A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome

An account by the famous British explorer of a diplomatic mission to the king of Dahomey (present-day Benin) in 1861.

Richard Francis Burton (Author)

9781108030311, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 April 2011

406 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

Sir Richard Burton (1821–1890) the famous Victorian explorer, began his career in the Indian army in 1842. While in India he developed his linguistic talent, mastering more than forty different languages and dialects. He turned to writing books in the 1850s and, over the remaining forty years of his life, published dozens of works and more than one hundred articles. He spent part of his career as British consul in Fernando Po (present-day Equatorial Guinea) in West Africa, and used this as an opportunity to explore the region. In 1861, he was sent on a mission, recounted in this two-volume work of 1864, to Dahomey (present-day Benin) to urge the king to put a stop to the local slave trade. In Volume 1 Burton tells of his voyage along the West African coast and arrival in Dahomey, where he is presented to the king.

Preface
1. I fall in love with Fernando Po
2. I do not become 'fast friends' with Lagos
3. We enter Whydah in state
4. A walk round Whydah
5. From Whydah to Alladâ, the half-way house
6. From Alladâ to Agrime
7. Small reception at Agrime, and arrival at Kana, the King's country quarters
8. The procession
9. The reception
10. The march to Agbome
11. The King enters his capital
12. The presents are delivered
13. Of the grand customs and the annual customs generally
14. The King's 'So-sin custom'.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH]