Undated
Kavango River region
The Mbukushu were a people of the Kavango region who entered long-distance trade networks around the middle of the nineteenth century. Their capital at Andara became connected to Toteng and, through that route, to Walvis Bay. Enslaved people were an important item of exchange, while cattle later gained significance and stimulated Mbukushu pastoralism. The region experienced further commercial contact but remained relatively lightly armed compared with other northern Namibian areas.
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The Story
The Mbukushu made contact with long-distance trade networks on the Kavango River around the middle of the nineteenth century. Griqua traders reached their capital at Andara in 1852, linking the Mbukushu to Toteng and then to Walvis Bay. They were soon followed by white traders and, at some point, by Mambari involved in the African slave-trade network.
Enslaved people were a very important item of exchange in the Kavango. By the 1880s, however, cattle were also being traded, and this commerce stimulated Mbukushu pastoralism. The combination of older exchange networks and growing livestock trade connected the community to wider commercial currents without eliminating its regional distinctiveness.
Further west, Charles John Andersson visited Ukwangali in 1859, and additional white hunters and traders arrived in the following years. Yet commentators in the 1890s described commerce in the Kavango as relatively limited, with few modern guns in evidence. The area was nevertheless subject to slave raiding, which shaped the risks and possibilities of its participation in trade.
Undated
Kavango River region
The Mbukushu were a people of the Kavango region who entered long-distance trade networks around the middle of the nineteenth century. Their capital at Andara became connected to Toteng and, through that route, to Walvis Bay. Enslaved people were an important item of exchange, while cattle later gained significance and stimulated Mbukushu pastoralism. The region experienced further commercial contact but remained relatively lightly armed compared with other northern Namibian areas.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Mbukushu made contact with long-distance trade networks on the Kavango River around the middle of the nineteenth century. Griqua traders reached their capital at Andara in 1852, linking the Mbukushu to Toteng and then to Walvis Bay. They were soon followed by white traders and, at some point, by Mambari involved in the African slave-trade network.
Enslaved people were a very important item of exchange in the Kavango. By the 1880s, however, cattle were also being traded, and this commerce stimulated Mbukushu pastoralism. The combination of older exchange networks and growing livestock trade connected the community to wider commercial currents without eliminating its regional distinctiveness.
Further west, Charles John Andersson visited Ukwangali in 1859, and additional white hunters and traders arrived in the following years. Yet commentators in the 1890s described commerce in the Kavango as relatively limited, with few modern guns in evidence. The area was nevertheless subject to slave raiding, which shaped the risks and possibilities of its participation in trade.