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North African and Western Sudan Trade in the Nineteenth Century: A Re-Evaluation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

C. W. Newbury
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Extract

A revised estimate of the value of trans-Saharan trade in the nineteenth century suggests that, so far from declining, the caravan traffic between North Africa and the Western Sudan increased before the period of colonial partition. Evidence for this revision comes from French diplomatic and geographical missions in the 1850's and 1860's and from the Tripoli and Moroccan consulate records. In round figures the import of European goods across the desert routes and the export of ivory, ostrich plumes, gold dust and lesser items was probably not less than £1,500,000 in 1875—a peak year, after which there was a slow decline, as various factors, including recession in the European markets and the political conquest of Western Sudan, interrupted trade. The prices for European goods and Sudan produce in the early 1860's illustrate the differentials which enabled African traders to make their profit.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 1966 , pp. 233 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1966

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References

1 Cited in Bovill, E. W., The Golden Trade of the Moors (London, 1958), 194.Google Scholar

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35 A.N., F12 7211, Consul Pellissier to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 October 1850, reporting a rumour of two steam vessels in the lower Niger in 1849 and the importation of trade goods which ‘auraient été cause d'une perte de % sur celles qu'avaient transportées dans l'Afrique Centrale les caravanes du Sahara’. The rumour came from Overweg, who must have heard it at Murzuk or Ghat; as far as I know it has no possible foundation in fact before 1854.Google Scholar

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