Tuesday, March 23, 2021

COWRIES, NEW TRADERS AND TEXTILES...


ARRIVE IN DJIMINI TOWARD 1740

Traders from nearby Kong (the Dyula) travel over relatively short distances with little capital or organization, and their gains are correspondingly slight.  

Dyula traders, 1905

Then come long-distance traders, from the Niger (Soninke) and Northern Nigeria (Hausa), whose networks, capital and profits are greater. So are their ambitions.

De Saint-Louis à Tripoli par le Chad by Lt.-Col. P.L. Monteil, 1895/ zoom
"Hausa traders transporting kola"

They introduce textiles...

Zoom / first picture of series

Zoom / 14th photo

Then weaving, which is launched in their village of Marabadiassa: "Maraba" means "people of the east, that is, Hausa. 

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Textiles are easy to produce and transport, and the market for them is inexhaustible. *They lead to seeking dyes and dye stabilizers, beget new sources of capital and bring the emergence of weavers and dyers.

* For their importance in a partly African neighborhood in Paris, please click

When textiles appear
 social transformation begins. 

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Next,






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