1.
British West Indies Regiment
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The British West Indies Regiment was a unit of the British Army during the First World War, formed from volunteers from British colonies in the West Indies. In 1915 the British Army formed a second West Indies regiment from Caribbean volunteers who had made their way to Britain. Initially, these volunteers were drafted into a variety of units within the army, the similarity of titles has sometimes led to confusion between this war-time unit and the long established West India Regiment. Both were recruited from black Caribbean volunteers and a number of officers from the WIR were transferred to the BWIR, the 1st Battalion was formed in September 1915 at Seaford, Sussex, England. It was made up of men from, British Guiana—A Company, a further ten battalions were formed afterwards. High wastage led to further drafts being required from Jamaica, British Honduras, in total 15,600 men served in the British West Indies Regiment. The British West Indies Regiment played a significant role in the First World War especially in Palestine, all ranks behaved with great gallantry under heavy rifle and shell fire and contributed in no small measure to the success of the operations. While the 1st and 2nd Battalions served mainly in Egypt and Palestine, the 8th and 9th Battalions also served in France and Flanders, before being transferred to Italy in 1918, while the 10th and 11th Battalions also served in France and Italy. Following the Armistice in November 1918 the battalions of the BWIR were concentrated at Taranto, Italy, finally, on 6 December 1918, the men of the 9th Battalion refused to obey orders, and 180 sergeants signed a petition complaining about poor pay, allowances, and promotions. On 9 December the 10th Battalion also refused to work, over a period of four days a black NCO was killed and a lieutenant colonel assaulted. In response men of the Worcestershire Regiment were sent to restore order, the 9th Battalion was disbanded, and redistributed to other battalions, which were disarmed. Around 60 men were tried for mutiny, receiving sentences from three to five years, with one man getting 20 years, and another was executed by firing squad, during World War I the BWIR was awarded 81 medals for bravery and 49 men were mentioned in despatches. African-Caribbean leftism George Blackman Gershom Browne Arthur Andrew Cipriani John Daley Sam Manning Stanley Stair Clennell Wickham Joseph, the British West Indies Regiment, 1914-1918. Jamaican Volunteers in the First World War, Race, Masculinity, a Source of Black Nationalism in the Caribbean, The Revolt of the British West Indies Regiment at Taranto, Italy. The Interwar Years & the Caribbean Soldier in Social Transformation, A Dominican Perspective, dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences. Reading List, The British West Indies Regiment and black soldiers in the First World War, department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London. World Wars, A White Mans War, World War One and the West Indies
2.
Federation of the West Indies
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The West Indian Federation, also known as the West Indies, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. British Guiana and British Honduras held observer status within the West Indies Federation, the total population of the West Indies Federation was between 3 and 4 million people, with the majority being of black West African descent. Minorities included Indians from the subcontinent, Europeans, Chinese, there was also a large population of mixed descent. In terms of religion, most of the population was Protestant, with significant numbers of Catholics and some Hindus, the West Indies Federation consisted of around 24 main inhabited islands and approximately 220–230 minor offshore islands, islets and cays. The largest island was Jamaica, located in the far northwest of the Federation, to the southeast lay the second largest island, Trinidad, followed by Barbados, located at the eastern extremity of the Federation. However, most of the area along either of these distances was taken up by open water, by comparison Great Britain stretches across nearly 10 degrees of latitude and Spain extends across almost 20 degrees of longitude. Most of the islands have mountainous interiors surrounded by narrow coastal plains, the exceptions were Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Trinidad. The narrow coastal plains as well as historical trade is the reason why almost all of the major settlements of the Federation were located on the coast. Chief towns included Kingston, Port of Spain, Bridgetown, Spanish Town, Montego Bay, Mandeville, Castries, Roseau, St. Georges, Kingstown, St. Johns, and Basseterre. The climate in all the islands is tropical, with hot and humid weather, regions falling within the rain shadows are relatively drier. There are two seasons annually, the dry season for the first six months of the year, many of the islands fall within the traditional hurricane belt, with the exception of Trinidad and thus are at risk from potential wind and flood damage. Britain classified the Federation as being part of its Caribbean and North Atlantic Territories region which was shared alongside other possessions such as Bermuda, Guyana opted not to join at that time due to its ongoing political and internal struggles for independence from the UK, started in the 1950s. At issue were the newly formed political party with socialist leanings and it had hoped to join the federation once the issues were resolved. The Bahamas did participate in the 1960 West Indies Federation Games, with a prime minister of the Bahamas, Perry Christie. There was however possible interest by Guyana in a very loose re-attempted Caribbean Federation around 1971, the Federation was an internally self-governing, federal state made up of ten provinces, all British colonial possessions. The federation was created by the United Kingdom in 1958 from most of the British West Indies, Britain intended that the Federation would shortly become a fully independent state, thus simultaneously satisfying the demands for independence from all the colonies in the region. The legal basis for the federation was the British Caribbean Federation Act 1956, and her representative, Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes, was given the title of Governor-General rather than that of Governor more typical for a British colony. The title may have reflected the nature of the state
3.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
4.
Infantry
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Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice
5.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
6.
Sinai and Palestine Campaign
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The Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was fought between the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire, supported by the German Empire. It started with an Ottoman attempt at raiding the Suez Canal in 1915, fighting began in January 1915, when a German-led Ottoman force invaded the Sinai Peninsula, then part of the British Protectorate of Egypt, to unsuccessfully raid the Suez Canal. After the Gallipoli Campaign, veterans from each side formed the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, after a period of stalemate in Southern Palestine from April to October 1917, General Edmund Allenby captured Beersheba from the III Corps. Serious losses on the Western Front in March 1918, during Erich Ludendorffs German Spring Offensive, Damascus and Aleppo were captured during the subsequent pursuit, before the Ottoman Empire agreed to the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, ending the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The British Mandate of Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria, the campaign was generally not well known or understood during the war. Australia did not have a war correspondent in the area until Captain Frank Hurley, Henry Gullett, the first Official War Correspondent, arrived in November 1917. The Republic of Turkey came into existence in 1923 after the Turkish War of Independence ended the Ottoman Empire, the Suez Canal was of vital strategic importance to the British, reducing the sailing time from India, New Zealand and Australia to Europe. As a result Egypt became a base during the war. To Germany and the Ottoman Empire the canal was the closest and weakest link in British communications, Defence of the canal posed a number of problems, with its sheer size alone making it hard to control. There was no road from Cairo, while only one railway track crossed the 30 miles of desert from Cairo to Ismaïlia on the Canal before branching north to Port Said and south to Suez. At the beginning of hostilities between Britain and the Ottoman Empire in November 1914 the 30,000 strong British defence force evacuated the Sinai Peninsula, instead they concentrated their defences on the western side of the canal. These were supported by the guns of Allied ships in the canal, opposing them were around 25,000 men, including the 25th Division. The Ottoman Empire demonstrated its interest in being reinstated in Egypt in 1915 when Ottoman forces attacked British forces in Egypt, the Germans also helped to foment unrest among the Senussi in what is now Libya, when they attacked western Egypt and threatened the Sudan during the Senussi Campaign. Egypt was neither an independent ally nor a member of the British Empire, the recently appointed High Commissioner Sir Reginald Wingate and Murray agreed that Egypts contributions would be restricted to the use of the countrys railway and Egyptian personnel. However, Maxwell had proclaimed on 6 November 1914 that Egypt would not be required to aid Britains war effort, martial law allowed the British administration to control foreign European residents, monitor foreign agents and intern dangerous persons who were the subjects of hostile nations. The powers were used to police prostitution and the sale of alcohol. The Capitulations, however provided some protection to the Europeans who controlled both these industries, in the autumn of 1917 GHQ was transferred from Cairo to the front leaving garrison battalions. This move took the commander in chief of the EEF, who was responsible for law, out of touch with the civil authorities
7.
East African Campaign (World War I)
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The campaign all but ended in November 1917, when the Germans entered Portuguese East Africa and continued the campaign living off Portuguese supplies. The strategy of the German colonial forces, led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, was to divert forces from the Western Front to Africa. His strategy achieved only mixed results after 1916, when he was out of German East Africa and Allied forces became composed almost entirely of South African, Indian. The Germans fought for the whole of World War I, receiving word of the armistice on 14 November 1918 at 7,30 a. m, both sides waited for confirmation and the Germans formally surrendered on 25 November. German East Africa became two League of Nations Class B Mandates, Tanganyika Territory of the United Kingdom and Ruanda-Urundi of Belgium, German East Africa was colonized by the Germans in 1885. The territory itself spanned 384,180 square miles and covered the areas of modern-day Rwanda, Burundi, the colonys indigenous population numbered seven and a half million and was governed by just 5,300 Europeans. Although the colonial regime was relatively secure, the colony had recently been shaken by the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1904–05 whose effects were still being felt by 1914. The outbreak of World War I in Europe led to the popularity of German colonial expansion. Mittelafrika effectively involved the annexation of territory, mostly occupied by the Belgian Congo, the territory would dominate central Africa and would make Germany as by far the most powerful colonial power on the African continent. Nevertheless, the German colonial military in Africa was weak, poorly equipped, although better trained and more experienced than their opponents, many of the German soldiers were reliant on weapons like the Model 1871 rifle which used obsolete black powder. Even the largest concentration of German troops in the continent in East Africa, was unable to fight an aggressive war. By threatening the important British Uganda Railway, von Lettow hoped to force British troops to invade East Africa, in 1912, the German government had formed a defence strategy for East Africa in which the military would withdraw from the coast into the hinterland and fight a guerrilla campaign. For the Belgians, the German presence in East Africa was a threat to the security of Congo, the Colonial Minister, Jules Renkin, favoured a policy of trading territory gained in East Africa with the Portuguese, to expand the western Congo coast in a post-war settlement. A successful campaign in Africa was also seen as a way for the De Broqueville government to avenge the German invasion of Belgium, in East Africa, the Congo Act was first broken by the British. On 15 August, German Askari forces stationed in the Neu Moshi region engaged in their first offensive of the campaign, taveta on the British side of Kilimanjaro fell to 300 Askari of two field companies with the British firing a token volley and retiring in good order. In September, the Germans began to stage raids deeper into British East Africa, German naval power on Lake Victoria was limited to Hedwig von Wissmann and Kingani a tugboat armed with one pom-pom gun, causing minor damage but a great deal of news. The British then armed the Uganda Railway lake steamers SS William Mackinnon, SS Kavirondo, Winifred, the tug was trapped and then scuttled by the Germans. In an effort to solve the raiding nuisance and to capture the northern, white settler region of the German colony
8.
Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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The Old Burying Ground is a historic cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road in Downtown Halifax, the Old Burying Ground was founded in 1749, the same year as the settlement, as the towns first burial ground. It was originally non-denominational and for decades was the only burial place for all Haligonians. In 1793 it was turned over to the Anglican St. Pauls Church, the cemetery was closed in 1844 and the Camp Hill Cemetery established for subsequent burials. Ongoing restoration of the rare 18th century grave markers continues, over the decades some 12,000 people were interred in the Old Burial Ground. Today there are only some 1,200 headstones, some having been lost, the most prominent structure is the Welsford-Parker Monument, a Triumphal arch standing at the entrance to the cemetery commemorating British victory in the Crimean War. This is the second oldest war monument in Canada and the monument to the Crimean War in North America. The arch was built in 1860,16 years after the cemetery had officially closed, the arch was built by George Lang and is named after two Haligonians, Major Augustus Frederick Welsford and Captain William Buck Carthew Augustus Parker. Both Nova Scotians died in the Battle of the Great Redan during the Siege of Sevastopol and this monument was the last grave marker in the cemetery. The Old Burying Ground was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1991 and it had earlier been designated a Provincially Registered Property in 1988 under Nova Scotias Heritage Property Act. Mary Morris, wife of Charles Morris James Brenton Many of those who first established Halifax arrived from Cape Breton, the following participated in the Siege, Joseph Fairbanks, d.1790 John F. T. Gschwind, surgeon for Hessians, arrived in Halifax 1781 Lieut. Part of the devastation of the war resulted from American family members having to choose sides, for example, the story of one American patriot listed below, Benjamin Kent. While in Boston he imprisoned his son-in-law Sampson Salter Blowers for being a Loyalist, Blowers and the rest of Kents family escaped to Halifax. After the war, Kent eventually moved to Halifax to be with his family, both Blowers and Kent are buried in the Old Burying Ground. Governor Paul Mascarenes grandchild William Handfield Snelling, d.1838 Benjamin Kent, American patriot, d. 1788, and his wife Elizabeth, d.1802 Capt. William Burton, 98th Regiment of Foot, d.1817 Martha Howe, wife of John Howe, mother of Joseph Howe Peter Etter, d. 1794, a loyalist originally from Switzerland, father of Benjamin Etter William Taylor,1810, a Boston merchant, father of James Taylor Peter Lennox, Jonathan Sterns, d. 1815, murdered Captain Ebenezer Herrington, d.1812, HMS Chub, friendly fire Commander John George Deware, D.1830 John Thompson, Surgeon, HMS Saracen, d.1818 Lt. Col. Peter Waterhouse, d
9.
Bunce Island
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Bunce Island is an island in the Sierra Leone River. It is situated in Freetown Harbour, the estuary of the Rokel River and Port Loko Creek, the island measures about 1,650 feet by 350 feet and houses a castle that was built by a British slave-trading company in c.1670. Although the island is small, its position at the limit of navigation for ocean-going ships in Africas largest natural harbour made it an ideal base for European slave traders. S. Which is now held by the Sierra Leone National Museum, Bunce Island was first settled and fortified by English slave traders in c. The castle was not commercially successful but it served as a symbol of English influence in the region, the early phase of the castles history ended in 1728 when Bunce Island was raided by José Lopez da Moura, a Luso-African slave trader based in the area. He was the richest man in present-day territory of Sierra Leone and this class acted as middlemen, resisting efforts by the Royal African Company to monopolise trade with African rulers. Lopez led others in destroying the Bunce Island factory, Bunce Island was abandoned until the mid-1740s. It was later operated by the London-based firm Grant, Oswald & Company, in 1785 Bunce and a number of other dependent islands were conveyed to the company of John and Alexander Anderson. Throughout the late 18th century, it was a profitable enterprise. The London-based owners grew wealthy from the castles operations, the slave traders who did business at Bunce Island came from a variety of backgrounds. During the castles history, Afro-Portuguese—part of what historian Ira Berlin described as the Atlantic Creole generation—sold slaves. They were well-established along the rivers near the coast and were descendants of male Portuguese slave traders known as lançados and African women, during the islands later history, Afro-English dynasties became established in communities along the West African coast, beginning in the 17th century. By 1800, there were about 12,000 Afro-English in this area, mixed-race men from such families as the Caulkers, Tuckers and Clevelands sold slaves and traded goods at Bunce Island. Like the Portuguese descendants, they occupied a middle ground, often marrying into the classes of African tribes. The slave ships came from London, Liverpool and Bristol, from Newport, Rhode Island in the North American colonies and they transported slaves mostly to British markets in the Caribbean and the American South. Bunce Island was an important British commercial outpost and a target during times of war. French naval forces attacked the four times, damaging or destroying it each time. The attack of 1779 took place during the American Revolutionary War when the rebel Continental Armys French allies took advantage of the conflict to attack British assets outside North America
10.
Marie-Galante
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Marie-Galante is an island of the Caribbean Sea located south of Guadeloupe and north of Dominica. It is a dependency of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas department, Marie-Galante has a land area of 170.5 km². It had 11,528 inhabitants at the start of 2013, Marie-Galante is divided into three communes, Grand-Bourg, Capesterre-de-Marie-Galante and Saint-Louis. These three communes formed an entity in 1994, the Community of Communes of Marie-Galante. This is the oldest intercommunal structure of the regions of France. The Huecoids are the oldest known civilizations to have occupied Marie-Galante, followed by Arawaks, the island was called Aichi by the Caribs and Touloukaera by the Arawaks. Marie-Galante was the first island encountered by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage, on 3 November 1493, he anchored at the islet now called Anse Ballet in Grand-Bourg, and named the island in honor of the flagship Marigalante of the second voyage. On November 8,1648, Governor Charles Houël du Petit Pré organized the first French colonization of the Americas, jacques de Boisseret bought the island back from the French Company of the Islands of America on September 4,1649. In 1653, the Carib Indians slaughtered the few remaining colonists who had not surrendered to the living conditions. Sugarcane, which originated in India, had been imported to the French West Indies by Christopher Columbus. As sugar became a commodity, it was cultivated in Guadeloupe from 1654 by deported Brazilian colonists who created the first sugar plantations equipped with small ox-powered mills to crush the cane. In 1660, at Basse-Terre Chateau, a treaty was signed in which the Caribs authorized the French and British to settle on the islands of Dominica. With the island now at peace, the availability of technology was developing into a plantation-based economy by using imported slaves from Africa. In 1664, Madame de Boisseret gave up her rights to Marie-Galante to the Company of the West Indies, in 1665, her son Monsieur de Boisseret de Temericourt became the islands governor. The map of the island he established carries his coat of arms, during the second half of the 17th century, the first slaves were brought from Africa to Marie-Galante to cultivate plantations. In 1671, 57% of the inhabitants were black, jewish Dutch exiles from Brazil also settled, bringing new methods for the cultivation of cane sugar. In 1676, a Dutch fleet abducted the population and plundered its facilities, after the repopulation of the island, its new inhabitants were attacked for the third time by the Dutch and by the British in 1690 and 1691. The British retook the island from 1759 to 1763, Windmills were first seen in 1780
11.
Corps of Colonial Marines
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The Corps of Colonial Marines were two Marine units raised from former slaves for service in the Americas by the British at the behest of Alexander Cochrane. The units were created at two different times, and were disbanded once the military threat had disappeared. The first Corps was a unit that served in the Caribbean from 1808 to 12 October 1810. The locally-recruited men were less susceptible to tropical illnesses than were troops sent from Britain, the Corps followed the practice of the British Armys West India Regiments in recruiting slaves as soldiers. The second, more substantial, Corps served from 18 May 1814 until 20 August 1816, the greater part of the Corps was stationed on the Atlantic coast, with a smaller body occupying a fort on the Gulf coast in Florida. Recruits were accepted from among escaped slaves who had gained their freedom on coming into British hands. The establishment of the force sparked controversy at the time, the arming of former slaves representing a threat to the slave-owning society of the Americas). As a consequence, the two officers of the Corps in Florida were demonised in Niles Register for their association with the Corps. At the end of the War of 1812, as the British post in Florida was evacuated the Corps Florida detachment was paid off, although several men accompanied the British to Bermuda, the majority continued to live in settlements around the wooden stockade the Corps had garrisoned. This legacy of a community of armed fugitive slaves with an arsenal would lead to tensions with the United States of America. Those remaining later took part in the Battle of Negro Fort in July 1816, after which joined the southward migration of Seminoles. Members of the Colonial Marine battalion who were deployed on the Atlantic coast withdrew from American territory and they would continue in British service as garrison-in-residence at Bermuda until 1816, when the unit was disbanded and the ex-Marines resettled on Trinidad. Rear Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane raised the first Corps of Colonial Marines in 1808 while commander-in-chief of British naval forces on the Leeward Islands station during the Napoleonic Wars. The British had captured the island of Marie Galante earlier that year, Cochrane named the ex-slaves the Corps of Colonial Marines, which was enlarged with fugitive slaves from Guadeloupe. The Corps was paid from Marie Galante revenues, clothed from Royal Navy stores and they saw no further action as a distinct body, but were listed in ships musters among supernumeraries for wages and victuals under the description Colonial Marine until mid-1815. Rear Admiral George Cockburn, Cochranes second-in-command on the Atlantic coast and it served as part of the British forces on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States during the War of 1812. On 2 April 1814, Cochrane issued a proclamation to all wishing to emigrate. By 10th May, Tangier Island off the Virginia coast had been occupied by the British, male refugees were given the option to become blue Jackets, take up arms or join the working party constructing Fort Albion and its infrastructure
12.
Chesapeake Bay
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It is the largest estuary in North America. With its northern portion in Maryland and the part in Virginia. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bays 64, 299-square-mile drainage basin, the bay is approximately 200 miles long from its northern headwaters in the Susquehanna River to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean. It is 2.8 miles wide at its narrowest and 30 miles at its widest, total shoreline including tributaries is 11,684 miles, circumnavigating a surface area of 4,479 square miles. Average depth is 21 feet, reaching a maximum of 174 feet, the bay is spanned twice, in Maryland by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from Sandy Point to Kent Island and in Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connecting Virginia Beach to Cape Charles. Known for both its beauty and bounty, the bay became emptier, with crabs, oysters. Recent restoration efforts begun in the 1990s have been ongoing and show potential for growth of the oyster population. The health of the Chesapeake Bay improved in 2015, marking three years of gains over the past four years, according to a new report by the University of Maryland, the word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village at a big river. It is the seventh oldest surviving English place-name in the U. S. first applied as Chesepiook by explorers heading north from the Roanoke Colony into a Chesapeake tributary in 1585 or 1586. The name may refer to the Chesepian or Chesapeake people. They occupied an area which is now the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, in 2005, Algonquian linguist Blair Rudes helped to dispel one of the areas most widely held beliefs, that Chesapeake means something like great shellfish bay. The name might actually have meant something like great water, or it might have just referred to a location at the bays mouth. In addition, the name is almost always prefixed by the in usage by local residents, The Chesapeake, The Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Bay is an estuary to the North Atlantic, lying between the Delmarva Peninsula to the east and the North American mainland to the west. It is the ria, or drowned valley, of the Susquehanna River and it is not a fjord, because the Laurentide Ice Sheet never reached as far south as the northernmost point on the bay. The large rivers entering the bay from the west have broad mouths and are extensions of the ria for miles up the course of each river. The bay was formed starting about 10,000 years ago when rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age flooded the Susquehanna River valley. Parts of the bay, especially the Calvert County, Maryland and these cliffs, generally known as Calvert Cliffs, are famous for their fossils, especially fossilized shark teeth which are commonly found washed up on the beaches next to the cliffs. Scientists Cliffs is a community in Calvert County named for the desire to create a retreat for scientists when the community was founded in 1935
13.
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Georgia is a state in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1733, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies, named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2,1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 19,1861 and it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15,1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, from 2007 to 2008,14 of Georgias counties ranked among the nations 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, Atlanta is the states capital, its most populous city and has been named a global city. Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, to the west by Alabama, the states northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. Georgias highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level, Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures, the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12,1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II. The Trustees implemented a plan for the colonys settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan. In 1742 the colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins Ear, in 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a colony, with a governor appointed by the king. The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the State of Georgias first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24,1778, in 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains, which led to the Georgia Gold Rush and an established federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued its operation until 1861. The subsequent influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgias tribes. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that ruled U. S. states were not permitted to redraw the Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched troops to gather the Cherokee
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Islam in Trinidad and Tobago
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Muslims constitute 5 percent of the population on Trinidad and Tobago, representing 102,421 individuals. The majority live in Trinidad but there are a handful in Tobago as well, the first Muslims to arrive in the country arrived from Africa brought as slaves by the colonists. From the 1840s, Muslims came from South Asia as part of the Indian indenture system to work on sugar cane, Muslims today are mostly of South Asian descent but there are converts from all races. In Trinidad there are Islamic primary and secondary schools, the first Muslim secondary school in the country, ASJA Boys College, San Fernando, was established in 1960. There are many mosques and Eid ul Fitr is a public holiday, there are several mosques belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. In 2005, an Islamic television channel IBN Channel 8 was born, in 2006 was Darut Tarbiyah The Islamic Network established. Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt Muslims in T&T - Trinidad Guardian, Indian Diaspora Supplement May 30,2000, national Library Archive The Trinidad & Tobago Masjid Project - comprehensive list of masaajid in T&T. Pictures of Masjids in Trinidad and Tobago Saudi Aramco World - Muslims in the Caribbean - Trinidad, how a Minister in Trinidad and Tobago entered Islam
15.
4th West India Regiment
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The West India Regiments were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced to a unit of two battalions. This regiment differed from similar forces raised in parts of the British Empire in that it formed an integral part of the regular British Army. Eight West India Regiments were commissioned between 24 April and 1 September 1795, the eighth of the newly raised regiments was disbanded the following year but the quality of the new corps led to a further five West India Regiments being raised in 1798. In 1807 all serving black soldiers recruited as slaves in the West India Regiments of the British Army were freed under the Mutiny Act passed by the British parliament that same year. In 1808 the Abolition Act caused all trading in slaves to be abolished, prohibited and decleared to be unlawful. In 1812 a West African recruiting depot was established on Bance Island in Sierre Leone to train West African volunteers for the West India Regiments, by 1816 the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the reduction of the West India regiments to six led to the closure of this depot. Thereafter all recruitment for the various West Indian regiments that fought in World War I and World War II were West Indian volunteers, with officers and some senior NCOs coming from Britain. The WIR soldiers became a part of the British forces garrisoning the West Indies. The black Caribbean soldiers by contrast proved better adapted to tropical service and they served against locally recruited French units that had been formed for the same reasons. Free black Caribbeans soldiers played a prominent and often distinguished role in the history of Latin America. The new West India Regiments saw considerable service during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1800 there were 12 battalion-sized regiments which were seen as valuable also for dealing with slave revolt in the West Indies colonies. The Regiments were later involved in the War of 1812, both on the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, taking part in the British attack on New Orleans. In 1800 there were 12 battalion-sized regiments which were seen as also for dealing with slave revolt in the West Indies colonies. Following the end of the War of 1812, numbers were progressively reduced, during most of the remainder of the nineteenth century there were never less than two West India Regiments. The 1st West India Regiment from Jamaica went to the Gold Coast of Africa to fight in the Ashanti War of 1873-4, in 1888 the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments were merged into a single regiment comprising two battalions. A third battalion was raised in 1897, but was disbanded in 1904, enlistment for the West India Regiment during this period involved a commitment for twelve years of full-time service. This was in contrast with most other regiments of the British regular army
16.
Battalion
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A battalion is a military unit. The use of the term varies by nationality and branch of service. Typically a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is divided into a number of companies, a battalion is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. In some countries the word battalion is associated with the infantry, the term was first used in Italian as battaglione no later than the 16th century. It derived from the Italian word for battle, battaglia, the first use of battalion in English was in the 1580s, and the first use to mean part of a regiment is from 1708. The battalion must, of course, have a source of re-supply to enable it to sustain operations for more than a few days, the battalion is usually part of a regiment, brigade, or group, depending on the organizational model used by that service. The bulk of a battalions companies are often homogeneous with respect to type, a battalion includes a headquarters company and some sort of combat service support, typically organized within a combat support company. The term battalion is used in the British Army Infantry and some including the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was formerly used in the Royal Engineers, and was used in the now defunct Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Other corps usually use the term regiment instead, an infantry battalion is numbered ordinarily within its regiment. It normally has a company, support company, and three rifle companies. Each company is commanded by a major, the officer commanding, the HQ company contains signals, quartermaster, catering, intelligence, administration, pay, training, operations and medical elements. The support company usually contains anti-tank, machine gun, mortar, pioneer, mechanised units usually have an attached light aid detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to perform field repairs on vehicles and equipment. A British battalion in theatre during World War II had around 845 men in it, and, as of 2012, with successive rounds of cutbacks after the war, many infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion. A battalion group or battlegroup consists of a battalion or armoured regiment with sub-units detached from other military units acting under the command of the battalion commander. In the Canadian Forces, most battalions are reserve units of between 100–200 soldiers that include an operationally ready, field-deployable component of approximately a half-company apiece, the nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. Canadian battalions are generally commanded by lieutenant-colonels, though smaller reserve battalions may be commanded by majors, with the Dutch artillery units, the equivalent of a battalion is called an afdeling. Combat companies consist of infantry, combat engineers, or tanks, in the latter case, the unit is called an eskadron, which translates roughly to squadron
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Sierra Leone
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Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north-east, Liberia to the south-east, Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. Sierra Leone has an area of 71,740 km2. Sierra Leone is divided into four regions, the Northern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area. Freetown is the capital, largest city and its economic and political centre, Bo is the second largest city. The other major cities are Kenema, Makeni and Koidu Town, Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and a unicameral legislature. Sir Milton Margai built his government based on democratic principles. Throughout his time in power, Sir Milton Margai was very popular across Sierra Leone, the main opposition APC, led by its leader Siaka Stevens, narowly defeated the ruling SLPP under the leadership of Albert Margai in the 1964 general elections. Stevens ruled for eighteen years in a government, in which his critics. Soldiers and politicians convicted of plotting a coup to topple Stevens were executed, under president Stevens, the APC was made the only legal political party in Sierra Leone, and all other political parties were banned, including the main opposition. Stevens handpicked successor, retired major general Joseph Saidu Momoh, lacked the political dominance of Stevens, Momoh reestablished the country as a multi party democracy in 1991. The current constitution of Sierra Leone was adopted in 1991 during the presidency of Joseph Saidu Momoh, the rebels started the civil war in 1991 in the eastern part of the country during Momohs presidency. Momoh was very unpopular, and Public anger against the Momoh government increasingly grew due to corruption, poor economy. In 1992 a group of officers in the army led by a 25-year-old captain, Valentine Strasser. In 1996 during the war, another military coup of soldiers within Strassers inner circle, led by a 32 year old Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio, toppled Strasser. Since independent to present, Sierra Leones politics has been dominated by two political parties, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party and the All Peoples congress. From 1991 to 2002, the Sierra Leone civil war was fought and this proxy war left more than 50,000 people dead, much of the countrys infrastructure destroyed, and over two million people displaced as refugees in neighbouring countries. In January 2002, then Sierra Leones president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, fulfilled his promise by ending the civil war, with help by the British Government, ECOWAS
18.
Anglo-Ashanti wars
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The wars were mainly due to Ashanti attempts to establish strong control over the coastal areas of what is now Ghana. Coastal peoples, such as the Fante and the inhabitants of Accra, in the Ga-Fante War of 1811, the Akwapim captured a British fort at Tantamkweri and a Dutch fort at Apam. In the Ashanti-Akim-Akwapim War of 1814–16 the Ashanti defeated the Akim-Akwapim alliance, local British, Dutch, and Danish authorities all had to come to terms with the Ashanti. The African Company of Merchants was dissolved in 1821 and the British assumed control of the Gold Coast, by the 1820s the British had decided to support one of the other tribes, the Fanti, enemies of the Ashanti. Inland, the Ashanti kings who ruled from the Golden Stool, said to have come from their great god guardian of the Ashanti soul, Nyame, economic and social friction played their part in the causes for the outbreak of violence. The immediate cause of the war happened when a group of Ashanti kidnapped and murdered an African sergeant of the Royal African Corps, a small British group was led into a trap which resulted in 10 killed,39 wounded and a British retreat. The Ashanti tried to negotiate but the British governor, Sir Charles MacCarthy, rejected Ashanti claims to Fanti areas of the coast and this started the First Anglo-Ashanti War which ran until 1831. The British were overrun, suffered losses, and ran out of ammunition, almost all the British force were killed immediately, only around 20 managed to escape. MacCarthy, along with the ensign and his secretary, attempted to back, he was wounded by gunfire, however. Ensign Wetherell was killed whilst trying to defend MacCarthys body and Williams taken prisoner, mcCarthys gold-rimmed skull was later used as a drinking-cup by the Ashanti rulers. On Mr Williamss recovering his senses, he saw the headless trunks of Sir Charles McCarthy, Mr Buckle, and Ensign Wetherell. During his captivity he was lodged under a shed in the same rooms as the heads which. Major Alexander Gordon Laing returned to Britain with news of their fate, the Ashanti swept down to the coast, but disease forced them back. The new governor of the Gold Coast, John Hope Smith, started to gather a new army, mainly comprising natives, including Denkyiras, in August 1826 the governor heard that the Ashanti were planning on attacking Accra. A defensive position was prepared on the open plain 10 miles north of Accra, on 7 August the Ashanti army appeared and attacked the centre of the British line where the best troops were held, which included some Royal Marines, the militia and a battery of Congreve rockets. The battle dissolved into hand-to-hand fighting but the Ashanti force were not doing well on their flanks whilst they looked like winning in the centre. The novelty of the weapons, the explosions, rocket trails, soon they fled leaving thousands of casualties on the field. In 1831, the Pra River was accepted as the border in a treaty, in 1863, a large Ashanti delegation crossed the Pra river pursuing a fugitive, Kwesi Gyana
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Freetown
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Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leones major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, the city proper had a population of 1,050,301 at the 2015 census. The citys economy revolves largely around its harbor, which occupies a part of the estuary of the Sierra Leone River in one of the worlds largest natural deep water harbors, the population of Freetown is ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse. The city is home to a significant population of all of Sierra Leones ethnic groups. As in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone, the Krio language is Freetowns primary language of communication and is by far the most widely spoken language in the city. The city of Freetown was founded as a land for freed African American and West Indian slaves, Freetown is the oldest capital to be founded by African Americans, having been founded thirty years before Monrovia, Liberia. The city of Freetown is locally governed by an elected city council municipality, known as the Freetown City Council. Members of the Freetown City Council and the Mayor are elected every four years, the current mayor of Freetown is Franklyn Bode Gibson, of the APC, who was elected mayor with 68. 25% of the votes, in the 2012 Freetown municipal mayoral election. The City of Freetown is divided into three regions, the East End, Central, and the West End. The East End is both the most populous, and the most densely populous of the three regions within Freetown, the East End is home to the countrys harbor. Central Freetown is home to the State House, the House of Parliament, the Supreme Court, the National Stadium, the Bank of Sierra Leone, the West of Freetown is the least populous of the three regions within Freetown. The West End is home to the countrys Lumley Beach, Fourah Bay College, and these blacks were African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Africans, Southeast Asians, and blacks born in Britain. They established the Province of Freedom and the settlement of Granville Town on land purchased from local Koya Temne subchief King Tom, the British understood the purchase was to mean that their new settlers had the land for ever. King Toms successor, King Jimmy, burnt the settlement to the ground in 1789 and these 1787 settlers did not formally establish Freetown, even though the bicentennial of Freetown was celebrated in 1987. But formally, Freetown was founded in 1792, in 1791, Thomas Peters, an African American who had served in the Black Pioneers, went to England to report the grievances of the black population in Nova Scotia. Some of these African Americans were ex-slaves who had escaped to the British forces who had given their freedom. Land grants and assistance in starting the settlements had been intermittent, during his visit, Peters met with the directors of the Sierra Leone Company and learned of proposals for a new settlement at Sierra Leone
20.
Kamerun
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German Cameroon was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of todays Republic of Cameroon. German Cameroon also included parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern parts of Chad. The first German trading post in the Duala area on the Kamerun River delta was established in 1868 by the Hamburg trading company C, the firm’s agent in Gabon, Johannes Thormählen, expanded activities to the Kamerun River delta. In 1874, together with the Woermann agent in Liberia, Wilhelm Jantzen, both of these West Africa houses expanded into shipping with their own sailing ships and steamers and inaugurated scheduled passenger and freight service between Hamburg, Germany and Duala. These companies and others purchased extensive acreage from local chiefs and began systematic plantation operations, by 1884, Adolph Woermann, representing all West African companies as their spokesman, petitioned the imperial foreign office for protection by the German Empire. Bismarck, the Imperial Chancellor, sought to utilize the traders on site in governing the region via chartered companies, however, in response to Bismarck’s proposal, the companies withdrew their petition. At the core of the commercial interests was pursuit of profitable trading activities under the protection of the Reich, eventually Bismarck yielded to the Woermann position and instructed the admiralty to dispatch a gunboat. As a show of German interest, the small gunboat SMS Möwe arrived in West Africa, the protectorate of Kamerun was established during the period generally known as Europe’s imperialist Scramble for Africa. The German explorer, medical doctor, imperial consul and commissioner for West Africa Gustav Nachtigal was the force toward the colony’s establishment. By then well over a dozen German companies, based in Hamburg and Bremen, conducted their trading, an extensive postal and telegraph system and a river navigation network with government ships connected the coast to the interior. The Kamerun protectorate was enlarged with Neukamerun in 1911 as part of the settlement of the Agadir Crisis, at the outbreak of World War I, French, Belgian and British troops invaded the German colony in 1914 and fully occupied it during the Kamerun campaign. The last German fort to surrender was the one at Mora in the north of the colony in 1916, following Germanys defeat, the Treaty of Versailles divided the territory into two League of Nations mandates under the administration of Great Britain and France. French Cameroun and part of British Cameroons reunified in 1961 as Cameroon, German West African Company History of Cameroon Neukamerun Index, German colonisation in Africa German South West Africa Togoland German East Africa DeLancey, Mark W. DeLancey, Mark D. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon, the Great War in West Africa. Etablierung und Institutionalisierung des kolonialen Gewaltmonopols, archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Map of the territories exchanged between France and Germany at the Treaty of Fez, gerichtsbarkeit, Verwaltung und Herrschaft in Kamerun 1884-1916. Frankfurt am Main 2012, Campus Verlag, Hamburg und die Kolonialpolitik des Deutschen Reiches 1880 bis 1890
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Mombasa
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Mombasa is a city on the coast of Kenya. It is the countrys second-largest city, after the capital Nairobi and its metropolitan region is the second largest in the country and has a population of approximately two million people. Administratively, Mombasa is the capital of Mombasa County, a regional cultural and economic hub, Mombasa has an extra-large port and an international airport, and is an important regional tourism centre. The city had a population of about 939,000 per the 2009 census and it is located on Mombasa Island and sprawls to the surrounding mainlands. The island is separated from the mainland by two creeks, Tudor Creek and Kilindini Harbour. It is connected to the mainland to the north by the Nyali Bridge, to the south by the Likoni Ferry, the port serves both Kenya and countries of the interior, linking them to the ocean. The city is served by Moi International Airport located in the northwest mainland suburb of Chaani, Mombasa has a cosmopolitan population, with the Swahili people and Mijikenda predominant. Other communities include the Akamba and Taita Bantus as well as a significant population of Luo, the major religions practised in the city are Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. Over the centuries, many immigrants and traders have settled in Mombasa, particularly from the Middle East, Somalia, and the Indian sub-continent, the founding of Mombasa is associated with two rulers, Mwana Mkisi and Shehe Mvita. According to oral history and medieval commentaries, Shehe Mvita superseded the dynasty of Mwana Mkisi, Shehe Mvita is remembered as a Muslim of great learning and so is connected more directly with the present ideals of Swahili culture that people identify with Mombasa. The ancient history associated with Shehe Mvita and the founding of a settlement on Mombasa Island is still linked to present-day peoples living in Mombasa. The Thenashara Taifa Swahili lineages recount this ancient history today and are the keepers of local Swahili traditions, even though today Mombasa is a very heterogeneous cultural mix, families associated with the Twelve Nations are still considered the original inhabitants of the city. Most of the information on Mombasa comes from Portuguese chroniclers writing in the 16th century. In 1331, the famous Moroccan scholar and traveller Ibn Battuta also visited the area during his travels to the Swahili Coast and made mention of the city. He noted that the people of Mombasa were Shãfii Muslims, a people, trustworthy. Their mosques are made of wood, expertly built, the exact founding date of the city is unknown, but it has a long history. Kenyan school history books place the founding of Mombasa as 900 A. D and it must have been already a prosperous trading town in the 12th century, as the Arab geographer Al Idrisi mentions it in 1151. During the pre-modern period, Mombasa was an important centre for the trade in spices, gold and its trade links reached as far as the Indian subcontinent and modern-day China and oral historians today can still recall this period of local history
22.
Dar es Salaam
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Dar es Salaam is the largest city of Tanzania and the largest city in eastern Africa by population, as well as a regionally important economic centre. It is Tanzanias most prominent city in arts, fashion, media, music, film and it is Tanzanias leading financial centre with the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange being the countrys first and most important stock exchange market. Dar es Salaam is the largest and most populous Swahili-speaking city in the world, the city is the leading arrival and departure point for most tourists who visit tourism areas in Tanzania like the national parks for safaris and the islands of Zanzibar. The region had a population of 4,364,541 as of the official 2012 census, although Dar es Salaam lost its status as the nations capital to Dodoma in 1974, it remains the focus of the permanent central government bureaucracy. In the 19th century, Mzizima was a fishing village on the periphery of Indian Ocean trade routes. In 1865 or 1866, Sultan Majid bin Said of Zanzibar began building a new city very close to Mzizima, the name is commonly translated as abode/home of peace, based on the Arabic dar, and the Arabic es salaam. Dar es Salaam fell into decline after Majids death in 1870, German East Africa was captured by the British during World War I and became Tanganyika, with Dar es Salaam the administrative and commercial centre. Under British indirect rule, separate European and African areas developed at a distance from the city centre, the citys population also included a large number of south Asians. After World War II, Dar es Salaam experienced a period of rapid growth, political developments, including the formation and growth of the Tanganyika African National Union, led to Tanganyika attaining independence from colonial rule in December 1961. Dar es Salaam continued to serve as its capital, even when in 1964 Tanganyika, in 1973, however, provisions were made to relocate the capital to Dodoma, a more centrally located city in the interior. The relocation process has not yet completed, and Dar es Salaam remains Tanzanias primary city. In 1967, the Tanzanian government declared the Ujamaa policy, that set Tanzania into a socialist path, the move slowed down the potential growth of the city as the government encouraged people not to move in cities but stay in Ujamaa socialist villages. But by 1980s the Ujamaa policy proved to be a failure into combating increasing poverty, hunger and this led to the 1980s liberalization policy that virtually ended socialism and its spirit within the Tanzanias government. The move led to increasing migration of rural dwellers from rural areas into cities with Dar es Salaam becoming the city in receiving migrants from rural areas. Until the late 1990s, Dar es Salaam was not put into the category as Africas leading cities like Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos. The CBD skyline hosts tall buildings, among them the 35-floor PSPF Tower, finished in 2015, Dar es Salaam is located at 6°48 South, 39°17 East, on a natural harbour on the eastern coast of Africa, with sandy beaches in some areas. Administratively, the Dar es Salaam region is divided into five districts, Ilala, Kinondoni, Ubungo, Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania. With a population increase of 5.6 percent per year from 2002 to 2012, the city is the third fastest growing in Africa, after Bamako and Lagos
23.
Distinguished Conduct Medal
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The Distinguished Conduct Medal, post-nominal letters DCM, was established in 1854 by Queen Victoria as a decoration for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, the medal was also awarded to non-commissioned military personnel of other Commonwealth Dominions and Colonies. Prior to the institution of this decoration, there had been no medal awarded by the British government in recognition of acts of gallantry in the Army. One known prior award for acts of gallantry by other ranks was the unofficial Sir Harry Smiths Medal for Gallantry, although the British government initially disapproved of Sir Harrys institution of the medal, it subsequently paid for it and thereby gave it recognition, but not official status. Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal are entitled to the post-nominal letters DCM, a Bar to the medal, introduced in 1881, could be awarded in recognition of each subsequent act of distinguished conduct for which the medal would have been awarded. During the First World War, the concern arose that the number of medals which were being awarded would devalue the prestige of those already awarded. The Military Medal for bravery in battle on land was instituted on 25 March 1916. The lesser Military Medal was usually awarded for bravery from this date, around 25,000 Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded during the First World War, while approximately 1,900 were awarded during the Second World War. The medal could also be awarded to personnel serving in any of the Sovereigns forces in the British Empire. It remained an exclusively Army award until 1942, when other ranks of the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, in May 1894, Queen Victoria authorised Colonial governments to adopt various military medals and to award them to their local military forces. The Colony of Natal and the Cape Colony introduced this system in August and September 1894 respectively, other territories which made use of the opportunity were Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In respect of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, two versions are known to have been awarded, both King Edward VII versions. A territorial version of the Distinguished Conduct Medal was also approved for the Union of South Africa in 1913, More than 300 members of the Union Defence Forces were awarded the applicable British versions of the decoration during the two World Wars. These three decorations were replaced by the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, to serve as the second award for gallantry for all ranks of all the Arms of the Service. The medal was struck in silver and is a disk,36 millimetres in diameter and 3 millimetres thick, the suspender of all versions of the medal is an ornamented scroll pattern. The manner of attachment of the suspender to the medal varied between medal versions and, on early versions, allows the medal to swivel, all medals awarded bear the recipient’s number, rank, name and unit on the rim. From 1902, after the accession of King Edward VII, the effigy of the reigning monarch replaced the trophy of arms, King Edward VII – EDWARDVS VII REX IMPERATOR. King George V, bareheaded – GEORGIVS V BRITT, OMN, REX ET IND, King George V, crowned – GEORGIVS•V•D•G•BRITT•OMN•REX•ET•INDIÆ•IMP•
24.
Federation
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A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism and it can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Federations are often multiethnic and cover an area of territory. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, at some time, that is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at such as ethnicity and language. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, the oldest continuous federation, and a role model for many subsequent federations, is the United States. Some of the New World federations failed, the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states ten years after its founding, others, such as Argentina and Mexico, have shifted between federal, confederal, and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy, australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815, the North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government, however, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, however, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others, an example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia. A federation often emerges from an agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, however, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models
25.
British West Indies
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The British West Indies, sometimes abbreviated to BWI, are now the British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, Anguilla, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat. Before the independence of many new nations, they included a number of islands in the region. It was hoped that the Federation would become independent as a nation, but it had limited powers, many practical problems. Consequently, the West Indies Federation was dissolved in 1962, the remainder are British overseas territories. He set up a General Assembly of the Leeward Islands in St. Kitts, Stapletons Federation was active between 1674 and 1685, during his term as governor, and the General Assembly met regularly until 1711. By the 18th century, each island had kept its own Assembly, the islands continued to share one Governor and one Attorney-General. Although unpopular, Stapletons Federation was never really dissolved but simply replaced by other arrangements, between 1816 and 1833, the Leewards were divided into two groups, St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla and Antigua-Barbuda-Montserrat, each with its own Governor. In 1833 all the Leeward Islands were brought together, and Dominica was added, in 1869, Governor Benjamin Pine was assigned to organise a federation of Antigua-Barbuda, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. St. Kitts and Nevis opposed sharing their government funds with Antigua and Montserrat, Governor Pine told the Colonial Office that the scheme had failed due to local prejudice and self-interest. His only achievement was to give the Leewards a single Governor, all laws and ordinances, however, had to be approved by each island council. In 1871 the British government passed the Leeward Islands Act, by all the islands were under one Governor. The Federal Colony was composed of all islands organised under Governor Pines previous attempt, each island was called Presidency under its own Administrator or Commissioner. Like earlier groupings, this federation was unpopular but it continued until 1956, in 1958 the Federation of the West Indies was organised, of which the Leeward Islands became a part. In 1833 the Windward Islands became a union called the Windward Islands Colony. In 1838, Trinidad and St. Lucia were brought into the Windward Islands Colony, in 1840 Trinidad left the Colony. The Windward Islands Colony was unpopular, Barbados wished to retain its identity and ancient institutions. The individual islands resisted British attempts at closer union, Barbados in particular fought to retain its own Assembly and left the union in 1884. Power for the union was then transferred to Grenada as overseer of the bloc, from 1885 to 1958, the Windward Islands Colony included Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent and St. Lucia during the entire period
26.
The Jamaica Regiment
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The Jamaica Regiment is the main formation of land troops in the Jamaican Defence Force. It is an infantry regiment consisting of three battalions, two regular and one territorial. The regiment has two roles, The territorial defence of Jamaica. Assisting the Jamaica Constabulary Force with local law enforcement, the regiment has two main camps, with the two regular battalions rotating annually between them. In addition, the regiment is one of the units that supplies United Nations peacekeeping troops for situations in the Caribbean region. The Jamaica Regiment was initially formed in 1954 as a unit on the British Army colonial list and this lasted only two years, before this was disbanded and each of the individual islands regained control over their own armies. Initially, the regiment consisted of the 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion, however, the increasing array of tasks that the regiment was called upon to perform led to it being stretched. So, in 1979, three companies and part of the HQ of the 1st Battalion were split and used to form the 2nd Battalion, in 1999, the 2nd Battalion had the honour of mounting the guard at Buckingham Palace. The 1st Battalion undertook this during a visit to the UK in July, in 1983, the regiment participated in the United States-led invasion of Grenada. 1st Battalion - Light Infantry 2nd Battalion - Light Infantry 3rd Battalion - Light Infantry - serves as the reserve battalion. The regimental march of the Jamaica Regiment is the JDF March
27.
Kingston, Jamaica
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Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal. In the Americas, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city south of the United States. The local government bodies of the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew were amalgamated by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation Act of 1923, to form the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation. Greater Kingston, or the Corporate Area refers to areas under the KSAC, however, it does not solely refer to Kingston Parish. Kingston Parish had a population of 96,052, and St. Andrew parish had a population of 555,828 in 2001, Kingston is only bordered by Saint Andrew to the east, west and north. The city proper is bounded by Six Miles to the west, Stony Hill to the north, Papine to the northeast and Harbour View to the east, communities in urban and suburban Saint Andrew. Communities in rural St. Andrew such as Gordon Town, Mavis Bank, Lawrence Tavern, Mt. Airy, two parts make up the central area of Kingston, the historic Downtown, and New Kingston. Both are served by Norman Manley International Airport and also by the smaller, Kingston was founded in July 1692 as a place for survivors of the 1692 earthquake that destroyed Port Royal. Before the earthquake, Kingston’s functions were purely agricultural, the earthquake survivors set up a camp on the sea front. Approximately two thousand people died due to mosquito-borne diseases, initially the people lived in a tented camp on Colonel Barrys Hog Crawle. The town did not begin to grow until after the destruction of Port Royal by fire in 1703. Surveyor John Goffe drew up a plan for the town based on a grid bounded by North, East, West, by 1716 it had become the largest town and the centre of trade for Jamaica. The government sold land to people with the regulation that they no more than the amount of the land that they owned in Port Royal. Gradually wealthy merchants began to move their residences from above their businesses to the lands north on the plains of Liguanea. The first free school, Wolmerss, was founded in 1729 and there was a theatre, first on Harbour Street, in 1755 the governor, Sir Charles Knowles, had decided to transfer the government offices from Spanish Town to Kingston. It was thought by some to be a location for the Assembly in proximity to the moral distractions of Kingston. By the end of the 18th century, the city contained more than 3,000 brick buildings, the harbour fostered trade, and played part in several naval wars of the 18th century
28.
Trinidad and Tobago Regiment
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The Trinidad and Tobago Regiment is the main ground force element of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. It has approximately 2,800 men and women organized into a Regiment Headquarters, there is also a Volunteer Defence Force that has been renamed the Defence Force Reserves. The regiment has two roles, Maintaining the internal security of Trinidad and Tobago and the assistance of local law enforcement. The Trinidad and Tobago Regiment also provides the bulk of the assigned to the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra. The Trinidad and Tobago Regiment has its origins the late 19th century, at that time, the two battalions of the West India Regiment were split and came under the control of the main nations formed by the split. The 1st Battalion became the 1st Battalion, Jamaica Regiment, while the 2nd Battalion was transferred to Trinidad and Tobago to become the 1st Battalion, Trinidad, a second battalion was raised in 1965, but was disbanded in 1972. The Trinidad and Tobago Regiment has been involved in two major conflicts, on April 21,1970,750 members of the regiment mutinied, under the leadership of Raffique Shah and Rex Lassalle. After a five-day stand-off, the mutineers surrendered, the leadership was court-martialed and Shah, Lasalle and others were jailed. On July 27,1990, the Jamaat al Muslimeen, an islamist group with ties to Libya and they seized control of the Red House and held the Prime Minister and much of his Cabinet hostage. The Regiment surrounded the insurgents and were able to force them to surrender on August 1, see, Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt 1983 to 1984 - Trinidad and Tobago contributed troops to the peacekeeping mission after the United States invasion of Grenada. The Trinidad and Tobago Government opposed the intervention by the United States. However T&T deployed troops to assist in peacekeeping after the mission was completed. 1993 to 1996 - The Trinidad and Tobago Regiment contributed troops to the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti as part of a CARICOM contingent and it is located at Camp Ogden, Long Circular Road, St James. 2nd Battalion, This a regular infantry battalion, formerly located at Camp Mausica, since then it has been relocated to the Chaguaramas Heliport and is due to be relocated to a new camp in La Romaine, Trinidad and Tobago. 3rd Battalion, This provides engineering support and it is located at Cumuto Barracks, Wallerfield. Support and Services Battalion, This provides logistic and administrative support to the Regiment and it is located at Teteron Barracks, Teteron Bay, Chaguaramas. The Regiment maintains a base at Camp Omega, also at Chaguaramas, used primarily for specialised training
29.
King's African Rifles
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It performed both military and internal security functions within the colonial territory, and later served outside these territories during the World Wars. The rank and file were drawn from native inhabitants, while most of the officers were seconded from the British Army. When the KAR was first raised there were some Sudanese officers in the battalions raised in Uganda, until independence, the parade uniform of the KAR comprised khaki drill, with tall fezes and cummerbunds. Both items were normally red, although there were some battalion distinctions with Nyasaland units, for example, wearing black fezes. Prior to 1914, the field service uniforms consisted of a dark blue jersey and puttees, khaki shorts. African askaris wore sandals or were barefoot, on the rationale that the heavy military boots of the period were unsuitable for recruits who had not previously worn footwear, fezzes bore an Arabic or Roman number with the wartime raised battalions wearing theirs on geometric-shaped patches of cloth. During the Great War, all the dark blue items were replaced with khaki equivalents, after the war, the khaki shirt was replaced by a collarless blue-grey angora shirt called a greyback. The Kings African Rifles took part in the campaigns against Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan in Somalia during the early 1900s, Hassan was known to the British as the Mad Mullah. The KAR were part of the British air and ground force that defeated Hassan in 1920, additionally the companies were scattered all over British East Africa. Full strength of the KAR in 1914 was 70 British officers, there were no organic heavy weapons, including artillery or organised reserves and the companies were in reality large platoons of 70 to 80 men. In 1915 the KAR was expanded by having the three battalions reorganised into standard four-company battalions, which were brought up to full strength at 1,045 men each. Later in 1916 the 2nd, 3rd and 4th battalions were expanded into two battalions each through recruiting in their home areas and it was not until General Hoskin was appointed to command British East African forces in 1917 that genuine expansion began. The 1st Battalion was doubled and the 6th Battalion was raised from askaris of the former German East Africa, the 7th was formed from the Zanzibar Armed Constabulary and the Mafia Constabulary. Later in 1917 many other battalions were created as the first four battalions each raised a 3rd battalion. The 4th Regiment raised an additional two battalions, the 5th and 6th through recruiting in Uganda, the KAR Mounted Infantry Unit, originally part of the 3rd regiment and the KAR Signals Company were also raised. The regiment fought in the East African Campaign against the German commander Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck, transport and support into the interior was provided by over 400,000 porters of the Carrier Corps. By the end of the Great War the KAR comprised 1,193 British officers,1,497 British NCOs and 30,658 Africans in 22 battalions, including two made up of former German askaris, as noted above. In Armies in East Africa 1914–18, Peter Abbot notes that the KAR units recruited from prisoners of war were used as garrison troops by the British
30.
Samuel Hodge
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A Tortolian from the British Virgin Islands, he was the second black man to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Samuel Hodge was one of those West Indian soldiers who garrisoned British positions on the West coast of Africa during the 19th century. White troops suffered terribly from malaria, blackwater fever and dysentery, and he attacked the town on 30 June. Private Hodge was about 26 years old, the British force had light armaments and rockets, but failed to break through the wooden stockade by bombardment. DArcy called for volunteers to assist him in trying to cut a breach by hand, two officers and fifteen men seized axes and followed him. However, the fire of the defenders was intense, those officers were killed almost immediately, DArcy and the two uninjured men, Hodge and another soldier, reached the stockade, and hacked a gap in it large enough for a man. Boswell was killed, leaving only DArcy and Hodge of the assault party of eighteen. DArcy went through the gap – followed closely by Hodge, who used his axe to hack open the inside fastenings on two more gates before being shot down, Hodge sustained serious gunshot wounds, but survived. British troops poured in through the now open gates, and in the fighting that followed, several hundred of the Marabouts were killed. Once the day had been won, DArcy presented Hodge to his regiment as the bravest man among them, Hodge was promoted to the rank of Lance-corporal, and was presented with the Victoria Cross on 24 June 1867. However, he never recovered from the terrible injuries he had sustained during the attack
31.
Victoria Cross
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The Victoria Cross is the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for gallantry in the face of the enemy to members of the British armed forces and it was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857 and these investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace. The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War, since then, the medal has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Only 15 medals,11 to members of the British Army, the traditional explanation of the source of the metal from which the medals are struck is that it derives from Russian cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol. Some research has suggested a variety of origins for the material, research has established that the metal for most of the medals made since December 1914 came from two Chinese cannons that were captured from the Russians in 1855. Owing to its rarity, the VC is highly prized and the medal has fetched over £400,000 at auction, a number of public and private collections are devoted to the Victoria Cross. The private collection of Lord Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains over one-tenth of all VCs awarded, following a 2008 donation to the Imperial War Museum, the Ashcroft collection went on public display alongside the museums Victoria and George Cross collection in November 2010. These are unique awards of honours system, recommended, assessed, gazetted and presented by each country. In 1854, after 39 years of peace, Britain found itself fighting a war against Russia. The Crimean War was one of the first wars with modern reporting, before the Crimean War, there was no official standardised system for recognition of gallantry within the British armed forces. This structure was limited, in practice awards of the Order of the Bath were confined to officers of field rank. Brevet promotions or Mentions in Despatches were largely confined to those who were under the notice of the commanders in the field. Other European countries had awards that did not discriminate against class or rank, France awarded the Légion dhonneur and The Netherlands gave the Order of William. There was a feeling among the public and in the Royal Court that a new award was needed to recognise incidents of gallantry that were unconnected with a mans lengthy or meritorious service. Queen Victoria issued a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual on 29 January 1856 that officially constituted the VC, the order was backdated to 1854 to recognise acts of valour during the Crimean War. Queen Victoria had instructed the War Office to strike a new medal that would not recognise birth or class, the medal was meant to be a simple decoration that would be highly prized and eagerly sought after by those in the military services
32.
Gambia
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The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa that is entirely surrounded by Senegal except for its coastline on the Atlantic Ocean at its western end. It is the smallest country in mainland Africa, the Gambia is situated on either side of the Gambia River, the nations namesake, which flows through the centre of The Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its area is 10,689 square kilometres with a population of 1,882,450 at the April 2013 census, Banjul is the Gambian capital, and the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama. Later, on 25 May 1765, The Gambia was made a part of the British Empire when the government formally assumed control, in 1965, The Gambia gained independence under the leadership of Dawda Jawara, who ruled until Yahya Jammeh seized power in a bloodless 1994 coup. Adama Barrow became The Gambias third president in January 2017, after defeating Jammeh in December 2016 elections, Jammeh initially refused to accept the results, which triggered a constitutional crisis and military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States, resulting in his exile. The Gambias economy is dominated by farming, fishing, and especially tourism, in 2008, about a third of the population lived below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. The name Gambia is derived from the Mandinka term Kambra/Kambaa, meaning Gambia river, upon independence as a Commonwealth realm, the country used the name The Gambia. Following the proclamation of a republic in 1970, the name of the country became Republic of The Gambia. The administration of Yahya Jammeh changed the name to Islamic Republic of The Gambia in December 2015. On 29 January 2017 the new President Adama Barrow said the name will go back to Republic of The Gambia. Arab traders provided the first written accounts of the Gambia area in the ninth and tenth centuries, during the tenth century, Muslim merchants and scholars established communities in several West African commercial centres. Both groups established trans-Saharan trade routes, leading to an export trade in slaves, gold and ivory. At the beginning of the 14th century, most of what is today called Gambia was part of the Mali Empire, the Portuguese reached this area by sea in the mid-15th century, and began to dominate overseas trade. In 1588, the claimant to the Portuguese throne, António, Prior of Crato, letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I confirmed the grant. In 1618, King James I of England granted a charter to an English company for trade with the Gambia, between 1651 and 1661, some parts of the Gambia were under the rule of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, and were bought by Prince Jacob Kettler. The British Empire occupied the Gambia when an expedition led by Augustus Keppel landed there following the Capture of Senegal in 1758. The 1783 First Treaty of Versailles gave Great Britain possession of the Gambia River and this was finally ceded to the United Kingdom in 1856. As many as three million slaves may have taken from this general region during the three centuries that the transatlantic slave trade operated
33.
William Hall (VC)
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William Edward Hall VC was the first black person, first Nova Scotian, and third Canadian to receive the Victoria Cross. He received the medal for his actions in the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion, Hall and an officer from his ship continued to load and fire a 24-pounder gun at the walls after the rest of the party had been killed or injured by the defenders. The Halls first lived in Summerville, Nova Scotia where Jacob worked in a shipyard operated by Abraham Cunard until they bought a farm across the Avon River at Horton Bluff. Hall first worked in shipyards at nearby Hantsport, Nova Scotia and he sailed first on merchant ships based out of the Minas Basin including the barque Kent of Kentville, Nova Scotia. Hall briefly served in the United States Navy from 1847 to 1849 and he served for a time aboard USS Ohio alongside John Taylor Wood, who later supported Halls US Navy pension claim. Hall volunteered for the Royal Navy in February 1852, serving at first aboard HMS Rodney, Hall fought in the Crimean War serving ashore in a Naval Brigade from Rodney at the battles of Inkerman and Sebastapol in 1854. After a brief tour on HMS Victory, Hall transferred to the screw frigate HMS Shannon, when the Indian Mutiny broke out in May 1857, Shannon was among the fleet escorting a troop detachment to China. Upon arrival at Singapore, news of the situation in India reached the fleet, however the fleet completed its mission, there, Shannon was ordered to Calcutta. A brigade from Shannon comprising 450 men was constituted under Captain William Peel, the ship was towed over 600 miles up the Ganges River to Allahabad. Then the force fought across country to Campbells headquarters at Cawnpore and were in time to part in the Siege of Lucknow. On 16 November 1857 at Lucknow, India, naval guns were brought up close to the Shah Nujeff mosque, one of the gun crews was short a man and Hall volunteered to fill out the position. The gun crews kept up a fire in an attempt to breach and clear the walls, while a hail of musket balls. After having little effect on the walls, two guns were ordered closer, Hall remained with the Royal Navy for the rest of his career. He joined the crew of HMS Donegal in 1859 and on 28 October 1859, Hall rose to the rating of Petty Officer First Class in HMS Royal Adelaide by the time he retired in 1876. He returned to his village in Horton Bluff where he ran a small farm until his death in 1904. In 1901, the future King George V, visiting Nova Scotia, saw Hall at a parade, recognized his medals and he was originally buried in an unmarked grave without military honours. He was reinterred in 1954 in Hantsport, Nova Scotia where his grave is marked by a monument at the Baptist church, the Royal Canadian Legion in Hantsport is named The Lucknow Branch in honour of his Victoria Cross action. Halls original Victoria Cross was repatriated from Britain in 1967 by the government of Nova Scotia and is on permanent display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Hall is also featured in exhibits at the Halifax Citadel and at the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia
34.
Lord Charles Somerset
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General Lord Charles Henry Somerset PC, born in Badminton, England, was a British soldier, politician and colonial administrator. He was governor of the Cape Colony, South Africa, from 1814 to 1826, Somerset was the second son of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort, and Elizabeth, daughter of Admiral the Hon. Edward Boscawen. He was the brother of Henry Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort, General Lord Edward Somerset, Lord Arthur Somerset and Field Marshal FitzRoy Somerset, Somerset sat as Member of Parliament for Scarborough between 1796 and 1802 and for Monmouth Boroughs between 1802 and 1813. He served as Comptroller of the Household between 1797 and 1804 and as Joint Paymaster of the Forces between 1804 and 1806 and 1807 and 1813 and was sworn of the Privy Council on 26 April 1797. In 1814 he was appointed Governor of the Cape Colony, a post he held until 1826, the towns of Somerset West and Somerset East in South Africa are named after him. Somerset married firstly Lady Elizabeth Courtenay, on 7 June 1788 and she was the daughter of the 8th Earl of Devon. They had six children, Hon. Elizabeth Somerset, married General the Hon, Sir Henry Wyndham in July 1812 Hon. Mary Georgiana Somerset, married Lt-Col. Stirling Freeman Glover on 25 June 1833 Lieutenant-General Hon, Sir Henry Somerset Hon. Charlotte Augusta Somerset, married Herbert Cornewoll in May 1822 Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. Charles Henry Somerset Reverend Hon. Colonel Poulett Somerset Hon. Mary Sophia Somerset Hon. Augusta Anne Somerset, married Sir Henry Barron, Somerset died in February 1831, aged 63. His second wife died in June 1860, aged 72, hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Lord Charles Somerset
35.
Peregrine Maitland
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General Sir Peregrine Maitland, GCB was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He also was a cricketer from 1798 to 1808. Thomas Maitland possessed plantations in the parish of St. Thomas Middle Island on the island of St. Christopher in the West Indies. After joining the 1st Foot Guards at the age of 15 as an ensign he went on to serve in Flanders in 1794, in 1798, he took part in the unsuccessful landing at Ostend. In the Peninsular War, he served at both the Battle of Vigo, and at Corunna, at which he won a medal and he took part in the Walcheren in 1809. During the later stages of the Peninsula War was second in command of his regiment at Cadiz and he served with distinction at Quatre Bras and the Battle of Waterloo. Promoted in early June to major general, he was assigned to the First Corps, under overall command of the Prince of Orange. On 18 June, the day of Waterloo, he commanded two battalions of the 1st Foot Guards, each 1000-men strong and led the Guards in repelling the assault of the French Imperial Guard. For his service at Waterloo, Maitland was dubbed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, on 22 June 1815, the Dutch Order of Wilhelm, for their part, the 1st Foot Guards were granted the honorary title of First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards. He was appointed lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in 1818 and supported the Family Compact that dominated the province and he attempted to suppress and reform pro-American tendencies in the colony and resisted demands of radicals in the government. His tenure in Upper Canada ended in 1828 when he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia serving there from 1828 until 1834, Maitland went to India and became commander in chief of the Madras Army in 1836 serving for two years. In 1843 he was appointed Colonel of the 17th Regiment and in 1844 Governor of the Cape Colony and he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 6 April 1852. Maitland became the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia on 29 Nov.1828, certainly, his strongly moral conduct influenced Halifax’s society. By insisting on walking to church, he ended the garrison parades on Sunday, the city’s major social event. Maitland was responsible for the settlement reached for Pictou Academy, in dealing with immigration and settlement, he had lands laid out in Cape Breton at crown expense so that the 4,000 immigrants expected that year could be legally placed and systematically settled. In October 1832 Maitland went to England on leave, presumably because of his health, though he continued to conduct official correspondence from England, he never returned to North America and he was succeeded in Nova Scotia by Sir Colin Campbell in July 1834. Maitland was an amateur cricketer who made 27 known appearances in first-class cricket matches from 1798 to 1808. He was mainly associated with Marylebone Cricket Club and he played for Surrey
36.
George Thomas Napier
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Lieutenant-General Sir George Thomas Napier KCB was a British Army officer who saw service in the Peninsular War and later commanded the army of the Cape Colony. He became major-general in 1837, KCB in 1838 and lieutenant-general in 1846 and he was governor and Commander-In-Chief of the army in the Cape Colony from 1839 to 1843, during which time the abolition of slavery and the expulsion of the Boers from Natal were the chief events. He was offered, but declined, the command in India after the Battle of Chillianwalla. He became full general in 1854 and he died at Geneva, Switzerland on 16 September 1855, aged 71. His autobiography, Passages in the Early Military Life of General Sir G. T. Napier, was published by his surviving son, General William Craig Emilius Napier in 1885. The town of Napier, Western Cape, and also Napier House at Fairbairn College, Goodwood, father - Colonel George Napier Mother - Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. Brother - Sir Charles James Napier, Commander-in-Chief in India, the New Zealand city of Napier is named after him. Brother - Sir William Francis Patrick Napier, soldier and military historian, brother - Henry Edward Napier, naval officer and historian Wife - Frances Dorothea Blencowe, formerly married to William Peere Williams Freeman. Colonel George S. F. Napier This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
