Fleuriot de Langle, Alphonse Jean René vicomte de 1809-1881 Search this
Smithsonian Libraries African Art Index Project DSI Search this
Type:
Articles
Place:
Atlantic Coast (Africa, West)
Sierra Leone
Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana
Date:
1873
19th century
Notes:
Illustrations, maps.
Illustrations include views of Freetown, Grand Bassam, Assinie, and Elmina; and portraits of various "types" such as Mandinka, Temne, Tasso, and Kruman, and of individuals, for example, Bamana pilgrims, a fetish woman, a marabout, the king of Grand Bassam and his musicians, chief Amadifou and his court, Matafoué (the chief of Toupa), and women and hairstyles from Elmina.
The author traveled the West African coast from Morocco to Cape Town, scouting possibilities for expansion of French commercial interests. The article appears in 31 parts in three separate volumes of Tour du monde. This article, parts 10-21, covers the journey from Sierra Leone to Ghana; parts 1-9 appear in 1, 1872, and parts 22-31 in 1, 1876.
Langle stops at each port and town along the way and investigates trade routes between the coast and the interior already in use by local traders. He encounters many ethnic groups and describes not only their appearance and food but also religious practice, power structures, brotherhoods and even sisterhoods, domestic slavery, suspected cannibalism, and the relationships, usually fractious, among the groups. He notes the presence of Maninka and Fulbe marabouts, often accepted as spies, ambassadors, brokers, or courtiers, depending on the situation. In certain port towns, freed slaves, or freedmen, live as an almost separate culture. Langle negotiates with chiefs for the right to build French trading facilities on the coast. How he goes about this and the chiefs' varied reactions to the European presence (especially in parts 16-21) make for interesting reading.
AFAINDEX5
Summary:
Langle negotiates with chiefs for the right to build French trading facilities on the coast. How he goes about this and the chiefs' varied reactions to the European presence (especially in parts 16-21) make for interesting reading.
