The structure of indigenous trade in Central Africa makes it necessary to distinguish between three different types of trade. There is first the local trade from village to village within a given population. The goods exchanged are generally specialized products from local industry, and the exchange comes about because some villages possess supplies of raw materials which are not available to others, e.g. pottery clay, or because they are inhabited by specialists such as smiths or woodcarvers who are not available in others. This type of trade is conducted in local markets, and generally speaking, currency of some sort is in use. It is still alive today, and one can assume that it is very old, since such a system shows little dynamism. The necessities remain the same; the organization is simple and efficient.

The relations between a stranger who leaves his home to settle in a distant chiefdom in Sierra Leone and his landlord have for centuries been guided by customary rules. They are of interest to the anthropologist studying contemporary society, and to the historian who can sometimes elucidate from them otherwise obscure incidents in the past. In this article we describe the landlord-stranger relationship as it exists in Sierra Leone today, then give examples of how it has been applied at earlier periods.

The Basel missionaries, Ramseyer and Kühne, had this to say of Ashanti government in the reign of Kofi Karikari (1867–74):

…the reins of the Ashantee government are not exclusively in the hands of the king, nor does he possess unlimited power, but shares it with a council which includes, besides his majesty, his mother, the three first chiefs of the kingdom [Juabenhene, Bekwaihene, and Mamponghene], and a few nobles of Kumasi (Coomassie). This council is called ‘Asante Kotoko’, or the Ashantee porcupine, which means that like the animal of that name, nobody dare touch them.…It is this Kotoko council which rules the entire kingdom, and deals with the people, who must obey, whatever their own wishes or inclinations may be, in the most despotic way.…In important matters all the other chiefs of the kingdom are called together to discuss the case, but they are sure to vote in accordance with the view of the council, for who would dare to oppose the Kotoko?

Early in 1819 a two-man deputation from the London Missionary Society arrived in Capetown. They had been instructed by the Directors in London to investigate the conditions of the missionary establishment and to make recommendations which would halt its inward decay. John Campbell, the senior member, had only reluctantly accepted the appointment on the understanding that as soon as possible he would return to England. The second man was Dr John Philip, an Aberdeen minister, who, once convinced of the importance of his presence in southern Africa was to stay as Superintendent of the Society's missions. Until his retirement in 1842 he would champion many unpopular causes and be viewed by generations of South Africans as an uninformed, irresponsible, political meddler. He received much of this reputation because of his work for Hottentot emancipation, which culminated in the famous Fiftieth Ordinance. Only recently has it been possible to re-evaluate Philip's actions in this cause and thus counter the opinions of those historians who preserved the stereotype of Philip as a master intriguer.

Among all the African kingdoms to survive the Partition intact, Buganda is conspicuous for the way in which European overrule, so far from obstructing, positively accentuated the pattern of her pre-Colonial history. With regard to Buganda's political development, this continuity has already received a good deal of comment. Less emphasized, but intimately related to her internal continuity, is the perpetuation of Buganda's imperialist past, especially in the guise of Ganda participation in the extension of British influence throughout the Protectorate of Uganda.

The unrestricted trade in arms and ammunition in East Africa in the late nineteenth century was one of the most important problems facing European administrators, missionaries, and traders.