U.S. Consuls in Zanzibar and the Slave Trade, 1870–1890

Notes1. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to the Prsent (New York, 1976), 903–907; George E. Brooks, Jr., Yankee Traders, Old Coasters and African Middlemen: A History of American Legitimate Trade with West Africa in the Nineteenth Century (Boston, 1970), 73–131, 295–310; Leonard Bachelder, Report on the Trade of Zanzibar for the year ending June 30th 1880, 20 November 1880, U.S. State Department, Dispatches from U.S. Consuls in Zanzibar (hereafter cited as DCZ), 1836–1906, National Archives, microcopy 468, vol. 6, reel 3. Not all trade reports for this period have survived, nor were they consistently compiled.2. Thomas Gossett, Race: The History of an Idea in America (Dallas, 1963), 253–86; Stanley P. Hirshon, Farewell to the Bloody Shirt: Northern Republicans and the Southern Negro, 1877–1890 (1962; reprint, Chicago, 1968); Oscar Handlin, Race and Nationality in American Life (Boston, 1957), 46. For scientific racism, see John S. Haller, Jr., Outcasts from Evolution: Scientific Attitudes of Racial Inferiority, 1859–1900 (Urbana, 111., 1971).3. Handlin, Race and Nationality. See also C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, 3d rev. ed. (New York, 1974).4. Norman Bennett, Introduction to Edward D. Ropes, Jr., The Zanzibar Letters of Edward D. Ropes, Jr., 1882–1892 (Boston, 1973), viii‐ix.5. Bennett, “William H. Hathorne: Merchant and Consul in Zanzibar,” Essex Institute Historical Collections 99 (1963): 117–46; Bennett, Introduction, Zanzibar Letters, x.6. For consular duties, see Charles Stuart Kennedy, The American Consul: A History of the United States Consular Service, 1776–1914 (Westport, Conn., 1990), 145–46.7. Francis R. Webb, Report on the Trade of the Zanzibar Coast, 30 September 1873, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.8. Raymond C, Howell, The Royal Navy and the Slave Trade (New York, 1987), 217; Daniel P. Mannix with Malcolm Cowley, Black Cargoes: A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade (1962; reprint. New York, 1978), 186–287; Suzanne Miers, Britain and the Ending of the Slave Trade (London, 1975), 157–60; Augustus Sparhawk to Assistant Secretary of State, 5 August 1875, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3. Howelľs Royal Navy and the Slave Trade is an example of a recent work with the thesis of antislavery as an excuse for military intervention. For an account of the French flag controversy see R. W. Beachey, The Slave Trade of Eastern Africa (London, 1976), 238–40.9. Donald MacKenzie, “A Report on Slavery and the Slave‐Trade on Zanzibar, Pemba, and the Mainland of the British Protectorates of East Africa,”Anti‐Slavery Reporter (June‐August 1895): 69–96. See also Etienne Felix Berlioux, The Slave Trade in Africa in 1872 (London, 1872); James Christie, “Slavery in Zanzibar as It Is,” in The East African Slave Trade, ed. E. Steere (London, 1871); Philip Howard Colomb, Slave Catching in the Indian Ocean: A Record of Naval Experiences (1873; reprint, New York, 1969).10. Bennett, A History of the Arab State of Zanzibar (London, 1978), 19–21.11. John Gray, History of Zanzibar from the Middle Ages to 1856 (1962; reprint, Westport, Conn., 1975), 224–38; Edward A. Alpers, Ivory and Slaves: Changing Patterns of International Trade in East Central Africa to the Later Nineteenth Century (Berkeley, 1975), 209–253; Abdul Sheriff, Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar: Integration of an East African Commercial Empire into the World Economy, 1770–1873 (Athens, Ohio, 1987), 48–76; and Frederick Cooper, Plantation Slavery on the East Coast of Africa (New Haven, Conn., 1977), 156–70. For Barghash's accession to power, see Bennett, History of the Arab State of Zanzibar, 90–139.12. Leda Fan‐ant, Tippu Tip and the East African Slave Trade (London, 1975), 93,95–98; R. J. Gavin, “The Bartle Frere Mission to Zanzibar, 1873,” The Historical Journal 5, no. 2 (1962): 122–48.13. Gavin, “Bartle Frere Mission,” 138; Reginald Coupland, The Exploitation of East Africa, 1856–1890: The Slave Trade and the Scramble (London, 1939), 192–93.14. John F. Webb to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 14 December 1872, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.15. Bryon Wilson to Sultan of Zanzibar, 11 December 1872, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3; Coupland, Exploitation of East Africa, 194. On the same page Coupland notes “It is difficult to understand Webb's conduct.”16. F. Webb to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 16 April 1873, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.17. F. Webb to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 6 June 1873, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3. See also Bennett, Arab versus European: Diplomacy and War in Nineteenth‐Century East Central Africa (New York, 1986), 53–54; Webb to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 6 June 1873, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3 (Second dispatch sent the same day as above); copy of F. Webb to John Kirk, 6 June 1873, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.18. Bennett, Arab versus European, 54–57.19. William H. Hathorne to F. W. Seward, Acting Secretary of State, 16 October 1878, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3. For more information on Hathorne, see Bennett, “William H. Hathorne.”20. Hathorne to Seward, 16 October 1878, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.21. Hathorne to Second Assistant Secretary of State and enclosures, 3 January 1879, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3. This material is reprinted in United States State Department, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1879 (hereafter cited as FRUS) (Washington, 1879), 414–23.22. Sworn statement of Capt. R. W. Gifford, enclosure 5 in Hathorne to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 3 January 1879, and Hathorne to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 3 January 1879, both in DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.23. Gill Shepherd, “The Comorians and the East African Slave Trade,” in Asian and African Systems of Slavery, ed. James L. Watson (Berkeley, 1980), 73–99; William Gervase Clarence‐Smith, “The Economics of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea Slave Trades in the 19th Century: An Overview,”Slavery & Abolition 9 (December 1988): 1–20.24. Hathorne to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 3 January 1879, both in DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3. The emphasis on the word “rumored” is in the original, but is missing in the FRUS copy. For more on Wilson, see Ropes, Zanzibar Letters, 30, 43–46, 51, 61, 124–25.25. Hathorne to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 3 January 1879, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.26. Sworn statement of three negroes unlawfully taken by the officers of Her Majesty's ship London from the American bark Laconia, enclosure 5 in Hathorne to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 3 January 1879, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3; John Welsh to Everts, 17 June 1879, FRUS, 1879,431.27. Hathorne to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 15 October 1879 and Bachelder, Report on the Trade of Zanzibar for the year ending June 30th 1880, 20 November 1880, DCZ, vol. 6, reel 3.28. Ropes to parents, 30 June 1883, in Zanzibar Letters, 30.29. West to Frelinghuysen, 23 November 1883, FRUS, 1884,223.30. Ropes to Cheney, 12 December 1884, in Zanzibar tetters, 43–46, also Bennett, nn. 145, 146, p. 43. Insurrections did occur against Abdallah and his successors. See Jean Martin, “Les debuts du protectorat et la rÉvolte servile de 1891 dans ľile ďAnjouan,” Revue franoaise ďhbtoire ďoutre-mer 60, no. 218 (1973): 45–85.31. Ropes to F. W. Cheney, 12 December 1884, in Zanzibar Letters, 43–46; Ropes to parents (undated but between 30 June and 20 July 1883) in Zanzibar Letters, 30. Wilson's claims against Abdallah were inherited by the French when they seized the island in 1886. The case was settled in the twentieth century with Wilson getting no monetary award. See Bennett, Zanzibar Letters, n. 146, p. 43.32. Cheney to Third Assistant Secretary of State, 24 May 1884 and Trade Report for the Year ending June 30th, 1 July 1884, DCZ, vol. 7, reel 3.33. Cheney, Trade Report for the Year ending June 30th, 1 July 1884, and Trade Report for the Year June 30th 1884 to June 30th 1885, DCZ, vol. 7, reel 3.34. Bennett, Introduction, Zanzibar Letters, xiii. For the rivalry between Britain and Germany, see Emile Degroot, “Great Britain and Germany in Zanzibar: Consul Holmwooďs Papers, 1886–1887,” Journal of Modern History 25 (June 1953): 120–38. For Khalifa, see Bennett, History of the Arab State of Zanzibar, 136–37.35. Notice of blockade, in August Govea to State Department, 29 November 1888, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4. See also Coupland, Expbitation of East Africa, 482–83.36. Seth Pratt to Assistant Secretary of State S. L. Rivis, 11 February 1889, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4 and Memorandum from Second Assistant Secretary of State, 18 March 1889, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4.37. Pratt to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 3 May 1889, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4.38. Pratt to Second Assistant Secretary of State, 24 September 1889, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4. See also Bennett, History of the Arab State of Zanzibar, 160–61.39. Decree of 1 August 1890, enclosed in Pratt to William F. Wharton, assistant secretary of state, 6 August 1890, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4.40. Pratt to Wharton, 6 August 1890, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4.41. Pratt to Wharton, 18 August 1890, DCZ, vol. 8, reel 4.42. Julian Pauncefote to Blaine, 18 November 1890, FRUS, 1890,476; Bennett, History of the Arab State of Zanzibar, 165–67,180–84.43. Bennett, Introduction, Zanzibar Letters, xiii

Ancient history · Political science · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History

• Les débuts du protectorat et la révolte servile de 1891 dans l'île d'Anjouan

  Jean Martin•Revue française d histoire d…•1973

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• II. The Bartle Frere Mission to Zanzibar, 1873

  Open Access•R J Gavin•The Historical Journal•1962

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• Great Britain and Germany in Zanzibar

  Emile De Groot•The Journal of Modern History•1953

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