JOHN KIRK

(Sir John Kirk)


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The slave trade had been banned in the rest of East Africa but was legal in Zanzibar. The British Navy had great difficulty interdicting slave ships who would claim they were participating in the legal slave trade. The British decided that Zanzibar should ban slavery, but the Sultan and his advisors did not wish to give up their own personal involvement. Kirk was sent to deal with the Sultan, who under threat of naval embargo, signed the Frere Treaty. The slave market was thus closed.


Germany had designs on Zanzibar and had created a noble pretext for sending warships. Kirk wanted the government to oppose Germany observing that their intervention rationale was but a pretext. However, that was true of almost all the rationales for European military involvement in Africa.


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John Kirk
John Kirk
  • Born: December 19, 1832
  • Died: January 15, 1922
  • Nationality:
  • Profession:

Sir John Kirk, GCMG, KCB, FRS was a physician, naturalist, companion to explorer David Livingstone, and British administrator in Zanzibar, where he was instrumental in ending the slave trade in that country.