Roger casement and the Aro

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Periodical article

Title:	Roger casement and the Aro
Author:	Northrup, D.
Year:	1979
Periodical:	Ikenga: Journal of African Studies
Volume:	4
Issue:	1
Pages:	46-50
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Aro Ibibio travel
Abstract:	Despite some five centuries of direct contact at the coast, it is remarkable how little first-hand knowledge Europeans had of south-eastern Nigeria in the 1890s. By the time of the establishment of the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1891 little was known of most inland portions of the region. Not until after the dramatic military expeditions of the late 1890s and early twentieth century against the Aro and others were Europeans in a position to traverse these areas at will. These violent events have rightly overshadowed the smaller number of peaceful explorations undertaken just before them. The overland expeditions undertaken by Roger Casement in 1894 are among the earliest and least publicized of these preliminary explorations. Casement undertook four exploratory journeys in 1894. Of these four the most interesting to historians is the first, the unsuccessful journey from Itu to Ibiaku. Casement's survey of this journey reveals much about the relations of the Aro and the Ibibio and about the economic and political situation in this locale at that time. Notes.