Thomas Fowell Buxton and the Niger Expedition
Thomas Fowell Buxton and the Niger Expedition
This chapter focuses on the realisation of James MacQueen’s Niger scheme, twenty years after it had been proposed, through a surprising collaboration with members of the antislavery movement, particularly Thomas Fowell Buxton. This was the Niger Expedition of 1841-42. By the late 1830s, Buxton had come to share MacQueen’s prescription for ending African slavery by establishing a civilising commercial presence on the River Niger and the two worked closely together on the texts through which government and public support for the expedition was established. After discussing the context in which the expedition was planned, the chapter examines the roles that MacQueen played, as well as his actual influence as evident in his textual, statistical and cartographic presence as in Buxton’s writing. It then goes on to consider the opposition to MacQueen’s role in Buxton’s scheme from other humanitarians and naval commanders with direct experience of West Africa. The consequence was MacQueen’s increasing marginalisation and eventual break from the project.
Keywords: Thomas Fowell Buxton, Niger Expedition, Antislavery, African slavery, River Niger, Humanitarians, West Africa
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