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4 - Competition and Conflict on the Western Frontier

from Part II - Interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2022

Philip Gooding
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
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Summary

Chapter 4 examines relationships within coastal trader communities, focusing on Omani and Swahili populations. It traces the existence of factions whose roots lay in historical developments on the coast, and then sheds light on power shifts between them across coastal and inland regions. It argues that despite there being a ‘pioneer ethic’ that in some ways bound coastal traders, there was always an ‘undercurrent’ of competition and conflict, which became more robust as the period went on. Unlike at the coast, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, this ‘undercurrent’ was often manifested in violence. This was a symptom of the recency of coastal traders’ arrival in the region, a lack of formal institutions from the coast that followed them inland, and the highly competitive nature of ivory trading. Violence between coastal traders on the shores of Lake Tanganyika was the surface manifestation of deeper tectonics whose roots lay in the Indian Ocean World’s littoral core.

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Chapter
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On the Frontiers of the Indian Ocean World
A History of Lake Tanganyika, c.1830-1890
, pp. 121 - 147
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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