ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CROELES IN THE HSTORY OF WEST AFRICA BY 1914

ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CROELES IN THE HSTORY OF WEST AFRICA BY 1914

Approach
• Brief background about the Creoles
• Identify and analyze the positive and negative contributions of the Creoles in the history of West Africa
• Conclude logically.
Background to the question
The Creoles were a breed of people that emerged following the interaction between the early European settlers and captives mainly slave victims rescued by the British anti-slave war ships and settled in sierra Leon
Positive contributions
1. Many of the Creoles were successful businessmen and thus used their business skills to promote trade and commerce not only in Sierra Leon but in West African in general.
2. They studied and translated books of significance like the Bible into local languages thus boasting linguistic development in West Africa.
3 They helped in the spread of Christianity, western culture and civilization, this was engineered majorly by bishop Ajai Crowther the first Africa Bishop.
4. They are credited for the formation and rise of independent churches like the United Native African Church formed by the Yoruba Anglicans in 1 89 1by a Croe1e known as D.B. Vincent,
5. They initiated the development of modern transport routes and communication lines, they owned ships and boats that ferried cargo and passengers across the Atlantic Ocean.
6. They played an important role in the introduction of monitory economy in West Africa.
7. They helped in fighting Slavery and slave trade e.g. they helped the Ibo recaptives who had settled in Calabar, in 1851,a group of the Croeles was sent from Sierra Leon Anglican church to Abeokuta to help the over 3000 returned captives
8. Their economic activities led to the urbanization of West Africa, towns like Free Town, Accra emerged due to their activities
9. They wrote and published Newspapers which
reverend Joseph Claudius edited the West African reporters and Sierra Leone weekly news respectively.
1O. They promoted education through their activities like investing in many prirnary and secondary schools e.g. the Fourah Bay College built as early as 182- and later became a university college in 1876.
11. As a result, Sierra Leon produced a class of professionals e.g. John Thorpe became the first Croele lawyer, William Davis and James became the first African medical doctors and Samuel Louis became the first Africa news editor.
l2. Their academic works led to the intellectual development of West Africa.
13. They promoted cash crop growing to substitute slave trade.
14. Promoted African nationalism and demystified artificial European superiority based on colour differences.
Negative contributions
1. They mistreated fellow Africans through over taxation forced labour and land grabbing, this partly led to the hut tax war of 1898 in Sierra Leone.
2. They monopolized trade and civil service at the expense of the indigenous Africans.
3. They acted as British imperial agents, they were sent to Gambia, Nigeria and Ghana among other West African countries to serve as colonial agent.
4. They claimed racial superiority over the indigenous people whom they despised and regarded as primitive.
5. They under looked and undermined local chiefs.
6. They spread Christianity which subdued African traditional religion.