The message from Oba Overami confirms his dependence on the Itsekiri as go between middle men who are part of the problem of hindrance to free trade in the area. He assesses that this position must be overturned sooner rather than later if he is to be successful in his mission to open Benin Country to free trade and to enable access into the hinterlands.
Currently Itsekiri and Ejaw traders (the two great trading tribes along the Benin River)[i] act as middle men along the coast and they prevent access to the real producers of the oil and other commodities.
Consul Phillips sends message to English officials of the Niger Coast Protectorate (standing army) and The Royal Niger Company (trading company) that the expedition to Benin will go ahead as planned. It had been arranged in November to start shortly after the new year.[ii]
Footnotes
[i] As Boisragon stated in his book, the Benin Massacre (pages 14-15: The Itsekiri and Ejaw (Ijaw) act as middlemen between the English Merchants and the tribes, dwelling further inlands and from whose country the palm-oil and other trade-stuffs come, and are very anxious to prevent the two – the white man and the oil producers from meeting. However, as year by year the country is gradually opened up, the part of the middleman will be done away with to a great extent, especially in the case of the Benin City Country.
[ii] Boisragon, page 58
Reference
Boisragon A, The Benin Massacre, 1897, p14-15; p58
Currently Itsekiri and Ejaw traders (the two great trading tribes along the Benin River)[i] act as middle men along the coast and they prevent access to the real producers of the oil and other commodities.
Consul Phillips sends message to English officials of the Niger Coast Protectorate (standing army) and The Royal Niger Company (trading company) that the expedition to Benin will go ahead as planned. It had been arranged in November to start shortly after the new year.[ii]
Footnotes
[i] As Boisragon stated in his book, the Benin Massacre (pages 14-15: The Itsekiri and Ejaw (Ijaw) act as middlemen between the English Merchants and the tribes, dwelling further inlands and from whose country the palm-oil and other trade-stuffs come, and are very anxious to prevent the two – the white man and the oil producers from meeting. However, as year by year the country is gradually opened up, the part of the middleman will be done away with to a great extent, especially in the case of the Benin City Country.
[ii] Boisragon, page 58
Reference
Boisragon A, The Benin Massacre, 1897, p14-15; p58