Chapter Thirty-Two: The White Envoys!

Almost a year after Rabbeh ascended the throne as the Mai of Kanem-Borno, a delegation of French soldiers led by Major Amedee Francois Lamy paid him a visit. They came to propose a treaty of alliance which would allow for mutual collaboration between them in all areas of trade, in which he would make large profits. It was the same type of fraudulent treaty the Europeans had offered to dozens of Emirs and kings in many of the West African kingdoms treaties that turned out to be traps. Many of the African kings had not understood the terms, either by design or because of the incompetence of the interpreters, and ended up signing away most of their lands and subjects into slavery. It could also have been that they were either too trusting of or intimidated by their white visitors. When diligent care should have been taken to understand the fine print of the treaties, most of them were carried away by vague promises. It also didn’t help that messages between kingdoms took weeks even months to arrive, and when they finally did, it was often too late to serve any warning purpose. It was a situation the Europeans used to their advantage. With their better weapons and means of communication, they were able cause a lot of damage within a short time before most local people realized what was happening.

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