Panyarring

Panyarring was the practice of seizing and holding persons until the repayment of debt or resolution of a dispute which became a common activity along the Atlantic coast of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Here it is used also for stealing anything else; and, by Custom, (their Law,) every man has a Right to seize of another, at any Conveniency, so much as he can prove himself afterwards at that Palaver court to have been defrauded of, by any body in the same place he was Cheated...

They... panyarr the Boats' Crew who trust themselves foolishly on Shore; and now and then, by dissembling a friendship, have come on Board, Surprised and Murdered a Whole Ship's Company In contrast to pawnship, panyarring involved the arbitrary seizure of persons in order to force repayment for a debt or to recoup the loss by selling the person into slavery.

When the Portuguese came to the Gold Coast in the 16th century, they used the word penhóràr to describe the local practice among the Akan people of pawnship.

[3] Gradually, the word became commonly used by Europeans to describe the practice of seizing a person for repayment of debt or to remedy an injury along the whole coast of Africa.

The lengthy trade networks from hundreds of miles inland to the coast required similarly complex forms of credit relationships and pawnship was used extensively by both Africans and European traders.

Politically, in the 18th century, that area of Africa was populated by a number of fragmented Akan polities without an organized central power.

The chief, Robin John Ephraim, was left with little choice but to panyar the ships and release his sons and other members of his tribe seized for the slave trade.

[6] Both Europeans and Africans began using panyarring as an extension of political and economic policies in the region and for a range of purported offenses.

When the dispute increased, the African slave traders panyarred the British captain and held him until both sides negotiated an outcome.

Dalzel held the priest at the Cape Coast Castle for a week until the chief of Anomabo agreed to repay the debts.

[3] For example, in 1688 in the port of Komenda, the Dutch panyarred John Cabess, a powerful African trader loyal to the British, and although he was quickly released they kept all of the goods he had carried with him.

[9] The active panyarring along the Gold Coast in the 17th and 18th centuries eventually resulted in a situation where communities were extremely vulnerable to its members being seized and sold in the slave trade or held for payment.

Similarly, Whydah was known for being particularly hard on debtors because it allowed panyarring of persons or goods whenever loans were not paid.[2]pg.

75 Dahomey had banned the practice of panyarring in the early 17th century under King Houegbadja, requiring that all debt disputes be handled in royal courts.

Lovejoy and Richardson claim that the prevalence of panyarring is largely related to the structure and ability for debt repayment through authorized channels.