The recent publication of the original manuscript of the autobiography of the slave trader Théodore Canot, alias Théophile Conneau, makes an important contribution to West African history. Previously historians have had to rely on the “improved” version by Brantz Mayer, published in 1854 and subsequently republished in several different forms and languages. The original manuscript is of far greater use; but we cannot altogether dispense with Mayer's book, since he obtained his information not only from Conneau's manuscript but from conversations with its author.
Unfortunately the editors of the original manuscript demonstrate little interest in African history, except as a theme for moral philosophy, and they ignore the considerable amount of research which has been conducted in order to verify particular aspects of Conneau's account. My aim here is to fill one of the gaps left by existing studies--the period between 1836 and 1841--and to assess the accuracy of Conneau's manuscript and Mayer's book for this period.
First, however, some information about Mayer's background is necessary. Born in Baltimore in 1809, he had by the time he met Conneau visited China, India, and Europe, and served as Secretary of the United States legation in Mexico for three years. But he never visited Africa and his interest in Africa must have been slight, for his huge library contained only two books relating to it. Like Conneau, he was an excellent linguist, fluent in Spanish and his father's native tongue, German. Whereas Conneau had received a fairly rudimentary education, Mayer had been taught by a private tutor and had studied law at the University of Maryland. In rewriting Conneau's autobiography, he took pains to demonstrate his knowledge of classical and contemporary literature, as well as of history.