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Iron is iron 'til it is rust: Trade and Ecology in the Decline of West African Iron-Smelting*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Candice L. Goucher
Candice L. Goucher
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Extract

Archaeological evidence and historical accounts have been used to examine the impact of trade and ecology on the decline of West African iron industries. Environmental changes including an increasingly desiccating climatic shift and widespread deforestation as a direct result of fuel procurement over centuries of iron-smelting and European coastal exploitation, seriously affected the survivability of these industries. While the increasing importation of European iron bars and other manufactured goods necessitated a certain amount of technological innovation, the only viable long-term response and adaptation to the ecological devastation became the increased reliance on imported supplies of iron.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , April 1981 , pp. 179 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

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