John Buchanan (1855–1896), was a Scottish
horticulturist
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
who went to Central Africa, now
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
, in 1876 as a
lay
Lay may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
*Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
*Lay, Iran, a village
*Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
People
* Lay (surname)
* ...
member of the missionary party that established
Blantyre Mission. Buchanan came to Central Africa as an ambitious
artisan
An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
: his character was described as dour and devout but also as restlessly ambitious, and he saw in Central Africa a gateway to personal achievement. He started a mission farm on the site of
Zomba, Malawi
Zomba is a city in southern Malawi, in the Shire Highlands. It is the former capital city of Malawi.
It was the capital of first British Central Africa and then Nyasaland Protectorate before the establishment of Malawi in 1964. It was also th ...
but was dismissed from the mission in 1881 for brutality. From being a disgraced missionary, Buchanan first became a very influential planter owning, with his brothers, extensive estates in
Zomba District
Zomba District is one of twelve districts in the Southern Region of Malawi, surrounded by the districts of Chiradzulu, Blantyre, Mulanje, Phalombe, Machinga, Balaka and the Republic of Mozambique to the east. The total land area is 2,363 ...
. He then achieved the highest position he could in the British administration as Acting British
Consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
to Central Africa from 1887 to 1891.
In that capacity declared a protectorate over the
Shire Highlands
The Shire Highlands are a plateau in southern Malawi, located east of the Shire River. It is a major agricultural area and the most densely populated part of the country.
Geography
The highlands cover an area of roughly 7250 square kilometers. t ...
in 1889 to pre-empt a Portuguese expedition that intended to claim
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
over that region. In 1891, the Shire Highlands became part of the
British Central Africa Protectorate
The British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA) was a British protectorate proclaimed in 1889 and ratified in 1891 that occupied the same area as present-day Malawi: it was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. British interest in the area arose from visits ...
. John Buchanan died at
Chinde
Chinde is a town of Mozambique, and a port for the Zambezi valley. It is located on the Chinde River, and is an important fishing center. It exports copra and sugar, and had a population of 16,500 in 1980. Chinde lies in Chinde District of Zambez ...
in
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
in March 1896 on his way to visit Scotland, and his estates were later acquired by the
Blantyre and East Africa Ltd.
Family Background
John Buchanan was born in
Muthill
Muthill, pronounced , is a village in Perth and Kinross, Perthshire, Scotland. The name derives from scottish gaelic Maothail meaning “soft-ground”.
The village lies south of Crieff, just west of the former railway line connecting Crief ...
,
Perthshire
Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...
on 15 May 1855. His father, John Buchanan, was a skilled worker at
Drummond Castle
Drummond Castle is located in Perthshire, Scotland. The castle is known for its gardens, described by Historic Environment Scotland as "the best example of formal terraced gardens in Scotland." It is situated in Muthill parish, south of Crieff. ...
who married Helen (née Gilbert) in 1844; they had six known children: Duncan (b. 1851), Mary (b. 1853), John (b. 1855), David (b. 1858), Christina (b. 1860) and Robert (b. 1862). John Buchanan was married in 1893 and died at Chinde in Mozambique on his way from the
British Central Africa
The British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA) was a British protectorate proclaimed in 1889 and ratified in 1891 that occupied the same area as present-day Malawi: it was renamed Nyasaland
Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located ...
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
to Scotland in March 1896. Two of his brothers died at
Blantyre
Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...
in the protectorate, David in 1892 and Robert in 1896, a few months after John's death. His son, John Cecil Rankin (later Sir John) Buchanan (1896–1976) was a doctor who worked in the colonial medical services of Tanganyika, Somaliland and Aden between 1925 and 1940 and, after war service with the
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...
in East Africa and the South Pacific, joined the Colonial Office Medical Service becoming its Chief Medical Officer in 1960.
Missionary Activities
John had been apprenticed as a gardener at Drummond Castle as a youth, and in 1876 traveled to Blantyre in what is now Malawi to work as a horticulturist and gardener. He was one of the original party under the leadership of Henry Henderson that founded the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
Blantyre Mission. This
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
was founded 15 years before a British protectorate was declared over the whole country.
[Biography in JSTOR Plant Science http://plants.jstor.org/person/bm000036911]
Background to the Mission
The Scottish missions in Central Africa owed their origin to the activities of
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
, who first explored the area in 1858-9 and described it as a suitable field for missionary enterprise and European settlement. However, his optimistic assessment was overtaken by a major famine in 1861-2, by the expansion of the
Yao, who displaced existing inhabitants, and by war and slave raiding, all of which severely disrupted what Livingstone had described as a near-idyllic society. Livingstone was himself at least partly responsible for some of this disruption as, on his Zambezi expedition, he brought with him from
Barotseland
Barotseland ( Lozi: Mubuso Bulozi) is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of eastern and northern provinces of Zambia and the whole of Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province. It is the homeland of the ...
a number of porters who are usually described as
Makololo
The Kololo or Makololo are a subgroup of the Sotho-Tswana people native to Southern Africa. In the early 19th century, they were displaced by the Zulu, migrating north to Barotseland, Zambia. They conquered the territory of the Luyana people and ...
, and left them near
Chikwawa
Chikwawa is a town with a population of 6,114 according to the 2018 census located in the Southern Region, Malawi, Southern Region of Malawi on the west bank of the Shire River. It is the administrative capital of the Chikwawa District. Chikwawa l ...
on the
Shire River
The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...
in 1864 when the expedition ended. These men had firearms, and they soon attracted dependents and formed several small chieftaincies along the Shire River.
In the middle of the 19th century, there were several major population movements in Central Africa. One was the Yao migration into what became Nyasaland. The Yao people originally lived south of the
Ruvuma River
Ruvuma River, formerly also known as the Rovuma River, is a river in the African Great Lakes region. During the greater part of its course, it forms the border between Tanzania and Mozambique (in Mozambique known as ''Rio Rovuma''). The river is ...
in what is now
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
, from where successive Yao groups moved to settle west of
Lake Chiuta
Lake Chiuta is a shallow lake on the border between Malawi and Mozambique. It lies to the north of Lake Chilwa and to the south of Lake Amaramba, which has no outlet, and the lakes are separated by a sandy ridge. Both lakes lie in a graben which ...
. The leaders of two major divisions of the Yao there were Malemia and Kawinga: these fought against one another and also against the
Ngoni or Angoni, another migrant group. The Ngoni left
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
in the 1820s under their leader
Zwangendaba Zwangendaba kaZiguda Jele Gumbi (c. 1785 – 1848) was the king of the Ngoni people for more than thirty years, from approximately 1815 to his death in 1848. He was the older brother of Somkhanda kaZiguda Jele who was also known as Gumbi and founded ...
as part of the great migration called the
mfecane
The Mfecane (isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict a ...
, caused at least in part by rise of the
Zulu Kingdom
The Zulu Kingdom (, ), sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a modern standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following ...
. Four Ngoni groups settled in parts of what today is Malawi in the 1850s, and expanded by raiding their neighbours and forcibly incorporating captives into their communities.
In the period after 1860, many people in what is now southern Malawi suffered insecurity because of warfare and slave raiding: this led to the widespread abandonment fertile land. Local
chiefs tried to gain protection from European settlers who entered the area by granting them the right to cultivate vacant land, without intending to cede its ownership permanently. One example of this process was when the Rev. Duff MacDonald and John Buchanan, both of Blantyre Mission, met Malemia in August 1879 to request land for a farming outstation of the mission on the Mulunguzi River. The site of this mission station was later occupied by the Government headquarters in Zomba, the colonial capital of Nyasaland. The mission station itself moved to
Domasi Domasi is a community in Malawi to the northeast of Zomba.
It is the location of the Domasi College of Education.
The Shallow Well Project funded by the First Presbyterian Church of Urbana in Urbana, Illinois, United States
The United Sta ...
at the end of the 19th century. From 1878 until 1880, Buchanan worked as an agriculturalist for the mission at Zomba as well as at Blantyre, assisted by a small staff of Africans. He received permission from Malemia to plant
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
seedlings imported from the botanical garden at Edinburgh at Zomba.
[J. Watson, (1973). Some Notes on the History of the Zomba District, The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1 p. 51.]
The Blantyre Atrocities
In the late 1870s, Blantyre Mission and its outstation were poorly organised. Duff Macdonald, the leading clergyman after 1878, refused to become involved in its daily administration and control was largely exercised by Dr Thomas Macklin and three artisans: John Buchanan (who divided his time between Blantyre and Zomba), John Walker and George Fenwick. An increasing number of robberies at the mission led to arbitrary violence against suspected thieves, which was later called the "Blantyre atrocities". Corporal punishment involved up to 200 lashes from a buffalo hide whip, sometimes with little evidence of wrongdoing. In February and March 1879, one man died after a severe flogging for having thrown away a chest of tea he was ordered to carry and another, accused of murder, was killed in a botched execution by a firing-squad.
Although a small minority within the Church of Scotland attempted to defend Blantyre Mission's actions on the grounds that there was no civil authority to protect it, the prevailing view was that the mission had no legal or moral right to inflict these punishments. However, it was only after the publication of a pamphlet exposing these outrages in early 1880 that the Church's Foreign Mission Committee sent the Rev. James Rankin to Blantyre to investigate charges of inhuman treatment of Africans there.
Lord Granville
Earl Granville is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is now held by members of the Leveson-Gower family.
First creation
The first creation came in the Pee ...
, the
Foreign Secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
appointed Alexander Pringle, a lawyer, to accompany Rankin on behalf of the British government. Rankin and Pringle took depositions at Blantyre in September 1880, which Rankin used to prepared a report on the Blantyre cases. This was considered in March 1881 by the Foreign Mission Committee, which concluded that the Rev. Macdonald should be removed for failure to supervise Buchanan and Fenwick, the two workers deemed most responsible for the two deaths and illegal floggings, and that Buchanan and Fenwick should be summarily dismissed.
Landowning
By the time he was dismissed by the mission in 1881, Buchanan had exchanged guns, calico, and some low-value trade goods for a total of 167,823 acres of land in the Shire Highlands. His land deals were dubious, as the agreements were signed by chiefs who had no understanding of English concepts of
land tenure
In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...
. This land was acquired in the name of Buchanan Brothers, a
partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...
of John and his two younger brothers, David and Robert, who joined him in Central Africa in 1881. These land deals were probably made in the expectation that, when more settlers arrived, land prices would rise and some of the land the brothers held could be profitably sold. Buchanan also acted as broker for non-residents wishing to buy land, including Alexander Low Bruce, whose land later formed the
A L Bruce Estates.
After the establishment of the British Central Africa Protectorate, the Buchanan Brothers' claims were recognised by the colonial administration, which issued
Certificates of Claim (in effect the registration of
freehold
Freehold may refer to:
In real estate
*Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple
*Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England
*Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...
title) for all the separate areas of land they had acquired.
The Buchanan Brothers, led by John, experimented with a number of crops, starting with coffee,
sugar-cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
and
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
at Zomba in the early 1890s and they built a sugar mill to produce sugar for the local market. Buchanan himself described progress in coffee planting as slow before the declaration of the protectorate, but he began exporting in 1891, and in 1892–93 about ten million coffee seedlings were planted in the Shire Highlands. The first coffee grown was
Coffea arabica
''Coffea arabica'' (), also known as the Arabic coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the coffee and madder family Rubiaceae. It is believed to be the first species of coffee to have been cultivated and is currently the dominant cultivar, r ...
but
Blue Mountain coffee was also found to be suitable at the heights of about 3,000 feet usual in the highlands. Cultivating coffee as a major crop in Central Africa had a short and disappointing history. In 1896 there were over 10,000 acres under coffee in the Protectorate and 160 tons were exported, gaining high prices in London in 1896 and 1897. However, this coincided with a period of sustained coffee development in Brazil which lowered coffee prices on the world market, and the Nyasaland coffee industry never recovered from this. In early 1890s, Buchanan introduced Virginia-type tobacco. This became the favoured estate crop in drier areas of the Shire Highlands after the failure of coffee, but tobacco growing only developed significantly after the opening of a railway in 1908 to export the crop.
John Buchanan was instrumental in the formation of the Nyasaland Planters Association, which mainly represented the interests of Buchanan Brothers and the
African Lakes
The African Lakes Corporation plc was a British company originally set-up in 1877 by Scottish businessmen to co-operate with Presbyterian missions in what is now Malawi. Despite its original connections with the Free Church of Scotland, it operated ...
Company. In 1895, this fused with a rival association to form the British Central Africa Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, a powerful lobby group for
settler
A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area.
A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...
interests. John Buchanan was the first Chairman, until his sudden death early in 1896, when he was succeeded by his brother Robert, who died a few months later.
Administrative career
Britain had maintained
consuls
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
on the
Island of Mozambique
The Island of Mozambique ( pt, Ilha de Moçambique) lies off northern Mozambique, between the Mozambique Channel and Mossuril Bay, and is part of Nampula Province. Prior to 1898, it was the capital of colonial Portuguese East Africa. With its ric ...
since 1856, mainly to monitor and combat the slave trade. Two of these Mozambique-based consuls, Elton in 1877 and O'Neill in 1882, visited the European missions and settlements in the Shire Highlands. O'Neill's visit was made in the aftermath of the Blantyre atrocities, and he recommended that a consul should be appointed for the Lake Nyasa area. The first consul to "the Kings and Chiefs of Central Africa in the territories adjacent to Lake Nyasa", Captain Foot, was appointed in 1883. Foot used Blantyre, where a settlement had begun to grow around the Blantyre Mission, as his headquarters. His successor, Captain Hawes, set up his headquarters at Zomba in 1886, partly because if its nearness to the major slave route running south from Lake Nyasa to the coast, and partly because he disliked the settlers and missionaries of Blantyre. In 1887, the Buchanan Brothers completed a new consulate building on the slopes of Zomba Mountain, near the Mlunguzi stream, for Captain Hawes. This house was later occupied by the early governors of Nyasaland and was known as the Residency.
Karonga War
The African Lakes Company was established in 1877 as a trading and transport concern to work in close cooperation with the Scottish missions around
Lake Nyasa
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It is the fifth largest fre ...
, combating the slave trade by introducing legitimate trade and developing European influence in the area. In 1883, the company opened a depot at
Karonga
Karonga is a township in the Karonga District in Northern Region of Malawi. Located on the western shore of Lake Nyasa, it was established as a slaving centre sometime before 1877. As of 2018 estimates, Karonga has a population of 61,609.
Hi ...
at the north end of Lake Nyasa to exchange ivory gathered by Swahili traders for trade goods Initially, relations between the company and the Swahili traders were cordial, but later deteriorated, partly because of the company’s delays in providing guns, ammunition and other trade goods to pay for the ivory it bought on credit, and also because the Swahili traders turned more to slaving than obtaining ivory. The Swahili traders were forced to wait several months for payment, and they, their workers and guards expected the local Ngonde people to supply them with food, which led to quarrels and eventually to attacks on the Ngonde communities that the company had promised to protect. The Ngonde claimed the protection of the African Lakes Company: this was initially refused but, after fighting in which the Ngonde were defeated and their paramount chief’s village was sacked, many fled to Karonga. Fotheringham, the company's agent at Karonga, claimed that the Swahili wished to drive the Ngonde from their homeland and also intended to attack Karonga, so he strengthened its defences and issued arms, engaging in open warfare against them.
Fotheringham appealed for assistance, and the British Consul at Mozambique, O'Neill, who was outside his area of consular authority, acted on behalf of Hawes, the Consul to the Lake Region, who was absent, by providing armed support for the company. On the return of Consul Hawes from leave, there was a dispute between the two consuls. Hawes wished to discontinue the armed conflict while O'Neill wanted to resume the offensive. O'Neill returned to Mozambique, but Hawes also quarrelled with the African Lakes Company representative, who was supported by most of the European settlers. When hostilities continued in 1887 against his advice, Hawes felt obliged to leave the area although he retained the post of Consul until 1889, and he was later reassigned to
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
. Before Hawes left at the end of 1887, he appointed John Buchanan as Acting Consul. Buchanan remained in this post until the new Consul, Johnson, arrived in 1889, when he became Johnson's assistant Buchanan attempted to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Arabs in March 1888, but without success. He later refused to authorise
Captain Frederick Lugard, who was visiting the area in a hunting trip, to lead a further expedition against them, because this was against the instructions that Hawes had left. Despite Buchanan's refusal to give the expedition official backing, he did not oppose the African Lakes Company, supported by most of the European settlers and the Scottish missionaries, organising a force led by Lugard, which attacked the Arabs at Karonga from May 1888 onwards.
After the arrival of Johnson, who made a treaty with the Swahili to end the conflict in October 1889, he sent his assistant, Buchanan, to Karonga in March 1891 to monitor how its terms were being observed. Buchanan reported to Johnston that the Ngonde were still being driven out, and the Swahili traders were building more fortified villages and restricting the African Lakes Company’s activities. Although Johnson was fully engaged in the south at that time, in 1895 he led a military expedition that led to the destruction of the fortifications and allowing the Ngonde people to return to their home villages.
Establishing the Protectorate
Although Portugal claimed much of Central Africa on the basis of early exploration, its attempts to negotiate British acceptance of these claims failed. The Portuguese government occupied the lower
Shire River
The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...
valley as far as the
Ruo River
Ruo River is the largest tributary of the Shire River in southern Malawi and Mozambique. It originates from the Mulanje Massif (Malawi) and forms of the Malawi-Mozambique border. It joins the Shire River at Chiromo.
The Ruo River watershed incl ...
in 1882, but Britain declined to accept a Portuguese claim that the Shire Highlands should also be treated as part of
Portuguese East Africa
Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...
as it was not under their effective occupation. In 1888, the Portuguese government instructed its representatives in Portuguese East Africa to make treaties of protection with the Yao chiefs southeast of Lake Nyasa and in the Shire Highlands. Two expeditions, one under Antonio Cardosa, a former governor of
Quelimane
Quelimane () is a seaport in Mozambique. It is the administrative capital of the Zambezia Province and the province's largest city, and stands from the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Sinais (or "River of the Good Signs"). The river was named when V ...
, the second led by
Alexandre de Serpa Pinto
Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Viscount of Serpa Pinto (aka Serpa Pinto; 20 April 184628 December 1900) was a Portuguese explorer of southern Africa and a colonial administrator.
Early life
Serpa Pinto was born at the Quinta das Pol ...
, the governor of Mozambique set off at the end of 1888. Between them, these two expeditions made over twenty treaties with chiefs in what is now Malawi.
[J McCracken, (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, pp. 52–3.]
To prevent effective Portuguese occupation of the Shire Highlands, the British government appointed
Henry Hamilton Johnston
Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (12 June 1858 – 31 July 1927), known as Harry Johnston, was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely in Africa and spoke many African languages. He publish ...
as British consul to Mozambique and the Interior in early 1889, and instructed him to report on the extent of Portuguese rule in the
Zambezi
The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...
and Shire valleys and to make conditional treaties with local rulers beyond Portuguese jurisdiction, to prevent them from accepting protection from Portugal. The Makololo who had remained on the Shire north and west of the Ruo River when Livingstone's Zambezi expedition ended and formed chieftaincies there claimed to be outside Portuguese control. Serpa Pinto's expedition was, in part, a response to a request from the Portuguese resident on the lower Shire for assistance in dealing with disturbances he claimed were caused by the Makololo.
Johnston arrived on the lower Shire River on his way to Blantyre in August 1889. He found Serpa Pinto camped east of the Ruo River in acknowledged Portuguese territory and advised him not to cross the river into the Shire Highlands.
[J G Pike, (1969). Malawi: A Political and Economic History, pp. 85–6.] When Johnston arrived in the Shire Highlands, Buchanan's post acting for Consul Hawes lapsed. However, Johnston found Buchanan indispensable in the early stages of the administration, particularly as a link with the settlers. Buchanan remained as Vice-Consul and, when Johnston was absent from his headquarters at Zomba, Buchanan was Acting Consul in his place.
[K Stahl, (2010). Some Notes on the Development of Zomba, p. 43.] While he was acting for the absent Johnston, the Makololo asked Buchanan for British assistance, and in his role as Vice-Consul, he accused Portugal of ignoring British interests in this area and formally declared the Makokolo to be under a British protection on 21 September 1889, although this was contrary to his instructions to do no more than prevent local rulers accepting protection from another state.
The Portuguese claims to the Shire Highlands were opposed both by the African Lakes Company and the missionaries. It is likely that members of the British community there encouraged the Makololo to attack Serpa Pinto's camp, which led to a minor battle between Pinto's Portuguese troops and the Makololo on 8 November 1889 near the Shire River. Although Serpa Pinto had previously acted with caution, he then crossed the Ruo and occupied much of Makololo territory. Following this Johnston proclaimed a further protectorate over the districts west of Lake Nyasa. This was contrary to his instructions from the British government, but was endorsed by the Foreign Office in May 1891.
[R I Rotberg, (1965). The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873–1964, p.15.] Buchanan was made a
Companion of Saint Michael and Saint George (C.M.G.) in 1890 for his services as consul.
[Obituary of John Buchanan, C M G.(1896), p. 79.]
Protectorate Administration
Between the British issuing of an
Ultimatum
An ultimatum (; ) is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance (open loop). An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series o ...
to Portugal on 11 January 1890 and the signing of a
treaty
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations
An international organization or international o ...
in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
on 11 June 1891, both Britain and Portugal tried to occupy more of the disputed areas and assert their authority. Buchanan asserted British sovereignty on the Shire Highlands by executing two Portuguese
cipais (African soldiers), claiming they were within British jurisdiction. In this period, Johnston began to establish his administration. He had decided to make no appointments before he arrived in Nyasaland, as he believed he would find men there with knowledge of the country and its people, and who were physically and mentally tough. In 1890, he appointed eight political officers, officially entitled "Collectors of Revenue" including John Buchanan, who was also Vice-Consul.
In 1891, Johnston appointed
Alfred Sharpe
Sir Alfred Sharpe (19 May 1853 – 10 December 1935) was Commissioner and Consul-General for the British Central Africa Protectorate and first Governor of Nyasaland.
He trained as a solicitor but was in turn a planter and a professional hunte ...
as Vice-Consul in place of Buchanan. Sharpe, who was a solicitor and had acted as a magistrate in Fiji between 1885 and 1886, had come to Central Africa as an elephant hunter and ivory trader in 1887, but had become involved in the African Lakes Company's war against the Arab slave traders. Sharpe had not been appointed as a political officer in 1890, because he was on a mission for
Cecil Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.
An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...
to
Katanga, but on his return, Johnston chose him over Buchanan on account of his legal training, activity and because, unlike Buchanan, he had no estate to run.
Legacy
At the time of his death, Buchanan was on his way to Europe, but died in March 1896 at Chinde, a port at the mouth of the Zambezi, of a severe fever contracted during the journey down the Zambezi river.
David Buchanan had predeceased him in 1892 and Robert died later in 1896. After the deaths of all three Buchanan brothers, a Buchanan Brothers Company was formed to take over assets of their former partnership, and this company was run by a local manager until 1901. Although there were other family members, none were resident in British Central Africa or involved in the business.
John William Moir (1851–1940) was recruited in 1878 as one of the first managers of the African Lakes Company. After he went on leave in March 1890, he was not re-appointed as by the company as its manager. He returned to British Central Africa in 1893, and became a pioneer tea planter. Robert Spence Hynde originally came to Nyasaland in 1888 as a Church of Scotland lay missionary, but soon became a planter. In 1898, John Moir and Robert Hynde incorporated Blantyre and East Africa Ltd, a
company registered in Scotland, which in 1901 acquired the estates of the Buchanan Brothers Company. The main activity of Blantyre and East Africa Ltd was the ownership of
estates and its main
crop
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...
s were tobacco and tea. Blantyre and East Africa Ltd was one of four large estate-owning companies in colonial Nyasaland.
[B Pachai, (1978). Land and Politics in Malawi 1875–1975, pp. 37–40.]
See also
*
African Lakes
The African Lakes Corporation plc was a British company originally set-up in 1877 by Scottish businessmen to co-operate with Presbyterian missions in what is now Malawi. Despite its original connections with the Free Church of Scotland, it operated ...
*
Blantyre and East Africa Ltd
References
Sources
*C. A. Baker (1962). ''Nyasaland, The History of its Export Trade'', The Nyasaland Journal, Vol. 15, No.1.
*C. A. Baker, (1988). ''The Genesis of the Nyasaland Civil Service'', The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 41, No.1.
*R. B. Boeder, (1979) ''Sir Alfred Sharpe and The Imposition of Colonial Rule On The Northern Ngoni'', The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1.
*J. Buchanan, (1893). ''The Industrial Development of Nyasaland'', The Geographical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3.
*J. McCracken, (2008). ''Politics and Christianity in Malawi, 3rd Edition'', African Books Collective, 1875–1940. .
*J. McCracken, (2011). Class, Violence and Gender in Early Colonial Malawi: The Curious Case of Elizabeth Pithie The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 64, No. 2.
*J. McCracken, (2012). ''A History of Malawi, 1859–1966'', Woodbridge, James Currey. .
*J. C. Mitchell, (1951). ''An Outline of the Social Structure of Malemia Area'', The Nyasaland Journal, Vol. 4, No. 2.
*M. Newitt, (1995). ''A History of Mozambique'', London, Hurst & Co. .
*B. Pachai, (1973). ''Land Policies in Malawi: An Examination of the Colonial Legacy'', The Journal of African History Vol. 14.
*B. Pachai, (1978). ''Land and Politics in Malawi, 1875–1975'', Kingston (Ontario), The Limestone Press.
*Perthshire Local Archives http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/PERTHSHIRE/2008-03/1205860723
*J G Pike, (1969). ''Malawi: A Political and Economic History'', London, Pall Mall Press.
*W. H. J. Rangeley, (1957) ''A Brief History of the Tobacco Industry in Nyasaland (Part I)'', The Nyasaland Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1.
*W. H. J. Rangeley, (1958). ''The Origins of the Principal Street Names of Blantyre and Limbe'', The Nyasaland Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2.
*R. I. Rotberg, (1965). ''The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873–1964'', Cambridge (Mass), Harvard University Press.
*K. Stahl, (2010). ''Some Notes on the Development of Zomba'', The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 63, No. 2.
*J. Watson, (1973). ''Some Notes on the History of the Zomba District'', The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1.
*Dix Noonan Webb http://www.dnw.co.uk/medals/auctionarchive/viewspecialcollections/itemdetail.lasso?itemid=56861
*F. M. Withers, (1949). ''Nyasaland in 1895–96'', The Nyasaland Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1.
*F. M. Withers, (1951). ''Nyasaland's Diamond Jubilee'', The Nyasaland Journal, Vol. 4, No. 2.
*Biography in JSTOR Plant Science http://₴.jstor.org/person/bm000036911
*The James Rankin Collection, (1880–81) Special Collections, University of Virginia Library http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=uva-sc/viu03801.xml
*''Obituary of John Buchanan, C M G''.(1896) The Geographical Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1.
*Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/94727?&docPos=47&backToResults=
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, John
1855 births
1896 deaths
History of Malawi
Presbyterian missionaries in Malawi
Scottish Presbyterian missionaries
British expatriates in Malawi