A very good copy of Anderson’s travels in the Niger valley of West Africa. The Liberian government was determined to consolidate their economic and political presence in the interior, not least due to reports of gold as well as the connections to interior trade routes to the Niger River.
The expedition was sponsored by founding father of pan-Africanism and vice-president of Liberia from 1856-1860, Edward W. Blyden (1832-1912). He persuaded “two New York bankers to finance it. Anderson’s expedition was of major significance in the exploration of West Africa … Anderson made treaties of friendship and alliance with several Mandinka chiefs and with the King of Musardu himself.”
Anderson became one of the first westerners to explore the area around Musardu, in modern day Burkina Faso. What might have been a thirty-day expedition - “from the delays and inconveniences incident to interior travelling in Africa” - took thirteen months. Anderson made careful note of the peoples, their customs, and the natural resources of those areas he passed through and provided the first published observations on the Konyan people. On the basis of his reports the Liberian government proceeded to establish limited control over the area.
His route is illustrated on the map which stretches just north of Monrovia to Grand Bassa in the south and, indeed, Musardu to the east. The map notes “Here the Mandingo Plateau commences open country covered with tall grass, very few trees can be seen.” The plates show “The Elephants take possession of the Cotton fields of Ballatah” and “Mohammadu.”
Benjamin Anderson (1834-1910) was born to an African American in Maryland though relocated to Liberia in 1851 where he received his education. He would later become three-time Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of the Interior, mathematics professor, official surveyor, diplomat, military officer, and accomplished cartographer.
Not in Howgego; Geysbeek, T., “A Traditional History of the Konyan (15th-16th Century): Vase Camara’s Epic of Musardu” in History in Africa, Vol. 21, (1994), pp.49-85.
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