HomeGovernanceHistorical Review Focus: The legume’s history peanut trade prolonged slavery of West...

Historical Review Focus: The legume’s history peanut trade prolonged slavery of West Africa

The nuts we eat today, legumes Arachishypogaea, originated in South America and spread worldwide due to the popularity of peanuts as a snack and a source of fat. But like most commodities, their proliferation is a matter of land grabbing and people. In the book Slaves for Peanuts, naturalist Jori Lewis reveals how the rise of the nut plant was linked to slavery, the abolition and religious conquest of West Africa during the French nineteenth century. Revealing this history, Lewis examined archives, newspapers and plant manuscripts preserved in Senegal, the Gambia and France, as well as the oral history and characters of griots – artists revered as West African historians and poets. His willingness to tell the stories of people who were excluded from history books stems from, at least in part, he writes, out of his curiosity as an American whose ancestors were enslaved.

Solid content facts are made alive with a few key characters and a picture of Lewis as he traverses the world where the book dramas unfold. He writes: “In the nineteenth century we walked like men, following in the chariot of the horsemen, which was trodden down in the dust.

Modern peanuts date back more than 10,000 years, to the lowlands east of the Andes Mountains, where they originated in the confluence of two ancient species of peanuts – possibly due to the unripe ripening of bees. By the time Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, South Americans were planting peanuts. As waves of European conquistadores and clergymen arrived on the continent, some returned with peanut butter as royal gifts, waiting to learn what goods they could import. It is not clear whether A. When did hypogaea reach West Africa, but Lewis suggests that the plant may have flourished in the region by the end of the sixteenth century. Peanuts thrived in their new home because of the climate and the farmers’ familiarity with another crop that produces small, edible seeds: Bambara groundnut, Vignasubterranea.

When the Atlantic slave trade began to end in the first half of the nineteenth century, French officials living in colonial areas in what is now Senegal focused on financing as they sought other ways to make money. Demand for vegetable oil and soap was growing in Europe, and peanuts provided a cheap service as long as many goods could be offered at a lower price. Central to this was the availability of free human labor.

Legal loopholes

Lewis enters the powerful kingdom of Kajoor, which in 1850 produced most of the Senegalese peanuts. Their nuts were often planted by African slaves, despite France’s official declaration of abolition of slavery in its colonies. A series of loop holes and reasons that allow the practice to continue. France, for example, decided that slavery was permissible if enslaved people were considered ‘domestic’ or ‘slaves’. French authorities in the late nineteenth century wrote to their superiors in Europe about the “critical question of the captives”, reports Lewis. One official warned: “If you oppress these captives in the colonies, you will destroy agriculture everywhere again soon.” He emphatically argued that the captives offered themselves willingly to become slaves and that it would be “unreasonable” for them to be set free.

In search of freedom, many former slaves fled from Kajoor and other inland regions to the French colony of Saint Louis, a series of small islands at the mouth of the Senegal River. Here, the colonial government had to stage a demonstration to support the demolition. But it was “a land of false promises”, writes Lewis, because the fugitives would be returned to their captors if they could not find lodging in Saint Louis. One way to do so was to find Walter Samuel Taylor, one of the few African missionaries of the Paris Missionary Society, who ran a refugee camp. Lewis tells the story of Moussa Sidibé, a young man named Taylor who hid it until three months later and could receive papers declaring his independence. A remarkable document reproduced in the book confirms that Sidibé “is able to have his own identity”.

Taylor has tied his motivation to end slavery to his goals as a missionary. At a 1878 conference of evangelical organizations in France, he told the audience that granting freedom to Africans would give the church a chance to compete against Muslims who were trying to win hearts and minds. He also warned that the racist approach to missionary work that undermines African culture is divisive. In other words, the search for souls would be successful if they respected human life.

However, Taylor did not say much about slavery in Kajoor and other peanut-producing areas – at least that which was kept in storage. Perhaps such representation did not seem justified, given the threats he already faced in his work from other Europeans in the evangelizing work. But there is no way to know his feelings because, as Lewis reminds us, history is only as complete as it remains.

Nut Slaves are an important addition to the history of agriculture and West Africa. But part of what makes this book interesting is Lewis’ journey to trace this history to Senegal, a country he has lived in for more than a decade. When the barns do not have the voices of the people plowing the land, he goes in search of news, asking the elders about the fading memories of those who came before. Even if he comes out empty-handed, the student is very rich because of his questions.

Source Journal Reference: Amy Maxmen, How the peanut trade prolonged slavery, Book Review published in Nature (2022), https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01736-6

Read Also:Ocean Research Focus: Nature Editorial Report says that the world leaders have now realized the importance of ocean resource and promised to protect the oceans

[responsivevoice_button buttontext="Listen This Post" voice="Hindi Female"]

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

RELATED ARTICLES

Trending News

Global Warming Slowing Earth’s Rotation: Clocks May Need Adjustment

A recent study published in Nature suggests that global warming-induced polar ice melt is causing the Earth to spin...

US Military Downs Four Iranian-backed Houthi Drones Threatening Warship in Red Sea

In a recent development, the United States military announced on Wednesday that it successfully intercepted and destroyed four drones...

Danish Researchers Develop Artificial intelligence Algorithm to Predict Life Events, Including Death

Danish researchers, with the aid of artificial intelligence and data from millions of individuals, have crafted an algorithm capable...

Design Flaw in Francis Scott Key Bridge Led to Collapse, Highlighting Larger Safety Concerns for US Bridges

Engineers have identified a significant design flaw in the structure of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, which led to...