Archibald Dalzel

Archibald Dalzel (c. 1740 – c. 1818) was a British colonial administrator and slave trader who served as the governor of the Gold Coast from 1792 to 1802.

He observed that the people at Whydah "pay a kind of veneration to a particular species of large snake, which is very gentle."

Appointed by the Committee of Merchants that was in charge of the Gold Coast at the time, he served as governor in two periods: 31 March 1792 - 16 December 1798, and 28 April 1800 - 30 September 1802.

from authentic memoirs; with an introduction and notes where he argued that the raiding of Dahomean villages for slaves was saving them from the greater evil of being human sacrifices.

Brother of Andrew Dalzel (1742–1806), Professor of Greek, Honorary Librarian at Edinburgh University.