The Niger Mission

Chapter 3 19TH CENTURY ONITSHA

RC-TRADITION AND THE COURT OF 19TH CENTURY ATTAH DEITY 1841
As far back as 1824, there was much talk about the River Niger – even the Lord Byron prophetically immortalizes the River … “Their author like the Niger’s mouth will bother to the world to say if thee be mouth or author” Lord Byron – The Vision of Judgment LXXX1 1824
The foundations of the Niger Mission were laid in this expedition of 1841. Its leaders were commissioned by the British Government to negotiate with important local chiefs treaties for the abolition of the slave trade and “to substitute instead thereof, a friendly commercial intercourse between Her Majesty 's subjects and the natives of Africa, and to tell the rulers of Africa that the

They were very desirous to know what became of the slaves after they had crossed the salt water. I told them that they were employed in cultivating the land; but they would not believe me … A deeply-rooted idea that the whites purchase Negroes for the purpose of devouring them, or of selling them to others that they may be devoured hereafter …”
Mungo Park died in 1806 Northern Nigeria Bussa by drowning while on his second expedition to trace the course of the Niger River. The town site is now covered by Lake Kainji, which was created in 1968 with the construction of the Lake Kainji dam. The town was re-located to what is now called New Bussa.
Mungo Park 's remains are buried along the banks of the River Niger in Jebba Nigeria.
His book Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa was a success because it detailed what he observed, what he survived, and the people he encountered. His descriptions set a standard for Lander, Laird and Baike to follow and a glimpse of what to expect when exploring

“Take care not to touch the whites lest you perish like the people …”

In 1831, Macgregor Laird (1808 - 9 January 1861) the Scottish merchant pioneer of British trade on the River Niger, born at Greenock formed a company with several Liverpool merchants to trade in the Niger regions. The following year, the company sent two small ships up the Niger, the Alburkah, a paddle-wheel steamer of fifty-five tons designed by Laird, the first iron vessel to make an ocean voyage.
Laird went with the expedition, which was led by Richard Lander and forty-eight Europeans, all but nine of whom died from fever or, in the case of Lander, from wounds. Laird went up the Niger to the confluence of the Benue (then called the Shary or Tchadda) and was the first white man to ascend. He did not go far up the river but formed an accurate idea as to its source and course. The main landing stations were Onitsha - then called Lairds Port, Agenebode, called English Island – because of it fabulous white sand beach and then Wappa-Wanno then called Landers