Anthony Egan
KING KHAMA, EMPEROR JOE AND THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN: VICTORIAN BRITAIN THROUGH AFRICAN EYES by Neil Parsons (University of Chicago Press)
In 1895, three Bechuana chiefs -Khama, Sebele and Bathoen – travelled to Britain to meet Queen Victoria. This was no courtesy visit, but an attempt to protect their communities from the encroachment of empire-builder Cecil Rhodes.
Rhodes was expanding his political and economic empire at a furious rate. Having already taken what is now Zimbabwe, he had his eyes on the Transvaal and wanted to consolidate his control over Southern Africa by annexing to his British South Africa Company the area of present-day Botswana. The Tswana chiefs wanted Britain to intervene.
They arrived there amid much publicity to see Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies (“Emperor Joe”) and – if possible – the “Great White Queen” herself. Followed by press of all political persuasions, who saw these three “kings” as something exotic and thus great copy for their readers, they embarked on a tour of Britain, speaking at a variety of occasions and gatherings. Finally, they gained their audience with Queen Victoria. Chamberlain himself, in the wake of their visit, drafted the Chamberlain Settlement, which gave a certain degree of protection to the chiefs’ land.
Parsons depicts this exercise in diplomacy as a study of how Victorian Britain perceived African peoples, and how Africans saw the English. Woven into this is a narrative examining the complexities of imperial diplomacy and the role of missionaries in Southern Africa.
The result is a history that works on a number of levels. Parsons musters his material with skill to produce a book that is readable as well as a contribution to academic history. It is also exceptianlly well illustrated.