to-south axis mainly for the supply to the states of agricultural produce, for which salt and fish were exchanged; and (ii) an east-to-west axis between these states and places as far west as Lagos and the Ijebu country for trade in specialist goods produced in various localities.

It is therefore stressed that the discussion of the admittedly great influence of European trade on the internal development of states in the Niger Delta needs to be qualified by an understanding of the prior existence of these states in some form, and of the internal long-distance trade that might have exercised similar great influence in the distant past.

This second part of a study of cowrie currencies in West Africa deals with the value of cowries from the fourteenth century in various parts of West Africa, in terms of gold and silver, and currencies based on these, and also in terms of commodities. An attempt has been made to use this information to throw light on such problems as the effects of the slave-trade on the economy of West Africa, and also on the extent of the internal exchange economy before the beginning of the colonial period.

This paper attempts to reassess the importance of the McKillop expedition of 1875 and also to re-examine Kirk's role in securing its withdrawal, which, according to the thesis associated with Coupland, was thought to have been crucial. This paper shows that Kirk did not secure McKillop's return, but that he played an important part in the formation of the policy that was adopted towards the expansion of Egypt in Africa, which was a direct result of the Egyptian invasion down the east coast. This invasion is placed not merely within the context of Ismail's designs in the Interlacustrine area but also of his designs in Somalia as well. The impact of the expedition is also considered, its effect on the slave-trade, on the religious attitudes of Muslims on the coast, and as a final factor stimulating the attempted formation of an East African Company.

Many of the characteristic strains of African Nationalism in South Africa, as were manifest during its peak in the 1950s, may be traced back to the historical situation on the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony in the early nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the Port Elizabeth–East London–Alice triangle remained a highly significant area for nationalist ideas and action, and this derived from the effects on the Xhosa of the Black–White confrontation which began here 150 years earlier. In the early part of the nineteenth century the fundamental competition for land and cattle led to White military and missionary actions which, coupled with the preaching of Christianity, promoted attitudes among the Xhosa which may be seen in all subsequent African Nationalism.

The Benin kingdom did not come into the British official reckoning until well into the second half of the nineteenth century, despite the fact that various European nations had been engaged in commercial contact with Benin for four centuries. During the last decade of the nineteenth century, however, Benin City fell to British troops after a dramatic build-up of rapidly succeeding events culminating in the punitive expedition of February 1897. These events, as the evidence in this article reveals, were prompted by economic rather than humanitarian considerations.

The Benin kingdom fell mainly because, in an age when the traders and the British consular officials had reasons impelling them to penetrate into the hinterland, Oba Ovonramwen was clinging to traditional policies of economic exclusiveness and monopolistic practices which inflicted economic losses on the revenues of the individual traders, the Itsekiri middlemen and the Niger Coast Protectorate government.

The increasing fear of concerted European designs on his kingdom further strengthened the Oba's adherence to his closed-door policy, which in turn increased the consul' determination to bring him under their economic and political control. This situation precipitated the events which culminated in the capture of Benin City by British forces in February 1897.

As with other powerful African rulers in the Niger Delta and on the West African Coast, the British had to settle accounts with the Oba of Benin, who had to be reconciled with the developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The fall of Benin cannot therefore be rightly divorced from the general British economic imperialism on the Niger Coast during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Pour comprendre les rapports de la politique avec l'économie au temps de la constitution de l'empire français d'Afrique noire, un coup d'çeil est indispensable sur les relations entre l'Occident et l'Afrique de 1815 è 1870. On s'aperçoit alors que les facteurs économiques en jeu étaient essentiellement Ie commerce d'exportation de quelques produits industriels ’de traite’ européens, les tissus, armes, perles, alcools, tabacs, etc.,

In May 1961 a small group of men formed the Kabaka Yekka movement in the Kingdom of Buganda. Their simple objective was to unite the Baganda behind the throne, the symbol and guarantee of Buganda's separate identity. The great fear was that the election of a national Democratic Party government in the previous March had marked a decisive stage in the destruction of Buganda's special position within Uganda. Kabaka Yekka's appeal to Ganda loyalty was instantly successful, but it was not until the Kabaka's ministers agreed to accept membership of independent Uganda, and to support Kabaka Yekka in Buganda, that Kabaka Yekka could win popular support and deal effectively with the Democratic Party. But when Kabaka Yekka became an ‘official’ movement, its whole nature and function was changed. There had been differences at the beginning, but now the simple objective barely disguised the contradictions within the movement, while Kabaka Yekka became a means to personal promotion as well as the guardian of the ‘national’ interest. Above all, Kabaka Yekka now included the chiefs, who wanted to preserve the existing political and social arrangements within Buganda. So by February 1962 Kabaka Yekka had become the party for the Baganda and for the status quo within Buganda. It was a party which, because it was identified with the Kabakaship, was able to destroy the Democratic Party in elections for the Buganda Lukiko, and a party which, although in alliance with Dr Obote's Uganda People's Congress in national politics, had aroused sentiments and interests pointing ultimately, if not irrevocably, to Ganda separation.