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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Suluku of Biriwa Limba and the Church Missionary Society expedition of 1876: an episode in Euro-Limba relations |
Author: | Turay, E. Amadu |
Year: | 1980 |
Periodical: | Africana Research Bulletin |
Volume: | 11 |
Issue: | 1-2 |
Pages: | 81-91 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Sierra Leone |
Subjects: | missions traditional rulers |
Abstract: | Historians of northern Sierra Leone have belatedly taken a keen interest in the career of Suluku who ruled Biriwa Limba Country for about thirty years until his death in 1906. In spite of the growing historiography on Suluku, the picture of the Limba ruler that emerges is still sketchy in places. One event in the reign of this ruler, namely the visit of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) expedition to Biriwa in 1876 has been omitted, or merely given cursory treatment in certain studies on the history of northern Sierra Leone. The CMS expedition of 1876 which was led by the Rev. Alexander Schapira is discussed in this paper since it throws further light on the career of Suluku; in addition the encounter can be viewed as probably the earliest evidence of those qualities of Suluku's character which scholars have come to admire: his supreme confidence and his uncompromising zeal in defending the sovereignty of his polity. Finally as a result of Suluku's encounter with the CMS missionaries, he proved to be a stubborn opponent of Christian missionary endeavor in Biriwa. Notes. |