Journal of an Expedition up the Niger

Record summary

Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s account of the 1854 Niger expedition records encounters with Muslim and indigenous religious authorities, medicine, divination, sacred practices, and missionary attempts to interpret local religious life. It is important because Crowther was an African Anglican bishop and translator, offering a perspective distinct from many European travelers, though still shaped by Christian evangelism and imperial expeditionary aims. The report is identifiable by its title and Church Missionary Society context. It should not be mined for generalized claims about all Yoruba or Niger communities.