Category Archives: Neglected History

Balladeer’s Blog continues reviewing the 1927 book Trader Horn, the quasi-autobiographical account of the British Trade Agent Alfred Aloysius Horn’s adventures in Africa during the late 1800s. For Part One click HERE.

PART FOUR – We pick up this time with Trader Horn’s reflection on how the British and German firms in Africa dominated the European trade in ivory and rubber, while France was a distant third. There were whispers that the French (whom Horn referred to far more insultingly than he ever referred to the indigenous Africans) were strategizing about using their Colonial Governments to limit the success of Great Britain and the German Empire wherever they could.

The French and Belgians also pressed further and further into Central Africa, encountering tribes who had literally never seen white people before. Alfred’s employers at Hatson & Cookson kept him closer to the coast, but he added the Como, Remwe, and Belagona Rivers to his trading route.

All the trading firms in Africa at the time had their expeditions fired upon by Fan tribesmen, and Trade Agent Horn’s were no exception. As the years rolled by, Alfred was moved to a higher position with his firm. Continue reading →