Chapter 18
As stated in Chapter 14, Sultan Abu Bakr held huge celebrations for his 60th birthday in November 1842 shortly after the conclusion of the Ashanti war. As part of the celebrations, he sent envoys to as many countries as he could. From Danish gold coast to British Sierra Leone and from Mecca(Envoy was sent along with Haj pilgrims) to various nearby pagan kingdoms. Indeed, the steep increase in European explorers and diplomats in the last decade must have intrigued the Sultan and led him to do this.
Of this, Ibrahim Dasuki was the name of the envoy sent to British Sierra Leone. Dasuki was specially appointed by Ahmadu Atiku, the son of the Sultan and could speak fluent Arabic and also some Spanish that he had learned from Latin American merchants. Dasuki was supposed to meet with the governor of the place and exchange cordial greetings. However fate had something else in store for him.
Upon arrival in Sierra Leone, Dasuki could not meet the governor as he was on a tour of some villages of the interior. This was followed by another stroke of bad luck as the Sokotan diplomat's belongings were stolen and he found himself trapped without any money in a foreign land. After wandering around for a day, Dasuki was approached by a European man who could also speak Arabic. He couldn't have been luckier. That man was none other than Giuseppe Ferlini, the famed Italian explorer and treasure hunter. Ferlini was intrigued by this strange man who claimed to be a diplomat from Sokoto and asked various questions to check Dasuki's claims. After a meeting Ferlini was convinced that this man was indeed a Sokotan diplomat. In his own words, Ferlini was 'Thrilled at this god given opportunity'.
Giuseppe Ferlini
Born in Bologna, it is known that since 1815 Ferlini travelled across Greece and later he reached Egypt where he joined the Egyptian Army during the Egyptian conquest of Sudan and in 1830 he became surgeon-major. Under the army, he stayed at Sennar and then at Khartoum where he met the Albanian merchant Antonio Stefani. Later he decided to desert and devote himself to treasure-hunting, determined to either “return home penniless, or carrying unprecedented treasures”. Along with Stefani, Ferlini organized an expedition that left for Meroë on August 10, 1834.
Ferlini raided the Meroe pyramids in 1834. At Wad ban Naqa, he leveled the pyramid of the Kandake Amanishakheto starting from the top, and finally found her treasure composed of dozens of gold and silver jewelry pieces. Overall, he was responsible for the destruction of over 40 pyramids.
Having found the treasure he was looking for, in 1836 Ferlini returned home. A year later he wrote a report of his expedition containing a catalog of his findings, which was translated in French and republished in 1838. Ferlini returned to Italy but quickly got bored of staying in the civilized western world. In 1842 he thus returned to Africa, this time sponsored by King Charles Albert of Savoy and also by the British Royal Geographic society to lead an expedition into the heart of darkness.
A few days later the governor George McDonald returned from his tour. Immediately Ferlini arranged a meeting with him. At the meeting, Ferlini put forward the idea of setting up a trade company to trade palm oil and other resources with the Sokoto Caliphate. Initially his proposition was put down by the governor. However a few days later, Ferlini arranged another meeting with the governor and this time he also called a few leading businessmen and merchants of Sierra Leone. Ferlini put forward the notion that through trade and friendship, the British empire could force these wild people to put an end to the slave trade. This caught the attention of McDonald. Being a writer(The mentor of Lewis Carroll) and a staunch abolitionist McDonald was intrigued by the notion of ending the slave trade without a drop of blood being spilt. This and coercion by some of the merchants that Ferlini had assembled led McDonalds to take a historic decision. He told Ferlini that if the explorer could travel to Sokoto and manage to convince the Sultan Abu Bakr then McDonald could try to do something from his end.
Within days of the meeting, Ferlini assembled a party and started his travel to Sokoto with Ibrahim Dasuki leading the way.
George McDonald
The party reached Sokoto in November 1843. Despite the Oyo war raging and dominating the Sokotan court, the Sultan agreed to meet with this party with Dasuki as the mediator. However, a few days before the meeting could take place, Dasuki suddenly vanished. Ferlini writes that the envoy abandoned them because he feared the white men. Nevertheless the meeting still took place. A new mediator called Hasan Maccido appeared and agreed to work for Ferlini..
The meeting took place on November 25 1843. Ferlini managed to pitch his idea of forming a Sardinian-British company in the recently conquered Ashanti land of Kumasi in exchange for a large initial 'Tax' payment to Abu Bakr and atleast a partial abolition of the slave trade in Kumasi. However Abu Bakr completely refused to even consider complete abolition of the slave trade in his realm. Nevertheless, the meeting was a diplomatic success.
At the meeting, Ferlini also brought the world to the Sokotan court. He gifted Abu Bakr the 1843 version of 'Taylor's World Atlas' .
The author would like to explain the contents of the map as publishing the same in this narrative is not possible.
Europe was experiencing a rare period of peace ever since the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Only minor strife in France and the French conquest of Algeria had provided any excitement to newspapers all over Europe. Despite the peace however, tensions continued to rise between Britain and the Kingdom of Hannover ever since Queen Victoria's coronation in 1837. Increasing Prussian involvement in the affairs of minor German states was also causing much tension in central Europe.
In North America, a region that the Sokotans had never heard of before, the center of attraction was in Texas where American rebels had defeated the Mexicans in 1836 and forced the abdication of Mexican dictator Santa Anna. All the while, the United States continued to grow further and further westward in its quest for Manifest destiny.
In the Yucatan, rogue soldiers sent to crush Maya rebels in 1841 had instead declared their own republic and seceded from Mexico.
In South America, borders had not changed appreciably since the early 1830s. However the scene on the ground was quite different as minor border changes continued to happen especially between the three countries of Brazil, Paraguay and the Argentine confederation.
Finally there was India, the crown jewel of the British Raj. Having begun since the battle of Plassey in 1757, the conquest had been all but completed after the Sikh Maharajah had signed the doctrine of lapse and become a mere puppet of the Raj in 1840.
Thus this was the condition in the world at the time.
The author would like to end this chapter with a report that Thomas Motubwa(The British diplomat stationed in Sokoto) wrote many years later.
"Ibrahim Dasuki was a good diplomat and was loyal to Ahmadu Atiku. His sudden vanishing and replacement by Hasan Maccido, a man loyal to Usman Amadu is slightly suspicious if not overtly clear"
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