In today's world we measure our success by how much we have in the bank, our share portfolio and sometimes the level of academic attainment. People of the Niger Delta, (18th Century Nigeria), had a different outlook on life. How free they were to walk in their hometown/village was paramount.
Since Masters of the Confluence is all about freedom and liberty, I just thought I should illustrate (by means of photography) how the prevalent African Chiefs valued the lives of supposed dissidents.
Two guns = One boy/girl of approx 12 - 18 years old. What crime did one commit to be a dissident? Some of you would like to know, I bet.
The mere disagreement with a political opinion was enough to get someone or his/her family in troubled waters (irony).
And for that, this is a picture of what the chief/ruler would get...
{Picture: 18th century flintlock. Two guns, such as this, was enough for the colonial overlords to demand for a human life}.
Of course the Africans lost both ways. First they lost their freedom, and when they resisted, were simply shot dead by the same guns, even by fellow Africans.
Success, therefore, was a matter of that ultimate ability to wangle one's way through the maze of political duplicity without coming out at the other side of the Atlantic.
Since Masters of the Confluence is all about freedom and liberty, I just thought I should illustrate (by means of photography) how the prevalent African Chiefs valued the lives of supposed dissidents.
Two guns = One boy/girl of approx 12 - 18 years old.
What crime did one commit to be a dissident? Some of you would like to know, I bet.
The mere disagreement with a political opinion was enough to get someone or his/her family in troubled waters (irony).
And for that, this is a picture of what the chief/ruler would get...
Of course the Africans lost both ways. First they lost their freedom, and when they resisted, were simply shot dead by the same guns, even by fellow Africans.
Success, therefore, was a matter of that ultimate ability to wangle one's way through the maze of political duplicity without coming out at the other side of the Atlantic.