Ndansi kumalo biography wikipedia

Unfortunately, one result of European imperialism was that African traders and entrepreneurs were forced out of business or relegated to secondary roles as employees who took orders from the European boss. When independence came after World War II, the absence of an experienced African managerial and entrepreneurial class was an obstacle to economic development in the new African states.

The following selection, written in by the French traveler and explorer de Cardi after a visit to West Africa, tells the story of JaJa, of the Anna Pepple clan in Bonny, an area on the Niger delta in modern Nigeria that for centuries had been a place where Africans sold slaves to European agents.

Kumalo was part of

After abolition of the slave trade, palm oil, used in Europe for lubrication, soap making, and various industrial processes, became the major item of trade. As had been true with slaves, palm oil was collected away from the coast and transported to African middlemen who sold it to Europeans. JaJa began life as a slave but as asuccessful young businessman was able to buy his freedom while he was in his 20s.

Then in he was given the job of reviving the Anna Pepple clan's commercial enterprises and paying off its debts to Europeans. Again he was successful. In the competitive and rapidly changing business environment of the Niger delta, JaJa became head of a major trading house and a powerful man in the region. When the prospect of assuming political power over Bonny faded because of his conflict with the Manilla Pepple clan, he founded and became king of the state of Opobo.

He consistently outmaneuvered his African rivals and European Customers and established a near monopoly in the palm oil trade. When in the Congress of Berlin proclaimed freedom of trade on the Niger and Great Britain established a protectorate over the region, JaJa resisted British infringement on his commercial empire. But this was a game he could not win.

For his refusal to abide by the new British regulations he was fined and exiled to the British West Indies, where he died in JaJa lost the war with Oko Jumbo but ended up in a stronger position than ever. How did he accomplish this. How did European traders attempt to break JaJa's control over the palm oil trade?