Massacre at Ribo Post: Expansion and expediency on the colonial frontier in East Africa

International Journal of African Historical Studies

Volumn 37, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 33-54

  Anderson, David M ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67449127037     PISSN: 03617882     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/4129071     Document Type: Review

References (80)

1. For example, D.A. Low, "Uganda: The Establishment of the Protectorate," in V. Harlow and E.M. Chilver, eds., Oxford History of East Africa, II (Oxford, 1965), 57-122
2. and A.T. Matson, Nandi Resistance to British Rule (Nairobi, 1972)
3. John Lonsdale, "The Conquest State of Kenya 1895-1905," in J.A. de Moor and H.L. Wesseling, eds., Imperialism and War: Essays on Colonial Wars in Africa and Asia (Leiden, 1989)
4. and "The Politics of Conquest: The British in Western Kenya, 1894-1908," The Historical Journal 20, 4 (1977), 841-70
5. both reprinted in Bruce Berman and John Lonsdale, Unhappy Valley - Conflict in Kenya and Africa: Book 1. State and Class (London, 1992), 13-44 and 45-74
6. Godfrey Muriuki, "Kikuyu Reaction to Traders and the British Administration 1890-1904," in B.A. Ogot, ed., Hadith 1 (Nairobi, 1968), 101-118
7. Peter Rogers, "The British and the Kikuyu 1890-1905: A Reassessment," Journal of African History 20 (1979), 255-70
8. Richard D. Waller, "The Maasai and the British, 1895-1905: Origins of an Alliance," Journal of African History 17 (1976), 529-54
9. On the cost of administering the Uganda Protectorate, see D.A. Low and R.C. Pratt, Buganda and British Overrule (Oxford, 1960), 13-17
10. On the policies introduced by Sir Harry Johnston to reduce expenditure, see Roland Oliver, Sir Harry Johnston and the Scramble for Africa (London, 1959), 287-337
11. On the administration of the Eastern Province of Uganda, see George Bennett, "The Boundary of Uganda in 1902," Uganda Journal 23 (1959), 69-72
12. Kenneth Ingham, "Uganda's Old Eastern Province: The Transfer to the East African Protectorate in 1902," Uganda Journal 21 (1957), 41-47
13. A.T. Matson, "Uganda's Old Eastern Province and East Africa's Federal Capital," Uganda Journal 22 (1958), 43-53
14. and A.T. Matson, "The Eastern Boundary of Uganda in 1902," Uganda Journal 24 (1960), 128-29
15. John Lamphear, "The Nineteenth Century Trade Routes of Mombasa and the Mrima Coast" (MA thesis, SOAS, London, 1968)
16. David M Anderson, "Agriculture and Irrigation Technology at Lake Baringo in the 19th Century," Azania 24 (1990), 85-98
17. J.L. Krapf, Vocabulary of the Engutuk Eloikob (Tubingen, 1854)
18. See also his Travels. Researches and Missionary Labours (London, 1860)
19. T. Wakefield, "Routes of Native Caravans from the Coast to the Interior of Eastern Africa," Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 40 (1870), 303-39
20. Charles New, Life, Wanderings and Labours in Eastern Africa (London 1874), 451-70
21. See also J.P. Farler, "Native Routes in East Africa from Pangani to the Masai Country and to the Victoria Nyanza," Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society IV (1882), 730-42
22. Wakefield, "Routes of Native Caravans," 303-39
23. New, Life, Wanderings, and Labours, 462-65
24. For a good summary of the position, see A.T. Matson, Nandi Resistance to British Rule, vol. 1 (Nairobi 1972), 39-56
25. For a detailed account of the trade around Lake Baringo, see David M Anderson, "Cultivating Pastoralists: Ecology and Economy among II Chamus of Baringo, 1840-1980," in Douglas H. Johnson and David M Anderson, eds., The Ecology of Survival: Case Studies from North East African History (London and Boulder, 1988), 241-60
26. For a statement on this with reference to the Karamoja District see W.D.M. Bell, Bell of Africa (London 1960), 40-41
27. Frederick Jackson, Early Days in East Africa (London 1930), 190-91
28. Joseph Thomson, Through Masailand (London, 1887), 228-34 and 263-65
29. John Lamphear, The Traditional History of the Jie of Uganda (Oxford, 1976), 221-23
30. R.W. Beachey, "The East African Ivory Trade in the Late 19th Century," Journal of African History 8 (1967), 283-84
31. For a summary of European exploration and hunting north of Lake Baringo in the late nineteenth century, see Monty Brown, Where Giants Trod: The Saga of Kenya's Desert Lake (London, 1989)
32. For first-hand accounts, see A. Arkell-Hardwick, An Ivory Trader in North Kenia (London, 1903)
33. William A. Chanler, Through Jungle and Desert (London, 1896)
34. A. Donaldson-Smith, Through Unknown African Countries [1897] (New York, 1969)
35. Sir John C. Willoughby, East Africa and Its Big Game (London, 1889)
36. Elspeth Huxley, White Man's Country: Lord Delamere and the Making of Kenya, vol. 1 (London, 1935)
37. A.H. Neumann, Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa [1898] (New York, 1966)
38. Karl Peters, New Light on Dark Africa (London 1891), 272-74
39. "Treaty Between IBEAC and the Chief of Njemps," Treaty No. 73, 14 July 1890, PRO FO 2/140
40. Entebbe Secretariat Archives (ESA) A2/3, various letters, October 1894. This and all further references to EAS materials on the Eastern Province relate to the notes and manuscript copies from the Matson Papers
41. See Matson, Nandi Resistance, 85-111
42. Rogers, "British and the Kikuyu," 257-60, points out that even in these more favored areas, grain supplies were secured only on an ad hoc basis. For Tugen oral histories regarding this, see Baringo Historical Texts (BHT)/Tugen (TG)/88; BHT/TG/92. Transcripts of these interviews are held by the author
43. Martin to Berkeley, 29 October and 1 December 1895, both ESA A4/3; Ravine Station Diary (RSD), various entries, October 1894 to 1896, from Matson papers
44. Robert Cummings, "Caravan Porters in East Africa," University of Nairobi, History Dept. Staff Seminar Paper, 1976
45. see also G.H. Mungeam, British Rule in Kenya, 1895-1912 (Oxford, 1967), 87-91
46. Kenya Land Commission: Evidence and Memoranda, vol. 2 (London, 1935), 1795-97
47. A.T. Matson, "The Early History of the Uasin Gishu," Kenya Weekly News, 23 February 1962
48. Jackson to Lansdowne, 13 September 1901, App. A., "Report on the Gwas Ngishu Tribe," by Maj. Gorges, PRO FO 2/804; RSD, entries for 2 and 7 July 1896, Matson papers
49. Richard D. Waller, "Interaction and Identity on the Periphery: The Trans-Mara Maasai," International Journal of African Historical Studies 17 (1984)
50. and Richard D. Waller, "Economic and Social Relations in the Central Rift Valley: The Maa-speakers and their Neighbours in the Nineteenth Century," in B.A. Ogot, ed., Kenya in the Nineteenth Century (Nairobi, 1985)
51. H. Moyse-Bartlett, The Kings' African Rifles (Aldershot, 1966); 66-68
52. The Ravine Station Diary (Matson papers) provides a record of the ivory passing through the station, but is not complete. An Ivory Record Book, also kept at Ravine, has been lost. For a general survey, see Beachey, "East African Ivory Trade."
53. Ravine Station Diary, various entries between 9 June 1899 and 27 January 1900
54. Jackson, Early Days in East Africa, 70-73
55. Oliver, Sir Harry Johnston, 287-337
56. J. P. Barber, "The Moving Frontier of British Imperialism in Northern Uganda, 1898-1919," Uganda Journal 29 (1965), 28-30
57. Barber, "Moving Frontier," 28-30; Martin to Johnston, 6 December 1899, ESA A4/22; MacDonald to Berkeley, 12 January 1899, ESA A6/6; Hyde-Baker to Johnston, 21 October 1901, ESA A/20; Jackson to Lansdowne, 21 November 1901, "Intelligence Report No. 6," Appendix C, "Report on the Abyssinian Raid," by Foaker, 1 October 1901; Johnston to Hyde-Baker, 27 January 1901, ESA A/20; Johnston to Salisbury, 17th Nov. 1899, PRO FO2/204
58. Johnston to Martin, 16 November 1899, ESA A5/8; Johnston to Salisbury, 17 November 1899, PRO FO 2/204. Johnston formed these plans while spending two weeks at Ravine on his way to Kampala; see Oliver, Sir Harry Johnston, 295, 310-11
59. Martin to Johnston, 13 December 1899, ESA A4/24; Johnson to Salisbury, 27 April 1900, "Preliminary Report on the Protectorate of Uganda," PRO FO 2/298. See also J. B. Carson, "Baringo Background," Kenya Weekly News, 29 June 1956
60. and Mrs. R.T. Lambert, "A Political History of Baringo and Eldama Ravine," 16-21, Lambert Papers, MSS Afr s 1388, Rhodes House, Oxford
61. Johnston to Salisbury, 27 April 1900, "Preliminary Report on the Protectorate of Uganda," PRO F02/298
62. Carson, "Baringo Background."
63. Moyse-Bartlett, The King's African Rifles, 90-93
64. See also Lambert, "Political History of Baringo," 16-21
65. Cf. Oliver, Sir Harry Johnston, 290-335, who takes a more charitable view of Johnston's grand schemes, but does not mention events in the Kerio Valley
66. RSD, 10 April 1900
67. Bagnall to Johnston, 15 June 1900, ESA A4/30
68. "Jaiptulail" is the name given in Hyde-Baker's reports. K. R. Dundas, "Notes on the Tribes Inhabiting the Baringo District," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute XI (1910), 49-72, gives "Cheptulel" as the name of a "Hill Suk" (Pokot) section inhabiting the Kerio Valley. He also gives five clan names for the sub-divisions of the Cheptulel. Dundas differentiates the hill sections who cultivate from the "pastoral Suk," who do not. Dundas describes the area as being "the home of numerous elephants," but states that cultivation was neither extensive nor especially productive. No other contemporary document gives us any clear information on the identity of Hyde-Baker's "Jaiptulail."
69. Bagnall to Johnston, 30 November 1900, ESA A/20; Jackson to Johnston, 2 November 1900, ESA A8/I; Johnston to Hyde-Baker, 27 January 1901, ESA A/20
70. For a full report, see Johnston to Lansdowne, 15 March 1901, PRO FO 2/461
71. Johnston to Hyde-Baker, 27 January 1901, ESA A/20
72. Matson, "Uganda's Old Eastern Province," 46-47
73. A. T. Matson, The Nandi Campaign Against the British, 1895-1906 (Transafrica Historical Papers, No.1: Nairobi, 1974), 8-9, and 19 for the statistics
74. Matson, Nandi Campaign, 9
75. A.T. Matson, "Harry Johnston and Clement Hill," Uganda Journal 23 (1959), 190-91
76. Oliver, Sir Harry Johnston, 290-91, 324-25
77. Eliot to Lansdowne, 9 April 1902, "Report on the Native Tribes of East Africa," PRO FO 2/570
78. Lonsdale, "Politics of Conquest," 45
79. Anderson, Eroding the Commons, 61-63, 233-35
80. Anderson, "Cultivating Pastoralists," passim