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7 - The Cobolo War

Islam, Identity, and Resistance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2020

Richard Peter Anderson
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
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Summary

The concluding chapter follows the buildup, instigation, suppression, and legacies of the Cobolo War, an 1832 conflagration that marked the largest flashpoint between Liberated Africans and the colonial state. During the war, a group of “Mahomedan Aku” (Yoruba Muslim) Liberated Africans, who had previously vacated the colony temporarily, defeated a colonial militia instructed to bring the fugitives back to Freetown. The actions of these Aku Liberated Africans were contemporaneous with a pattern of violent resistance to colonial oppression instigated by Yoruba speakers around the Atlantic world in the 1820s and 1830s. Although eventually defeated, the conflict at Cobolo had long-standing legacies. In the months and years after the battle – and a failed attempt to try the leaders for treason – British officials embarked on a campaign of intimidation and repression, toppling mosques that Muslim Liberated Africans had built as they moved into communities to ensure their religious autonomy. This chapter traces the relationship between Muslim and ethnic identity in the context of colonial oppression, the role of Islam in shaping the conceptual meaning of “Aku,” and the endurance of Muslim Liberated African communities over subsequent generations of Sierra Leonean history.

Keywords

Type
Chapter
Information
Abolition in Sierra Leone
Re-Building Lives and Identities in Nineteenth-Century West Africa
, pp. 227 - 259
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Cobolo War
  • Richard Peter Anderson, University of Aberdeen
  • Book: Abolition in Sierra Leone
  • Online publication: 09 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562423.008
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  • The Cobolo War
  • Richard Peter Anderson, University of Aberdeen
  • Book: Abolition in Sierra Leone
  • Online publication: 09 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562423.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Cobolo War
  • Richard Peter Anderson, University of Aberdeen
  • Book: Abolition in Sierra Leone
  • Online publication: 09 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562423.008
Available formats
×