Archibald Dalzel
Encyclopedia
Archibald Dalzel was a British
adventurer and Governor of the Gold Coast
(now Ghana
).
He went to Africa as a surgeon in 1763 and returned to England in 1770. During this time he served four years as governor of Whydah (now Ouidah
, Benin
). He observed that the people at Whydah "pay a kind of veneration to a particular species of large snake, which is very gentle."
Appointed by the Committee of Merchants that was in charge of the Gold Coast at the time, he served as governor in two periods: 31 March 1792 - 16 December 1798, and 28 April 1800 - 30 September 1802.
In 1793 he published The history of Dahomy
, an inland kingdom of Africa
; comp. from authentic memoirs; with an introduction and notes where he argued that the raiding of Dahomean villages for slaves was saving them from the greater evil of being human sacrifices.
Son of William Dalziel (1705-1751) a carpenter from Kirkliston and Alice Linn. Brother of Andrew Dalzel (1742-1806), Professor of Greek, Honorary Librarian at Edinburgh University.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
adventurer and Governor of the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
(now Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
).
He went to Africa as a surgeon in 1763 and returned to England in 1770. During this time he served four years as governor of Whydah (now Ouidah
Ouidah
Ouidah , also Whydah or Juda, is a city on the Atlantic coast of Benin.The commune covers an area of 364 square kilometres and as of 2002 had a population of 76,555 people.-History:...
, Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
). He observed that the people at Whydah "pay a kind of veneration to a particular species of large snake, which is very gentle."
Appointed by the Committee of Merchants that was in charge of the Gold Coast at the time, he served as governor in two periods: 31 March 1792 - 16 December 1798, and 28 April 1800 - 30 September 1802.
In 1793 he published The history of Dahomy
Dahomey
Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...
, an inland kingdom of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
; comp. from authentic memoirs; with an introduction and notes where he argued that the raiding of Dahomean villages for slaves was saving them from the greater evil of being human sacrifices.
Son of William Dalziel (1705-1751) a carpenter from Kirkliston and Alice Linn. Brother of Andrew Dalzel (1742-1806), Professor of Greek, Honorary Librarian at Edinburgh University.
External links and references
- Grinker, Roy Richard & Steiner, Christopher B. (1997). Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History and Representation, pp. xvii-xxxi. OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 1-55786-686-4. - http://rulers.org/rulg1.html#ghana