Niger expedition of 1841

The British government backed the effort to make treaties with the native peoples, introduce Christianity and promote increased trade.

[2] The organisers were the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and for the Civilization of Africa, set up in 1839 by Thomas Fowell Buxton.

[5] At the time anti-slavery activists had little access to the higher reaches of the British government, and were relying on public meetings and popular agitation; Buxton was in an exceptional position.

[6] Up to 4,000 people attended the meeting, Sir Robert Peel spoke from the stage, and Prince Albert became President of the Society.

Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secretary found £50,000 to offer Spain for their claimed sovereignty of Fernando Po (now Bioko), an island in the region already home to British naval bases.

[14] The expedition called at Cape Coast in July to drop off the Ghanaian princes Nkwantabisa and Owusu-Ansa, who had been in England since 1836.