Conclusion

Through an examination of these three attempts to found colonies in Africa based on cultivation and free labour, it is possible to draw some conclusions about their aims, suc­cesses and failures, their reception by the local populations and their role in challenging and furthering European ideas about colonial opportunities on this continent.

The aims of each of the colonial projects were similar only in so far as they all tried to bring African land into cultivation, and to bring this about, wherever possible, by means of

free labour. But whereas the British initially wished to do so because they needed to solve a growing social problem in London, the Danish government was on the lookout for a substitute for its slave-driven colonies in the West Indies. The British and the French had considered such an option since the 1750s and 1760s, but had hardly acted upon it. The Danes were the first to do so, and thus, as Wadstrom pointed out, set an example for other European nations to follow. The motivations for Captain Landolphe’s experiment seem to be linked more closely with the French slave trade. If able to furnish French traders with slaves, Landolphe could carry out his attendant plans for cultivation and botanical surveys, albeit without any direct support from the Crown.

What the projects also show is that their realisation remained at the mercy of the local populations. The British colony at Sierra Leone was the only colony destroyed by local people; it was also the only one that had not managed to obtain sanction from the supreme ruler of the region. Landolphe and Isert, by contrast, had obtained such sanction. Moreover, both enjoyed a close relationship with locals from previous visits to the region, something which clearly facilitated the acquisition of land. Another factor linked to the success and failure of the projects was the slave trade.

As to Europe’s ideas about colonisation in Africa, it is telling that although most settlers coming from Europe died within a short period of time, this factor did not seem to cause concern to people back in the metropole. In fact, quite the opposite. What was discussed in the years to come were the perceived successes of these establishments. In the context of rising abolitionism, the proof that cultivation and colonisation were indeed possible was transformed, in all three cases, into a call for expansion in Africa. During the French Revolution, the abolitionist Francois Xavier Lanthenas encouraged France to follow the model of the British establishment in Sierra Leone, stating:

I would like to show that it is probable that England will overtake us in this pro­ject, in both political and human terms; that the free settlement that it began in Sierra Leone, whatever its success until the present moment, should serve as a warning to us; that this policy is even more likely than the one that was foolishly loaned to them; that it can give possession of the riches of the country to the first people to attempt it.⁴⁶

The Danes were equally adept at pointing out how important it was to carry on such African experimentation. As Peter Thonning stressed in the 1810s: ‘Just as Denmark gave Europe the example of the abolition of the slave trade, thus might Denmark also possibly be destined to show the rest of Europe the way to the civilization of Africa’.⁴⁷ The experiments of the 1780s and 1790s thus gave the signal to what historians later would call ‘the scramble for Africa’.

Notes

1 Jean Meyer, Jean Tarrade, Annie Rey-Goldzeiguer, Jacques Thobie, Histoire de la France coloniale des origines a 1914, Vol. I (Paris, 1991), pp. 213-225; Emma Rothschild, ‘A Horrible Tragedy in the French Atlantic', Past and Present, Vol. 192 (2006), pp. 67-108.

2 On Britain's ‘Swing to the East', see Vincent Harlow, The Founding of the Second British Empire 1763--1793, 2 vols (London, 1952 and 1964); C.A. Bayly, Imperial Meridian: The British Empire and the World 1780-1830 (London, 1989); The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914 (Oxford, 2004); PJ. Marshall, The Making and Unmaking of Empires: Britain, India and America c. 1750-1783 (Oxford, 2005).

3 On British colonial projects, see, for example, Christopher Leslie Brown, Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism (Williamsburg, VA, 2006). On France, see Pernille Roge, ‘“La clef de com­merce”—The Changing Role of Africa in France's Atlantic Empire, ca. 1760-1797', History of European Ideas, Vol. 34 (2008), pp. 431-443. The case of Denmark has been less thoroughly researched, but there is some information provided in Christian Degn, Die Schimmelmanns im atlantischen Dreieckshandel—Gewinn und Gewissen (Neumunster, 1974). See also Daniel Hopkins, ‘The Danish Ban on the Atlantic Slave Trade and Denmark's African Colonial Ambitions', Itinerario, Vol. 25, Nos. 3-4 (2001), pp. 154-184.

4 For the total duration of the slave trade, the number of slaves traded by these powers amounted to around 4.5 million, the British responsible for 3.1 million, the French 1.3 million and the Danes 100,000. These figures are taken from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, www. slavevoyages.org/.

5 See Pernille Roge, ‘Political Economy and the Reinvention of the French Colonial System, 1756-1802', PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge, 2010, chap. 3.

6 Herrnhutter missionaries, also known as the Moravian Brethren, were missionaries with a base in Herrnhut, Saxony, in Germany. On the Danish in Africa, see Georg Norregaard, De Danske Etablissementer paa Guineakysten, in Johannes Brondsted (ed.), Vore Gamle Tropekolonier, Vol.

7 This section draws in part on Christopher Leslie Brown, Moral Capital; Stephen J. Braidwood, Black Poor and White Philanthropists: London's Blacks and the Foundation of the Sierra Leone Settlement, 1786-1791 (Liverpool, 1994); and Deirdre Coleman, Romantic Colonization and British Anti-Slavery (Cambridge, 2005).

8 Braidwood, Black Poor and White Philanthropists, p. 8.

9 G. Sharp, A Short Sketch of Temporary Regulations (until better shall be proposed) for the Intended Settlement on the Grain Coast of Africa near Sierra Leone (1786). See also Michael J. Turner, ‘The Limits of Abolition: Saints and the “African Question”, c. 1780-1820', The English Historical Review, Vol. 112 (April,

1997), pp. 319-357, 326; and Christopher Fyfe, A History of Sierra Leone (London, 1962), p. 16.

10 Braidwood, Black Poor and White Philanthropists, p. 183.

11 Turner, ‘The Limits of Abolition', p. 326.

12 Ibid., p. 328.

13 Braidwood, Black Poor and White Philanthropists, p. 274.

14 C.B. Wadstrom, An Essay on Colonization, Vol. I (London, 1794), p. iv. On the Swedenborgians and colonisation in Africa, see Ronny Ambjornsson, ‘La Republique de Dieu: une utopie suedoise de 1789', Annales historiques de la Revolution fianyaise, Vol. 3 (1989), pp. 244-273.

15 Wadstrom, An Essay on Colonization, Vol. II (London, 1794), pp. 175-176.

16 Preface to Paul Erdmann Isert, Voyages en Guinee et dans les iles carai'bes en Amerique (Paris, 1793).

17 Isert, Voyages en Guinee, p. 252.

18 Ibid., p. 307.

19 Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen, Denmark. Generaltoldkammeret, 412. Aldre del Vestindisk-Guineisk renteskriverkontor 1778-1809, Schimmelmanske papirer.

20 Degn, Die Schimmelmanns im atlantischen Dreieckshandel, p. 234.

21 Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen, Denmark. Generaltoldkammeret, 412. Aldre del Vestindisk-Guineisk renteskriverkontor 1778-1809, Schimmelmanske papirer.

22 Minerva, Vol. 17 (July, August, September 1789), p. 264.

23 Norregaard, De Danske Etablissementer paa Guineakysten, pp.

24 Geoffroy de Villeneuve, L’Afrique ou histoire, mtrurs, usages et coutumes des africains, Vol. I (Paris, 1814), pp. 112-113.

25 J. Saintoyant, La Colonisation frangaise pendant la Revolution frangaise, Vol. II (Paris, 1929), p. 382. Subsequent histories on French colonisation have neglected to mention this experiment.

26 Jean-Francois Landolphe, Memoires du capitaine Landolphe, J-S. Quesne (ed.), 2 vols (Paris, 1823). See also the personal dossier of Jean-Francois Landolphe: Marine marchande CC7 1362, Service historique de la Defense, Departement de la Marine (Vincennes).

27 Landolphe, Memoires, Vol. I, p. 54.

28 Ibid, p. 315.

29 Ibid., pp. 318-319.

30 Note that Owhere is the spelling used in Memoires and in the title of the commercial company founded by Landolphe and Brillantais. The spelling used within the colonial administration varies from ‘Wher’, ‘Where’ and ‘Owhere’. The British spelling is ‘Wherry’.

31 Landolphe, Memoires, Vol. I, pp. 14-15. There exists a letter from the Minister of the Navy to M. Brillantais Marion, revealing that Landolphe had requested a royal ship in which to transport Boudakan back to Africa. See Lettre du Ministre a M. Brillantais-Marion, 19 fevrier 1785. On Boudakan’s successes at court, see Memoires secrets pour servir a l’histoire de la Republique des Lettres en France, Vol. XXVIII (London, 1786), p. 78. The compagnie also acquired two smaller ships, L’Afrique (70 tons) and La Petite Charlotte (40 tons).

32 Landolphe, Memoires, Vol. II, p. 18. See also Jean Mettas, Repertoire des expeditions negrieres frangaises au XVIIIe siecle (Paris, 1978). Apart from the ship carrying Landolphe and crew, Brillantais and Company financed six other slave-trading ships. In the period 1782-1790 the company purchased 3,875 Africans out of whom 3,535 made it to the Americas alive.

33 Landolphe, Memoires, Vol. II, p. 77.

34 Ibid., p. 98.

35 Memoire et Projet d’Etablissement sur la Cote d’Afrique, M. Olivier de Montaguere, 25 June, 1786. France, Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer (hereafter FR CAOM) D.F.C. Cote d’Or et Gabon, Canton 80, dossier 7. See also Letter to ‘Monseigneur’ from Olivier Montaguere, dated 9 September 1785. FR CAOM COL C6 26, piece 62.

36 Station de la Cote d’Afrique [de Flotte, 1787]. FR CAOM COL C6 26, piece 172.

37 P. Labarthe, Voyage a la Cote de Guinee, ou description des cotes d’Afrique, depuis le cap Tagrinjusqu’au cap de Lopez-Gonzalves (Paris, 1803), p. 181.

38 Memoire sur les avantages que l’on peut trouver pour la traite des Noirs dans les Royaumes de Wher et de Benin, 1783. Collection Moreau de St. Mery, FR CAOM F3 61.

39 Ibid.

40 J.S. Quesne, Confessions deJ.S. Quesne depuis 1778jusqu’a 1826, Vol. II (Paris, 1828), p. 359.

41 Palisot-Beauvois, Flore d’Oware et de Benin, enAfique, Vol. I (Paris, 1804), p. 28. In tribute, Beauvois even named one of the plants he discovered the Landolphia Owariensis. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 55.

42 ‘Extracts from M. John Cleminson’s letter dated Benin 19 December 1789’, British National Archives, Kew Gardens. FO 27/35.

43 Ibid.

44 Landolphe, Memoires, Vol. II, p. 116. Ten years later, Brillantais wrote to the colonial adminis­tration requesting 1 million livres in indemnity. He hoped France could obtain this sum from England during the peace conference at Amiens. (Lettre to the Ministry of the Navy and of the Colonies from Brillantais-Marion et Cie, 18 frimaire, year X). An internal report of 25 Nivose, year X, investigated the claim. From this report, we learn that the Compagnie de Benin et Owhere had obtained an exclusive privilege of all commerce and slave-trading at the River Formose, Benin and Owhere for a duration of thirty months. Once this privilege expired, the fort would fall to the French government and trade be reopened to all French traders. The investi­gation confirmed that the company had bought more territory in May 1788. It then moved on to say that in 1791 the director of the establishment believed it his right to tax English captains trading at the Formose River. In 1792 English traders therefore violated ‘in a terrible manner’ the ‘droit des gens’ by burning and pillaging the French establishment. The author of the report recommended that Joseph Bonaparte should present the company’s case at Amiens, which was ‘approved’. Rapport Cotes d’Afrique, 25 nivose, year X.

45 J.B.L. Durand, Voyage au Senegal, 2 vols (Paris, 1802), II, p. 171.

46 F.X. Lanthenas, M. Lamiral refute par lui-meme ou reponse aux opinions de cet auteur sur l'abolition de la traite, suivies de quelques idees sur les etablissements libres que la France ne soit pas differer de faire au Senegal (Paris, 1790), p. 78.

47 Daniel P. Hopkins, ‘Peter Thonning, the Guinea Commission, and Denmark's Postabolition African Colonial Policy, 1803-50'.

Further reading

Braidwood, Stephen J., Black Poor and White Philanthropists: London's Blacks and the Foundation of the Sierra Leone Settlement, 1786--1791 (Liverpool, 1994).

Brown, Christopher Leslie, Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism (Williamsburg, VA, 2006). Coleman, Deirdre, Romantic Colonization and British Anti-Slavery (Cambridge, 2005).

Hernss, Per O., Slaves, Danes, and African Coast Society: The Danish Slave Trade from West Africa and Afro- Danish Relations on the Eighteenth-Century Gold Coast (Trondheim, 1992).

Hopkins, Daniel P., ‘The Danish Ban on the Atlantic Slave Trade and Denmark's African Colonial Ambitions', Itinerario, Vol. 25, Nos. 3-4 (2001), pp. 154-184.

Hopkins, Daniel P., ‘Peter Thonning, the Guinea Commission, and Denmark's Postabolition African Colonial Policy, 1803-50', The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 4 (2009), pp. 781-808.

Lokke, Carl Ludwig, France and the Colonial Question: A Study of Contemporary French Opinion, 1763-1801 (New York, 1932).

Northrup, David, Africa's Discovery of Europe, 1450-1850 (Oxford, 2002).

Peterson, Derek (ed.), Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain, Africa, and the Atlantic (Athens, OH, 2010).

Roge, Pernille, ‘ “La clef de commerce”—The Changing Role of Africa in France's Atlantic Empire ca. 1760-1797', History of European Ideas, Vol. 34 (2008), pp. 431-443.

Thornton, John, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 (2nd edn) (Cambridge,

1998).

Todd, David, ‘A French Imperial Meridian, 1814-1870', Past and Present, Vol. 210, No. 1 (2011), pp. 155-186.