The Two Princes of Calabar

I think the primary point of The Two Princes of Calabar is to provide us with a lens through which to view the complex systems of trade and slavery in Africa and the vital interpersonal mercantile relationships between Europeans and Africans.  The impact of trade on African economies and societies is clearly visible, and the reader can see the new African mercantile elites who emerged to challenge, then surpass, the traditional (old) leaders.  Although the title suggests that Randy Sparks’s book will be about the Robin John brothers, in actuality the work is not exclusively about the lives of the two brothers.  Sparks does a great job of using the Robin Johns letters as raw material for a study of the creolized Atlantic World.  The author writes in the Prologue: “their story can provide a micro-history of the eighteenth-century Anglo-Atlantic World.” (p.3)  Again Sparks re-asserts his main point by writing “their case opens a window onto the creolized trading communities along the coast and the regular movement of goods, people, and ideas around the Atlantic World.” (p.9)  Sparks masterfully illuminates the web of connections around the brother’s experiences by using their letters as a jumping off point, and rounding out the work with other primary sources.  The concept of Atlantic creolization is the result of the interactions between cultures, languages, practices, of three continents.  The adoption and adaptation of British culture and language by Africans was especially important to trade relationships, and the Robin Johns were able to use this knowledge to ameliorate their situation, a point acknowledged by Sparks:   “that knowledge, combined with their understanding of English language and customs, must have enabled them to negotiate their enslavement in ways that other captives could not.” (P.73)  All in all, I really liked this book, although I would caution readers to remember (as Sparks did) that the experiences of the Robin John brothers on their “Atlantic Odyssey” is not in any way typical, maybe not even emblematic, of the experiences had by the overwhelming majority of captive Africans who were enslaved and traded as chattel, victims of the Atlantic slave trade.  The exceptional experience the two brothers shared gives us a great look at the impact of slave trade economics on African cultures and societies and their European (and American) trading partners.