Smallpox, Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà and Epidemic Disease
What the historical record establishes about West African inoculation knowledge, what the Yoruba actually did about smallpox, the 1907 ban on the Sonponna priesthood and what the evidence for and against the deliberate-spread charge really amounts to, and what the suppression cost.
Dis na di strongest specific case for inside all Yoruba medicine, and na almost always dem dey narrate am badly. Di good version, where di Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà priest dem be secret inoculators wey British destroy out of ignorance, and di hostile version, where dem be extortionists wey dey spread smallpox on purpose make dem gain money, na two simple stories wey di historical record no clearly support.
Wetin di record truly establish dey worth pass any of di two stories. West Africans, including people for wetin be Nigeria today, practice smallpox inoculation before Europeans for di Atlantic world learn am, and dem teach dem am. Dem document am well, recent archival work don even make am stronger, and na fact about African medical knowledge wey no get any exaggeration at all.
Di religious and political side of Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà, di naming taboo, di diaspora forms and how di 1907 ban be, dey inside 06-orisa/12-sonponna-obaluaye. Na dis file get di medical and epidemiological content: wetin inoculation be, wetin Yoruba people do about epidemic disease, and wetin di evidence about di priesthood really mean.
Confidence for dis file dey contested, especially on di main question of wetin di priesthood dey do. Di reason dey explained below, and na structural reason instead of say person fail to search.
Smallpox for Yorubaland: di epidemiology
Smallpox, wey variola major and variola minor dey cause, dey spread from person to person through spit and breath droplets and through clothes and bedding wey dirty with di sickness. Na strictly human disease wey no get animal reservoir, and na why eradication bin dey possible. People wey survive am dey carry deep scar marks, especially for face, arms and legs, and sickness no fit catch dem again .
Di documented outbreaks for Yorubaland. Di first outbreak wey dem record for colonial period happen for Lagos in 1869, small time after di city become British protectorate. Another outbreak for Abẹ́òkúta in 1884 kill plenty people well well. By 1891 di epidemic don reach Iperu, Isara and Ìjẹ̀bú communities, and by 1897 Epe for Lagos, wey literature describe as hotbed of smallpox . Dem document other outbreaks in 1902, 1911, throughout di 1920s, in 1938 with 53 notified cases and three deaths, in 1945 with 120 cases and 20 deaths, and for one heavy epidemic between 1956 and 1957 .
Warning about di mortality figures. Di 1938 and 1945 numbers na notifications wey go colonial health department among population wey dey actively avoid dat department, and di source talk am clearly say no solid historical record dey wey confirm how bad di mortality be by country or inside Yoruba communities specifically . Colonial notification data undercount by unknown factor wey fit big well well. Make una treat dis numbers say outbreak happen, no be as wetin measure how big dem be.
No animal reservoir plus immunity after infection mean say smallpox for any town dey infect all di people wey fit catch am and come quiet until plenty people wey no get immunity accumulate again. Dat kind periodic pattern dey show for di outbreak record wey dey above, and na di reason why epidemic dey return roughly once every generation.
Wetin Yoruba people do about am
Dem document four distinct responses, and person no suppose mix dem together.
Propitiation. Dem understand smallpox as wetin Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà bring come, and di response include offerings, rituals and di naming taboo. Among Yoruba people, for Benin and for Sudan, dem view di sickness as punishment from deity, and dem first treat am as metaphysical matter instead of physical body problem . Practically, dis mean say babaláwo fit advise client or family make dem do feast with animal and other offerings to appease Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà, and people dey free to consult babaláwo for preventive medicine during widespread epidemic .
Treatment of di sick. Na Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà priests and oníṣègùn be di practitioners wey get responsibility to treat smallpox victims . Albert account, as historical literature report am, be say di cultists no get specific medicine for smallpox: dem tell di patient make e no chop chicken or smell burning feather, dem dey rub am palm oil always, and dem sweep di house with broom wey dem make from sida stems instead of ordinary broom, while palm kernel oil and benniseed dey prohibited for di compound . One treatment wey dem record from Ìbàdàn and other places before vaccination reach be mixture of juice from ìjọyún leaves with shea butter wey dem rub for di patient body . Ewúro, Vernonia amygdalina, dem dey drink am as extract, usually with palm oil, with di belief say e dey prevent spread inside family .
None of dis be treatment for smallpox in any effective way, and person no suppose present any of dem like dat.
Prophylactic practice wey no get mechanism. Dem dey arrange Tagìrì, Adenopus breviflorus, wey be Christmas melon, round di house to prevent infectious viral disease make e no spread, and dem place am for strategic places while dem dey treat child wey get infection . No plausible mechanism dey wey go make gourd wey dem put round house affect virus wey dey air, and no study don test dis claim.
Dem no isolate di patient. Dis one dey very striking and e dey against wetin modern reader go expect. During di sickness, relatives no isolate or abandon di smallpox patient; di belief be say dem suppose greet di patient with honour wey fit king . Because di sickness come from deity, di person wey dey suffer am dey in some way inside di deity hand and dem treat am like dat. For people wey die, na bush dem bury dem, and na di cultists conduct am .
Di epidemiological consequence dey clear and person suppose talk am. To honour smallpox case instead of to isolate di person, inside compound where people dey share living space, na way wey dey make di sickness spread fast well well. Wetin-ever Yoruba response to smallpox achieve, e no achieve containment, and di theological framing na di reason.
Inoculation for West Africa: wetin dem actually establish
For here, di evidence strong and na pure Africa own without any doubt.
Di main scholarly work. Eugenia W. Herbert, "Smallpox inoculation in Africa," Journal of African History 16, no. 4 (October 1975), pp. 539-559, na still di standard survey . Wetin e find out: di earliest description wey people know about di practice for sub-Saharan Africa come from African slaves wey dey colonial America for early and mid-eighteenth century; oda reports come from different-different place across di continent; and e show say dem use di practice pass for Western and Central Sudan, Ethiopia and Southern Africa . Herbert discuss di materials wey dem take dey infect person, di techniques, and di parts of body wey dem dey use, and all of dem differ from people to people . Travellers for nineteenth century, including Heinrich Barth, record am, and P. A. Talbot document inoculation among Yoruba people for southern Nigeria .
Wetin inoculation be. Variolation mean to take material from person wey get smallpox put for body of person wey no get am, with hope say di person go get mild sickness and come get immunity . Di technique wey dem document for West Africa dey specific: dem go prick di smallpox boil, take small pus, and put am inside cut wey dem make for di recipient hand or lap . Dis na real medical procedure wey get real mechanism. To put variola through skin instead of through breathing dey cause sickness wey mild pass, wey death rate dey around one to two percent compared to twenty to thirty percent for smallpox wey person catch naturally, and e dey give full lifelong immunity.
Di timeline and wetin e mean. Recent archival work wey Elise A. Mitchell do don find records of di practice wey gather for sub-Saharan regions wey today include Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and parts of Nigeria, and e establish say na enslaved Africans carry inoculation enter Americas by di 1700s . Di example wey people know pass na Onesimus, one enslaved man for Boston wey describe di practice to Cotton Mather; wetin Mitchell contribute na to show say Onesimus no be just one isolated informant, because wetin Mather write self mention "Army of Africans" for Boston wey know di practice . Dat one na almost one century before Jenner cowpox vaccination for di 1790s .
Di practitioners dem self claim say di practice don dey before Islam enter, and say dem don dey use am for West Africa since time immemorial. Dat one na claim wey dem record from informants instead of independently dated fact, and make dem label am like dat.
To talk am exact, then. Dem document West African inoculation knowledge, dem know di technique, dem establish how e take reach colonial America, and e come before European vaccination. Talbot specifically attest to Yoruba practice . Wetin dem never establish na how e spread reach among Yoruba people, when e start for there, or who and who exactly do am. Di strong version of di claim, say Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà priesthood run systematic inoculation programme, dey plausible and dem no document am.
Di Sapara case
Oguntọla Ṣapara na Alexander Johnson Williams dem born am on 9 June 1861 for Freetown, Sierra Leone, to father wey be liberated former slave, and e move go Lagos for 1876 . E train for medicine and midwifery, dem honour am for King's College London and e become Fellow of di Royal Institute of Public Health, Glasgow, for 1895, dem appoint am assistant colonial surgeon for 1896, and e serve for 32 years as colonial medical officer . For 1897 dem post am go Epe, wey be major centre for smallpox activity .
Wetin e report. As e see say di normal preventive measures and vaccination no dey work and say di Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà priests get strong influence well-well, Ṣapara secretly join di cult . E report say di priests dey deliberately infect people, dey use scrapings from skin lesions of smallpox cases, or according to one report, inoculum from di body of dead victims, to increase dia power and income . E pursue di priests comot for Epe under threat of prosecution and e report to colonial authorities .
Wetin follow after. Dem ban worship of Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà for 1907 . British and French colonial authorities don introduce compulsory vaccination for 1905, and dem strengthen am for 1907 and 1909 through ordinances against di worship of Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà and against infectious disease respectively . Dem credit Ṣapara's 1909 report say na e lead to di Witchcraft and Juju Ordinance, wey punish di rituals ; sources differ on top di date of dat ordinance, as microbiology literature give 1917 and Governor McCallum while historical literature give 1907 and 1909 . Dis compiler never resolve di discrepancy.
How to weigh di charge of deliberate spread
Six considerations dey, and dem no dey point di same direction.
Di mechanism na real tin. To apply material from smallpox lesion put for anoda person skin na variolation. Ṣapara describe technique wey exist, wey dey work, and wey dem dey practice for di region . E no describe sometin wey impossible.
But di same act get two descriptions. To scarify person with smallpox material na inoculation if di intention na protection, and na assault if di intention na infection. Di physical act na di exact same tin. Ṣapara, wey be outsider wey train for system wey no get category for African preventive medicine, look di act and give di second description. Whether di priests understand dia action say na protecting, punishing, transmitting di deity, or extorting, na dat exact tin infiltrator report no fit establish, and na im be di whole question.
Di accusation make sense well-well for wetin dem need am for. Di report say one religious group dey deliberately spread deadly sickness give colonial administration di exact excuse wey dem need to make di religion illegal and force people to take vaccine. Na officer of dat administration write di report. Dis one no mean say na lie. But e mean say make person look am with doubt just as person go do for any government story about why dem ban religious group, and di academic books and papers on Ṣapara wey dis writer find no get any revisionist analysis, no different interpretation, and no critical check on di tori say na deliberate spread, dem just present wetin di man find as true fact wey dey solid .
Yoruba people sef get their own story about di abuse. Di historical book dem, wey use wetin Albert write, record say Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà cult members dey inherit di property of people wey die of smallpox as their right, and for some cases, dem dey collect extra money by force from family members under disguise say dem dey do cleansing ceremony . Di fact say dis complaint dey inside Yoruba history sef, and no be only inside colonial record, show proof say Yoruba people also see wetin di priests dey do as abuse. E show say dem dey chop money from family wey dey mourn. E no prove say dem deliberately infect people.
Di same source talk say dem no get medicine. Albert tori, as dem report am, be say di cult members no get any specific medicine to treat smallpox, and wetin dem dey do na only to give food and house taboos, plus palm oil . Dis one no really agree with di picture say di priests sabi high-level inoculation technology well-well. E fit be say di source no complete, or say di technical knowledge wey di priests get small pass wetin di inoculation theory claim. Di two fit happen, and dis writer no fit choose one over di other.
Di ban destroy di evidence. Because di cult dey illegal for decades, e go underground and disappear from ethnographic record. Anybody wey dey write about Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà dey work with written record wey law deliberately make weak, and di information wey for settle di matter, which be di priests own account of how dem dey do things for their own words, na di exact material wey di ban make sure say nobody collect.
Di truth of di matter. Evidence dey say people dey do practice wey resemble variolation for di region and among Yoruba people . Di specific claim say Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà priests deliberately spread smallpox dey based on one colonial-era report wey only one person wey infiltrate di group write, wey e government want dat kind result; nobody don independently confirm am, and e fit be say person no fit answer am again today. Di money exploitation wey follow smallpox deaths get separate proof, even from Yoruba sources. Reader suppose keep all dis facts together instead of to just choose di version wey dey praise or di version wey dey condemn.
Wetin di ban cost
Di things wey happen because of di ban dey documented, and dem no be wetin di people wey create di ban plan for.
E no stop di worship. People continue to worship Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà for Ìjẹ̀bú and across southwestern Nigeria through di 1930s even with heavy punishment, along with 130 smallpox deaths for Ìjẹ̀bú alone between 1933 and 1934 .
E no make people accept vaccination, and e fit even block am. Na dis be di main finding. Na only few people for Lagos and Abẹ́òkúta show interest for vaccination; dem see am as something wey offensive, wey get poison and dirty, so dem avoid di vaccinators . People begin see vaccination with bad eye as part of colonial administration and foreign rule . Men drag foot pass, and talk spread say vaccination na for women and children . Di resistance continue for decades: people no care and dem show anger even more for di 1950s, and majority of people for Ìbàdàn avoid vaccination until dem bring back law to force people in 1957, with some people sef dey hide their children .
E make sense to mention how dis thing work because e dey repeat for public health history. To make one religion illegal so dat vaccine go move attach di vaccine to force. Di colonial administration make vaccination look like sign of control and oppression, and people respond based on dat.
Di colonial effort sef small. Dem stop vaccination for 1915, no be because of local resistance, but because colonial authorities no gree appoint pass one doctor for di whole of Ìbàdàn between 1915 and 1924, and di sickness spread heavily throughout di 1920s . Di first infectious diseases hospital for Ìbàdàn open for 1929 with space for only about 30 patients, wey too small well-well for big outbreak . Di sanitary inspection system cause e own abuse: sick people hide instead of to show face, wey come give sanitary inspectors chance to collect bribe and extort money, and try to force sick people go hospital after extortion bring fight, including one incident for Isale Ijebu for Ìbàdàn for 1949 .
Di point wey di record force person to admit. Di health support wey colonial administration provide no be say na free-mind kindness, and di sources talk am: medical intervention serve colonial interest because dem need local workers well-well for colonial work and because European people no get immunity against local sickness . But still, vaccine dey work and sacrifice to gods no dey work for am. Di two statement na true together, and any report wey hide one na propaganda for one side or di other side.
Total Eradication. Di last case wey happen naturally, dem diagnose am for October 1977, and World Health Organization certify say di sickness don finish completely for di whole world for 1980 . Smallpox kill at least 300 million people for di twentieth century alone . Di eradication campaign wey clear am completely rely on ring vaccination and monitoring, and e succeed for Nigeria just as e succeed for other places.
òrìṣà wey e main domain no dey exist again dey for unusual position, and Ọbalúayé's cult wey still dey continue, wey dem discuss for 06-orisa, don shift focus towards epidemic disease and skin trouble in general.