IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS)
http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2021%20Issue8/Version-1/G2108014247.pdf
Volume 21, Issue 8, Ver.1 (Aug. 2016) PP 42-47
e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845.
www.iosrjournals.orghttp://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2021%20Issue8/Version-1/G2108014247.pdf
Seriki Abass: Slave Trade, Badagry, and the history
that refuses to die
Curator and Tour-Guide,
Seriki FaremiWilliam Abass Museum,
Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria.
+2348037043233
Abstract
There
are usually many faces to history or of what we term “history” always exhumes
from our past. History then becomes our own way of coming to terms with certain
realities, which shaped our lives, and sometimes continue to shape our
perception about both the past and the present. In this paper, I examine that
kind of history, which continues to be relevant: the history of SerikiFaremi
Williams Abassand the Brazilian Baracoon of 40 Slaves located in Badagry. This
ancient edifice, which he left behind, continues to serve as a memory of both
his person and the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade including the role of Badagry as
a slave port. The paper argues that although the slave trade remains a
harrowing experience for both the man and the thousands of people sold into
slavery during the time, there is also in that history, the demonstration of
the human capacity to transcend beyond itself so that its memories can ensure
that the experience and emotions do not go away, and people can continue to learn
from them.
Keywords: Badagry,Baracoon,
Point of No Return,Seriki Williams Abass, trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
I.
Introduction
History,
according to Keith Byerman, includes imagined or actual events that occurred in
the past, which deal with a family or community’s ‘history’, contains
historiographical accounts, or hypothetical events that reflect conditions or
circumstances. Needless to say that history goes beyond these concerns however,
“history” could also mean the stories of ordinary people in times of stress
rather than that of a certain hero(ine), which take into account their
dehumanization, and represent a shared experience of suffering rather than a
genetic or geographical connection that shapes group identity (Byerman, 8)[1].Such
is the nature and concern of history.Thehistory that I am interested in here is
the historiographical one which focuses on the Middle Passage; the events of
the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Specifically, it is the story ofSerikiFaremi
William Abass and the Brazilian Baracoon of 40 Slaves, which he left behind. Out
of four of such Baracoons located at Posukoh, Ahovikoh, Awhajigor and Jegba
quarters all in Badagry, it is only SerikiAbass’edifice that still stands
today.
Although
this edifice has since been assumed by the Lagos State government and conferred
the status of a museum by the Nigerian National Commission for Museum and
Monument, itremains the most telling edifice of SerikiAbass’memory and of the
trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the West coast of Nigeria, especially in Badagry.This
article aims to open the discussion on the man and his ancient, yet “modern”
building and slave relic known as the Baracoon of 40 Slaves. Ancient because it
tells stories of the past, and modern because it is one story that comes alive,
is renewed and retold every day to thousands of tourists, who have visited the
place in the past, and still do today. Contemporary events have made it very
clear that it is very difficult to tell the story of this slave relic without
first revisiting that of the man behind it.
II.
Badagry in the context
of the Slave Trade
The
trans-Atlantic Slave Trade has been classified into two phases: the first part
dealt with the shipping of enslaved Africans to the Portuguese and Spanish
empires of the South American colonies beginning from around 1502 until 1580
when Portugal temporarily merged with Spain; and the second phase was largely
dominated by the English, Portuguese, French and Dutch slave traders who chose
Caribbean colonies of Brazil and other parts of the New World. This period
lasted between 1450 and 1600. By the 1690s, the English were the most prominent
slave dealers in the trans-Atlantic trade.
[1]Anago
is an award-winning tour guide, poet, historian, creative artist, drummer and
dancer. He holds an Advanced Diploma in Tour-Guiding and Certificate in
Training on Best Practices on Tour-Guiding, from UNIDO, UNWTO, Lagos State
Ministry of Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, COAST Project, and UNEP,
as well as a Certificate in First Aid training from the Nigerian Red Cross. He
lives in Badagry, Lagos, with his family.
Of
the areas namely, Togo, Benin and Yoruba land in Nigeria, West of the Niger
Delta, Badagry remains a major point of reference about the trans-Atalantic
Slave Trade. It has claimed its place as both a slave relic and historical site
of significant reference. Badagry is situated
between metropolitan Lagos and the border with Benin at Seme. As of the
preliminary 2006 census results, the population of Badagry was put at about
241,093.It inhabits the Agia tree under which Christianity was said to
have first been preached first in that part of the world, the supposed “first
storey building” and the Vlekete slave market and centre to mention a few. Lying
in the west coast of Lagos together with a number of other Yoruba and
Aja-speaking areas, Badagry remains a port and former small city-state, whose
early history of origin was mired in a controversy attributed to a Dutch trader,
Hertoug’s account of 1736. Although Badagry did not have a real port other than
a canoe port, because of its location on the mainland shore, seagoing vessels
were able to move off the shoreacross the lagoon (Falola,259)[2].
However,
some earlier works of history treated Badagry as a part of Egbado even though
it became part of the Colony of Lagos in 1863. Because of its strategic
location, Badagrybenefitted from both local and international trade and rose to
become a major slave port by the 1720s under the control of the Oyo Empire
which used the Olu of Ilaro as its political agent to control trade in the area
and other parts of Egbado. But suffering defeat in the hands of Dahomey in the
1780s, Badagry and the southwest Yorubaland were drawn into the crises and wars
which disrupted life generally. In spite of the wars however, Badagry remained
an important trade terminus (Slave Trade most especially) for the most part of
the 19th century (Falola,237-8; Biobaku,1957; Ayantuga,1965;Folayan,1967;
Law,1977)[3][4][5][6]. The memory of Seriki Faremi Williams Abass and his
Brazilian Baracoon of 40 slaves remains a significant source of establishing
the truth of that history, and of recalling a specific time in history whose
narrative contributes to our understanding of that ignominious past.
III.
SerikiAbass: “a
history of Badagry” that refuses to be forgotten
Not
much has been written about SerikiFaremi Williams Abass. It is as if there is a
deliberate attempt to obliterate his name and memory from the entire history of
the slave trade. With the exception of the Badagry highly-respected historian,
Y.O. Avoseh, who mentioned in his book that Seriki Williams Abass was actively
involved in the partitioning of the Gberefu Island in 1882 (Avoseh,1938)[7],
I. A. Asiwajuwho dealt extensively with some of the achievements of SerikiAbassin
his authoritative book (Asiwaju,1975)[8],
and Olaide-Mesewaku et al who mentioned that as one of most remarkable figures
in the Badagry District, SerikiAbass’ administration had twenty (20) salaried
chiefs and thirty (30) police constables (Olaide-Mesewaku et al,2000)[9],
no other publications has been devoted to looking at SerikiAbass and his
contributions to the history of Badagry and the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
The statue of
SerikiAbass at Ayetoro roundabout, Ogun State.
Aside
from rigorous scholarship which has established the fact of the involvement of
Western powers in the slave trade, there are also documents which confirmed
that slavery was also practiced by the Africans among themselves before the
trans-Atlantic Slave trade which made it a global enterprise. An estimated 173
city-states and kingdoms in Africa were affected by the nefarious trade. No
less than 68 of these kingdoms could be described as nation states considering
their well-established political and military structures, which gave them
advantage to dominate their neighbours and sell their captives into slavery.
Together, these people were affected by the nefarious trade between 1502 and
1853.At the centre of these trades were local chiefs, acting with the support
of foreign collaborators, to promote the trade which come to assume the status
of a by-product of tribal warfare, often fuelled by the same local chief and
kings to serve their purpose (Rogers,1975; Mark,1997;Emmer,1998;Klein &
Klein,1999;Lovejoy,2000; Bradley and Carledge,2011)[10][11][12][13][14][15].
It was during this dark period that SerikiAbass was born and named Ifaremi by
his parents in JogaOrile in Ilaro district, Ogun State, Nigeria.
At
the time of his birth, about three decisive wars were fought by the Yoruba
sub-groups, notably bythe Egbas against the Dahomeans (Abomey). At that time,
the economy of Dahomey was based on slave trade, the sustainability of which
was threatened by the Slave Abolitionists. However, many Yoruba towns and villages
were overrun and destroyed by the rampaging Dahomean forces, many people were captured,
enslaved in Abomey and sold into slavery through the slave port at Whydah
(Ouidah) and Porto Novo in the present day, Republic of Benin (Biobaku,1957;
Ajayi& Smith,1964; Akintoye,1971)[16][17].
Ifaremi was captured in one of such raids by a Dahomean slave dealer and
renamed Abass. But he was later resold to another dealer, a Brazilian known by
the name, William, from whom he got his middle
name since a slave had no identity but only “exists” on the account of her/his
master.
A Poster commemorating
the Abolition of Slave Trade in Badagry.
William
made the young IfaremiAbass a domestic slave on arrival in Brazil and taught
him how to speak and write English, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish, together
with his native Yoruba language. This knowledge proved to be very valuable and
gave him an edge over other slaves. He was returned to Nigeria, as Williams’
representative and took care of his master’s business. On his arrival,
IfaremiAbass William first settled at Ofin, IsaleEko from where he moved to
Badagry in the 1830s, althoughBadagry was not entirely new for him, since he
had visited Porto Novo and done business in most parts of the Egbado
territories previously. He was the first person to own a lorryin the whole of
the Egbado Division--- the Seriki Ford, which he bought in 1919 to ply the
Abeokuta-Aiyetoro road (Asiwaju,163). He also made legitimate business
transactions with European companies such as G.L.Gaisei and Witt and Busch; and
Henry Pooley and Sons Ltd, a mechanical
engineering company specialising in the manufacture of weighing machines and
located inBirmingham, England to name a few.
SerikiFaremi
William was an active politician. At the promulgation of the Native Council
Ordinance in 1901 which was presided over by Governor MacGregor in Lagos,
SerikiAbass was appointed the Paramount Chief in the Badagry District and
became the Paramount Ruler of Badagry and the Western District in 1913 under
the Indirect Rule. He retained the title when the region transformed into Ilaro
Division of Abeokuta Province in 1914, presided as the “Senior Chief Ilaro
Division” and was involved in the crowning process of Alase of Ilase and
Onibooro of Ibooro, as the president of the Ilaro Divisional Native Authority.
By 1918, he had become the president of the Native Courts in Ilaro, Addo,
Idogo, Egbado, Eggua, Oke-Odan, Ipokia among others (Asiwaju,75-103).
He
alsocontributed immensely to the growth of Islam in Badagry. After accepting
Islam, he changed his name to Sanni although this was not as popular as the
title he was bestowed later by the Muslim community. He led the team that
renovated the second mosque in Badagry in 1877. He was named the SerikiMusulumi
in 1895, the same year he was appointed the political ruler of Badagry by Major
J. E. Ewart. He built the Sango Central mosque in 1896 after name the
SerikiMusulumiBadagy a year earlier. In 1897, he became SerikiMusulumi of the
whole of western Yorubaland and in particular the Egbado District (Falola,249).
He led the Badagry Muslims delegation that petitioned Acting Governor Denton to
establish a Muslim School in Badagry in April,1899.
Before
his death on June 11, 1919, SerikiWilliam Abass had established himself as the
forerunner and founder of Yoruba towns such as Ayetorowhich was established to
provide shelter and protection for Yorubas displaced during the Yoruba Civil
Wars; and Idogo respectively(Ojo-Lanre,28-9)[18].
He was referred to as SerikiAbass of Badagry and SerikiAbass of Ayetoro due to
his immense contribution to the establishment and development of both towns.
Hence, from an obscure slave and captive, SerikiIfaremiAbass William rose to
become the father of “nations,” whose statue stands today at Ayetoro, as a
reminder of the human will to survive and stretch itself beyond tragedy.At his
death in 1919, he was buried inside the Baracoon as if to emphasize that both
the man and his slave relic are united, which is indeed true of their joint
history.
IV.
The Baracoon of 40
Slaves
The
history of Badagy shows that the early slave market established at Posuko was
abolished in the 1880s and replaced by a legitimate one which was established
between Asago and Awhanjigo wards and at Hunto. They are known as Obada Market
but due to congestion, the market was relocated to Agbalata. An estimated
₤50,000 from the colony development fund was said to have been used in building
the market which was formally opened in July 1954 by the late Akran of Badagry,
AholuJiwa II, who was also an Action Group chieftain and Minster of Community
Development in the Western Region (Falola,251). However, SerikiAbassBaracoon of
40 Slaves preceded the construction of this market for legitimate business and
has ironically survived it. Historically reputed to be where SerikiAbass lived
with his 128 wives and 144 children, out of which only 11 survived
(Ojo-Lanre,28), the Baracoon remains a “living” testimony to the horrid
activities in the annals of Black history
An artistic impression
of Slaves and European Slave dealer on the wall of the Baracoon.
Located
at a strategic spot, at the geographical
coordinates of 60 25.0”
North, 20 53.0”
East, the Brazilian Barracoon/Slave Museum of SerikiAbass is on 125, Marina Road,
beside the Badagry Post Office, Badagry, Lagos, directly facing the sea
and the “Point of No Return” . The Baracoon of 40 Slaves was the cell/rooms which
housed both men and women (slaves) although kept in separate sections and rooms
in the compound. Its name was derived from the Spanish word, Barracon, Barraca
which originally meant a house built of wood and used by poor people. It was
also called Barraque in French and Barracoon in English, and became popular
during the slave trade as a sort of barrack or slave cell. SerikiAbass’ Baracoon
was said to have been built in 1840 although no specific written records
support this claim. But what is certain is that it was built of burnt bricks,
corrugated iron sheets and other items imported from Brazil. SerikiAbass also
used the building todemonstrate his taste and influence as a wealthy merchant
of repute during that time. In the same rooms were kept signs of SerikiAbass’deals
as the General Manager of Brazilian and German companies such as G.L Gaisei,
Witt and Busch with whom he dealt as earlier mentioned.
The
Baracoon is made up of 40 rooms that housed 40 slaves each, with an inspection
room which measured nine feet by nine (9ft by 9ft), and an adjoining room of
the same size but with a smaller window that is no more than a computer monitor
in size and served as the only source of ventilation. In another room which
appeared to be an office (SerikiAbass’) were 10 pictures hanging on the wall and
a glass shelf. One of the pictures shows SerikiAbass with his turban as the
SerikiMusulumi of Badagry and another one when he was handed the staff of
office as the Paramount Ruler of Badagry and the Egbado District. On the ground
were heavy chains which were used to shackle the slaves to the walls. Just by
side of these chains were also iron drilling bits that were used to brand the
slaves for recognition.
Entrance to the Seriki
William AbassBaracoon of 40 Slaves, Badagry.
V.
Point of No Return
Closely
linked to both the story of SerikiAbass and the Baracoon of 40 Slaves is the
Point of No Return, named because it was the last point of contact between
captured and sold slaves and their home. At the middle of this bushy and narrow
path is a well of about nine (9) feet deep which was believed to have been dug
sometime in 1840. The slaves were forced to drink water from the well which was
also believed to have been prepared with powerful charms. Upon drinking from
the well, the slaves are said to lose their memory. On this particular well is
written “Recitation by the Sold Slaves”
I am leaving this land;
My spirit leaves with me.
I shall not come back now, my shackles
do not break.
It is the shackles that hold a ship
down.
My ancestors bear me witness, I shall
not return.
This land departs; my soul does not
revolt.
My spirit goes along with me. I depart
to that land unknown.
I shall not return.
Anago conducting foreign tourists round
the Baracoon
Although there has not been any generally accepted
figure and number of people sold into slavery, the Baracoon of 40 Slaves
remains one of the telling testimonies to the historical reality of the
trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. These slaves also cut across many sociocultural strata
of the ancient societies: some are criminals serving time in prison, some are innocent
people captured on their farms, while some others were prisoners of war.
Whatever their circumstance, once they were captured, they were taken to
Europe, Brazil and the United States of America and the
New World through the Point of No Return. The Vlekete Market in Badagry was a
booming market and trade centre for slaves captured in the West coast during
the time and was a few hundred metres from the Baracoon.
Anago with
another set of tourists in the Baracoon.
African chiefs and native heads served as middlemen
for Europeans who needed the slaves to work on their plantations and were
provided this human manpower in exchange for materials as cheap and embarrassing
as mirrors, umbrellas and utensils: a huge umbrella exchanged for 40 slaves,
plates and mugs exchanged for 10 slaves, gin bottles for 5 slaves, mirror for
10 slaves and above depending on its quality. There are many of such implements
and relics in Seriki Abass compound today which also affirms the story that some
of the tribal wars were instigated and fought purposely in order to sustain the
nefarious trade during that time. Although a green signboard stating that the
building has been taken over by the National Commission for Museums and
Monument is erected at the entrance to the Baracoon today, not much seems to
have changed. People have turned the rooms into residential quarters while the
compound needs urgent refurbishment in order to sustain this edifice of immense
historical significance.
VI.
Conclusion
From
the Senegambia, through the Upper Guinea, Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, Bight of
Biafra to West Central Africa and the Southeastern Africa where the
trans-Atalantic Slave Trade swept across like a terrible wind, SerikiAbass and
his BrazillianBaracoon of 40 slaves remain the most telling concrete reality of
the sad past. Although Badagry continues to forge ahead as a community of
peace-loving people today, together with their challenges and frailties, the
memory of the slave trade certainly forms part of that ancient, yet, new
beginnings. One could only hope that the government, which had taken the first
step to naming the SerikiAbassBaracoon a site of historical essence, would do
more in terms of funding in order to ensure that such an important historical
relic is properly preserved.
Works
Cited
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Byerman, Keith.(2005) Remembering the
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Toyin. “The Minor Works of T.O. Avoseh” History
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S.O. The Egbas and their
Neighbours,1842-1872(Oxford,1975).
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