This vivid account of the rise of the remarkable slave and palm oil trading states in the Niger delta in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also analyses the relation of political development to economic change. The author's field studies among the Ijo, Ibibio, and Ibo peoples have made possible an analysis of the essential processes of economic and political transformation which lay behind the oral traditions. There are also detailed and often lively accounts of the European traders. The study concentrates on the two principal Oil Rivers states which nineteenth century writers called New Calabar and Grand Bonny. For purposes of comparison the adjacent states of Brass (Nem?) and Okrika, the Andoni peoples and the Efik state known to Europeans as Old Calabar are also examined. The study ends in 1884, the year that marks the beginning of the Brithsh Protectorate government and with it the end of indigenous systems of government which characterised these Oil River States during the nineteenth century. The monarchies established in the eighteenth century by King Pepple of Bonny and King Armakiri of Kalabari and the political and economic organisations developed under their rule were coming to, or had already come to, an end, with new oligarchies developing in their place.

For nineteenth-century Britons, the rule of law stood at the heart of their constitutional culture, and guaranteed the right not to be imprisoned without trial. At the same time, in an expanding empire, the authorities made frequent resort to detention without trial to remove political leaders who stood in the way of imperial expansion. Such conduct raised difficult questions about Britain's commitment to the rule of law. Was it satisfied if the sovereign validated acts of naked power by legislative forms, or could imperial subjects claim the protection of Magna Carta and the common law tradition? In this pathbreaking book, Michael Lobban explores how these matters were debated from the liberal Cape, to the jurisdictional borderlands of West Africa, to the occupied territory of Egypt, and shows how and when the demands of power undermined the rule of law. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This is a comprehensive reference work, and a unique and original compendium of knowledge and analysis on Nigeria's Rivers State from the distant past to recent times. It includes contributions from some fifty scholars on diverse subjects relating to aspects of the lives, history and environment of the peoples of Rivers State. The material is organised into sections on the environment, peoples and cultures, the arts, history, politics, economics, social services and gender. As a whole, the work is concerned with the rights of minorities in Nigeria and for indigenous control over natural and human resources. It aims to present the cases of the peoples of the Niger delta to the world from an insider's perspective, and articulate a sense of their political, human rights, and humanitarian concern in an objective and academic format. A companion volume to Land and People of Bayelsa State: Central Niger Delta (1999).

Finalist, Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism In the tradition of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a groundbreaking global investigation into the industry ravaging the environment and global health—from the James Beard Award–winning journalist Over the past few decades, palm oil has seeped into every corner of our lives. Worldwide, palm oil production has nearly doubled in just the last decade: oil-palm plantations now cover an area nearly the size of New Zealand, and some form of the commodity lurks in half the products on U.S. grocery shelves. But the palm oil revolution has been built on stolen land and slave labor; it’s swept away cultures and so devastated the landscapes of Southeast Asia that iconic animals now teeter on the brink of extinction. Fires lit to clear the way for plantations spew carbon emissions to rival those of industrialized nations. James Beard Award–winning journalist Jocelyn C. Zuckerman spent years traveling the globe, from Liberia to Indonesia, India to Brazil, reporting on the human and environmental impacts of this poorly understood plant. The result is Planet Palm, a riveting account blending history, science, politics, and food as seen through the people whose lives have been upended by this hidden ingredient. This groundbreaking work of first-rate journalism compels us to examine the connections between the choices we make at the grocery store and a planet under siege.

Attempts to Import Weapons

Nigerian crude oil is being stolen on an industrial scale. Some proceeds are laundered through world financial centers, polluting markets and financial institutions overseas. This report explores what the international community could do about it.