Memoirs of Giambattista Scala, Consul of His Italian Majesty in Lagos in Guinea (1862)
By: translated from the Italian by Brenda Packman ; edited by Robert Smith.
Contributors: Packman, Brenda.; Smith, Robert S. 1904-1969; British Academy.
Series: Fontes historiae africanae -- n.s. 2; Fontes historiae Africanae -- n.s. 2.
Publisher: Oxford University Press for the British Academy
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Oxford
Language: eng
Number of pages: 155
Subjects: Scala, Giambattista.; Slavery -- Africa, East -- History.; Yoruba (African people) -- Social conditions.; Lagos (Nigeria) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Genres: Sources.
Description: "This is the first English edition of the Memoirs of Giambattista Scala who, from 1852 to 1859, was a pioneer in the 'legitimate' trade which was replacing the Atlantic slave trade. From his vantage point in Lagos, Scala witnessed and recorded the dying years of the slave traffic and the growth of an export trade from West Africa to Europe, notably in palm products. From 1855 he also served as Sardinian Consul, and observed the growth of British influence within Lagos and the surrounding parts of southern Yorubaland." "Originally published in 1862, these Memoirs provide an intelligent account both of life among the Yoruba and of the small, mixed community of Europeans, traders and missionaries now settling in Lagos."--Jacket.