American legitimate trade with West Africa, 1789-1914

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe American legitimate (i.e., non-slave) commerce with West Africa for the period 1789-1914. Emphasis is placed on the influence of American commerce on historical events in West Africa. The sources include logbooks, merchants' paper and memoirs, colonial records, unpublished theses and published historical studies. Research was carried on in libraries and archives in the United States, Britain, France, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Dahomey and Nigeria. [TRUNCATED]