Abstract
This chapter explores Lozi chief Lewanika’s motivations for working with the British and his own imagined potential as a partner in British colonial expansion. As will be evident, Lewanika capitalized on the increased British traffic around Victoria Falls and north into the Upper Zambezi Valley to expand his own power while also securing continued authority over Barotseland. The British were not the only ones to develop a colonial imaginary; Lewanika had his own dreams of how to turn the British presence in the Upper Zambezi Valley in his favor. The relationship between the British and Chief Lewanika represents the complicated, yet somewhat symbiotic, connection that developed between some African leaders and their regions’ colonial administrations. This chapter contextualizes Lewanika’s interactions with the British within the broader narrative of emerging European-African relationships around southern Africa.
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Notes
- 1.
“The Barotseland Protectorate,” Pall Mall Gazette, October 18, 1900, p. 2.
- 2.
“The Barotsi Valley, Upper Zambesi,” The Graphic, October 17, 1891, p. 17.
- 3.
“An Enlightened Pagan,” Nottingham Evening Post, April 19, 1902, p. 2.
- 4.
“The Death of Lewanika,” Journal of the Royal African Society 16, no. 62 (January 1917), Oxford University Press, on behalf of The Royal African Society, 149.
- 5.
Ibid., p. 150. As will be explained, the comparison with Khama, the chief of the Bamangwato in Bechuanaland is not coincidental.
- 6.
The Upper Zambezi Valley was a strategic addition to the BSACo’s African holdings for a variety of reasons, including the ability to continue with the Cape to Cairo dream, access to the hydroelectric power potential of Victoria Falls and the copper fields to the northeast, the labor pool for use in mines and on farms south of the Zambezi, and to hold off expansion by the Portuguese to the west.
- 7.
In order to best represent Lewanika’s perspective and position in this phase of early British colonial expansion, the geographical and political identification of “North Western Rhodesia” is avoided. Lewanika, though in close contact with the BSACo as it gained claims to this territory, did not think of the region as North Western Rhodesia. His primary focus was on Barotseland; he wanted to preserve his autonomy over Barotseland proper while also enlarging his sphere of influence in the Upper Zambezi Valley. To that end, it would be misleading to refer to North Western Rhodesia as part of Lewanika’s experiences during this period. Lewanika was not building North Western Rhodesia; he was protecting Barotseland. Thus his participation in colonial expansion had a different focus than that held by the BSACo as it endeavored to create North Western Rhodesia.
- 8.
There was at least one point of contention between Lewanika and the BSACo and other Europeans: the issue of slavery. Although some observers noted Lewanika’s commitment to ending slavery in his territory, there seemed to be a disconnect between what Lewanika considered the appropriate and inappropriate enslavement of people he considered enemies. In 1893, Coillard wrote to the Journal des Missions Evangeliques about the persistent problem of slavery in Barotseland. He offered a detailed account of his observations at a slave market. The slaves came from a Lozi raid of a nearby group, the Balubale, “whose incessant attacks upon their neighbours compromised the public security.” This suggests that perhaps Lewanika, in his eagerness to appear in control of a well-organized kingdom resorted to violence to entrench his authority. To Coillard’s disgust, the prisoners of war were women and children, and Lewanika himself presided over the slave market where these prisoners were distributed. Eventually, Lewanika did take steps to publicly end slavery in his territory, but this did not happen until many years after the BSACo entered the scene. See “Slave Market on the Upper Zambesi: Scenes at a Sale” (published letter written by Coillard), Newcastle Courant, July 1, 1893, p. 2.
- 9.
Gervas Clay, Your Friend, Lewanika: The Life and Times of Lubosi Lewanika, Litunga of Barotseland 1842 to 1916, (London: Chatto & Windus, 1968), p. 59.
- 10.
Louis W. Truschel, “Political Survival in Colonial Botswana: The Preservation of Khama’s State and Growth of the Ngwato Monarchy,” Nairobi: Transafrican Journal of History 4, no. 1/2 (1974), 71.
- 11.
“Editorial Notes,” Journal of the Royal African Society 22, no. 87 (April 1923), Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society, 250–251.
- 12.
Monageng Mogalakwe, “How Britain Underdeveloped Bechuanaland Protectorate: A Brief Critique of the Political Economy of Colonial Botswana,” Africa Development 31, no. 1 (2006), 71.
- 13.
Q.N. Parsons, “The ‘Image’ of Khama the Great—1868 to 1970,” Botswana Notes and Records 3 (1971), 42–43.
- 14.
Solomon T. Plaatje, “Chief Khama of the Bamangwato,” English in Africa 3, no. 2 (September 1976), 21.
- 15.
Parsons, “The Image of Khama the Great,” p. 43.
- 16.
“Editorial Notes,” p. 251.
- 17.
In “The ‘Image’ of Khama the Great,” Parsons describes Khama’s popularity and the “enthusiastic clapping and cheering” (p. 41) of his British audiences as he argued his case. Khama was directly opposing Cecil Rhodes’ vision for British Southern Africa, so it is interesting to consider that Khama was able to win so much support that contradicted the powerful and influential Rhodes.
- 18.
Clay, Your Friend, Lewanika, p. 58.
- 19.
Ibid., p. 59.
- 20.
David Livingstone and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambezi and its Tributaries: And of the Discovery of the Lakes Shiwra and Nyassa, 1858–1864 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1866), p. 299.
- 21.
A. St. Hill Gibbons, Africa from South to North through Marotseland, Vol. 1 (London and New York: John Lane and The Bodley Head, 1904), p. 151.
- 22.
Bertrand, Kingdom of the Barotsi, p. 271.
- 23.
Gwyn Prins, “The Battle for Control of the Camera in Late Nineteenth Century Western Zambia,” African Affairs 89, no. 354 (January 1990), 97–98.
- 24.
Prins, Hidden Hippopotamus, p. 235.
- 25.
Despite tensions between Lewanika and the BSACo, Lewanika remained a devoted supporter of the British Empire. In 1897, after the bruising of his ego from his dealings with the BSACo, Lewanika still showed his loyalty to the British. When Captain Gibbons of the BSACo entered Barotseland in 1895, Gibbons recalled his favorable treatment at the hands of the Lozi, sharing “the natives received him well and with a degree of courtesy in many instances such as he had never before experienced from African natives, and in the satisfaction which invariably followed his answer to the question, ‘Are you an Englishman?’” “The Marutse Country,” Morning Post, January 5, 1897, p. 2.
- 26.
“British Rule in Africa: A Great Extension,” Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, October 5, 1898, p. 8.
- 27.
Untitled publication of the BSACo’s first report to shareholders, detailing activities from its incorporation by Royal Charter in October 1889 to March 31, 1891, Aberdeen Journal, December 21, 1891, p. 4.
- 28.
“The Barotsi Valley, Upper Zambesi,” The Graphic, p. 17.
- 29.
Mutumba W. Bull, “Lewanika’s Achievement,” The Journal of African History 13, no. 3 (1972), 464.
- 30.
Ibid.
- 31.
BSACo, “Report on the Company’s Proceedings and the Condition of the Territories within the Sphere of its Operations. 1889–1892” (Box CI/8-CI/I/25 BSACo Board of Directors’ Report, Livingstone Museum Archives), p. 17.
- 32.
Christopher Paulin, White Man’s Dreams, Black Men’s Blood: African Labor and British Expansionism in Southern Africa, 1877–1895 (Trenton, NJ and Asmara: Africa World Press, Inc., 2001), p. 12.
- 33.
Lawrence S. Flint summarizes Lewanika’s disappointment, writing “Lewanika’s early encounters with the emissaries of British colonialism were not what he had hoped for. Having signed up to what he thought was the protection of the ‘Great White Queen,’ Victoria, via various treaties and concessions in 1889, 1890, and 1900, Lewanika found himself and his kingdom actually in the clutches of a commercial company.” From “State Building in Central Southern Africa: Citizenship and Subjectivity in Barotseland and Caprivi,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 36, no. 2 (2003), 411.
- 34.
BSACo, “Report on the Company’s Proceedings and the Condition of the Territories within the Sphere of its Operations,” 1889–1892, p. 17.
- 35.
Clay, Your Friend, Lewanika, p. 59.
- 36.
“Beyond Zambesi,” Pall Mall Gazette, August 10, 1896, p. 3.
- 37.
Coillard, p. 331.
- 38.
Gibbons, South to North, p. 123.
- 39.
R.T. Coryndon, “Barotseland” (C 1/12, Acc. No. 3689 Livingstone Museum Archives), p. 116.
- 40.
Tabler, “Introduction,” pp. 8–9.
- 41.
Galbraith, Crown and Charter, p. 217.
- 42.
Lewanika was not alone in his manipulation of colonial bureaucracy. In the Lower Tchiri Valley, Makololo leaders signed treaties that gave the British sovereignty over the Mang’anja without any input from the Mang’anja themselves. See Elias C. Mandala, Work and Control in a Peasant Economy: A History of the Lower Tchiri Valley in Malawi, 1859–1960 (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1990), p. 101.
- 43.
Caplan, “Barotseland’s Scramble,” p. 289.
- 44.
Choolwe Beyani, “Labour Capital and the State in Colonial Zambia: The Development of Commercial Agriculture, 1900–1948” (Ph.D., Columbia University, 2000), pp. 59–60.
- 45.
It was certainly not uncommon for there to be misunderstandings of the agreements signed between the British and African leaders. Lobengula of Matabeleland, for example, believed that the Rudd Concession of 1888 was an agreement to the BSACo to mine gold, when in fact it was designed to make full claims on what became known as Rhodesia.
- 46.
Lord Selborne, “Letter from Selborne to Lewanika, March 3, 1908” (A1/2/10, National Archives of Zambia), pp. 110–111.
- 47.
Lewanika, “Letter from Lewanika to Selborne” (A1/2/10, National Archives of Zambia), p. 112.
- 48.
Coillard, Threshold, p. 387.
- 49.
Caplan, “Barotseland,” p. 293.
- 50.
“Orders in Council 1891” (Box AI/I- A 7 Government Publications (U.K.), A 2/3 Acc. No. 4, Livingstone Museum Archives), p. 7.
- 51.
“The Barotsi Valley, Upper Zambesi,” The Graphic, p. 17.
- 52.
“Papers Respecting the British Sphere North of Zambezi, and Agreements with British South Africa Company,” Dated February 1895 (Box A I/I- A 7 Government Publications (U.K.). A I/6 Acc. No. 7198. Africa. No. 2, Livingstone Museum Archives), p. 2.
- 53.
Andrew Roberts, A History of Zambia (New York: Africana Publishing Company, 1976), p. 165.
- 54.
“Waning Hope of Major Wilson’s Safety,” Leamington Spa Courier, January 13, 1894, p. 8.
- 55.
James Johnston, Reality versus Romance in South Central Africa (New York and Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1893), p. 142.
- 56.
Ibid., p. 144. Johnston believed, as did Coillard, that the BSACo purposely misrepresented itself to Lewanika. He included copies of letters from Lewanika and Coillard in which the men are trying to better understand the exact relationship between the BSACo and British monarchy. Lewanika, Coillard, and Johnston remained skeptical and unsatisfied with the answers provided by the BSACo, and if Johnston’s account of Lewanika’s feelings about the situation are accurate, it is clear that Lewanika felt tricked and disrespected.
- 57.
“Literary Arrivals,” Leeds Mercury, December 26, 1893, p. 8.
- 58.
A. St. Hill Gibbons, Africa from South to North Through Marotseland, Vol. I (London and New York: John Lane, 1904), p. 124.
- 59.
“The Marutse Country,” Morning Post, January 5, 1897, p. 2.
- 60.
“The Chartered Company’s Administrative Powers,” Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, October 1, 1898, p. 6.
- 61.
“British Advance in Africa: Barotseland Ceded to the Chartered Company,” Western Mail, October 1, 1898, p. 5.
- 62.
“British Rule in South Africa: Another Important Extension,” Evening Telegraph, October 1, 1898, p. 2.
- 63.
“From Bulawayo to the Victoria Falls: A Mission to King Lewanika” (Box CI/8-CI/I/25 BSACo Board of Directors’ Report. C 1/5 photostat, Acc. 3682, Livingstone Museum Archives), p. 369.
- 64.
Arthur Lawley, “King Lewanika” 9(first published in Blackwood’s Magazine, December 1898 then reprinted), Newcastle Courant, December 10, 1898, p. 2.
- 65.
Ibid., p. 372.
- 66.
Lawley, “King Lewanika,” p. 2.
- 67.
“British Rule in South Africa: Another Important Extension,” Evening Telegraph, October 1, 1898, p. 2.
- 68.
“From Bulawayo to the Victoria Falls: A Mission to King Lewanika,” p. 369.
- 69.
Hugh Marshall Hole, The Making of Rhodesia (London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd, 1926), p. 391.
- 70.
Concession “A,” The embodiment agreement between Lewanika and Captain Lawley at Victoria Falls on June 25, 1898. Report submitted by J. Chamberlain, November 23, 1901 (DO 119/522, Public Records Office, London), p. 248.
- 71.
Beyani, “Labour Capital,” pp. 38–39.
- 72.
Colin Harding, “Letter from Colin Harding to Secretary Administrator Bulawayo. Dec. 22 1899” (A 6/1/2 Location 4007, National Archives of Zambia).
- 73.
Letter from Acting District Commissioner of Barotse District to Lewanika, January 19, 1904 (A 2/3/1, National Archives of Zambia).
- 74.
“The Barotziland North-Western Rhodesia Order in Council, 1899” (Box AI/I- A 7 Government Publications (U.K.). A 2/8 Acc. No. 9. 1889 Orders in Council [Misdated File Name], Livingstone Museum Archives), p. 8.
- 75.
No. 80 Colonial Office to Foreign Office, March 4, 1899 (CO 879/57 Public Records Office, Kew), pp. 148–150.
- 76.
Flint, “State-Building in Southern Central Africa,” 412. See also Christopher P. Youé, “The Politics of Collaboration in Bulozi, 1890–1914,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 13 (1985).
- 77.
“Rhodesian Natives’ Interest,” Morning Post, March 3, 1900, p. 3.
- 78.
“Notes—Mainly Personal,” Evening Telegraph, April 19, 1902, p. 3.
- 79.
“Nile Route Abandoned: Plans for the Future,” Sheffield Independent, October 19, 1899, p. 6.
- 80.
“The Barotsiland Protectorate,” Pall Mall Gazette, October 18, 1900, p. 2.
- 81.
R.T. Coryndon. “Letter from Coryndon to Lewanika,” Dated August 17, 1904 (HC 1/2/4, National Archives of Zambia).
- 82.
The imposition of the hut tax in Barotseland occurred a few years later. This was controversial, not among the Lozi elite and BSACo, but among the Lozi population who were financially burdened. Caplan offers a clear overview of the effect of the hut tax. He wrote, “ since it was agreed that the King’s share was to be distributed among the royal family, all indunas and senior headmen, the entire Lozi elite supported his demand for the largest percentage he could win…As a compromise, the Colonial Office decided that Lewanika’s formal share of the hut tax be 10 per cent, of which, however, no more than £ 1,200 would be given directly to him… A large number of (Lozi non-elite) informants singled out the imposition of the hut tax as the most despicable feature of Company rule…The hut tax hit them directly and powerfully.” Gerald L. Caplan, The Elites of Barotseland, 1878–1969: A Political History of Zambia’s Western Province (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970), pp. 86–87.
- 83.
Lord Selborne. “Letter from Lord Selborne, Johannesburg, to Lewanika,” dated September 21, 1905 (HC 1/2/21, National Archives of Zambia). As Caplan noted though, this arrangement was hardly satisfactory to Lewanika and the Lozi elite. Lewanika initially requested 50 % of the tax revenue, which he was meant to share with his fellow elite. The BSACo squashed that, and the Lozi elite were highly irritated that instead of receiving payments from taxes collected, the money was put into the community development fund. See Caplan’s, The Elites of Barotseland, pp. 86–88.
- 84.
Coryndon, “Letter to Lewanika 1904.”
- 85.
Gann, Early Days, p. 136.
- 86.
Lewanika Concessions, March 8, 1905 (Livingstone Museum Archives).
- 87.
Gann 1964, p. 136.
- 88.
Roberts, History of Zambia, p. 166.
- 89.
Ibid., p. 167.
- 90.
Choolwe, “Labour Capital,” p. 53.
- 91.
“Lord Selborne’s Little Present,” Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, October 5, 1907, p. 6.
- 92.
The High Commissioner to the Secretary of State, Received December 27, 1909. From Selborne regarding a memo from L.A. Wallace “on the subject of the proposed amalgamation of the work of Administration in North Eastern and North Western Rhodesia” (No. 244. CO 879/102, Public Records Office, Kew), pp. 320–322.
- 93.
The British South Africa Company to the Colonial Office. 28 January, 1909. From A.P. Miller, Assistant Secretary to the Secretary of State. Notes from his meeting with BSACo directors. Report by Mr. C. McKinnon, Resident Magistrate, Lealui (CO 870/102. Correspondence no. 16, receipt #3472. Enclosure No. 16, Annexure 8, Public Records Office, Kew), p. 33.
- 94.
The High Commissioner to the Secretary of State (Received December 27, 1909, Public Records Office, Kew), pp. 320–322.
- 95.
Terence Ranger, “Nationality and Nationalism: The Case of Barotseland,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria IV, no. 2 (June 1968), 228.
- 96.
For more on how historians assess African responses to colonial rule, including internal expansion efforts like that undertaken by Lewanika, see Allen Isaacman and Barbara Isaacman, “Resistance and Collaboration in Southern and Central Africa, c. 1850–1920,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 10, no. 1 (1977).
- 97.
Bull, “Lewanika’s Achievement,” pp. 464–465.
- 98.
Eric Stokes, “Barotseland: Survival of an African State,” in The Zambesian Past: Studies in Central African History, eds. Eric Stokes and Richard Brown (Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1966), p. 273.
- 99.
“Abolition of Slavery: Native Question in Barotseland,” Aberdeen Journal, September 14, 1906, p. 7.
- 100.
This in no way implies that the Tonga population around the Falls truly viewed Lewanika and the Lozi as their Paramount Chief or as having claims to Victoria Falls. However, as superficial as his claim to the land and people at Victoria Falls may have been, Lewanika successfully manipulated the concession-granting process to formalize his authority in that area.
- 101.
“Future of Rhodesia: Mineral & Farming Prospects; Slaves Freed by Lewanika,” Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, September 14, 1906, p. 7.
- 102.
Caplan, The Elites of Barotseland, p. 87.
- 103.
Report by C. McKinnon. Correspondence no. 16, receipt #3472 (CO 870/102, Public Records Office, London), p. 33.
- 104.
Ibid.
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Arrington-Sirois, A.L. (2017). Lewanika’s Scramble for Africa: Barotseland and the British South Africa Company. In: Victoria Falls and Colonial Imagination in British Southern Africa. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59693-2_3
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