Imperial Nightmares
The British Image of 'the deadly climate' of West Africa, c. 1840-74
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9355879 |
|---|---|
| Authors | László Máthé-Shires (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 137-156 |
| Publication date | 2001-08-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Review of History Revue européenne d histoire (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1350-7486 • E-ISSN: 1469-8293 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13507480120074242 |
| PMID | 21049656 |
| OpenAlex | W1975226986 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 17 |
In the first half of the ninteenth century West Africa became associated with the term 'white man's grave'. This was mostly due to the extremely high European mortality rates resulting from endemic disease, especially malaria. The second half of the nineteenth century is usually described as the birth of tropical medicine, which indicates a development in scientific medicine partially attributed to the empirical experiences of the mid-century. The treatment and prevention of the above-mentioned disease changed substantially in the period. This article discusses the public perception of West Africa in the years between the Niger Expedition in 1841 and the Ashanti campaign in 1874. The two events, which mark the chronological framework of the paper, both played a significant part in the history of malaria as much as in the history of British imperial expansion in the region. Using mostly contemporary printed works, it is argued that despite the development that occurred in the field of medicine and subsequent decline in European mortality, the associated image of 'the deadly climate' of West Africa prevailed between the two events for a variety of political, economic and cultural causes
Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Development economics · Economic history · Ethnology · Geography · Malaria · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Socioeconomics · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Demography · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · History of Medicine and Tropical Health · Law · Medicine
Warm Climates and Western Medicine
Life, scenery and customs in Sierra Leone and the Gambia
Death by Migration
Contradictory Aims in West Africa
The Oxford History of the British Empire
A Residence at Sierra Leone
On Crown Service
A narrative of the expedition sent by Her Majesty's Government to the River Niger, in 1841 under the command of Captain H.D. Trotter
British Policy Towards West Africa
Britain's West African policy and the island of Fernando Po, 1821–43∗
The White Man's Grave
The End of the "White Man's Grave"? Nineteenth-Century Mortality in West Africa
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2025 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |