XIVᵉ siècle – XVIᵉ siècle
Hausaland and the central Sudan
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Hausa were a collection of societies whose economy expanded into long-distance commerce from the fifteenth century. Their merchants controlled important southern routes, while Kano and Katsina became rival entrepôt cities linking trans-Saharan and regional exchanges. Hausa trade involved cotton cloth, leather, agricultural produce, salt, natron, metals, horses, slaves, and kola nuts, and relied on specialized traders, brokers, and market women.
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Le récit
Hausa commerce rested on a differentiated marketplace in which several kinds of trader performed distinct functions. The yan koli moved between markets, buying and selling inexpensive goods or retailing imported merchandise, while the yan kamwa generally remained within their home towns. Other specialists dealt in particular commodities, including meat and grain. This division of labour connected local retailing with wider commercial circuits.
Brokers, known as dillalai, occupied a particularly important place in the system. They followed prices across the region, anticipated changes in supply and demand, and speculated on the basis of this knowledge. Their remuneration was calculated as a percentage of the sale price. Commercial activity was not confined to formal markets: craftsmen sold from workshops in their homes, while imported goods were delivered to the residences of elites and to royal courts whose rank kept them away from ordinary marketplaces.
Women also participated directly in commerce. Married and unmarried women operated food shops near markets and sold cotton cloth. Regional exchange often relied on barter, with cotton bands called sawaye, salt, and slaves serving as principal media of value. Cowrie shells were known in parts of Hausaland by the sixteenth century, although their earlier history remained uncertain.
The expansion of Hausa long-distance trade became especially visible from the fifteenth century, when Hausa merchants took control of routes leading south. The Wangarawa were pioneers, but North Africans, Tuareg, Kanuri, and other groups also participated. Kano and Katsina emerged as important but rival cities because they stood at the junction of northern and southern flows; they functioned as entrepôts and termini of trans-Saharan routes.
Hausaland exported cotton cloth, hides and leather, millet, musk, ostrich feathers, and probably gum. From the Sahara came tin from the Takedda mines, together with salt and natron from Bilma and other salt-producing areas; Agades and Gobir were major centres of the salt trade. Slaves, imported mainly from south of Hausaland through raids or tribute, served as currency, domestic labourers, soldiers, guards, agricultural workers, and craft workers, while kola nuts arrived principally from Gonja in present-day northern Ghana through routes passing by Zaria and Borgu.
By the end of the sixteenth century, the western commercial route had become unreliable after the fall of Songhay and the weakening of relations between Songhay and Air. Northern trade with Hausaland intensified, and Katsina became increasingly central to the economy of Hausaland and the wider central Sudan. The wealth generated by commerce strengthened ruling elites and supported the prosperity of royal courts, including the building and reform programme associated with Muhammad Rumfa.
XIVᵉ siècle – XVIᵉ siècle
Hausaland and the central Sudan
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Hausa were a collection of societies whose economy expanded into long-distance commerce from the fifteenth century. Their merchants controlled important southern routes, while Kano and Katsina became rival entrepôt cities linking trans-Saharan and regional exchanges. Hausa trade involved cotton cloth, leather, agricultural produce, salt, natron, metals, horses, slaves, and kola nuts, and relied on specialized traders, brokers, and market women.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Hausa commerce rested on a differentiated marketplace in which several kinds of trader performed distinct functions. The yan koli moved between markets, buying and selling inexpensive goods or retailing imported merchandise, while the yan kamwa generally remained within their home towns. Other specialists dealt in particular commodities, including meat and grain. This division of labour connected local retailing with wider commercial circuits.
Brokers, known as dillalai, occupied a particularly important place in the system. They followed prices across the region, anticipated changes in supply and demand, and speculated on the basis of this knowledge. Their remuneration was calculated as a percentage of the sale price. Commercial activity was not confined to formal markets: craftsmen sold from workshops in their homes, while imported goods were delivered to the residences of elites and to royal courts whose rank kept them away from ordinary marketplaces.
Women also participated directly in commerce. Married and unmarried women operated food shops near markets and sold cotton cloth. Regional exchange often relied on barter, with cotton bands called sawaye, salt, and slaves serving as principal media of value. Cowrie shells were known in parts of Hausaland by the sixteenth century, although their earlier history remained uncertain.
The expansion of Hausa long-distance trade became especially visible from the fifteenth century, when Hausa merchants took control of routes leading south. The Wangarawa were pioneers, but North Africans, Tuareg, Kanuri, and other groups also participated. Kano and Katsina emerged as important but rival cities because they stood at the junction of northern and southern flows; they functioned as entrepôts and termini of trans-Saharan routes.
Hausaland exported cotton cloth, hides and leather, millet, musk, ostrich feathers, and probably gum. From the Sahara came tin from the Takedda mines, together with salt and natron from Bilma and other salt-producing areas; Agades and Gobir were major centres of the salt trade. Slaves, imported mainly from south of Hausaland through raids or tribute, served as currency, domestic labourers, soldiers, guards, agricultural workers, and craft workers, while kola nuts arrived principally from Gonja in present-day northern Ghana through routes passing by Zaria and Borgu.
By the end of the sixteenth century, the western commercial route had become unreliable after the fall of Songhay and the weakening of relations between Songhay and Air. Northern trade with Hausaland intensified, and Katsina became increasingly central to the economy of Hausaland and the wider central Sudan. The wealth generated by commerce strengthened ruling elites and supported the prosperity of royal courts, including the building and reform programme associated with Muhammad Rumfa.