Africans, Afro-brazilians and europeans; 19th century politics on the Benin Gulf

Resumo

This essay attempts to define and analyze a series of group interactions and group misunderstandings which occured on that part of the West African coast which today includes the countries of Nigeria, Benin (ex-Dahomey), Togo and Ghana, these events taking place during the latter half of the 19th century. Principal participants in the various mini-dramas localized in the area of the Benin Gulf were the Yoruba coastal merchants, many residing in Lagos, the Gun of Porto-Novo, members of the Abomean Fon dynasty who controlled the kingdom's Atlantic port of Ouidah, Mina or Ewe groups whose predominance was along that part of the coast separating Dahomey and Togo and whose influence continued into what at that time was called the Gold Coast, and the Ga, whose area of concentration included the port of Accra.