Real Life Heroes: Sir Richard Burton

By Karen Mercury

Sir Richard Burton (born 1821) was a man a hundred years ahead of his time. A megalomaniac, brilliant, and brutal, he is mostly known for having the nerve to bring the Kama Sutra and the 1001 Nights to the civilized world. Even as a youth he was fearless and reckless. He once broke his trumpet over the head of his instructor because he wanted to play piano instead. He joined the army in India, where he became known for dressing in Arab garb and going into backwoods districts where no one else would dare tread.

He read prolifically, became an expert in all things Oriental, and by the end of his life spoke at least 20 languages fluently. He traveled to the Holy City of Mecca and was the first white man to write about it, being able to pass for Arab. He was nearly caught, certain death for a white man, when he lifted his robe to pee instead of squatting like an Arab. During some of his many leaves from the Army, he learned falconry and wrote The Book of the Sword, so detailed it is still used by fencers today.

But oddly enough he chose to marry an extremely prudish and upright woman, Isabel Arundel. His translation of the Arabian Nights took him years, and Isabel was extremely mortified about "those activities" of his, his interest in the Kama Sutra. Being a widely traveled ethnologist, most biographers posit that he tried all the techniques he wrote about, and with all of the tribes he visited.

Burton defended himself vociferously. "To those critics who complain of my raw vulgarisms and puerile indecencies, I can reply by quoting what Dr Johnson said to the lady who complained of naughty words in his dictionary: 'You must have been looking for them, Madam!'"

In India, he went undercover for General Napier to a brothel where English soldiers "frequented" young boys. His resulting incredibly detailed report caused a scandal and it was quickly buried--like so much of his "deviant" writing would later be buried by his prudish wife. Naturally everyone assumed Burton participated in the activities to obtain such details, but I guess we'll never know.

In 1854 he joined up with John Hanning Speke to travel to Somalia, backed by the Royal Geographical Society. Burton proposed to discover a large interior lake he'd heard about. Burton accomplished the first leg alone, and would set out on the second leg with Speke and two other lieutenants. Before they could leave they were attacked by Somali warriors. Speke was wounded in eleven spots by spears, one lieutenant was killed, and Burton had a javelin thrust through his jaw. Although Burton was cleared of culpability, it was another black mark on his army record. Soon after in the Crimea, his unit mutinied, another black mark that led to a lifelong frustration with being unable to advance in the army.

His most famous trip left out of Zanzibar to "discover" the source of the Nile. Speke amazingly agreed to accompany him--the two were like oil and water, but worked well together on expeditions. They set out in 1857 and suffered various travails--Speke was blind for several weeks and partially deaf due to an infection, and Burton was unable to walk and had to be carried on a litter which ruined his enormous pride. It was actually Speke alone who found Lake Victoria, and Burton refused to believe it was the source of the Nile, since he had been unable to see it himself.

Speke returned home before Burton and published his own account first, which led to one of the great debates of all time. Speke didn't know any African languages and didn't keep nearly as detailed notes as Burton. Speke had an Imperialist attitude toward Africans and Burton was appalled at the way he randomly killed animals and left the meat sitting there. All of this led to a great rift, and when Speke gave his lecture first at the Royal Geographical Society, breaking their promise to present their findings together, Burton challenged him to a debate. It was all-out war by then, with Burton being the most suspicious character due to his "going native." In 1864 they had a date to debate in front of a society, but the day before, Speke was found dead in a bizarre hunting accident. Many people believe he couldn't handle the stress of going up against Burton who was a superior public speaker.

Burton managed to obtain consul positions at Fernando Po and Brazil, bringing Isabel with him and spending much time traveling. He was sent to Damascus where once again he made many enemies, continuing to translate and write many more books. He died in Trieste in 1890--the cloud of another controversy surrounding him when his friends believed Isabel forced him to convert to Catholicism on his deathbed. She had always tried to protect his image, and one of the first things she did upon his death was burn many of his "pornographic" writings, including a final chapter of The Perfumed Garden on pederasty, leading many to term her "the most hated woman in literature."

Karen Mercury's first three historicals, including STRANGELY WONDERFUL were set in precolonial Africa. Her latest, WORKING THE LODE, due out in January 2011, is an erotic romance set during the California gold rush.

Dynasties: Californios

By Karen Mercury

Before Manifest Destiny, when Americans poured into California in the early 1800s--trappers, explorers, backwoodsmen, whalers, and merchants who stumbled into the area prior to the 1848 annexation of the area by the United States and the unprecedented migration of the 1849 gold rush--the "Californios" ruled the state of Upper California.

A few of the gente de razón or upper class Californios were descendants of Spanish soldiers sent up from Mexico and spoke the pure Castilian language. There was an aristocracy, the ones of straight Spanish blood with clear brunette complexions who never intermarried with natives. The least drop of Spanish blood was sufficient to raise one from the rank of slave, entitle the wearing of fancy clothing, and the right hold property. These gente de razón were all pretty much related to each other. From the upper class down, a regular gradation was indicated by skin color, growing darker until reaching the hue and features of the pure Indian.

Even the commoners, to American ears, they appeared to speak elegant Spanish. A messenger on horseback spoke like an ambassador. They had no credit system, no banking, no way of earning money other than the cattle raised on their enormous ranchos, employing elegant vaqueros whose skills at horsemanship were unsurpassed in the continent. They had no money except for hides, which sailors called "California bank notes."

They dressed in steeple-crowned sombreros, serapés of fiery colors, and velvet pantaloons with buttons and gold lace. Their spurs were immense in size, as befitted the gaudy trappings of their horses. They were magnificent horsemen and skilled handlers of cattle. Bancroft wrote in his massive History of California:

If going any distance no matter how short they mounted a horse. Few could read or write. They were inveterate gamblers and drunkenness was so common it was rare to meet one without his bottle. Like Indians, they made women do all the work, and even in management of stock and the lasso it was not uncommon to find women more skillful than men.

The big amusements, not surprisingly, were large fandangos held at each other's ranchos that got pretty wild and lasted for days. They also enjoyed horse racing (risking hundreds of cattle upon the speed of the horse), bull- and bear-baiting, and Monte gambling. They gambled with a passion but paid their losses punctually and with little concern. Monte games were conducted with great decorum by American standards--the loud swearing and other "turbulent demonstrations" of losers only came from "foreigners." While Californios bore their losses with indifference, Americans raised the roof down.

They were given enormous land grants by Mexico. The greatest Californio of all, General Mariano Vallejo, owned Rancho Petaluma: 67,000 acres of what is now the entire "wine country" of the Sonoma valley. During the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt, a few enterprising (some said addled) Americans took over Vallejo's rancho in Sonoma in a bloodless coup, arrested him, and sent him to Sutter's Fort, although Vallejo himself was a proponent of annexation by the United States. Little by little, as Americans encroached and California became one of the United States, these huge ranchos were whittled away by squatters, sale, or the 1862 Homestead Act that parceled the land out to American settlers.

Richard Henry Dana, a sailor and later novelist who visited California in 1834, wrote:

Californios are idle thriftless people, and can make nothing for themselves. The country abounds in grapes, yet they buy bad wine made in Boston and bought round by us at an immense price...They buy shoes from us (and like as not made of their own hides, which have been carried twice round Cape Horn) at fifteen dollars apiece. Things sell on an average at nearly three hundred percent upon Boston prices.

Yet up until the time the Mexican regime ceased, Californios had a custom of never charging for anything--entertainment, food, or use of horses. Travelers brought their own blankets and knives, and could always count on receiving a plate of beef and beans at any rancho, giving the hostess back her plate with a "Muchas gracias, señora," to which the hostess would have replied, "Buen provecho": May it do you much good.

Expansion & Invasion: From Empire to Commonwealth (The Short Version)

By Sandra Schwab

It is somewhat ironic that in the same century in which the British Empire reached the peak of its power, the slow process of its dismantling began as well. In a series of wars during the Victorian age Britain extended its empire until it had become the country on which the sun never sets. But such expansion of its territories came at a cost – and some considered the price to high. Especially towards the end of the century disillusionment spread. This is expressed in Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Widow at Windsor," in which the Queen is regarded as a spider which devours the male of the species:

Walk wide o' the Widow at Windsor,
For 'alf of Creation she owns:
We 'ave bought 'er the same with the sword an' the flame,
An' we've salted it down with our bones.
(Poor beggars! – it's blue with our bones!)

The vast empire became more and more difficult to manage and the problems only increased in the twentieth century, when national movements grew in colonies throughout the empire and strove for independence for their countries.

In 1839 Lord Durham, the Governor-General of British North-America, recommended limited self-government for what is now Canada. The idea of "responsible government" spread quickly, and some colonies (such as parts of Australia, New Zealand and Cape Colony) were eventually allowed to manage their own affairs under governors appointed by the mother country.

In 1867 three of the colonies of British North-America joined in a confederation and were granted a new status within the British Empire: they were now known as the Dominion of Canada, and became increasingly independent from the UK. This process was repeated in other parts of the empire, namely in those with a larger (former) European population: for example in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. These dominions were often referred as the British Commonwealth.

The independence of the dominions was recognized in the so-called Balfour Declaration of the Imperial Conference, which stated that:

They are autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any respect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

This relationship between dominions and former mother country was then formalised in the Statute of Westminster of 1931.


After WWII more and more colonies gained their independence, until the Colonial Office was finally abolished in 1966. With that, the British Empire officially ceased to exist, even though there are still dependent territories such as the Cayman Islands or Saint Helena.

Expansion & Invasion: I Was 11 During the Franco-Prussian War...

By Jennifer Linforth

I was eleven when I saw the first wrinkle of worry crack the well-crafted mask of indifference that was my brother's face.

All my younger years my brother, Philippe Georges Marie, the Comte de Chagny, was in charge. A philanthropist, womanizer and pillar of Paris, an outrageous risk taker and man of irreproachable conscience and heart—he was always smiling, always in control never--fearful.

Never, until the echo of Prussian boots fell upon the muddy streets of Paris, dull against the cobbles yet echoing loudly the change that was to come. The eighteenth of January was the day a new German empire was declared at Versailles, a place of revelry for my brother and his kin, a place where I, as the Vicomte de Chagny, longed to one day roam.

I would not be roaming there during the winter of my eleventh year.

The comte tried to explain to me best he could why several enormous armies were established in France's provinces--this in light of the German blockade of Paris. All I knew was I could not go to the city I so adored as a child. I could not taste youthful pleasure in the seat of a salon. I could not dine at my favorite cafés. My estate became my prison. Chateau de Changy became a tomb as we avoided being seen outside its marbled walls. The French troops were marching toward Paris, I was told, to attack the Germans from all sides.

The Germans were ill-pleased. They bombarded my beloved city, which only tightened our French resolve. "We will prevail, mon frere." My brother's words were the only thing keeping my youthful and rash head from leaping upon my horse and joining the ranks. Within a few weeks time war broke out across my country as the German armies lay scattered--for they were not prepared for an occupation the of the whole of France.

I thought we had prevailed. How wrong I was. My eleven-year-old mind could not comprehend the months that had passed since January, and by October 10th fighting erupted near Orléans. I remember the wrinkles deepening upon my brother's brow as he received word of the battle from Duc de Orléans. Would Chagny be next? The Germans were victorious as first--making my heart sink like a hunk of lead--until word came that my countrymen were triumphant at Coulmiers. At last! A light had cracked in the gloom of this war and November looked to belong to France. But the Germans--well-trained, numerous, with their needle guns--joined their forces from north to south and my countrymen abandoned Orléans by bleak and white December.

War continued until January of 1871. Paris was starving, innocent people--unprivileged, like I--were left in the cold streets, and my brother's ami, Jules Favre, traveled to Versailles to discuss peace with Bismark.

By now, I was approaching my twelfth year, and Bismark was a name I hated.

France was victorious in these talks--to a degree. Bismark permitted food convoys to enter Paris and I was left slightly guilty, for my belly was never empty through all this. Chagny had is secret stores--for didn't all nobility have secrets kept from the coffers of their governments? Bismark placed conditions on this aid--the Government of the National Defense was to surrender key fortresses outside of Paris to his Prussian army. Opposed, but realistic they could not defend Paris without their forts, the Government gave in. Our president resigned. Favre took over.

He surrendered two days later...

It would not be until 10th May that the Treaty of Frankfurt was signed and the war ended. Yet it would not be over not for those with titles to our name.

Paris was changed. Our government was changed. I watched The Commune rise. I avoided the dungeons, the anger, and the resentment of the lower class thanks to my brother. As I grew into my title, my title would grow to a fossil of a bygone era thanks to the first dull echoes of Prussian boots on muddy cobbles.

Many years later I would see the Communard dungeons deep below in the cellars of the Opera Garnier. I would not be placed there by the lower class Parisians resentful of my titled name. I would be shackled and chained there by a deviant madman--a Phantom of the Opera. But that is a story for another time. Until then, I would leave my legacy carved on the cold stone walls....

R. C.

It was then, the first wrinkle of worry cracked the well-crafted mask of indifference that was my face...

~Raoul Jean-Paul Marie, Vicomte de Chagny.

Expansion & Invasion: Colonising Australia

By Anne Whitfield

In 1770, Englishman Lieutenant James Cook charted the Australian east coast in his ship HM Barque Endeavoir. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of England on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming eastern Australia 'New South Wales'. This southern land would prove to be a dumping ground of England's unwanted--it's convicts--in an attempt to lessen the overcrowding of their jails.

The first European settlement in Australia was at Sydney Cove in New South Wales. Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet, comprising 11 ships and around 1,350 people, arrived at Botany Bay between 18 and 20 January 1788. However, this area was deemed to be unsuitable for settlement and they moved north to Port Jackson on 26 January 1788, landing at Camp Cove, known as 'cadi' to the Cadigal people. Governor Phillip carried instructions to establish the first British Colony in Australia.

The First Fleet was under prepared for the task, and the soil around Sydney Cove was poor. The young colony relied upon both the development of farms around Parramatta, 25 kilometres upstream to the west, and also trading food with local Aboriginal clans. The Second Fleet's arrival in 1790 provided badly needed food and supplies; however the newly arrived convicts were too ill, with many near to death, to be useful to the colony.

The Second Fleet became known as the 'Death Fleet'--278 of the convicts and crew died on the voyage to Australia, compared to only 48 on the First Fleet. The colony experienced many other difficulties, including the fact that there were many more men than women--around four men for every woman--which caused problems in the settlement for many years.

Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships.

Expansion & Invasion: A Cunning Plan

By Anna C. Bowling

Setting: Unspecified location, long ago. Two historical personages survey the world beyond their borders and debate what must be done.

First Historical Personage: Hey, look at that place over there.

Second Historical Personage: Nice and roomy. Think they'd mind if a few hundred of us moved in with all our stuff?

First Historical Personage: They might. They have their own stuff already, and I'm fairly sure they're using their houses.

Second Historical Personage: We like some of their stuff. Think they'd share?

First Historical Personage: Given the right incentive, possibly. Got any ideas?

Second Historical Personage: We have things that make them go "ow" if used properly.

First Historical Personage: They have owie things, too.

Second Historical Personage: Hmm.

First Historical Personage: Hmm.

Second Historical Personage: What if we asked nicely?

First Historical Personage: That might work if any of them speak our language.

Second Historical Personage: Do they?

First Historical Personage: What do you think?

Second Historical Personage: Probably not the majority.

First Historical Personage: Probably not. What we'd need is a universal language.

Second Historical Personage: Good luck with that one. Are you sure you don't want to use the owie things?

First Historical Personage: If we use our owie things, they use their owie things, and that can't end well.

Second Historical Personage: True, true.

First Historical Personage: So, the question is, how do we get them to let us move in a few hundred of our nearest and dearest (or least desirable, depending on our motives) in a way that could end well? I mean, isn't the whole invasion thing not weighted in their favor? Except for the "them" that fight back and keep us out altogether. Which, I might point out, would not end well for us.

Second Historical Personage: Ending well is a must. They have comely wenches.

First Historical Personage: That's it!

Second Historical Personage: What's what?

First Historical Personage: They have comely wenches, we have strapping young men. I know it's a rather simplistic view, but that's the genius of the whole plan.

Second Historical Personage: We have a plan? I thought we'd send in the barbarians....

First Historical Personage: No. No barbarians. Maybe a few who look like barbarians, at least before a decent bath.

Second Historical Personage: Bath? I shudder at the thought.

First Historical Personage: That might be one of the reasons you were asked to leave in the first place. Work with me here. We send in some outwardly rough specimens, preferably with tortured pasts, and they will seek out the comely wenches. Or the wenches seek them out. It can go both ways. Keep them in close quarters, and given enough time, they'll get to know each other as individuals and nature will take its course. Which will cause the parties involved to cut through the preconceived notions and things can indeed end well. Or well-ish. Depends on who's in charge of actually writing things down.

Second Historical Personage: But surely there will be some collateral damage.

First Historical Personage: Sadly, yes, but that can depend on the writers again, and it does leave the door open for sequels. Which will also end well. Even in the darkest of times, love does find a way to turn things around.

Expansion & Invasion: Peter I & the Ottomans

By Christine Koehler

Peter I of Russia is more known for bringing his empire into the modern world. For the creation of a great navy and reorganizing his army along European lines; for learning Western ways, and for building St. Petersburg.

More importantly to him, he sought a sea outlet. At the time of his reign (1682-1725) Russia had only one port, Arkhangelsk's access to the White Sea. The Baltic Sea was controlled by Sweden, the Black Sea by the Ottoman Empire. Peter chose the Black Sea, though he didn't believe he could face the Ottomans alone.

Though he went on a Grand Embassy designed to ally the European monarch with him in his campaign, none accepted. Advantageous to his failed Grand Embassy were two things: he learned more of Western society and studied shipbuilding in Holland to the extent of building ships for the Dutch east India Company.

In the 1695, he organized the Azov campaigns. The 1st Azov campaign began in the spring of 1695. Peter ordered his army of 31,000 men (including Don Cossacks)and 170 guns to advance towards Azov. Meanwhile, a second Russian army of 120,000 men, (including Streltsy and Ukrainian Cossacks) marched toward the lower reaches of the Dnieper with the goal of diverting the Crimean Khanate's attention.

The siege failed. Peter returned to Moscow by spring 1696 built the Azov Flotilla consisting of about 30 ships. Calvary (70,000 men) marched for lower reaches of the Dnieper. On April 23-26, 75,000 men advanced towards Azov by land and by the rivers of Voronezh and Don. Peter and his galley fleet left for Azov on May 3. On May 27, the Russian fleet (two battleships, four fire ships, 23 galleys, and smaller support ships) reached the sea and blocked Azov. On June 14, the Turkish fleet (23 ships with 4,000 men) appeared at the mouth of the Don.

A short battle later, where the Turks lost two ships, they left. Peter besieged Azov from land and sea, and by July 17 the Ukrainian and Don Cossaks seized of the external rampart of the fortress. The Azov garrison surrendered on July 19.

These campaigns demonstrated the importance of having a navy, and marked Russia's turn into a maritime power. Russia's success at Azov strengthened its positions during the Karlowitz Congress (1698-1699), which concluding the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 where the Ottomans were defeated at the Battle of Zenta, and favored the signing of the Treaty of Constantinople (1700), ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1686-1700. This treaty allowed Peter to declare war against Sweden for possession of the Baltic Sea.

Azov wasn't convenient for the military fleet, so Peter chose a more appropriate site on July 27, 1696 at Taganrog.

Sources:
History.Com
Wikipedia
NMM.UK
History Learning Site

Expansion & Invasion: Surrender or Die!

By Bonnie Vanak

They chose death over colonization. Suicide over assimilation.

Leaper's Hill on the Caribbean island of Grenada is a peaceful, lovely cliff overlooking a tranquil turquoise sea. Don't step too closely or you might end up below on the craggy rocks like 40 Carib Indians did in 1651.

For many years, the island was inhabited by the Carib Indians. In 1638, the Caribs faced invasion by the French, who decided they wanted to stay. The war-like, fierce Caribs said, ah, no thanks and drove them away.

The French built a colony in Grenada in 1650, after buying property from the Caribs for knives, hatchets, glass beads and two bottles of brandy. Sure beats today's real estate prices. The Caribs must have decided the price was too low, or the French too annoying, or they didn't like the French brandy, because they engaged the French a year later. However, the French, who now had a stronghold on the island and wanted to expand their territory, decided they weren't going away.

Make us, the French said.

The Caribs could not. The French decided enough was enough, and they were going to wipe out the Caribs. No more brandy or glass beads. Time to colonize to the max. Eliminate the enemy for once and for all.

Against the odds, the Caribs fought. On the northern part of Grenada, forty of the last Caribs made the decision to die. Instead of surrender and assimilation, they went to the cliff and jumped to their deaths.

The French named the hill "Le Morne de Sauteurs," or "Leaper's Hill." They went back to drinking their brandy, enjoying the island's pristine resources and trying to stave off the British, who also thought Grenada was a cool place to roost.

Unfortunately for the French, the British persisted, and they didn't want glass beads or brandy. So the French, instead of leaping, gave the island to the British in 1762.

Standing on Leaper's Hill gives you a sense of strong awe. At least it did for me when I visited Grenada. I envisioned the forty proud, brave Caribs, desperate and empty of hope, facing down the French. Unwilling to surrender their island, unable to hold it.

Unwilling to assimilate and lose their culture. The tragedy is interlaced with a touch of romantic heroism.

As writers, we can use the themes of invasion, expansion and assimilation to explore in our books. We can use our imagination to give them a different spin and twist. The themes don't have to be literal. What about the invasion of a strict parent admonishing an heir to act the part so he can assimilate into genteel society after a long absence? Or a heroine forced to marry and assimilate into a new culture or status?

I use these themes in both my historicals and the paranormals. The Carib's fierce independence that nudged them into making such a drastic and life-ending decision reminds me of Jamie, the heroine in Enemy Lover, my November Nocturne.

Jamie is an outcast who will not join the pack and become the mate of a strong Alpha werewolf. For her, it is better to jump off the cliff of her own loneliness than to assimilate into the dangerous world of the Draicon.

It's only Damian's gentleness, his fierce protectiveness toward her and the demonstrations of his love that enables Jamie to see differently. In Jamie's case, she does surrender and it is a sweet victory for both.

A victory far sweeter than the fate suffered by the Caribs, whose legend lives on in their namesake, the Caribbean islands.

Have you ever used an invasion, expansion or assimilation theme in your book and how did it play out?

Expansion & Invasion: I Will Fight No More Forever

By Jacquie Rogers

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce:

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohulhulsote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.

The Nez Perce was a peaceful tribe willing to co-exist with the white settlers in present day Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon. The Walla-Walla Treaty of 1855 ceded 6.4 million acres of Nez Perce land to the United States, leaving 7.5 million acres that was promised to be off limits to all non-Indians.

But then gold was discovered in 1860 and the white settlers moved in, so in 1863 the United States imposed the Lapwai Treaty, dubbed the "Thieves Treaty" by the Indians, that took 6 million acres of the remaining reservation land. Needless to say, many of the Nez Perce weren't thrilled about being kicked off their ancestral homes.

The Nez Perce were divided into two factions: the Christian group, which sided with the whites; and the Dreamer group, also called the non-treaty Indians, who refused to acknowledge the new reservation boundaries. Chief Joseph and Chief White Bird were Dreamers and members of the Wallowa Band of the Nez Perce. White Bird was the war chief and Joseph was the administrative chief.

Growing unease erupted into violence in 1877. The Battle of White Bird Canyon was a decisive victory for the Nez Perce, second only to the Sioux victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn. The army lost 34 men; the Nez Perce lost none. But the Battle of White Bird Canyon spelled the beginning of a four-month 1,500-mile escape by women, children, and grandparents, pursued by the US Army, and led by Chiefs White Bird and Joseph.

Finally, with the children and women both lost and dying, Joseph surrendered to General Nelson Miles. Chief White Bird refused, and took a small band to Canada, where they settled in Saskatchewan with Sitting Bull's people, never to return home again.



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Expansion & Invasion: La Malinche

By Elizabeth Lane

That a small force of Spaniards, under Hernan Cortes, was able to conquer Mexico in 1519 was due to several factors. The first was an incredible stroke of luck. They arrived a time of transition in the Aztec calendar, when momentous events had been foretold. For a time the Indians believed them to be gods. Also, the ruling Aztecs had many enemies among the tribes they'd conquered. Cortes was able to unite these tribes against their overlords. Diseases brought by the Spaniards played a major role as well. But the real outcome of the conquest hung on the abilities of one remarkable woman--the woman christened Marina and known as La Malinche.

Much of her life story relies on legend. She was born the daughter of a chief into a tribe whose people spoke Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. While she was still a young girl her father died. Her mother remarried and gave birth to a son. Wishing her son to become chief, the woman sold her daughter to some traders, who, in turn, sold her to another tribe on the coast. These people spoke a different language, similar to the one used by the Mayans. Thus she grew up with a knowledge of two languages.

Her new tribe was among the first to meet the Spaniards. As a gesture of friendship, the chiefs presented the newcomers with a group of beautiful girls, who were promptly baptized, given Christian names, and passed around to the conquistadors to be their mistresses. Marina, as she was named, was given to Alonso Puertocarrero, one of Cortes's young lieutenants. Her abilities went unnoticed until after the Spaniards picked up a castaway from an earlier expedition. Geronimo de Aguilar, a monk had lived among another Mayan-speaking tribe and spoke their language.

Marina's value became clear when Cortes received a delegation from the Aztecs. Only Marina could understand their language. With her translating into Mayan for Aguilar, and Aguilar translating into Spanish, communication became possible. Cortes took her for himself, and Marina rapidly learned Spanish, so she could translate directly between Spanish and Nahuatl.

The story of the conquest is far too long to relate here. Marina remained at Cortes' side while the Aztec empire crumbled. During that time she bore him a son, whom he later took to Spain. When her usefulness came to an end, Cortes married her to Juan Jaramillo, one of his loyal soldiers. About 1527, few years after giving Jaramillo a daughter, Marina evidently died.

Marina's pivotal role is still open to dispute. Some view her as a traitor who turned against her people (even though she had no choice in the matter). Others view her as a heroine who protected her people and prevented the conquest from being even bloodier than it was. She is the figure behind La Llorona, the legendary weeping woman of Mexico.

Marina was the subject of my very first novel, MISTRESS OF THE MORNING STAR, which was published in 1980. The book has been reissued by ereads.com and is still available.

Expansion & Invasion: Vikings in York

By Michelle Styles

When I first moved to Northumberland, my sister who speaks fluent Norwegian came out to visit. She was surprised to hear people speaking what she thought was Norwegian or another Scandinavian language but with a very bad accent. Suddenly, she realized they were speaking Geordie or the dialect of Northumberland.

Despite the defeat of King Harldur Sigurdson at Stamford Bridge in 1066, the traces of Viking occupation in Northumberland and Yorkshire live on--for example in place names such as Thorngrafton, Tyne, or any village ending in "by". "By" is simply the Viking word for farmstead. The suffix "thorpe" means outlying farm. Any street name ending in gate is also derived from the Viking--gata. It simply means street. So in Hexham you have Gilesgate, or in York, where the central streets are still fundamentally the same as when the Vikings were there, there is Coopersgate amongst of a host of other "gate"-named streets. Coopersgate literally means the street of the coopers or wood workers. Today, it is the site of the Jorvik Museum, where the sites, sounds and smells of Viking Britain are recreated.

How and when did it happen?

The earliest form of Viking activity started in 793 with the raid on Lindisfarne. During this phase, the Vikings simply raided and left, returning each winter to their homeland. However, as population pressure grew in Scandinavia due to good harvests and increased wealth, plus the consolidation of power, so the nature of the raids changed. While the Norwegians concentrated on consolidating their power bases in Northern Scotland, the Danes suddenly appeared to have realized how lucrative East Anglia could be. Armies began to build camps and overwinter. In 830, the Danes overwintered on the island of Thanet in the Thames. In 865, the Anglo Saxon Chronicles record the first payment of dane geld and then in the autumn, the Danes were back.

In 866, they moved north and on 1 November 866, as the citizens of Eboracum celebrated All Saints Day, the Vikings rode in and took the city unopposed.

Northumbria at the time was in the midst of a civil war--between Osbert and AElla--and they appeared to have completely missed the Viking threat. The Vikings set about fortifying the old Roman fort. On 21 March 867, Osbert and AElla laid seige to the Vikings and the Northumbrian army was soundly beaten. Eboracum became Jorvik and eventually that name was corrupted to York.

Under Viking rule, York doubled in size and became the largest trading city in England with a population of around 30,000. It was the main trading outlet and the archaeological evacuations undertaken mainly during the 1970s and 1980s have shed new light on the Vikings as traders, artists and craftsmen rather than just warriors. They have discovered a tannery for making boots, an ice skate manufacturer (the Vikings fashioned skates from bone), and workshops for combs and other household utensils. One very exciting find was a set of Viking pan pipes. Apparently, it is possible to produce music from the pipes.

It should be noted that Vikings, rather than insisting that the Church at York be sacked and disbanded, allowed the Church and the archbishop to continue their work...for the most part. In other words, the Vikings settled down and began to rule. And the third phase of the Viking Age began--settlement.

Direct Viking rule lasted until 954. The Earl of York was created in 960 and many of the early earls were Viking. It is not until William the Conqueror builds castles in York that its independence as a Viking trading centre is truly brought to an end.

Michelle Styles's next Viking romance will be published in North America in December: Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife.

Expansion & Invasion: Conquest of Spain

By Lisa Yarde

In the seventh century, Arabian invaders swept westward and captured North Africa in a bold bid for Islamic control of the Mediterranean. In 711, an army led the Berber general Tarik ibn Ziyad amassed on the shores of North Africa and looked toward a prize looming across the Mediterranean: Spain.

Map of Islamic expansion into Spain

Spain at the time was a decaying country under the fractured Visigoths. After the sudden death of the Visigoth King Wittiza, a rebellious, powerful chieftain called Roderick seized the throne and proclaimed himself king. Roderick's cruel suppression of regions that did not support him sealed his fate and doomed his kingdom to collapse. The sons of the late King Wittiza conspired against him, in addition to a Visigoth nobleman named Julian, who allegedly hated Roderick for the rape of Julian's daughter. The Visigoth rebels appealed to the Muslims of North Africa for assistance against Roderick. The governor of North Africa, Musa ibn Nusair had other plans for Roderick’s beleaguered kingdom.

In the year 710, Musa appointed a Berber leader Tarik ibn Ziyad, as his general. Tarik's goal was to sail for southern Spain. When he landed on a rocky outcrop on the coast, he gave his name to the region as "Jabal Tarik", the mount of Tarik, known by its modern name of Gibraltar. Under Tarik, the Muslim army crossed to Gibraltar in 711 and easily overran Roderick's crumbling Visigoth kingdom, moving quickly up from the coast to Cordoba and Toledo. They met with little resistance as they established control over the coastline. Many non-Muslims, especially the enemies of Roderick Jewish residents of Spain, welcomed the newcomers as allies rather than conquerors and aided them willingly.

Gibraltar, site of Tarik's landing

The Visigoths were caught by surprise. Roderick quickly went to the south with a small band of men. They were easily overwhelmed and defeated in an ambush and Tariq's men killed Roderick on July 19, 711. In the following year, Tarik's lord, Musa, joined the attack, launching a three-month siege at Seville before he moved on to areas now in modern-day Portugal. In the north, combined armies of Musa and Tarik took the provinces of Leon and Castile, reaching as far as the Bay of Biscay. For his victories, Tarik initially became the governor of conquered Spain. Within seven years, the conquest of the peninsula was complete. The Muslims renamed the new land "al-Andalus" from which the modern name for the southern region of Andalusia derives. Under Islamic rule, Christians and Jews were called "peoples of the book" which meant they were free to practice their religion. But, the Muslim rulers imposed financial penalties and sometimes persecuted their non-Muslim citizens, which meant mass conversions to Islam.

The Cordoban mosque

Determined to expand further in Christian Europe, the Muslims crossed into France and in a decisive battle at Tours in 732, King Charles Martel halted the northern advance. But Spain flourished as one of the centers of Islamic civilization, and remained in part under Muslim control until 1492 when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella completed the Reconquista.

Expansion & Invasion: Organized Crime in Chicago

By Delia DeLeest

Big cities have always had crime, it goes with the territory, but Chicago seems to be famous for its links to crime of the organized variety. How did a nice, Midwestern cattle town become the Crime Capitol of the United States? The answer is relatively simple.

Prohibition, the "noble experiment", was thought by its proponents to be the savior of the sinful and the protector of the innocent. Instead, it gave organized crime a firm foothold it has yet to relinquish and ushered in a wave of illegal bootlegging and gang rivalry that took years for the city to recover from. Chicago was a prime candidate for organized crime. Its location, close to the Wisconsin northwoods and the Canadian border, along with its access to Lake Michigan, made importing illegal liqueur relatively easy. Besides, its government was already handily in the pockets of the city's criminals, making it simple to encourage justice to look the other way when encountering its less savory, though very powerful, characters.

When Prohibition began, the unrefuted crime boss of of Chicago was Big Jim Colosimo. He controlled prostitution, racketeering and all other forms of vice in the Windy City. Big Jim was famous for his fancy clothes and love of the opera. When his love of opera transferred itself to love of a particular singer, the trouble began. He left his wife and focused all his attention on the young woman who was to become the next Mrs. Big Jim.

Not only was his first wife neglected, but so was his criminal empire. Much to the frustration of his second in command, Johnny Torrio, he refused to see the great profits that could be gained by exploiting Prohibition by building up a bootlegging empire in the city. It was during this time that a young kid from New York, Alphonse Capone, made himself known to Mr. Torrio and became indispensable to the organization. Legend has it that when Johnny Torrio finally became frustrated enough with Big Jim to take action, it was Al Capone who assisted. Big Jim Colosimo was found shot to death on May 11, 1920.

With Big Jim out of the way, Johnny was in business. A very methodical businessman, Torrio's plan was to organize the scattered pockets of bootleggers who had been fighting for control of the city. By dividing Chicago up into different areas, each serviced by a different gang, in which he would be the leader, he felt that not only could they all become rich, but stop the infighting so they could all live to enjoy it. A wonderful plan that just may have worked, but for one thing, all of the crime lords he was attempting to organize, became crime lords for a reason, they were as crooked as the day was long. Despite Torrio's efforts and threats, the group was plagued by cheating and double-dealing.

As Torrio's enforcer, Capone tended to take a fight fire with fire approach and blood flowed freely down the streets of Chicago. Since Torrio's whole concept was to incorporate to prevent bloodshed, he and Capone were soon at odds as to how to keep their fellow gangsters in line. Torrio had taught Capone everything he knew, so it should have come to no surprise to anyone when Torrio was gunned down in his front yard one day, much like Big Jim Colosimo had been five years earlier.

Unlike Big Jim though, Torrio survived. The shooting was traced to The Northsiders, the Chicago gang led by Deanie O'Banion and his fellow Irishmen, though there is ample suspicion that Capone had something to do with it. Nevertheless, Capone, good right-hand man that he was, had a ten-man guard outside Torrio's hospital door during his recovery and, when Torrio decided that gangstering business was getting too dangerous and retired, Capone gladly took his place at the helm of Chicago's underworld.

Under Capone's leadership, Chicago came as close as it was going to get to being under one rule. He systematically eliminated the competition, peaking with the wiping out of O'Banion's Irishers during the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. His spree only ended when he was finally put away in Federal prison for tax evasion in the early 1930's.

Capone's been gone for years, but his legacy continues. Though organized crime in Chicago isn't as blatant as it was during its Prohibition heyday, its claws are embedded deep in the very fabric of America.

Expansion & Invasion: The Normans

By Lisa Yarde

During the Viking Age, the spirit of conquest and expansion beyond Scandinavia gave birth to a new race of warriors--the Normans. From their base in northern France, a region called Normandy, they expanded their influence and control into the British Isles and the Mediterranean with bloodied swords.

Beginning in 820, Scandinavian raiders penetrated the northern Frankish kingdom, sacking Rouen and besieging Paris. After decades of repeated incursions, a new leader emerged named Hrolfr Ragnvaldsson known as "the Ganger" who set his sights on the Frankish territory. Born on the Norwegian island of Giske to Jarl Rognvald the Wise of More in about 860, Hrolfr descended from lone of the oldest ruling families in Norway, one which would come to control the Earldom of Orkney. Clearly, ambition ran in the family. Hrolfr did not want the usual bribes, loot and plunder; he intended to stay and establish holdings in the beleaguered kingdom.

In 887, he carved out territory and settled his people in the lower Seine region. Twenty-four years later in 911, King Charles the Simple of France concluded a treaty with Hrolfr at Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, conceding the territory the Viking leader had held for so long. In return, the Viking leader promised to protect the land against other Scandinavia raiders. Hrolfr, now baptized Rollo / Robert became the first Count of Normandy.

By the custom of hand-fasting he wed Poppa, daughter of the Count of Bayeux after killing her father Berenger and fathered at least fourteen children during his marriage with her. He also married the daughter of Charles the Simple, Giselle but had no heirs by her. He built fortifications at Bayeux, Brionne, Bessin and Maine, and his followers also married Frankish women and took local concubines. When he died in 933, the Normans were in complete control of northern France from the outskirts of Brittany to the coast of Flanders. In 1911, on the thousandth anniversary of the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, France erected statues of its first Viking leader, like the one shown here at Falaise.

Statue of Hrolfr the Ganger / Count Rollo at Falaise, Normandy
Despite the next two centuries of intermarriage between the native Frankish people and the Scandinavians, and their acceptance of Christianity, their Norman descendants yearned to expand their territory and control. Hrolfr's heirs added the Contentin and Avranchin and Richard II became first to style himself Duke of Normandy. The warlike tendencies of their ancestors led to bitter struggles among the Normans. In 1017, when Richard exiled Osmond for killing one of the Duke's relatives, he raised a band of more than 200 warriors and journeyed to Italy. Osmond's brother Rainulf became the first count of Aversa, north of Naples.

In 1035 Rainulf struggled to hold his land against Byzantine interests and appealed to his fellow Normans. Two of the twelve sons of Tancred de Hauteville, William and Drogo answered the call. William won the nickname "Iron Arm" by killing a Muslim ruler at the siege of Syracuse, in southern Italy. He became Count of Apulia. His brother Drogo succeeded him. From their bases in Italy, the Normans wrested control of Sicily and Malta from the Muslims, and established the kingdom of Sicily which existed until 1194.

Statue of William II, last Norman king of Sicily
In 1066, Hrolfr's great-great-great grandson William the Conqueror set his sights upon an even greater conquest than in the Mediterranean; rule of England. The Vikings had raided along the English coast for at least 50 years before they began terrorizing the Frankish domain. From early on, they also expressed a strong intent to remain in the lands they raided.

After the Battle of Edington in 878, the Danish Viking leader Guthrum the Old wanted to settle peaceably in England. By treaty with King Alfred the Great in 886, Guthrum achieved his wish in the establishment of the Danelaw, territory stretching from Northumbria and East Anglia to the eastern coast. Two centuries later, Duke William of Normandy married Matilda of Flanders, a descendant of the King Alfred and consolidated his power. The English king Edward the Confessor was half-Norman by his mother Emma and he held the Normans at his court in high favor.

When he died, his Anglo-Danish in-laws, the Godwinsons, under Harold seized the throne. William claimed that two years before, Harold had sworn an oath recognizing Edward's offer of the English crown to the Norman Duke. In the autumn of 1066, William sailed to England and his followers ravaged the English coastal towns, daring a response from Harold. The King marched his army south, just after defeated a Viking invasion from the north at Stamford Bridge. So it was that an Anglo-Danish ruler met the Norman Duke, himself descended from a long line of Viking seafarers, but Harold lost England and his life at the Battle of Hastings.

Bayeux Tapestry, depicting Duke William and his Norman retainers
With their rise to power, the Normans imposed feudalism and dynamically changed the political power structure and culture of very domain they conquered.

Expansion & Invasion: New Amsterdam

By Christine Koehler

If you never read (or heard of ) The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America by Russell Shorto, you should. It's a wonderful story about the founding of New York. Granted, he's a little long-winded in the middle, but it's a well-researched book and a fascinating piece of our history.

New Amsterdam developed outside of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in the New Netherland territory (1614–1674). Because the Dutch believed their territory was what they could 'own' and use, it was situated between 38 and 42 degrees. Yup, it's now New York City.

The harbor and river was discovered, explored, and charted by an expedition of the Dutch East India Company captained by Henry Hudson in 1609. From 1611 through 1614, the territory was surveyed and charted by various private commercial companies on behalf of the States General of the Dutch Republic and operated for the interests of private commercial entities prior to official possession as a North American extension of the Dutch Republic as a provincial entity in 1624.

To secure the settlers' property and its surroundings according to Dutch law, Pieter Minuit, created a deed with the Manhattan Indians in 1626 which signified legal possession of Manhattan. Minuit negotiated the "purchase" of Manhattan from the Manahatta band of Lenape for 60 guilders worth of trade goods. No, they didn't by it for $20-some odd dollars. It was an extremely complicated agreement involving alliances against neighboring tribes, trade, and the general well being of each side.

Because the Dutch themselves believed in equality among all, everyone was welcomed in the colony regardless of race, sex, creed, or origin. This law superseded any individual’s intolerance or individual bigotry.

The city, situated on the strategic, fortifiable southern tip of the island of Manhattan maintained New Netherland's provincial integrity by defending river access to the company's fur trade operations in the North River (Hudson River) and to safeguard exclusive access to the Delaware River and the Connecticut River.

On August 27, 1664, while England and the Dutch Republic were at peace, four English frigates sailed into New Amsterdam’s harbor. They demanded New Netherland's surrender. Director-general Peter Stuyvesant provisionally ceded the city to the English. This resulted in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, between England and the Dutch Republic.

In 1667, the Dutch didn't press nor relinquish their claims on New Netherland in the Treaty of Breda, in return for an exchange with the tiny Island of Run in North Maluku and the guarantee for the factual possession of Suriname. The New Amsterdam city was subsequently renamed New York, after the Duke of York (later King James II) who was granted the lands by his brother, King Charles II with the simple stroke of his pen.

The English had a very different view of colonization. They believed they owned all the land they saw on their maps. Didn't matter if they could use it or had enough people to colonize it. That land was theirs.

However, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch recaptured New Netherland in August 1673 and installed Anthony Colve as New Netherland's first Governor. The city was renamed New Orange. After the signing of the Treaty of Westminster in November 1674 the city was relinquished to English rule and the name reverted to New York. In return, Suriname became an official Dutch possession.

NPS.Gov

The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America by Russell Shorto

Expansion & Invasion: The Benin Punitive Expedition

By Karen Mercury

I was amazed to discover that, as recently as 1897 in Benin City Nigeria, there existed a remote and cut-off civilization that still practiced human sacrifice. "1897?" I scoffed. "They were inventing the automobile then!" This Edo civilization was a secluded kingdom where only a few white men had been allowed to venture. Skilled artisans crafted bronze artwork so advanced it was later compared to Egyptian art in its beauty.

European traders were making inroads into the complex network of Niger delta waterways, anchoring trading hulks in the rivers to satisfy the lust for ivory and "red gold," the palm oil that flowed from the interior. This was a hellish occupation in an area where the chant was "The Bight of Benin! The Bight of Benin! One comes out where three goes in." The White Man's Graveyard was a malarial miasma where only the toughest agents flourished, and a lucky few had the verbal contracts to do business directly with the Oba, who ruled the Kingdom of Edo controlling the river trade.

I wrote in THE HINTERLANDS:

Brendan had established new trading posts in Urhobo country, beaches with warehouses for palm oil and trade goods. The Oba had eghen at the waterside markets, and they often stopped all trade leaving Edoland if they weren't happy with the terms. Brendan's men were so accustomed to the embargoes they kept their palm oil in gourds with narrow necks that could be sealed until the markets reopened.

To force the trade routes open, Whitehall sent a James Phillips of the Royal Navy. Phillips, a former Overseer of Prisons, was determined to take Benin City.

The Edo's human sacrifice was a sort of form of fatalism. The sun, moon, and tides didn't give a damn about the Edo. They looked to the gods that were always smiting people with unexpected catastrophes, drowning, heart attacks, malaria. The spirits were ripe for the devil, so the African flattered them with sacrifices--the more pain and loss it caused the African, the happier the spirits were.

Elle wasn't at the Iroko tree either, where a prisoner Brendan knew as Thompson Oyibodudu momentarily distracted his attention.

"Isn't that the fellow who dresses in white man's clothes?" Evin asked him.

"Sure enough." Brendan nodded grimly. Oyibodudu traded directly with Oyinbo and had adopted their customs.

"He will not go quietly," Onaiwu said.

Oyibodudu's eyes bugged out as though about to explode before the executioner even wrapped the garrote around his neck. Though hobbled, and with hands cinched behind his back, Oyibodudu lurched to his feet and shouted in booming, foreboding tones, "The white men that are greater than you and I are coming soon to fight and conquer you!"

Henchmen leaped to subdue him, to wrestle him back to the properly submissive execution stance. "Kill me quickly!" was the last thing Oyibodudu yelled before he was muffled.

The jovial crowd shrieked in both horror and humor, many of them reflexively turning to laugh at Brendan and Evin. It was of the utmost effort to remain placid through all of it.

The human sacrifice they didn't understand disgusted the British, and they used this excuse as well as the trade embargoes to justify their bellicose intents.

Brendan looked levelly at the jackass. "Yet you're considering deposing the Oba."

Phillips swung his empty gin glass between his fingertips, leaned forward, and said confidentially, "My dear boy. There is every reason to believe the Edo people would be glad to get rid of their king. He's a liability, a throwback to an earlier, primitive, tribal way of dealing. You've seen for yourself the hundreds of human sacrifices. Now surely, even Americans don't stand behind that sort of behavior."

"The sacrifice is a very holy belief in appeasing their gods. When they see us impinging upon foreign countries in the name of our God, quite possibly they think the same thing of us." Brendan paused meaningfully. "And the only sacrifices are criminals and unauthorized traders found in his domains."

When the Oba heard word of the impending invasion, he ordered even more human sacrifices to stave off the Oyinbo arrival. Getting antsy, without waiting for approval from Whitehall, Phillips embarked on his own little expedition to Benin City.

Victoria turned around on her stool. "Vince! Does this mean war? Will we have to leave Sapele?"

Gainey came forward to hand Brendan his cocktail. Brendan took it, for it suddenly didn't seem so odd at that time of day. "My dear, have no fear. This is no war party; poor misguided Jim is just making a friendly stab at opening up the kernel trade."

Rip interjected, his shocked eyes full of concern. "But don't you reckon Brendan here is just going to run and warn the Oba? There could be all sorts of savage ambushes awaiting the poor fellow."

Brendan snorted with disgust. "Rip, a group of eight unarmed white men with a drum and fife band is hardly the making of a necktie party. What would I warn the Oba about...an impending cricket match?"

Phillips took more than eight whitemen: he brought along 250 African soldiers of the Niger Coast Protectorate Force, five British officers, and a military band to display his "friendly" goals. His real mission was to depose the Oba, replace him with a native council friendly to British concerns, and pay for the expedition with spoils of war.

Some chiefs had warned the Oba that "the white man is bringing war." The Oba wanted to allow them into his city, but a hot-headed young general, Ologboshere, thought otherwise. Ologboshere and his men attacked the unarmed "peace" party, wiping out Phillips and all but two white men, and nearly all the native "carriers."

Brendan knew why Phillips had gone unarmed, and left all of his revolvers in a locked trunk hoisted by carriers. During Brendan's last visit to Consular Hill in Old Calabar, he had glimpsed a letter on Phillips's desk in Ralph Moor's characteristically spiked handwriting, telling Phillips: "And do go unarmed, old boy. The first sign of so much as a revolver and those bloodthirsty savages will have your head."

As Brendan surveyed the field of gore and destruction, he instantly knew why Moor had told Phillips that. Moor had a keen idea there would be some sort of altercation that he could use as the excuse for immediate punitive reprisal, his lusty goal for the region since taking control.

In January 1897, Rear Admiral Harry Rawson was appointed by the British Admiralty to lead an expedition to capture the Oba and destroy Benin City. As arranged, Brad Forshaw and John Swainson were allowed into Edo. It was an extremely brave trek for the traders, as Ologboshere had already sent out guerrilla parties to make surprise raids against the British, and the British were sending scouts with Snider rifles and spies into Benin territory.

They brought the news that twelve hundred bluejackets and Marines from London, Cape Town, and Malta had steamed up to Brass under the command of Rear Admiral Rawson. The brunt of the fighting was to fall on the well-seasoned men of the Niger Coast Protectorate Force, the unit of armed constabulary raised by Moor years before.

In addition, there were hundreds of African carriers brought from Sierra Leone, Opobo, and Bonny. Ralph Moor, having been mobilized with alacrity back from London, was already en route to Sapele to inspect the Cape Squadron with Rear Admiral Rawson. Ominously, they were equipped with seven-pounder artillery for bombardment, rocket tubes, and Maxim guns that spewed out six hundred rounds a minute. John and Brad returned to Sapele the next day, never to visit again.

The invading force reached Benin City in February 1897.

Brendan shared looks with Elle and Evin to see a brass Portuguese horseman pendant sticking out from the back pocket of the corporal's trousers. Around his rifle stock, one private had a brass altar ring that he probably didn't know depicted bound and severed heads, and decapitated bodies with vultures feasting upon them. Indeed, the closer they got to the palace, more soldiers dashed hither and yon carrying all manner of spoils of war. Some of the carved tusks were so big and heavy it took two or more men to hoist one of them, and there was barely a beefeater who did not cradle an altar tableau or a head of the Oba under his arm.

"I say." Brendan fell easily into the beefeater lingo. "Would it be possible to get some colors to accompany us back to Sapele?"

"Oh," said the corporal merrily, "I daresay you could take a whole regiment back with you. Everyone's blooming eager to get out of here. It's been a larky expedition, but we've seen enough human sacrifices to last us all month."

Every member of the "Benin Punitive Expedition" took part in the looting, on the third day burning the Oba's palace. They returned home with 2500 religious artifacts and bronze artworks. The Oba escaped and "went for bush" with a detachment, but surrendered some months later. In Benin City, the British laid out a 9-hole golf course, the first hole on the same spot as the former Iroko human sacrifice tree. The artwork was auctioned off to pay for the expedition, eventually winding up in museums all over Europe, setting off a new appraisal of West African art that was copied for decades. Sir Ralph Moor committed suicide in 1909 by drinking potassium cyanide.

Expansion & Invasion: British East Africa

By Jennifer Mueller

The cradle of man. The oldest human bones in the world were found in Kenya and Tanzania. Ports along the coast were used and settled by the Arabs and Portuguese, under control of the Sultan of Oman at times, and yet once past the coast, it was all an unexplored wilderness. Not until the 1880s did the first outsider head through the lands of the Nandi, Maasai, Kikuyu, Akamba and dozens more.

With those few men's tales it took only a decade for the railroad to be put through. It was a foolhardy mission though; they built the railroad before there was hardly a colony, before there was industry to make it profitable. Much like the Field of Dreams--build it and they will come--the railroad was put through with the intention of bringing access, so the colonists would arrive and make the builders a fortune.

The Kenya/Uganda Railway was plagued by man-eating lions and Africa in general. It went over budget and took far longer to complete than anyone thought. Nairobi was just a rail supply stop built near a swamp in those days. Hardly a dozen white families were scattered across British East Africa--not much of a way to make that railroad pay for itself. For several years there was nothing, no infrastructure other than the railroad, almost no government, and no industry or business. Some Indian laborers brought in to build the railroad stayed on, opening stores near the few farms and gathering places the tribes already had. That was it though.

Excerpt from SAMBURU HILLS:

August 7, 1907

Dear Francis,

I have arrived at my new home in Africa. I give Nicholas credit, the site is beautiful. The sky is covered with a thick patchwork of black and white clouds washed in color like a painted photograph, shades of blue and yellow hover over the red dirt of the countryside. Hills rise from the plains, not gently slopping hulks like at home, but large distinct bodies that stop before the next one starts. The hills surround me like a crown and rocks jut from them like jewels.

In the diffused light outside, the conglomeration of clouds and rising sun cause the earth to be covered in odd shadows. Some hills are illuminated, some hidden in shadow, and others lost in the haze and clouds that the heat of the day has yet to burn off. The acacia trees turn a luminous gold. The trees and bushes on the hills burst forth as if viewed on a stereoscope. Now and then, herds of zebra or gazelle stop at the reduced river to drink. There is a drought on the land. Last night I heard my first lion roar and as I sat outside watching the sunrise, a giraffe passed by only a dozen feet away while the scent of Africa swirled about me.

The rest of my life is not so lovely, for when I pull back the net to keep away the dreadful mosquitoes, I am in hell. My house is made of mud with a thatch roof and a dirt floor. There are no windows or doors. Except for what I have brought with me, there is no furniture, only makeshift contraptions of packing crates and old paraffin tins. I seriously wonder what Nicholas is thinking when there is a house full of servants and no house.

Amir, the cook Nicholas brought with him from India, is quite a handsome little rascal. His wife Dunmeya has become the maid. There is a Somali butler, Sayid, in his long dress of the Musselman and a waistcoat. There is a housekeeper named Zahra, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. I do not have to lift a finger. He seems to forget I was raised on a farm and ran it after my mother died. Yet, he does not allow me to do anything. He talks only of India and England as if he never left. He treats the servants as servants, which means I can hardly talk to them. I share his bed and yet he tells me nothing of what he is doing. I am ignored. That is the worst hell in all of this.

Even if all I had was respect, I think I could handle this life better, but he does not even give me that. I have long wondered why he would marry the gamekeeper's daughter. I think I have arrived at an answer--it is the only way he can feel superior to a wife. Something tells me no one of title or wealth would have the lout, not as a husband anyway.

Celeste

Things grew slowly for the next decade, but that wasn't for of a lack of trying on the part of the colonists. Through trial and error, slowly crops and ventures were found that withstood the harsh African climate. At one point Jewish advocates were trying to turn Kenya into new Zion in the vein of Israel, only decades earlier. It was not a popular plan with the British colonists and eventually, when it was looked at in person, the plan was deemed unsuitable and nothing ever came of it.

Already it was the place to come for sportsmen out for a good hunt. President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were only two of the famous visitors. Lords and younger sons looking for adventure were thick in the new colony.

That's the world in which Kenya's most famous citizen, Karen Blixen, arrived. Under the name Isak Dennison, she wrote the famous words: "I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills." Her plight was common, a husband that was off hunting and a farm that made no money. The cows brought in for farms were often affected by rinderpest and other African diseases. Only after they were bred with local varieties were they able to have some success. Coffee prices were fickle and it took years for them to produce. Tea would come later. Rains wouldn't come. The locals wouldn't work all the time.

It was a hard life, and World War I made it even harder. Many men were off fighting the Germans--not in Europe, but in the South of Kenya. The Germans controlled what is now Tanzania and used men there to pester the Britain, hoping it would divert troops from Europe. There were skirmishes but few real battles. The true cost to the colony was the lack of supplies that never arrived. Equipment couldn't be fixed. Most farms were unable to sell their goods. The colony almost ground to a halt.

The men returning from war in Europe were the saving grace. Soldiers were given allotments of land and the population shot up. By the 1920s, Kenya was known for the Happy Valley--not a valley in the sense of location, but the hard working colonists looking to make a life there were given over to newcomers, young men and women there to have a good time. Some were even sent to Kenya after they had some scandal back home. Drugs, sexual exploits and orgies were rampant. They even gave the Prince of Wales cocaine on his visit there.

As the 1950s started, things were coming to a head. Elizabeth II was staying in a Kenyan hotel when she found out her father had died and she was Queen, but it wouldn't be long before the terror of Mau Mau took hold. Thirty thousand British settlers ruled and farmed the best land, leaving the less viable land for several million native Kenyans. The Kikuyu especially weren't happy at being forced to be tenant farmers, not for others who increasingly took more for themselves. It was their lands that were primarily taken for white farms.

The rebellion that followed killed 32 Europeans and took the lives of thousands of Kenyans--depending on who is asked, that number runs from 11,000 to as many as 50,000. A good portion of them were killed by their own people to keep some quiet, and to intimidate others. For years Kenya was an almost military state. The future president Jomo Kenyatta was convicted of being Mau Mau, even though a modern look at the evidence offers no proof. He spent six years in house arrest in the north of the country. The emergency was finally lifted in 1960, paving the way for full independence in 1963.

Not much more than sixty years of being a colony and the era was at an end.