Commentary on "sample of native treaty"
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Commentary on : “Sample of Native Treaty”Introduction
This document is a sample of a treaty written and employed by the British Royal Niger Company for the Native tribes living in Africa. After the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1884-1885, many trading companies were granted charters to exploit zones of influence in Africa. This is the case of the British Niger Company which wanted to impose the British presence in Nigeria. The only way to impose sovereignty legally was to have treaties signed with African Chiefs tribes. This sample is an example of one of them. Nigeria being a multi-ethnic country, the text is made clear and simple so that the natives could understand it.
Description
The page is a text with blank spaces. It could be divided into three parts: the prerogatives, the signature and the declaration of the interpreter.
In the treaty, only the names of the African chief tribe which is concerned by the situation, the name of the interpreter and the date of the day, where the agreement was supposed to be signed, are missing.
The prerogatives are exposed in nine points. It sets the modalities for the settlement.
Under them, and after the signature, the interpreter swears that he had faithfully translated the motives of the colonists without falsifying them. The same is true for the Natives.
At the first sight, we could say that this is a honest treaty. But, this is THE example of the colonists perfidy. Indeed, by presenting a text which seems first to be perfect, well written, easy to understand, it in fact reveals a time trial for colonization on two levels.
1. A time trial which reflects in the text itself:“Don't judge a book by its cover”
As it was said in the description, the text is short and clear. If we look closer, it could be said to answer to a military logic: efficiency and rapidity. First, repetition is omnipresent, often at the beginning of each sentences which give a particular tone to the text: like a rhythm or like