Captain Philip Beaver's African Journal

Captain Philip Beaver’s journal, originally published in 1805, recounts his attempt to establish a colony in West Africa with British settlers to demonstrate that cooperation between Africans and Europeans could supply the tropical produce provided by West Indian plantations, so proving the unhumanitarian transatlantic slave trade to be unnecessary.

In 1805, naval officer Captain Philip Beaver (1766–1813) published his African Memoranda: Relative to an Attempt to Establish a British Settlement on the Island of Bulama, on the Western Coast of Africa, in the Year 1792. Beaver’s text in this modern scholarly edition provides an absorbing testimony of his efforts to assist British colonisers in establishing their African settlement. Despite the colonial ambitions of this project, the ‘Bulama Committee’ members were reformists at heart. Their high-minded intentions in purchasing the island and settling it were to demonstrate the anti-slavery principle that propagation by ‘free natives’ would bring ‘cultivation and commerce’ to the region and ultimately introduce ‘civilization’ among them. Beaver’s journal tells the extraordinary account of how the colonists’ ambitions to benefit the African economy and set a precedent of humanitarian labour for the slave-owning lobby in Britain led to the extraordinary emigration of 275 men, women and children in order to put their humanitarian ideals into practice.

Contributor: Carol Bolton (Edited by), Christopher Brown (Edited by)

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.