This paper is intended as the first of a biennial series summarizing for the benefit of historians the latest developments in radiocarbon dating for the later prehistory of eastern and southern Africa. Ninety new dates have been released during the past year and these are discussed and evaluated in comparison with dates obtained previously. It should be emphasized that many of the dates included in this paper are here published in advance of fully detailed reports, which are in preparation by the archaeologists concerned, and that some of the conclusions reached are provisional pending a fuller examination and evaluation of the archaeological data.

This part of the paper deals with the cowrie shells and their import into West Africa, and the cost of their transport in West Africa; with the cowrie currency area and its changes; with the oddities of cowrie arithmetic; and with the final decline of the cowrie currency. A second part will deal with the value of cowries at various times and places, and with cowrie economics.

Al-Ḥājj Muḥammad al-Amīn, often known as Momodu Lamine, was a Soninke leader, engaged in political and military activity on the upper Senegal and Gambia rivers in 1885–1887. This activity, culminating in clashes with the French, has sometimes encouraged an interpretation of his career in anti-European-colonialist terms. In fact, religion and local African politics may have been more important. This study examines his life before 1885, particularly his pilgrimage. Almost all the material comes from oral tradition, both that preserved in early French publications and that collected recently in West Africa.

Muḥammad al-Amīn was born about 1830 or 1840. He studied in various places in the Senegal region. Later he may have served with al-Ḥājj 'Umar. On his pilgrimage he travelled through Wadai; the report that he became a Sanūsī seems doubtful. He spent some time in the Middle East and renewed there his Tijānīya allegiance. He also apparently prepared for jihād. He may, though this is less clear, have shared in the apocalyptic expectancy of the time, centred on hopes of a Mahdi.

On his way home he passed through Timbuktu and Masina and came to Segu, capital of the Tokolor empire, then under Sultan Aḥmadu the son of al-Ḥājj 'Umar. Here Muḥammad al-Amīn stopped for several years, more or less under duress, and escaped several attempts on his life. These attempts are described in miraculous terms, and sometimes parallel other episodes in the legends of Muslim West Africa.

This clash between the returning pilgrim and the head of the Segu theocracy, both men devout Muslims, is curious. It resembles al-Ḥājj 'Umar's reception in Bornu on his way back from pilgrimage. The reasons for it, at least at present, can only be surmised. Muḥammad al-Amīn may have been suspected of meddling in the internal affairs of the Segu empire, for he had stopped for a considerable time in Masina, a dependency, before coming to Segu the capital. His activity in spreading the Tijānīya order, or his version of it, was resented. He may have claimed to be the spiritual heir to al-Ḥājj 'Umar; and/or he may have somehow slighted the memory of al-Ḥāajj 'Umar. He may have appeared as a Soninke patriot, championing his people against Tokolor overlordship; but the theme of tribal loyalties, though indubitably important, needs careful handling. About 1885, he returned to Goundiourou, his birthplace, near Kayes.

The relationship of trade to politics has long been a central theme in African history. This paper analyses this relationship in the context of Barotseland during the period of Kololo hegemony (c. 1840–64). The development of long-distance trade in Barotseland is first related, and then followed by a discussion of the impact which trade had upon the politics of the area. The conclusion suggests that the relationship of trade to politics was not only important, but complex as well. Politics affected trade as much as trade affected politics.

The Massingire acquired an identity separate from that of the other Maganja peoples under the leadership of a family of Indian origin called Vas dos Anjos. During the 1870s they became involved in a series of wars with the Makololo chiefs of the Shire, and the raids carried out by the Makololo on Portuguese territory threatened to implicate the Scottish mission in the Shire Highlands. In 1882 the Portuguese annexed Massingire after the deposition of the Vas dos Anjos chief, and in 1884 the whole area rose in rebellion supported by dissident elements on the prazos of the lower Zambezi. The Portuguese thought that the Makololo were responsible for the rising and that they had been aided by the Church of Scotland mission. The Massingire had, in fact, made many attempts to obtain official or unofficial British protection, and it is possible that they may have thought that their connections with the British would grant them the same sort of immunity as that enjoyed by the Makololo. When the frontiers were finally drawn in 1891, Massingire was divided, the larger part falling to the Portuguese.

Discussions about ‘direct’ administration and ‘indirect’ administration, with regard to French and British colonial policies, are less important than the question of who—local leaders or colonial administrators—had power over the lives of Africans. Monthly reports written by heads of subdivisions, the smallest French administrative units in a colony like Oubangui-Chari, are the most important written source of information for the day-to-day events of an area. They are also a source for the point of view of the administrator, often quite different from the point of view of chiefs and villagers. The European often sees himself as the central figure and colonial administrative problems as the central issues for everyone. African memories of the same period indicate that the European may have been considered less important by African peasants than their chief, whether the chief had a legitimate traditional basis or not, and that administrative issues were considered less important than certain local problems unknown to the European. This study of Félix Eboué and Raymond Sokambi, an administrator and a chief in Oubangui-Chari, shows that an attempt to examine perceptions of power—one basis for power—is a way to understand relations between the colonial administration and African society.

This paper attempts to study the contrasting responses of two Kenya tribes, the Masai and the Kikuyu, to the establishment of British administration. It suggests that neither reacted in the way expected of them by early British officials, who anticipated that the Masai would forcefully oppose the British entry, while little or no resistance was expected from the Kikuyu.

Instead, the Masai actively co-operated with the British, through the support of a laibon, Lenana, and the provision of levies who accompanied British punitive expeditions. Although twice removed from their lands, the Masai still did not fight, but appealed to the law courts. When this failed, they showed little or no interest in further opposition. Although apparently having some cause to resent treatment received at the hands of the British, they showed virtually no interest in the protest movements of the twenties.

By contrast the Kikuyu, far from standing aside as had been expected, opposed the British entry in a series of short engagements, in which they suffered considerable casualties. Soon, however, collaborators began to emerge and ‘chiefs’ such as Kinyanjui—created by the British and beholden to them–benefited considerably from the connexion. Despite this co-operation, the earlier resentments continued and were reinforced by losses of land to European settlers, and by the unsettling effects upon tribal life of the proximity of Nairobi and the teaching of the missions. When, after the acute sufferings of the war years, further demands were made by the government, the Kikuyu responded by active participation in organized political protest.

Possible reasons are put forward for these contrasting responses, and the suggestion is made that differing attitudes to the protest movements of the twenties can be more fully appreciated when the history of these earlier years is taken into account.