Monday, January 29, 2018

TRANSFORMATION RIPPLES DOWN FROM THE MORE COMMERCIAL NORTH


BORNU, AMONG THE FIRST CENTERS OF TRANS-SAHARAN TRADE, IS CHANGING. SO IS, THOUGH MORE SLOWLY, THE STATE OF LOGONE ON ITS BORDER 

Comparing the accounts of two explorers,* in 1825 and 1855, shows signs of coming storm.

 -- Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in 1821, 1822, 1823
by Captain Hugh Clapperton, London, 1826
-- Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa by Heinrich Barth, London, 1855

Regions at the epicenter of Boko Haram now.

# # #

Bornu toward 1825:

  • The economy is comparable to that of 15th-century France. This horseman resembles a knight:
Clapperton's narrative
  • A theocratic ruler has recently become head of the 1000-year-old kingdom. He is stronger than the obese kingsbut constraints still hem him in:
Shehu al-Hajj Muhammad al-Kânemi / same source / zoom
White robes represent saintliness and being the representative of God strengthens authority...

But the giant turban hampers movement and the barrier isolates.  

  
Logone, farther from the Saharan trade route, keeps traditional restraints on growth:

  • The king offers the mission an immense quantity of supplies, much more than it can consume, which makes obtaining them from local producers pointless.

  • There is still an iron currency: Clapperton sees it for the first time and gives it a rare illustration:
Zoom (no text)

 

  • But commerce expands and power becomes stronger, as in DjiminiWeaving and dyeing appear in the 18th century. Stronger power follows the economic changes that explosive innovation implies: Toward 1700, chieftaincies unite and toward 1800 the king becomes nominally Muslim, a sign of centralization since power comes from God.  
# # #

A generation later in Bornu...

  • Barth finds that a revolution has defeated the oldest nobility, that is, the descendants of the men with the huge turbans. The ruler is free of physical constraints. 
  • Cowries arrive at the same time: later than in Djimini, because the king has more power to reject them than the Kondougou chief.

In Logone...

  •  Commercial production expands:

Cotton is grown, "weaving and dyeing are here carried on to a considerable extent, new land is being cleared, a market is "fairly active," and "Field-hand villages" grow up during the rainy season. (Who owns them, the oligarchy or independent producers? Barth does not say.)  

Cotton bands have replaced the iron money. They are a divisible currency, though less so than cowries : one band = eight cowries.   

  • But the government remains the same: The ruler continues to provide a huge quantity of supplies, enough for a hundred people though Barth is alone, and he receives him behind a curtain.

The economy is developing 
 but authority stays the same:
It should watch out. 

*     *     *
Next,
An explorer is taken for a messianic leader





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