S'Nabou in Le Monde illustré, 2 July 1892

Alima S'Nabou (born c. 1880) was an African interpreter (from modern day Nigeria) who accompanied a French explorer named Lieutenant Mizon.

Biography

Alima S'Nabou was born to a chief, Konanki, in the village of Igbobé, near Lokodja located at the confluence of the Benoue and Niger rivers. She spoke and understood French, English, and other languages of the Niger Basin.[1] S'Nabou was in Assaba, a location about 200 kilometres from her native village at age 10 or 11 when she met Mizon[2] and her mother recommended that she accompany Mizon's mission to Lokodja so she could see her father, as Mizon was en route to Lokodja to see the developments there. At Lokodja, S'Nabou informed her father and grandmother that she would accompany Mizon on his expedition to Yola, the capital of Adamoua.[3][4][5] The goal of the expedition was to connect the French posts in Yola to the Congo and to ensure separation of the German and French colonies by preventing the inward expansion of the German colony of Cameroon.[6]

S'Nabou assisted by communicating the feelings of the Sudanese people and proved to be useful in Mizon's quest of going up the river Niger in a steam boat.[3][7] She also assisted in the recruitment of another member of the exploration team.[8][4]

She was celebrated alongside Mizon and "his two Arabs"[9] at the Paris Hotel de Ville by the Municipal Council upon their arrival in Paris in April 1892.[5][10] Her portrait, Mademoiselle S'Nabou, was painted in 1892 by Adolphe Yvon and is held in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.[11] Le Monde illustré published an article about her, naming her as Sanabou, which said that she was "en passe de devenir une celebrité Parisienne" ("on the way to becoming a Parisian celebrity").[12]

It was later stated that she was the niece of a pilot of the Niger Company who was bought as a slave.[10]

In September 1893, Mizon and his entourage left Yola on his boat and "dropped S'Nabou at the Catholic mission at Onitsha where she gave birth to a boy of light complexion".[10]

References

  1. ↑ Bollettino della Società africana d'Italia (in Italian). La Società. 1892.
  2. ↑ "En Plein Soudan". La Lecture: Magazine littéraire bi-mensuel (in French). 22. 1892.
  3. 1 2 Journal des voyages et des aventures de terre et de mer (in French). A la Librairie illustrée et aux bureaux du "Journal des voyages". 1892.
  4. 1 2 Toulouse, Société de géographie de (1894). Revue (in French). La Société.
  5. 1 2 Alis, Harry (1892). "Voyage dans l'Amadaoua par le Lieutenant de Vaisseau L. Mizon". Le Tour du Monde (in French). 64: 225–288. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  6. ↑ Drapeyron, Ludovic; Vélain, Charles; Vélain, M. Ch (1892). Revue de géographie: annuelle (in French). C. Delagrave.
  7. ↑ Marsielle, Societe de Geographie de (1892). Bulletin (in French).
  8. ↑ Revue universelle: recueil documentaire universel et illustré (in French). Larousse. 1892.
  9. ↑ "Chronicle of foreign affairs". The Speaker. Mather & Crowther. 6: 129. 30 July 1892.
  10. 1 2 3 Adelberger, Jörg; Storch, Anne (2008-10-20). "The Jukun of Kona, the Emir of Muri and the French adventurer: An oral tradition". Afrikanistik Online. 2008 (5). ISSN 1860-7462.
  11. ↑ "Mademoiselle S'Nabou". www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr. Paris Musées. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  12. ↑ Tomel, Guy (2 July 1892). "Sanabou". Le Monde illustré. p. 8. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
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