Elem Kalabari of the Niger Delta: The Transition from Slave to Produce Trading under British Imperialism

This book re-examines the multi-layered responses of Elem Kalabari to the agents of British firms, the consular officials of the British Crown, and the missionaries of the CMS Niger Mission that initiated, sustained and nourished British imperialism following the change from slave to produce trading during the nineteenth century in the Niger Delta. It challenges the popular notion that the eastern Delta trading states of Bonny, Nembe-Brass, Opobo, and Elem Kalabari had responded in identical patterns to the extraterritorial forces of British imperialism by, among other things, addressing the following questions: Why did Elem Kalabari seek to continue with the trade in enslaved Africans after signing an anti-slave trade treaty with Britain in 1851? What accounted for the politics of collaboration at Elem Kalabari as opposed to the politics of confrontation against British imperialism at Nembe-Brass and Opobo? What accounted for the longevity of Elem Kalabari as an export-import center i